Dr. K's Waiting Room

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Long considered an unlucky day due to superstitions involving the number thirteen and religious connotations, Friday the 13^th is equally well-known as a long-running series of slasher movies. As a result, this is clearly the best opportunity to take a look at the Friday the 13^th (Various, 1980 to 2009) horror series and to commemorate this unlucky and dreaded date.

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Quick Facts:
After years of distancing himself from his slasher franchise, Sean Cunningham returned in hopes of a crossover with the Nightmare on Elm Street series (Various, 1984 to 2010). Though it would take about ten years to see this and Paramount Pictures sold New Line Cinema everything but the franchise title, Cunningham was adamant about taking the series in a new direction after a deliberately stereotypical opening. The film was also filled with references to other horror franchises and featured a startling new look for Jason Voorhees (fan favourite Kane Hodder) courtesy of Al Magliochetti.

The Review:
Things start out very familiar in this second attempt at a “final” entry in the long-running slasher franchise. Jason Goes to Hell opens some twenty years after Jason Voorhees was believed drowned as a child in Crystal Lake. After two decades of characters either warning that Jason is alive or mocking the idea that Jason is alive, Jason’s legend has become public, with scheming news reporter Robert Campbell (Steven Culp) openly discussing Jason on his show and Crystal Lake residents like rambunctious diner owner Joey B. (Rusty Schwimmer) shamelessly profiting from Jason’s myth. This predictability and familiarity are all the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) need to trap the monstrous killer, as Agent Elizabeth Marcus (Julie Michaels) wanders about an abandoned cabin at Crystal Lake to lure Jason out. Looking more hideous and ridiculous than ever, with his mask fused to his tumour-ridden head (though with no explanation of how he returned to Crystal Lake from Manhattan), Jason is lured into an ambush. A crack squad of FBI agents pump Jason full of assault rifle fire and reduce him to flaming body parts with a mortar, seemingly ending his reign of terror and causing Crystal Lake to celebrate accordingly. This makes for a very surprising opening but it also a bad omen for things to come, as Jason Goes to Hell deviates so wildly from the formula and lore of the franchise that it’s essentially unrecognisable as a Friday the 13^th film. While Campbell interviews infamous bounty hunter Creighton Duke (Steven Williams), who coyly alludes to Jason being beyond death and offers to finish the job for $500,000, Jason’s remains are taken to coroner Phil Hant (Richard Gant) at the local morgue.

Hant is suddenly mesmerised by Jason’s black, still-beating heart, which compels him to consume it and, in doing so, the coroner is possessed by Jason’s evil spirit! Acting through Hant, Jason immediately returns to his killing spree, offing assistant coroner Eric Pope (Dean Lorey) and two FBI guards (Tony Ervolina and Kane Hodder) before returning to Crystal Lake. Since he has foreknowledge of Jason’s abilities and knows the terrifying secret behind his curse, Duke journeys to Crystal Lake and accosts waitress Diana Kimble (Erin Gray), demanding her help in defeating Jason since she’s secretly Jason’s hitherto unknown sister! Duke’s lewd ways and notoriety see him upset Diana and anger her man, Sheriff Ed Landis (Billy Green Bush), who arrests Duke for his insolence. Undeterred, Duke patiently waits for a chance to escape and is provided one when down on his luck Steven Freeman (John D. LeMay) is brought in later in the film, having been accused of killing Diana. Desperate to protect his ex and the mother of his baby, Jessica Kimble (Kari Keegan), Stephen rises to Duke’s bait and demands answers about Jason, sacrificing two of his fingers to learn that Jason has been wearing bodies this whole time, jumping to new hosts when he wears them out, and can only be killed or reborn through his bloodline. Stephen’s exploration of the newly revealed “Vorhees” mansion suggests that Jason’s mother (or father) dabbled with the Necronomicon Ex Mortis, suggesting Jason was cursed from birth to be some kind of human/Deadite hybrid. Duke also alludes to a history with Jason, though we only get scant details of this, which is a shame as Steven Williams is easily the best part of this car crash of a movie. Charismatic and eye-catching, Duke makes a hell of an impression in double denim, long black trenchcoat, and cowboy hat, to say nothing of his knowing smirk and silky-smooth voice. While it would’ve made way more sense to bring back Tommy Jarvis (Various) or rewrite the film to focus on Duke defending Jessica and her baby, Duke is one of the franchise’s more memorable characters and it’s a pity to see him wasted and offed so unceremoniously.

