Fowler's Frights 2015: Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)
Starring: Kane Hodder, John D. LeMay, Kari Keegan
Directed by: Adam Marcus


After Jason Takes Manhattan failed with critics and at the box office, Paramount looked to ditch the franchise, feeling Jason Voorhees had been milked for all he's worth. New Line Cinema quickly jumped at the idea to pick up the Friday the 13th franchise, and thus Jason found a new home. With Sean S. Cunningham returning to the franchise, the studio set out to make Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, a film that (for the second time in the series) promised to bring an end to Jason Voorhees. By now, we know (once again) that that wasn't true, but how does the film stand on its own? Honestly, it's bizarrely entertaining to watch. Even if Jason is hardly in the film, we get tons of gore, a deeper look into Jason's mythology, some superb special effects, and some of the most memorable characters of the entire franchise. The movie is still a pile of garbage, but it's the most entertaining garbage you could imagine for the Friday the 13th series. So let's see what's so entertainingly awful and amazing about Jason Goes to Hell.

Kane Hodder is back to play Jason Voorhees, sporting a weirder, melted appearance. I actually like his updated look, but we barely get any time with this Jason before he disappears for most of the film. We see Jason taken out in the film's opening, but his heart still beats and he possesses a bunch of different people, jumping from body to body until he can be resurrected. It's a fun premise, but we don't care if random people are butchering random people in this film. If they aren't wearing a hockey mask, then the film's kind of missing the heart and spirit of the series. The killer in this film should be Jason Voorhees in both name and body, but here, it's mostly just by name.

I'll give the film some serious credit for giving me some characters that I actually care about. The films in the past were lucky enough to get me one character I could care about (other than Jason). Right from the start, this film gave me two. The first is the main character Steven, played by John D. LeMay, who is possibly the most heroic character in this entire series. Motivated to protect the woman he loves and the baby he never knew about, Steven goes to the most extreme lengths to stop Jason and save the day. And the fact that he looks absolutely unassuming and nerdy makes him that much more awesome as he does all these things. The other is Creighton Duke, a charismatic and questionably insane bounty hunter played by Steven Williams. Seriously, watch his scenes and try not to laugh. The guy is just awesome and owns every moment he's on screen.

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday ends up being a little too deep for this type of franchise, but that may not necessarily be a bad thing. We get some amazingly gory and creative special effects, a deeper look into Jason's mythology with the idea of him being pure evil that will keep living even if his body is destroyed, and a killer that jumps from body to body begging our heroes to trust no one. You don't expect a story like this to come from the murderer of Camp Crystal Lake who goes around wearing a hockey mask. It's different, but maybe a bit too smart for the audience it's normally targeted at. Because of this, the film is poorly regarded by most Jason fans, but I hold a soft spot for it, as I can honestly say they were trying to be different. So I give them solid props for creativity and effort.


Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Perhaps a little too ambitious for its own good, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday promises to at least give the viewer something different than the other sequels. If you can acknowledge that you're watching something ridiculous, you might be able to let yourself go and enjoy this bizarre acid trip of a horror film. Also, the ending will deliver something very special to all slasher fans.

Comment below to share your thoughts on the movie or to discuss a topic that I left out of my review

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday and movie images are copyrighted by New Line Cinema