JASON GOES TO HELL: THE FINAL FRIDAY (1993)

Studio:    New Line Cinema
Director: Adam Marcus
Writer:    Dean Lorey, Jay Huguely
Producer: Sean S. Cunningham
Stars:    John D. LeMay, Kari Keegan, Allison Smith, Steven Culp, Billy Green Bush, Rusty Schwimmer, Leslie Jordan, Andrew Bloch, Richard Gant, Kane Hodder, Erin Gray, Steven Williams

Review Score:

Summary:

A Voorhees family secret comes to light when Jason begins supernaturally jumping from body to body on a new killing spree.

Synopsis:     

Review:

My dad once told me his favorite film was “Elmer Gantry” with Burt Lancaster. Dad explained it was the only movie he saw twice in the same day, having enjoyed it so much that when end credits rolled, he immediately bought another ticket and went back into the theater to watch it again.

“Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday” is my “Elmer Gantry,” for better or for worse, likely the latter. It’s certainly not my favorite film. But it bears the distinction of being the only movie I’ve seen in a theater twice on the same day, which was the Friday the 13th when it opened in August of 1993.

Thinking no one would be interested in seeing it with me, I went alone to a matinee screening at the Hoyts Tower City 11 in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The audience was small, predominantly populated by Black adults who weren’t tolerating any of the movie’s nonsense. Regularly audible sighs were louder than Harry Manfredini’s annoyingly outdated score of sausage-fingered piano stings. The biggest groan of all came when Freddy Krueger’s glove pulled Jason’s mask into the ground, prompting several amusedly frustrated patrons to spin out of their seats as they leapt hurriedly to the exits with head-shaking smirks.

That evening, a friend called to say a group was getting together to see the flick in Rocky River. I mentioned I’d already seen it, but was game to go again, if for no other reason than to simply hang out. This time, the sold out, late night audience was packed with white teenagers from the west side of town. Their roar was deafening when “Youngstown, Ohio” flashed onscreen during the morgue sequence and only grew louder by the time Freddy’s blades hit the hockey mask. You’d think Led Zeppelin had just played a surprise reunion concert, that’s how much everyone ate it up.

I couldn’t possibly have seen the movie with two crowds more unalike. The point of the anecdote above is to illustrate that no matter what the collective audience perception appears to be at a particular screening, never presume their reaction is reflective of the experience everyone else is having. Plus, this is probably now the only review of a “Friday the 13th” film to include an “Elmer Gantry” reference.

When we last saw Jason Voorhees, he had reverted to a little boy drowned in toxic waste at the bottom of a New York sewer. Dream sequence/hallucination or not, somehow he made it back to Crystal Lake in his adult body. Not for long though. Tricked into triggering an FBI trap, Jason ends up blown to bits during a pre-title prologue. Other than a handful of mirror reflections, Jason doesn’t reappear in his familiar form until the 78-minute mark in a movie that only runs 85.

Yes, just as “Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan” (review here) fields justified criticism for not including its title location until too late, the rightfully common complaint against “Jason Goes to Hell” is that its title character is barely included. Instead, we’re subjected to a strange body-hopping plotline that has Jason’s supernatural spirit possessing people who commit his murders by proxy. The script seems to have a good laugh with duping the audience this way, even giving the new Jasons lame names like Phil, Josh, Bob, and Randy.

Coming as no surprise considering how quickly continuity with the previous entry flies into the wind, “Jason Goes to Hell” loads up on some pretty ridiculous concepts. Sure, “Friday the 13th” still had goofier ground to cover, what with Jason’s trip to space and fight against Freddy yet to come. But bear in mind we’re talking about a series that started as a simple murder mystery whose “he’s still there” stinger wasn’t even supposed to be real. Now here we are with “Jason Goes to Hell” introducing sentient slugs, a magic sword, the Necronomicon, and a connection to the crate from “Creepshow.” Younger me loved the callbacks to other horror films. Older me only wants to say, “dial it down a notch, guys.”

Weirdness extends to how the film cuts itself together. A couple of odd moments and long lingers, particularly two overly thorough shots of security guard pat downs and a scene of pseudo-Jason shaving his next body’s facial hair, stick out as “why are these in there?” inclusions. Random jumps to first-person perspectives, even when we aren’t behind the eyes of Jason’s current possessee, inspire similar scalp scratches. So does choppy editing, like the title sequence that cuts to credit name cards at irregular intervals with prologue footage.

While conceptually gutsy for not playing it safe with strict “Friday the 13th” formula, “Jason Goes to Hell” makes for a technically messy movie. The script spends an inordinate amount of time establishing losses of electrical power, and even more time replacing a light bulb in one of those instances. As indicated earlier, Harry Manfredini’s time for providing the franchise’s music was up by 1993, but no one knew it. His hammy score sounds better suited for the soap opera reveals of a “The Californians” skit on “Saturday Night Live.”

Most of the points the movie earns come courtesy of its pop culture connections. Seeing Erin Gray of “Buck Rogers” and “Silver Spoons” set up as Jason’s long-lost sister plays directly into my weakness for 1980s nostalgia. The same goes for casting John D. LeMay. LeMay plays perhaps the most milquetoast ‘Final Guy’ ever put on film, even though he is also the only person whom Jason cannot kill instantaneously for some bizarre reason. Yet seeing Ryan Dallion make the jump from small screen to big is too great of a treat for this “Friday the 13th: The Series” diehard to ignore. Then again, no one comes off cooler than Steven Williams, who chews the scenery, camera, and entire crew with his crazily off-color characterization of unpredictable bounty hunter Creighton Duke.

Several of the series’ best effects also feature in the film, most notably a melting body that is still worthy of inclusion on a KNB demo reel three decades later. There’s little point denying though, that a distinct lack of Jason takes a toll that makes “The Final Friday” almost as much of an mis-advertised letdown as “Jason Takes Manhattan.”

Forgiving hindsight allows me to be kinder than the movie might deserve. Some of the imaginative ideas and throwback touchstones, as iffy as they may be story-wise, leave enough charm in the shell of “Jason Goes to Hell” to make this weird sequel worth a once-in-a-while revisit. Don’t misunderstand my lenient favorability. I still wouldn’t dare watch it twice in one day, or twice in the same 10-year period for that matter, ever again.

Review Score: 50