Instead of following a self-righteous Duke on a quest for revenge, we’re left with Steven, a weedy nerd who apparently skipped town or disappeared after getting Jessica pregnant and has been trying to make amends since. While Diana wants to help the kids repair their relationship and Jessica constantly asks after him, Jessica has shacked up with Campbell and joins Sheriff Landis in condemning Steven when he’s found cradling Diana’s dead body. In fact, save for a horny hitchhiker (Kathryn Atwood), Officer Randy Parker (Kipp Marcus), and Ward B. (Adam Cranner), the entire community turns on Steven and hounds, attacks, or berates him. Having witnessed Jason murder Diana while possessing Deputy Josh Burton (Andrew Bloch) and then jump from Josh into Campbell, leaving Josh to dissolve into a gloopy mess, Steven’s desperate to protect Jessica, having learned that she’s Jason’s niece, and stunned to finally meet his daughter, baby Stephanie (Brooke Scher). Though physically no match for Jason (or anyone, for that matter), Steven constantly surprises with his quick reflexes and guts, offering his fingers to Duke in return for information, brawling with Randy, and gunning down Jason’s possessed bodies to protect his estranged family. Unfortunately for him, Jessica is not interested in associating with him, despite asking after him a few times. She refuses to see him (though is happy for him to meet Stephanie) and constantly ditches and even attacks him, despite him saving her from the possessed Campbell and desperately getting her to safety. Jessica seems to be in denial, despite witnessing horrific and unexplainable events, even when confronted by Duke at the Voorhees house and told her destiny. It’s only when Jason is horrifically reborn through her mother’s corpse that Jessica finally gets a clue and takes up the Kandarian dagger to fight off the undead menace, and only after Steven has almost been dragged to Hell that she finally shows him some affection (though I don’t blame her for shunning him as he’s a complete dweeb).

Everything you know about Jason is completely turned on its head or thrown out the window in this bizarre entry, which has only superficial connections to the previous films and goes out of its way to rewrite the long-standing lore. Though still a hulking, rotting, undead killer, Jason is far more vocal than ever, grunting and even moaning constantly as he stomps about. Jason’s also now inarguably a demonic figure and his superhuman durability, strength, and regenerative powers are made explicitly supernatural, potentially due to the “Book of the Dead” (though this may have been a prop planted by Campbell…) Jason also now has an extended family, with his sister, Diana, laughably working in Crystal Lake as a waitress rather than fleeing to avoid her family name. Aside from a handful of victims who get in his way or act as hosts, Diana is Jason’s primary target as he can only be reborn through his bloodline. Otherwise, Jason jumps from bodies as a squealing, demonic slug-thing that squirms from his mouth and rapidly deteriorates any non-Voorhees. This means Kane Hodder only appears very briefly as Jason, with others assuming his mannerism as Jason hunts down his family and Jason’s true self only appearing in reflections (…for some unexplained reason). Those possessed by Jason exhibit the same supernatural strength and durability, essentially becoming zombies who shrug off bullets and bash people’s teeth down their throat and easily recover from being run over. This bizarre new ability also gives Jason some anonymity as nobody suspects his presence even when Campbell is suddenly stalking around covering blood and tossing fools aside, and Jason even inexplicably talks while possessing Randy to fool Jessica into killing Sherriff Landis, potentially suggesting the possessed have some awareness of what’s going on. Still, while the idea of a body-hopping, demonic Jason is interesting, it doesn’t align with the previous films and makes this more of a generic, slightly bonkers horror film as it lacks Jason’s iconography and depicts him so differently that he’s essentially completely different character.

Although cut to pieces by censorship like its predecessors, the unrated/director’s cut adds a bit more blood and gore to the black sheep of the franchise. Sadly, many kills lack the same visceral appeal as others in the series simply because Jason isn’t physically onscreen doing the deed. While making his way into town, Hant-Jason detours to murder three hitchhikers picked up by Steven who camp at the remains of Camp Crystal Lake. This delivers not only one of the best sex scenes in the franchise but also one of the best deaths, as Deborah Caldwell (Michelle Clunie) is skewered through the back with a tent pole and torn in half right at the point of orgasm! Diana’s simply stabbed in the back to meet her end, but this is the catalyst for all the animosity that follows Steven, and Josh’s gruesome end more than make sup for this. His body rapidly deteriorating from Jason’s presence, Josh passes Jason’s demonic slug into Campbell and then melts from the inside out, leaving his jaw on the floorboards and reducing him to a bubbling mess of melting flesh. Campbell’s body shows signs of distress much faster than Josh’s but also goes on a far more public rampage, crashing through the police station in search of Jessica and bashing two officers’ heads in before being briefly gunned down. Campbell-Jason pursues Steven and Jessica to Joey’s diner, where he snaps Wade’s arm, smashes Joey’s face, and mutilates Shelby B. (Leslie Jordan) with the deep fat fryer before tossing him into a wall. Waitress Vicky Sanders (Allison Smith) tries to fight back with a spear, only for Campbell-Jason to impale her on it before crushing her head. Despite being positioned as the one most capable of battling Jason, Duke is disappointingly ineffectual, succeeding only in distracting Jason as he lunges for Jessica. Handicapped by a leg injury, Duke can only spit his defiance in Jason’s scabby mask and get his back broken.

