Friday the 13th [DVD] [1980]

Having now seen the first three "Friday" films on Blu, I have to say that this is darn close to being the best. Part II maybe just edges it for picture quality, but the original is surprisingly sharp, with night-time scenes very well managed and no objectionable grain levels, for my money. Colours are occasionally a little overcooked, as in the late diner scene, but then the seventies were just ending and perhaps they really were wearing those colours? That aside, colours and contrasts are generally good, with fairly solid black levels. This film really puts Part III to shame in terms of picture quality.

The soundtrack is also quite impressive for the age. Forceful and sinister, particularly in the last half hour. Dialogue is maybe occasionally a bit light-sounding, but on the whole the True HD 5.1 soundtrack does a terrific job, with respectable surround and subwoofer effects. To compare it with its great rival "Halloween" of which this film was something of an imitation: the sound quality is comfortably better, the colours are richer, and sharpness is also somewhat better. I must say that I disagree with the reviewer who states that this is not a worthwhile upgrade from the DVD. This seems to me unfair as picture quality and sound quality are markedly superior.

It's hard to say how well the film has aged as it leaves such mixed impressions. Much of the acting seems much weaker now than I had remembered. The plot remains the great ace in the sleeve, with a magnificent twist and a truly shocking ending. It is true that the effects are no longer very convincing, especially in HD, and double especially for anyone who has also seen the recent remake! Yet the film has not lost its power to generate suspense and make you jump; it's just that most horror fans are so desensitised these days that it is no longer truly shocking.

Nevertheless, a really great transfer of a much loved classic, albeit a classic indebted to "Halloween" and, in an inverted way, "Psycho". Worth comparing with the Van Nispel remake, or for a truly great horror weekend, take those two plus the original and remade "Halloween" flicks.

Firstly, for those of you wondering, the US import IS region free. It plays perfectly well on my UK PS3.

The picture quality is very good, but not the best I've seen on blu-ray. But let's be balanced about it, this is a low budget movie shot mostly at night. Not day-for-night, but simply night, which is never easy. The result is graininess in the blacks, although you can significantly compensate for this by adjusting your contrast settings etc. Grain doesn't bother me too much anyway, as I don't sit too close to the screen. However, despite the grain, the image is otherwise very clean and sharp. I do think they've gotten the best transfer out of the negative or interposotives they used, as the sharpness of the image can't be criticised.

The audio has been cleaned up very nicely. Again, the source material was never the strongest, with analogue issues in all previous releases (including the first DVD release) but all that seems to have gone. The dialogue is mostly clear and the score has never sounded better. I think Manfredini's music benefits from this release as much as anything else; it's certainly the aspect I noticed felt "newest" if you know what I mean. It doesn't sound as tinny as it did before, and that's a good thing.

The extras are very nice, if a little short. But what's there is welcome, especially seeing some of the key cast/crew members again. Most of us want to see how everyone's doing, and seeing Betsy Palmer and Adrienne King sitting at the same table after nearly 30 years is great. The cast reunion isn't very well edited, but then it's only really a convention appearance so the filmed material is limited. But yes, it's nice to see them. In the reunion, we see Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King and Ari Lehman (Jason), writer Victor Miller and composer Harry Manfredini, and in one of the other mini-documentaries we also get a nice couple of bits with Robbi Morgan, who played Annie. She's cool.

Anyway, there you go. Like I said, not a perfect picture, but it's sharp and probably the best they could've got without spending a HELL of a lot reprocessing the whole thing frame by frame a la Blade Runner Final Cut. The audio is better than it's been before and clean. The extras are pretty good but I would've liked more.

4.5 stars.

As far as slashers go this is one of the best, you can't be a fan of the genre unless you've seen this one. The film is of course uncut although it is only 10 seconds of extra footage. The extra footage is that Anni's death is 2 seconds longer, The sex scene has an extra butt pinch, Jacks death is 4 seconds longer and Marcie's death is also 2 seconds longer. The final beheading has no time difference however it is edited differently. The extra's include the trailer, cast and crew commentary, a reunion, a couple of interviews and a strange short video of 2 people getting killed by an unknown killer possibly Jason it's only about a minute long. all in all this is definitely the best edition out there.