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

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by ravenus

Going on, I saw the 4th installment captioned The Final Chapter

[Show spoiler] (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.

Last night was A New Beginning. I wonder if New Line even paused a little after The Final Chapter because this came out barely a year later. It's a little confusing because Tommy Jarvis who killed Jason in TFC (Corey Feldman returns for a small cameo at the start) is now supposed to be nearly an adult (John Shepherd who does the part was actually 24), so is this movie set in the future? Even if it is, not much seems to have changed in that part of the Earth. Tommy finds himself in a rehabilitation centre which seems to be staffed by the same kind of people that were counselors at camp Crystal Lake. There is a new kid in the movie, Different Strokes' Dudley, Shavar Ross who manages to be likable despite being a brat.

Since Jason supposedly died in the last movie, A New Beginning tries to bring some ambiguity into who the actual killer is that is continuing with Mrs. Voorhees' good work of hacking down the hornies and the junkies. Tommy seems to see Jason in flashes, but is this Jason real or a figment of his troubled psyche? The resolution of this mystery is a polarizing thing

[Show spoiler], the equivalent of the killer being some guy you barely saw before, turning out to have a connection that is almost hilarious in its incongruity. It's a rehash of the first FT13 idea, but in a lot dumber way

.

That said, while the film does not have the quality of its predecessor, in its modest and crude way it delivers the goods of a slasher flick. The kills are decent (the extras speak a lot about MPAA interference ruining the original scenes), but gratuitous nudity is where this one really takes the 80's cake. Some of the cast in the extras speak about director Steinmann making the shoot a rough experience and coming across as sleazy himself (he had previously made a porn film as well as the sexploitation classic Savage Streets). Actress Debisue Voorhees (was there ever a more striking coincidence?) as the sex-hungry Tina is the most memorable raunchy element before she meets a rather gruesome death by shears. Also Tiffany Helm's robot dance to His Eyes by Pseudo Echo before she gets impaled is a classic.

Saw the extras on the movie disc as well as the chapter on CLM. A fair number of cast and crew members participate, sharing anecdotes about the making of the film and Steinmann's attitude, the problems with the MPAA, the continuity errors, and where the franchise might have gone ahead with the new beginning (Feldman sounds like he might have liked to have a shot at continuing the Tommy Jarvis character) if the fear of lower BO revenues had not reverted them to the original Jason.