Jason Goes To Hell - The Final Friday [DVD] [1993]

The Story : The FBI set up an ambush in an attempt to finally kill Jason Voorhees. After his dismembered body is sent for an autopsy a series of "Jason Style" murders start to happen. Enter Bounty Hunter 'Creighton Duke'. He is the only one who knows how to stop Jason forever (maybe he could does us a favour and go after Freddy next!).

A lot of people didn't like the fact that the true Jason only appears for about 15 minutes in this film (he has the abillity to switch bodies). I think this idea was good as it gave it a bit of a different feel to it, not just another generic slasher.

The Blood and Gore: The film is filled with the red stuff. The UK DVD is the full uncut version, unlike the Region 1, R - Rated American Version. The sex scene is longer and more graphic and all of the death scenes have been extended in some way (check out the girl in the text - the blood flows freely!)

The DVD: This contains the Fullscreen (4:3) version of the film which isn't too bad, but a widescreen version would have been better.
The Extras: There are only 2 extras: Jason Goes To Hell USA Theatrical trailer which is o.k. but nothing special, and then "Slash and Burn" which is a brief history of the Friday The 13th series.

All In All : Forthe price you really cannot beat this DVD, perfect horror at a decent price.

While it is a refreshing change to see Friday the 13th take a different step, it all seems a bit too much like a Halloween rip off. Friday the 13th is a franchise with strict rules and while it's always a pleasure to bend rules slightly, when you break them into smithereens you are usually left with a mess. This is what Jason Goes to Hell is like.

It is not a bad film, it just doesn't feel like a Friday the 13th film. It is also very low on production value, as if after part 8 the money that had backed the series started to be portioned slightly more economically. It looks bad, the acting's bad and the final scene is simply ridiculous but I liked it. It had a certain alien charm that made it stand out from the others.

It is nowhere near as funny or entertaining as part 6, which is a classic of the genre, but it is a worthy stepping stone before Jason X appears in the cinemas in 2002. That's another aspect of the series which is also indicative of itself; the sub headings, while supposed to be serious, doom-laden and ostensibly portentous of its own fate(The Final Chapter, The Final Friday), you cannot trust that The Final Friday will be anything more than a stop-gap to lull the fans into a false sense of bereavement and then hit them with another sequel. This, it would seem, has happened. Again. Jason X has a bigger budget, better special effects, a great sci-fi plot and a slightly more interesting incarnation of Jason - RoboZombie! Can't wait.

In conclusion, Part 9 isn't great but if you are a fan of the genre you'll watch it anyway. If you are new to FT13th start with the first and go through the lot. That's how everybody else did it.

I just know that when Friday the 13th Part XIII: The Last One Ever, Honest, No Really I Mean It This Time, comes out I can rest assured that when I'm old and grey I'll be renting the video of Friday The 13th Part XXXII: Jason Gets His Free Bus Pass. Class.

3 stars.

But "Jason Goes to Hell" is a complete embarrassment. It is almost impossible to watch. Is it because of the gore? Well, there's a lot of it, but no. Gore is what I expect. Is it because it's scary? Most certainly not. Nothing very scary about this movie. So why is it almost impossible to watch?

It was terribly written. That's right. Of course I'm not expecting Arthur Miller when I watch a "Friday the 13th" movie, but I expect the story to be somewhat bearable. Supposedly Jason has the ability to transport from different bodies. Once he's done with one, his spirit invades another. He must do this until he can find a blood-relative of some sort to be "re-born." What does this mean? Means that you hardly see the hockey-masked killer until the last half of the movie. And even then it's not that great. While there's some cool death scenes and extremely gory scenes, this movie ends up being a dud. Actually, calling it a "dud" is being too polite.

It's simple. All they needed to do was have some kind of minor story going on that would lead to Jason coming back from the grave and unleashing his bloody revenge upon carefree teens who think Crystal Lake is a safe place to venture. See, very simple. But no, they had to create an outrageous story that really kind of takes the focus away from Jason himself. The movie doesn't even pick up where the last one ended. That already was a clue that the writers had no idea what to do with the movie.

"Jason Goes to Hell" is a sorry excuse for a Jason movie. My advice is to skip it, but if you've seen the rest then you might as well see it so you can say that you have indeed viewed it. Lame story, bad plot, terrible premise, these are only a few of the things that make this movie a stinker. Could've been so much more, I'm sorry to say. The previous Jason flicks are MUCH better than this. Watch at your own risk...