Friday the 13th: 8-Movie Collection (1980-1989)

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Over the weekend I watched the first 3 movies in the series.

[Show spoiler]The first film was the only one I had seen on the blu-ray release (borrowed from a friend) and I'm glad I opted to get the new set with the remastered transfers because there is a definite image improvement with more suffused colors and finely rendered grain. The night time sequences of which there are many, look much improved in this newer version. Part 2 also looks pretty damn good in most part and I assume is superior to previous releases. Part 3 is a mixed bag because there are many shots that look soft and slightly out of focus, I don't know if it has something to do with the fact that it was originally shot in 3D.

As regards the films themselves, again 1&2 have a reasonably similar quality. It's not amazing cinema, but it's decent popcorn fodder. In part 2 the MPAA seems to have taken a heavier hand because several of the kills appear a lot more abrupt than in the predecessor. But I liked how the child psychology student heroine manages to overcome Jason at one point. Part 3 is actually the tamest and lamest of the lot so far (although it has some historical importance as the first installment where Jason wears the hockey mask he is identified with). Apart from having the most disjointed script with a very unlikely band of characters - who are John Lennon and Yoko Ono and why are they hanging about with the other people in that group? - this one is also devoid of naughty thrills. Even when the girls are having sex or showering they only display PG-rated levels of flesh (which is a waste since it got an R-rating anyway). The kills are nicely conceived for 3D, as are other moments with characters pointing or throwing stuff at the screen. Since I don't have a 3D capable display anyway, even if I had the Shout release I would not have been able to get the full effect.

Apart from the extras on the individual movie discs, I saw the corresponding chapters on the CLM documentary, which is how I intend to go with the rest of the set.

Going on, I saw the 4th installment captioned The Final Chapter (that turned out a little hasty). If I thought the third one was kinda tame (although some of the kills were nicely framed for 3D), this one certainly got a booster shot of what made the first two films work. Apart from the wholly unnecessary recap of the previous movies (director Joseph Zito says he didn't want it), the film feels 'bigger'. There's the opening shot of the police staking out the scene of the last massacre, complete with helicopter trail (even if said copter is quite obviously a spotlight on a crane paired with the sound FX of a rotor). The names in the opening credits are like a who's who of 80's genre movies - Judie Aronson (who I had a crush on as a kid from seeing her in American Ninja), Crispin Glover and best of all Corey Feldman, who is very impressive as the precocious kid brother of the female lead who is into horror movies and make-up FX - I was vigorously nodding when Tom Savini in the extras says that Corey was basically him as a kid. Ted White dons the hockey mask and provides a suitably intimidating presence, moving with surprising agility for someone that was nearly 60 at the time of the movie.

My issues with the deficiencies of gore and titillation in the 3rd installment were also swept over quite early. While keeping the killings brief to minimize MPAA interference, they are definitely more visceral and the red stuff flows a lot freer. In the titillation department, Judie Aronson and the More twins provide ample charms before going to their grisly demises (Judie apparently developed hypothermia from being naked in the freezing water for long periods, prompting Ted White to argue with the director that either she be let out to thaw in between takes or he would walk off the shoot). Jason's death is a doozy both in terms of the VFX techniques as well as the very emotional transformational moment it has for the person that kills him.

So yeah, a great finale for the franchise...at least till they relented on it being the finale. That's for another day.

I saw all the featurettes on the disc (other than the Lost Tales from Camp Blood short film homages, which I thought were quite meh) as well as part of the CLM chapter on this movie. Corey Feldman seemed thrilled and happy to talk about the movie. His performances as a child and teen actor and later in movies like 'Burbs were the zeitgeist of the 80's, and it's sad that his personal life turned out so troubled. Zito in the retrospective pieces seems a good-natured guy, and Ted White gives him the excuse that perhaps the pressure of finishing the movie on time made him behave badly with Aronson (who in the CLM episode only says she had a hard time in part of the shoot, without blaming anyone). Interestingly enough, White thinks Feldman was a mean brat, while most of the other crew were quite fond of him. I imagine it's because Feldman was more an actor than a normal kid, and some of that attitude may have rubbed this movie's Jason the wrong way.