Now awkwardly positioned as a quasi-Deadite, Jason’s goal here is to return to his more familiar (if more ungainly and monstrous) form, taking out anyone in his way and possessing new bodies to get close to his remaining bloodline. It’s bloody convenient that he magically has other family members to hunt down as no mention was ever officially made of there being anyone other than Jason and his mother, not to mention how convenient it is that Diana and Jessica stuck around Crystal Lake. Despite his broken fingers and being battered by former friends and Jason’s avatars, and constantly being ditched by Jessica, Steven races to the Voorhees mansion to help Jessica, who’s presented with a magical dagger by Duke and torn between who to trust when Sheriff Landis and Randy both show up claiming to help her. Unfortunately, Jessica choses poorly and Randy-Jason tries to possess Stephanie, only to be beheaded by Steven. Undeterred, Jason’s demonic slug-thing crawls out and possess Diana’s dead body (which Campbell stuffed in the basement for ratings), inexplicably returning Jason to his familiar, hockey-masked self rather than being reborn in a new body. After killing Duke, Jason targets Jessica so Steven steps in again, tackling Jason through a window and somehow going toe-to-toe with him thanks to Jason choosing to simply toss him around rather than rip his heart out. This distraction leaves Jason wide open for Jessica to stab him with the dagger, triggering an unearthly storm and ethereal light and demonic hands to pop from the ground to drag Jason to Hell. Amazingly, Jessica hesitates to help Steven when the demons grab him by proxy but eventually gets her shit together, drags him to safety, and finishes the job, watching as Jason’s dragged into the ground. While Steven and Jessica walk away, shell-shocked but having rekindled their romance, Jason’s dishevelled mask is claimed by the clawed hand of Freddy Krueger (Kane Hodder), completing Jason’s descent into the netherworld.

Final Thoughts:
A common criticism about the Friday the 13^th franchise is often that it’s very predictable and rarely deviates from a set formula. While there’s something to be said about taking comfort in the familiar, it’s true that the formula got stale and tiresome over time. Ever since Jason become a zombie, the franchise has tried new gimmicks to put a spin on things, but Jason Goes to Hell goes above and beyond that by largely discarding everything that’s recognisably Friday the 13^th, robbing it of the visual iconography of Jason and his tropes and presenting a far less interesting, much more generic horror film. It would’ve been so much better and made way more sense to have Jason’s mask possess others, perhaps even transform them into a version of his misshapen form, rather than have him be this weird, demon slug-thing that may or may not be a Deadite. To make matters worse, Jason Goes to Hell suddenly introduces an extended family for Jason rather than finally shedding some light on his father, forces us to follow boring-ass Steven and flaky Jessica, and completely wastes the charisma and allure of Creighton Duke by merely making him a supporting character. There was so much potential in opening some years prior with a young Duke, having him survive an encounter with Jason, and then pursue Jason’s return (through his mask), tracking down Jason’s absent father to keep him from rebirthing Jason and perhaps defending Stephanie from Jason’s ire. Or, you know, bring someone back as Tommy Jarvis instead of creating Duke so you have that in-built history. While some of the kills are nice and gruesome, Jason’s descent into Hell was absurd, resulting in a lacklustre and nonsensical “end” for the iconic slasher, who barely appeared in the movie. Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday is a terrible send-off for the titular killer and seems embarrassed by the franchise, going out of its way to strip away everything that makes Friday the 13^th fun and replacing it with Easter Eggs and so much nonsense that I doubt even avid fans of the franchise find much to like (and I should know!)

My Rating:

Terrible

Were you disappointed by Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday? What did you think of Jason’s bizarre new look and new supernatural abilities? Were you frustrated by the body-hopping gimmick or did you find it an intriguing wrinkle in the lore? Do you agree that Creighton Duke should’ve been the main protagonist? Did you buy that Jason was dead for reals this time? Which Friday the 13^th movie is your favourite? Let me know your thoughts on Friday the 13^th (the movie, franchise, and day), support me on Ko-Fi, and check out my other horror content.