If you're reading this review, then you probably already know everything that you need to know about the Friday the 13th films. (But, if you don't, there are reviews below.) You came here to learn more about the new Friday the 13th: The Ultimate Collection DVD set. Some of you may own the "From Crystal Lake to Manhattan" set released in 2004 and want to know if it's worth upgrading. Well, in short, it is. I really didn't know what to expect from this set, but it's -- and I hate to get too technical here -- pretty cool. The set comes in a plastic box (which is a little flimsy, the sets only downfall). The first thing that you notice is the replica of Jason's mask. It is very well designed and has a nice weight to it. Yes, fanboys, the ax damage from Friday the 13th Part III is missing, but it's still a nice addition. The eight DVDs included here are the same "Deluxe Editions" which were released in 2009. They are housed in hardcover booklet where each "page" is a sleeve which holds the DVD. The "page" contains a synopsis of the movie along with fun facts. I assume that sales figures drove Paramount's decision to stop releasing these movies on Blu-ray Disc after Part III, but this set will have to do for now, and it will do just fine.

And now, as promised, an overview of the movies and DVDs.

Friday the 13th opens in 1958 at Camp Crystal Lake. Two camp counselors sneak away for some cuddling and are subsequently killed. The scene then shifts to the present (or 1980 in this case). After sitting empty for many years, Steve Christy (Peter Brouwer) has decided to re-open Camp Crystal Lake, despite protests from the locals. He and his assistant, Alice (Adrienne King), have assembled a group of young adults to help them get the camp up and running. Marcie (Jeannine Taylor), Jack (Kevin Bacon), Bill (Harry Crosby), Brenda (Laurie Bartram), and Ned (Mark Nelson) travel to the camp expecting easy jobs and lots of free time for partying. The first day that they are all together, Steve goes to town for supplies. While he is gone, the staff begins to disappear one by one. Have they simply ventured off to be naughty, or has something bad happened to them? As the body count rises, those who are left must not only try to survive, but find out who is doing the killing.

The “whodunit” aspect may be the only part of Friday the 13th which has any brains. Of course, the film was a huge success when it was released (grossing over 55 times its budget) and, as we all now know, it spawned nearly a dozen sequels. But, watching it today, the movie feels quite slow and shallow. I hadn’t seen the movie in a few years, and I’d forgotten how quickly much of the cast is killed. Thus, we are left with the third act with just one person being chased around the camp. What one must do when watching the film today is project yourself backwards to a more innocent time. Sure, there had been movies like Halloween, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Black Christmas, but those films were relatively tame in terms of on-screen violence. Friday the 13th was one of the first slashers to contains graphic violence, and when most think of the film, it’s the murders that they remember, not the scenes where the counselors attempt to bond.

Friday the 13th hacks its way onto DVD courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image is sharp and clear, showing only a hint of grain and no defects from the source material. (Despite the fact that Paramount likes to disown this franchise, they’ve clearly taken care of the film.) The colors are good, but the nighttime scenes are a bit dark. The image shows no overt artifacting or video noise, and the overall look belies the film’s age. The DVD contains a newly created Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track which provides clear dialogue and sound effects. This sounds like your average “newly created” 5.1 mix, where we get some stereo effects, one or two surround effects, and little else. The track is clear and free from hiss and the film’s infamous music sounds fine.

The Friday the 13th DVD contains several extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY which contains comments from various speakers edited together. Director Sean S. Cunningham, author Peter Bracke, Victor Miller, Adrienne King, Betsy Palmer, Jay Cooper, and others. The comments sound as if they came from interviews, not an audio commentary, and they are rarely scene-specific. The "Friday the 13th Reunion" (17 minutes) took place in September, 2008. It was a panel discussion (probably at a convention) with Tom Savini, Ari Lehman (young Jason), writer Victor Miller, Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, and Harry Manfredini, and they discuss a series of topics. "Fresh Cuts: New Tales from Friday the 13th" (14 minutes) has modern interviews with Miller (on writing the film), Lehman (on playing young Jason), Robbi Morgan (on being the first modern victim), Savini (on the stunts and effects), and Manfredini (on the music). "The Man Behind the Legacy: Sean S. Cunningham" (9 minutes) is an interview with the Director who discusses his career and shows off his house and some memorabilia. "Lost Tales from Camp Blood - Part 1" (8 minutes) is a new (?) short film which shows a couple being terrorized. The final extra is the THEATRICAL TRAILER for the film (which shows nearly the entire film).

