TAGGED AS: Horror
Okay, so it turns out Jason isn’t a zombie (or a little kid again according to the end of Jason Takes Manhattan). According to Jason Goes to Hell, it’s a parasitic worm that turns people into invincible Jason-esque monsters, capable of transferring from person to person. The worm’s ultimate goal: to kill the Voorhees bloodline, as only a Voorhees can truly defeat Jason using some Dagger O’ Magic. Yeah, is it any wonder this isn’t very popular with fans?
I’ll first note that I watched the widely-available unrated version. I can’t comment on how much this version does or does not improve upon the R-rated version (it’s certainly the grossest Friday yet), but, overall, it’s still a bad movie.
It did, however, hold my attention, or at least mild interest, throughout. Likely, this is a result of having watched nine Friday movies over the past nine days: those are not normal movie-watching circumstances, so after struggling to find anything compelling to write about in parts 6 through 8 (all variations on a stale theme), I’m going to latch onto anything weird that creeps into this series. And, you have to admit, Jason Goes to Hell is pretty damn weird.
Original Friday the 13th director Sean Cunningham returns to the series as producer and we clearly see his contempt for what the series had become and the audience that supported it (which I briefly touched upon in my first article). You guys want a fitting finale to the series you followed for nearly 15 years? Nope! Instead, here’s a movie about WORMS. I was in elementary school when this movie came out so I can’t say I was ever affected by this betrayal (which may also be why I don’t have a seething hatred for the movie), but the closest I can equate this to is when Larry David returned for the Seinfeld finale, where his scorn for the characters and audience came through with every cynical joke.
You know, like many, I like traveling host horror such as The Thing or Fallen. Too bad Jason Goes to Hell mucks up this concept at every turn. Director Adam Marcus sticks to the same slasher routine when he had a chance to change it up. Harry Manfredini’s score is obnoxious and blatty. The plot has a bunch of cheap, arbitrary rules (a possessed person appears as Jason in mirrors for some reason, and sometimes a possessed person can talk and sometimes they can’t). And, for some reason, they gave Jason a pink puffy head. Has he ever looked worse? And if this is a story about bloodlines, why don’t we learn anything about papa Voorhees?
In its favor, Jason Goes to Hell does have a strong plot arc (we learn clearly what Jason is and how to defeat him), something that’s absent from the rest of the series. The climax takes place in front the Voorhees mansion, where Jason gets stabbed in the heart by the magic dagger. A cheesy beam of light opens from the sky and some scaly demon hands drag Jason down to hell. The final 20 seconds shows the heroes walking into the sunset to a reprise of elegant ending music of the first Friday the 13th. Freddy Krueger’s clawed hands reaches out from the dirt and pull Jason’s hockey mask down. I admit this is a rather satisfying close, even if the movie as a whole isn’t.
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday Vital Stats:
Memories of Crystal Lake:
Tomorrow: Jason. In space.
Schedule of Fridays:
