From Crystal Lake to Manhattan covers the first eight Friday the 13th features featuring the menacing Jason Voorhees, killer of sexually driven teens and lazy drug users.
Friday the 13th: From Crystal Lake to Manhattan (DVD Boxset)
Directors: Friday: Sean S. Cunningham, Friday 2: Steve Miner, Friday 3: Steve Miner, Friday 4: Joseph Zito, Friday 5: Danny Steinmann, Friday 6: Tom McLoughlin, Friday 7: John Carl Buechler, Friday 8: Rob Hedden
Producers: - Sean S. Cunningham and Frank Mancuso Jr.
Writers: Based on characters and events created by Victor Miller and Ron Kurz
Features: * Cast and Director Commentary * "Tales From the Cutting Room" featurette * 8-part featurette "The Friday The 13th Chronicles" * 3-part featurette "Secrets Galore Behind The Gore" * "Crystal Lake Victims Tell All!" featurette * "Friday Artifacts and Collectibles" featurette * Theatrical trailers from all 8 movies except Part VI (teaser trailer) * List Price: $79.99
Characters:
Pamela Voorhees...Betsy Palmer (1)
Ginny Field...Amy Steel (2)
Jason Voorhees...Richard Brooker (3)
Tommy Jarvis...Corey Feldman (4)
Tommy Jarvis...John Shepherd (5)
Tommy Jarvis...Thom Mathews (6)
Tina Shepard...Lar Park-Lincoln (7)
Jason Voorhees...Kane Hodder (8)
Genre: Horror
Review:
Since “Friday the 13th” hit DVD shelves back in 1999, fans have wanted to see a mega boxset chuck full of features. When Paramount announced they’d be doing special two disc editions of the “Star Trek” films, I got excited, thinking that perhaps this would happen with the Jason franchise as well.
Jump ahead five years, to present day. Finally, after all this time, Paramount has decided to release the “Friday the 13th” mega boxset fans have desired all these years.
So, is the set any good? Well, my prayers of a boxset might have come true, but the features leave much to be desired, but more on that later. Now, I’ll take some time to share my mini-reviews of each of the eight included titles:
Friday the 13th
The first chapter in the “Friday” saga is actually rather slow moving. The deaths are fun, but the plot's mostly an origin story. Actually, we learn more about Jason in this chapter then we’ll ever learn in the films he’s actually in! What’s so interesting about this film is that despite being produced in the early 80s, the film actually manages to make itself look as though it was shot much earlier. Kevin Bacon makes an appearance as one of the film’s many victims.
Friday the 13th Part 2
This is where it starts to get interesting. Apparently Jason survived drowning all those years ago. Now, he’s all grown up and ready to hack up anyone having promiscuous sex or doing illegal drugs (is Jason the lost member of the Spanish Inquisition?). He doesn’t have his signature hockey mask yet; that’s coming in the next chapter. Fun film, with plenty of thrills and chills for gore fans, plus the writers and director were not afraid of hacking into a guy in a wheelchair. That’s bold.
Friday the 13th Part 3:
In 3-D
Unfortunately, the film is presented here in 2-D, but I’ve heard the 3-D experience was one to remember. Even without, the third entry in the “Friday” series is where it starts to get “good”. Not “good” in a film sense, but “good”, in an entertainment sense. What I like about the third “Friday” is that it takes place the night after the events in “Part Two”. This affords one the opportunity to note some very amusing continuity errors. For example, when we saw Jason in the second outing, he was sporting a very hefty hairdo. Now, our masked menace is bald. Apparently Jason got himself a haircut in between murders. I guess that’s possible. Best Cuts does accept walk-ins. Richard Brooker is also one of the best Jasons of the series.
Friday the 13th Part 4:
The Final Chapter
False advertising aside, this is the quintessential Jason film. The effects guys got away with murder (no pun intended) with this one. It’s the goriest Jason film with the best cast (Crispin Glover and Corey Feldman) and the most nudity. Did the MPAA fall asleep while watching this? Don’t expect any innovations with the plot; just expect to see Tom Savini’s brilliant effects work rightfully on display as Jason mutilates naked corpses. A classic for horror fans.
Friday the 13th Part 5:
The New Beginning
Nice follow-up to “The Final Chapter” has a grown up Tommy Jarvis experiencing deja-vu. Often considered the worst of the series, I must disagree. While there’s nothing new plot wise, there is a twist that makes this one worth it. Tommy Jarvis is shaping up to be the next Nancy, the hero from the “Elm Street” series. “Part Five” is the turning point of the franchise, where the look and feel of the series moves from a 70’s tone to a very antiquated, and sometimes embarrassing 80’s tone that the series will hold until “Part Nine” when New Line takes over.