You're probably aware that fans of horror and science-fiction films love to debate about movies, and as odd as it may sound, they love to debate about the reality of their beloved films. However, I've rarely heard anyone question Friday the 13th Part 2. In short, this movie's entire premise makes no sense whatsoever. In Friday the 13th, we are told that Jason Voorhees drowned in Crystal Lake in 1958, and there's no mention of the fact that he may have survived that drowning. At the conclusion of that film, we see a zombie/ghost version of Jason as a child emerge from the lake. Now, in Friday the 13th Part 2, which is taking place 1-5 years after the events of Friday the 13th (again, it's not clear), which would be somewhere between 1981 and 1985, we see Jason as a full-grown man who is running around killing people. What? Did he not drown and he's simply been hanging out in the woods since 1958? If so, why didn't he help his Mom in the first movie? Is he a ghost? The movie simply says, "Here's an adult Jason. Have a good one." and never tries to explain a thing. And, oh yeah, how did Jason get to the city for the pre-credit sequence?

Rampant nitpicking aside, Friday the 13th Part 2 is a fairly average slasher film. The movie features some creative deaths (although the double-impaling was cribbed from an Italian film), but the film was cut to receive an R-rating, so it's not a gory as its predecessor. However, it does feature more nudity. We don't get to know the characters very well, and half of them leave half-way through the film. Unfortunately, we do get to know Ted (Stu Charno), the supposed "comic-relief" who mumbles his way through the movie. First-time Director Steve Miner (who would go on to have a very eclectic career) attempts to inject some style into the film (he loves for characters to look into the camera), but he can't do much with the weak story, even though it does try to offer the beginnings of a mythos for Jason.

Friday the 13th Part 2 lives in a make-piece shack on DVD courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image is sharp and clear, showing only mild grain at times, but no defects from the source material. The colors are good, but the image is somewhat dark, and some of the nighttime shots appear blurry. I also noted some mild artifacting at times. The DVD carries a newly created Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track. This track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The stereo effects are good, and we can often hear various sounds from the forest. However, other than a lightning sound effect and some rain, we don't get much in the way of surround effects, and there's essentially no subwoofer action.

The Friday the 13th Part 2 DVD contains a few extras. "Inside 'Crystal Lake Memories'" (11 minutes) is an interview with former DVDFile.com editor Peter Bracke who describes his book, which is a study of the Friday the 13th series. (Ironically, they never show the book.) "Friday's Legacy: Horror Conventions" (7 minutes) has an interview with a convention organizer and contains footage of fans (some dressed as Jason) at a convention. "Lost Tales from Camp Blood - Part 2" (9 minutes) is another short film which shows that Jason (or someone) is still out there killing people. "Jason Forever" (30 minutes) was taken from the Friday the 13th Boxed Set and contains a panel discussion (MCed by Peter Bracke) which contains four actors who have played Jason. The final extra is the THEATRICAL TRAILER for the film.

While Friday the 13th Part 2 wasn't the blockbuster which the first film was, it did make money, so again, a little over a year later, Friday the 13th Part 3 was released. But this time, there was a gimmick; it was in 3-D!

Friday the 13th Part 3 is set an indeterminate amount of time after the second film, and it's not clear if it takes place at Crystal Lake. Chris (Dana Kimmell), her best friend, Debbie (Tracie Savage), and five more of their friends take a trip to Chris' family's vacation house. Once there, Chris reunites with her on-again/off-again boyfriend, Rick (Paul Kratka). While Chris' friends immediately go swimming, she is very somber and a bit paranoid. We learn that Chris hasn't been to the house in two years, as she was attacked by a hideous man in the woods (We see in a flashback that this is Jason). Shelly (Larry Zerner) and Vera (Catherine Parks) go to the store for snacks, and run afoul of three mean bikers (Nick Savage, Gloria Charles, and Kevin O'Brien). The bikers follow them back to the summer house and plot their revenge. But, who's that lurking around the old barn? And why doesn't anyone ever return from a visit to the barn? It seems that Jason has emerged from the forest to ruin everyone's weekend.

