Reviewing the 'Friday the 13th' DVD Deluxe Editions: Part II
This time we look at Parts IV, V and VI
It only figures that Paramount Pictures would continue their DVD re-releases of the original Friday the 13th flicks with that 2009 remake still generating so much discussion. After all, it's not like a Hollywood studio to overlook an opportunity to make some extra money.
Still, I have to give them at least a little bit of credit. A lot of care was taken in producing those Deluxe Editions of Friday the 13th, part I, II and III. The transfers were, by-and-large, excellent, the sound was a definite improvement and a lot of creativity went into compiling all the special features. If a studio is going to double-dip, for fans this is how it should be done. While none of these films are what I'd call my personal favorites, they're all such silly guilty pleasures it's hard to work up much in the way of anger towards those who might feel different.
With that out of the way, Paramount brings us the second wave of releases in the ongoing (maybe even never-ending) saga of homicidal killer Jason Voorhees. While Parts II and III get their first-ever Blu-ray releases this week, sequels IV, V and VI get Deluxe Edition standard definition treatments, and it's those three I'm here to talk about. Like before I'm not going to waste a lot of time going too far in-depth. I feel I should warn you there are a few spoilers, but I'm quite positive most people interested in these films are already intimately familiar with them, so please consider yourself forewarned.
WHAT'S THE STORY? Jason survives his axe wound to the head and continues his homicidal rampage, running into a 12-year-old horror enthusiast named Tommy Jarvis (Corey Feldman) who will become his most memorable adversary.
WHY THE FUSS? Jason dies!
FUN FACTS: Crispin Glover came up with many of his lines and all his own dance moves. Feldman's parents wouldn't let the filmmakers cut off his hair, insisting it would ruin his career if they did. Tom Savini, the gore maestro who introduced Jason at the end of the first film, returns for his only sequel in order to kill him off. Screenwriter Barney Cohen also wrote the story for The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington and 71 episodes of the syndicated television series "Forever Knight."
BEST DEATH: Isn't it obvious? A certain icon gets his head slid down a machete, and even 25-years later it's still pretty spectacular.
NEW EXTRAS: Commentary tracks featuring director Joe Zito (who also made Missing in Action and Invasion U.S.A. with Chuck Norris), screenwriter Barney Cohen and editor Joel Goodman and a second one with Hatchet director Adam Green and Wrong Turn 2 director Joe Lynch, Deleted Scenes, a fourth chapter of the anemic Lost Tales of Camp Blood, a mock "Dateline" style investigative piece entitled "The Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited Part I," deleted scenes, some more of Jimmy's dance moves, the lost original ending and the retrospective documentary "Jason's Unlucky Day: 25 Years After Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter."
BOTTOM LINE: Okay, I'll admit it; I like this fourth entry in the series. I hadn't watched it in ages and I'd forgotten how much fun it is. The film is certainly the best directed in the series, the deaths are imaginative and grotesque, the people being killed off are somewhat of a surprise and the writing isn't horrible. It's not high art, but for a slasher film it ain't half-bad, and considering how low the rest of the series aspires that's saying something.
WHAT'S THE STORY? Six years after he killed Jason Voorhees, Tommy Jarvis (John Shepherd) returns to Crystal Lake to live in a halfway house for troubled youth only to be stalked once more by a homicidal maniac wearing a hockey mask.
WHY THE FUSS? Uh, last I checked, there really isn't any. Jason's dead, after all, remember? They killed him in the last movie.
FUN FACTS: Actor Shepherd turned down the opportunity to reprise the role of Tommy Jarvis in Part VI. He and fellow young actor Miguel A. N˙Òez, Jr. would reunite over a decade later on the CBS television series "Tour of Duty."
BEST DEATH: Nunez again, the actor meeting his demise at the pointy end of a very nasty weapon while trying to find sanctuary in a rickety (and suitably revolting) outhouse.
NEW EXTRAS: Commentary by director and co-screenwriter Danny Steinmann and various members of the cast and crew, including Shepherd. Lost Tales from Camp Blood is inexplicably continued, and so is the much more solid "The Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited." The disc also comes with the new retrospective documentary "New Beginnings: The Making of Friday the 13th Part V."
BOTTOM LINE: Don't let the director or his actors fool you, this episode of the series is easily the worst of the entire Paramount produced bunch (and yes, that includes that Part VIII jaunt to Manhattan). A few decent kills aside, there's not much here to talk about, although it must be admitted Shepherd does a fairly nice job turning Tommy into the figure who would become Jason's most potent adversary in the subsequent sequel.
WHAT'S THE STORY? Tommy Jarvis (now played by Thom Mathews) plays out his trilogy and returns to Crystal Lake — now renamed Forest Glenn — to dig up the body of Jason Voorhees, inadvertently resurrecting the corpse via lightening and in the process restarting the mass murderer's killing spree.
WHY THE FUSS? Jason's back, and now he's superhuman!
FUN FACTS: This sequel was actor (Ghost, The Last House on the Left) and director (A Walk on the Moon, "Dexter") Tony Goldwyn's film debut. Actress Renee Jones has played the character of Lexie Carver in 974 episodes of "Days of Our Lives." Director Tom McLoughlin thought of the film as a Universal Monster movie like Frankenstein or Dracula and even at one point asked to film some sequences in black and white.
BEST DEATH: Plenty of good ones, including a triple beheading, but my vote goes for the back-breaking (think folded like a lawn chair) demise of an overprotective Sheriff Michael Garris (David Kagen).
NEW EXTRAS: Another multi-person commentary, this one featuring director McLoughlin and members of the cast and crew. The disc also comes with the sixth installment of "The Lost Tales from Camp Blood" (but did anyone bother to notice there isn't a third chapter, the Part III disc doesn't contain it so where it is located your guess is as good as mine) and part three of "The Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited." There is another retrospective documentary "Jason Lives: The Making of Friday the 13th Part VI" and a whole bunch of extended scenes of Jason's killings containing splatter effects or sexual innuendo that the MPAA wanted trimmed. Finally, there is a storyboarded sequence of the film's original ending the introduction of Jason's father, Mr. Voorhees, which the studio ultimately asked to be cut from the script.
BOTTOM LINE: Once you realize the film is a comedy (even if Jason himself is treated with dead seriousness) Jason Lives is actually a heck of a lot fun. Dumb? Yes, but it seems to be proud of that fact in a self-mocking, wink-wink-nudge-nudge sort of way, and unlike subsequent sequels like Jason Goes to Hell or Jason X where they become unbearable parodies of themselves this one shows some admirable restraint.
If you would like to read my take on the deluxe DVD editions of Parts I, II and III click here.
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