Friday the 13th Part 6:
Jason Lives
Just as “Part Five” is considered the worst, “Part Six” is considered the best, at least of the later films. I’m really not a huge fan of “Part Six” though. Thom Matthews is an okay Tommy Jarvis, but C.J. Graham’s Jason is the worst this series will see. The mask doesn’t even fit him right. The added humor element is fun, but it’s played off far too hammy and feels like a cheap imitation of Freddy’s wit from the “Elm Street” series.
Friday the 13th Part 7:
The New Blood
This could be called, the “the one that got away”. Bad judgment calls from producers and an MPAA field day caused this “Friday” to be boring and unfocused despite John Carl Buechler’s fine direction and makeup effects. This is Kane Hodder’s first appearance as Jason, and it’s his best to date. In this one, Jason’s look was altered, and it’s a change for the better. Now, he sports a more zombie-like appearance with his flesh showing signs of the damage he’s endured from previous chapters. Terry Kiser, of “Weekend at Bernie’s” fame, offers his talents as our hero’s crooked physiatrist.
Friday the 13th Part 8:
Jason Takes Manhattan
To clarify, Jason does not take Manhattan. Rather, he takes a cruise ship called the Lazarus, but I guess “Jason Takes Lazarus” isn’t as interesting as “Jason Take Manhattan”. Unfortunately, Paramount had grown embarrassed of their successful franchise and this chapter suffered the most, particularly when it came to budget. The Jason effects have never looked worse. The plot tries to add dimension, but ultimately it’s too little, too late. “Manhattan” is a depressing exit for Paramount, who later sold the series to New Line, who has had great success with the series. Kane Hodder is still great as Jason.
Even though the “Friday” series is not rich with character development, plot or good production values, the films have stood the test of time. With “Freddy vs. Jason” being a smashing success, it would be hard to imagine us not seeing the hockey-masked killer at least one more time.
Video:
Apparently still embarrassed that they own the first eight films, Paramount has done little to improve the picture quality for this boxset. Parts 1 through 4 are the worst of the set, though these transfers look slightly better than the previous movie-only editions, but that could just be my own wishful thinking. The image is grainy, washed out and often fuzzy. Part 4 is the worst. The contrast is so high at points that it almost hurts your eyes.
When we move to the “Friday” films of the late 80s, the image quality improves a bit with the best presentation being Part 7. It’s confusing that these titles don’t receive better treatment. With the recent release of “Star Wars” boasting one of the finest transfers I’ve seen of a late 70s, early 80s feature, it’s difficult to fathom why anyone would want anything less.
Each film is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen 1:85:1, except for Part 3 which retains its theatrical ratio of 2:35:1 (also Anamorphic).
Unfortunately, Part 3 is STILL not shown in 3-D, which will more than likely disappoint diehard fans. 3-D copies of the Part 3 on DVD float around on eBay from time to time, but they require 3-D shutter glasses, so be warned.
Audio:
There isn’t a single standout track among the eight films. Parts 1 through 5 contain what appear to be the same mono tracks included on the movie-only editions. They hiss and pop as though they weren’t even cleaned up. Very disappointing.
Part 6 and Part 8 come at you in Ultra Stereo 2.0. Like 1 through 5, these appear to be the same tracks from the previous editions. Each track sounds nice, but would it have hurt them to give us brand new 5.1 tracks in addition to the stereo track? Even “Star Trek: The Original Series” is mastered in 5.1! Wake up Paramount.
Again, just with the picture, Part 7 gets the best presentation featuring a 5.1 surround track in addition to a stereo track. It’s light on rear effects, but at least they’re there. I’m guessing an entirely different authoring company worked on Part 7 as it looks and sounds significantly better than the other films.
If only Paramount would have taken a page from New Line’s book, whose own special editions of “Friday’s” 9 and 10 are astonishing, these films would have looked and sounded so much better.
Parts 1-8 come complete with French tracks for our Canadian friends. English and Spanish subtitle and close captioned tracks are also included.
Extras:
Here’s what we’ve all been waiting for. Is it worth tossing out all those old copies of Friday the 13th 1-8? The answer is, only if you’re a diehard fan.
The supplements feel incomplete, as though the DVD's producers had hoped to compile so much more and either ran out of money, or time. Either way, the supplements are a mixed bag.
Only five discs large, the first four discs contain the features (two features a piece with disc 2-4 containing audio commentaries), the fifth disc is where the special features are hiding.
Four of the eight films have scene-specific audio commentaries (Parts 3 and 6-8). Where are the commentaries for Parts 1-2 and Part 5? Anyway, the commentary for Part 3, moderated by DVD File’s Peter Bracke is the best track of the bunch. It features actors Larry Zerner, Paul Kratka, Dana Kimmell, and Jason himself, Mr. Richard Brooker. This is a sort of party track, covering virtually every aspect of the film, from shooting in 3-D to on-set antics, to the horrors of working with effects. This track is very informative and a lot of fun.