Friday the 13th Part 3 will always be remembered for two things: 1. It was originally presented in 3-D and 2. It's the movie where Jason gets his iconic hockey mask. Other than that, this is a pretty weak movie. (Oddly, I loved it as a kid. What was I thinking?) This movie acts as if it doesn't even know that the other films existed and none of the characters here seem to have any idea who Jason is. There is more character development than in Part 2, but that doesn't keep every character from being one stereotype or another. Before Jason gets the hockey mask (Which a character was wearing underwater. What good is a hockey mask underwater?), he wears nothing on his head, but we never get a good look at it (until the end). What Jason does wear is an untucked green shirt and khakis. That's awfully casual. Was he on vacation too?

In the content department, Friday the 13th Part 3 doesn't contain much of a story, save for Chris' flashback. We simply watch the characters get killed one after another. There are some interesting kills here, and we begin to see how Jason can use many different implements of death. Steve Miner, directing his second Friday the 13th film, has gotten somewhat better at his craft, and there are some good shots here, most notably the memorable image is Jason coming through a broken window. Of the early Friday the 13th films, Part 3 probably

has the best pacing, as the kills are evenly spaced and the finale is interesting.

Friday the 13th Part 3 comes at you on DVD courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The DVD contains both the 2-D and 3-D versions of the film and comes with two pairs of 3-D glasses. The 3-D version looks terrible. This is hands-down the worst home video 3-D that I've ever seen. The colors never work and even with the glasses on, there is still double-vision on most objects. It's headache inducing and I couldn't finish the movie watching it this way. The 2-D version is definitely more watchable, but it has its problems. The image is soft and there's notable grain on the image at all times. There are also obvious defects from the source materials in the form of black specks. On the plus side, the colors look good and the picture has a nice brightness to it. The DVD contains a newly created Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The stereo effects are fine, as they show good separation and work well in the barn sequences. There is also some acceptable surround sound from the wind, which constantly opens the doors to the house. I didn't note any significant subwoofer effects.

The only extra on the Friday the 13th Part 3 DVD is the THEATRICAL TRAILER.

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter opens immediately following the events of Friday the 13th Part 3. Jason (played this time by Ted White) is dead and his body is removed from the crime scene and taken to the local hospital morgue. But, of course, Jason isn't dead (otherwise there wouldn't be a movie...oh, I forgot about Part V) and he soon awakens in the morgue and begins to kill again. Meanwhile, back at Crystal Lake, we are introduced to Trish (Kimberly Beck), her brother Tommy (Corey Feldman), and their Mom (Joan Freeman), who live in a house in the woods (although, we're never told why). A group of twentysomethings (including Crispin Glover) rent the house next door and begin to party. Sensing debauchery in his woods, Jason arrives and begins to kill the revelers. Can Trish and Tommy find a way to survive?

When it was initially released in 1984, I can remember there being a lot of buzz about Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter and, at the time, I thought of it as being the best of the series, as it was action-packed. Seeing it again today, I'm not sure what I was thinking. Sure, the film contains the requisite number of killings, but most of these take place in the final reel (as opposed to the original Friday the 13th, where most of the cast is gone 3/4 of the way in). The first 2/3 of the movie is excruciatingly boring at times, as we forced to watch the vacationers goofing around and coupling. It's during this time that we realize that, even for a Friday the 13th movie, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter has no story whatsoever. This is simply a vehicle to watch Jason kill. Even Sara (Barbara Howard), who is initially presented as the smart girl in the group who can avoid Jason, seems to be more of a prude than the smart girl. There is very little attempt to give anyone a backstory or a reason for being there...other than as victims. This movie also has the distinction of having one of the most pointless murders in the entire series with the death of the hitchhiker. And we won't even begin with the logic questions, like "How did Jason get from the hospital back to the forest?" Yes, the last 10 minutes of the film are very interesting and they change the course of the series, but they can't erase the banality which came before.