The commentary for Part 6, from director Tom McLoughlin is informative, but a tad slow. McLoughlin is a huge fan of the series and it shows. His passion for this film and the series, so many years after the fact, is inspiring.
The commentary for Part 7 is one fans will be itching to listen to. It features, Jason’s Kane Hodder and director John Carl Buechler. These guys discuss casting woes, production issues, cut scenes and disappointments and regrets. It’s sad that Paramount wasn’t gutsy enough to include an uncut version of Part 7 for the fans or uncut versions of all eight films for that matter. Sadly, there's virtually no discussion about the producer’s lack of enthusiasm for Kane Hodder even though he was not cast as Jason in New Line’s most recent film, “Freddy vs. Jason”. Why it’s not addressed here will undoubtedly disappoint fans who’ve been waiting to hear what Hodder had to say about that.
The final commentary for Part 8 is from director Rob Hedden. This track is very dry but offers the juiciest factoids about Paramount’s increased distaste over their little horror franchise.
The fifth disc is a catch-all, containing several featurettes. The first of which is the eight part serial, “The Friday the 13th Chronicles”. Running nearly two hours, “Chronicles” is almost a complete failure as it’s not long enough, it misses key interviews and it’s poorly produced.
Each part takes on a different film in the series, but not one section lasts over twenty minutes and often you hear actors talking about films they aren’t even in! Why couldn’t Paramount get Kevin Bacon to talk about his role in Friday 1? The guy seems to enjoy doing VH1’s “Where are they now” spots. Where is Crispin Glover? The director talks about him like he’s dead. And where is director Danny Steinmann from Part 5?
There are a lot of holes here and it feels like this entire feature was culled together right at the last moment. Why not a solid thirty minutes for each film? Or, better yet, a single disc of special features for each film. There were a lot of careers made here. Why doesn’t anyone want to talk about it?
A three part featurette follows, entitled “Secrets Galore Behind the Gore”. This is a nice twenty-two minute set of interviews with Tom Savini, Kane Hodder and John Carl Buechler. Each effects member discusses how some of the key effects were done in Friday’s 1, 4 and 7.
The oddest interview comes during the Part 7 section. Kane Hodder and John Carl Buechler discuss the effects amongst themselves, rather than to the camera. This is sort of off-putting, but fun nevertheless as it seems obvious that these guys love working on Friday films. We also get an inside view at Tom Savini’s make-up school. Yeah, it’s propaganda, but its fun to see make-up artists hard at work.
The next featurette is entitled “Crystal Lake Victims Tell All!”. Like “Jason Takes Manhattan”, this title is misleading. The fifteen minute featurette is actually more of a deleted scenes section, featuring bits cut (again, no pun) from the longer “Chronicles” featurette. Oddly enough, most of these “victims” didn’t even die in the films.
The next featurette is the real meat of the set, “Tales from the Cutting Room Floor”. Included in the seventeen minutes are several cut scenes, extended scenes and gorier scenes from selected “Friday” films. The biggest gift here is the uncut deaths from Part 7, narrated by Kane Hodder and John Carl Buechler. While this featurette is fun, it would have been great to see these included in some sort of branching version. Perhaps a Special, Special Edition is in order. Also, not all of the reported cut scenes make an appearance here, making me conclude that either the footage has been lost, or this set was rushed.
The final featurette, “Friday: Artifacts and Collectibles” is a short six minute featurette about the various items director’s and stars have claimed over the years. This is a fun little featurette that shows the impact these films have made on those who have been involved.
Also included are trailers for Friday’s 1-5 and 7-8. Only a teaser is supplied for Friday 6, but it’s cool nonetheless.
No DVD-Rom supplements were included.
Final Thoughts:
This is a nice set, but where is the “Friday the 13th Phenomenon” featurette? Where are the rest of the commentaries? Where is the “Return to Crystal Lake” featurette or the “Friday the 13th” commentary contained on the Region 2 release? So much is missing from this boxset that I find it hard to recommend, even to diehard fans.
Buy this set if you don’t already have the series, but if you do, stick with your movie-only editions and write Paramount and ask for a better special edition. Also check out the region 2 release of “Friday the 13th”, as well as the special editions of “Jason Goes to Hell”, “Jason X” and “Freddy vs. Jason” from New Line.
*Scorecard*
As entertainment:
Friday's 1-3: * * *
Friday's 4-5: * * * 1/2
Friday's 6-8: * * 1/2
As films:
Friday's 1-4: * * 1/2
Friday 5: * * *
Friday 6: * 1/2
Friday 7-8: * *
Overall: * * *
*DVD Scorecard*
Video: 5
Audio: 4
Extras: 5
Overall: 5
----R. L. Shaffer