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter wonders exactly what happened to the dog on DVD courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image is sharp and clear, showing only a mild amount of grain and no defects from the

source material. The most notable thing about this transfer is how dark it is. The action was almost hidden in some of the nighttime scenes, and the daytime scenes all look overcast. On the bright side, the colors are pretty good and artifacting is kept to a minimum. The DVD features a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track which provides clear dialogue and sound effects. This DVD features a "new 5.1 surround mix" according to the box, but apparently no one told the DVD, as all of the audio comes from the front and rear channels. There are no surround sound or subwoofer effects.

The Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter DVD contains several extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMNENTARY Director Joe Zito, Screenwriter Barney Cohen and Editor Joel Goodman. There is also a "Fan Commentary" with horror directors Adam Green and Joe Lynch. "Lost Tales from Camp Blood - Part 4" (6 minutes) continues this odd little series. "Slashed Scenes" (15 minutes) are extended, uncut takes of the various murders from the film. These have no audio, so Zito provides narration. Several show how the effects were done. "Jason's Unlucky Day: 25 Years After Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter" (11 minutes) is a making-of featurette which offers comments from Zito, Cohen, Tom Savini, Kimberly Beck, and Ted White amongst others. They talk about the prodction and most specifically, the kills in the movie. "The Lost Ending" (3 minutes) shows a deleted extended ending which actually has a creepy moment. "The Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited Part 1" (18 minutes) is a fake "Unsolved Mysteries"-like show which explores the murders which have taken place at Crystal Lake. Pretty cheesy, if you're not rolling your eyes at the acting, then you will at the not so subtle horror movie references. "Jimmy's Dead Fuck Dance Moves" (2 minutes) offer raw footage of Crispin Glover dancing. The final extra is the film's THEATRICAL TRAILER.

Nothing succeeds like success and with the profits brought in by Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, it wasn't a surprise when that title turned out to be a lie. The story in Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning somewhere between 6-10 years after the events of the previous film. (We are never told for sure.) Tommy Jarvis (John Shepherd) is now a young man, but the events of the night when he attacked Jason have left him scarred and he's been transferred from one treatment facility to another. As the film opens, Tommy is brought to a rural group home which is run by Matthew (Richard Young) and Pam (Melanie Kinnaman). The home contains a group of young people with various (yet very, very vague) problems. Tommy is very private and doesn't talk much. This probably has something to do with the fact that he keeps seeing Jason everywhere. Not long after Tommy arrives, one of the residents is killed by a fellow housemate. This sparks a series of murders and soon everyone around Tommy is disappearing. Is Jason back from the dead?

Every movie series has its black sheep and Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning may be the blackest ever. As we sat down to watch the movie, I told my wife that it was the worst in the series and she replied, "There's a worst movie in the series." Yes, the Friday the 13th universe isn't full of great movies and picking the worst one should seem like a challenge, but Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning wins hands-down. In the off-chance that there's someone reading this review who has not seen the movie, I don't want to spoil anything for you, but let's just say that Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning has a lot in common with Halloween III. (Although, I personally like Halloween III and hate that it has such a bad reputation.) The movie almost goes back to being a murder-mystery ala Friday the 13th, although we're never really sure what it's doing. Director Danny Steinmann simply presents a series of scenes and asks us to make sense of them. Granted, the makers of Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning shouldn't be chastised for trying something different in the series, but they are responsible for making such a shoddy movie. Overall, the movie just has a "cheap" feel and it presents what may be the most unlikable group of characters that we've seen in the series. So, in theory, we should get a sadistic thrill from watching these characters get killed, but the slipshod look and feel of the film robs it of any excitement.

Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning presents some of the oddest dancing ever seen on film courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image is sharp and clear, and notably more grainy than the last film. There are no defects from the source material. The colors look pretty good, but the image is dark at times. Overall, the picture is flat and maintains the "cheap" look of the movie. The DVD carries a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track which provides clear dialogue and sound effects. Again, we are treated to very lackluster sound which is housed in the front and center. Even the thunderstorm effects don't make it to the rear speakers and that's just unheard of.

The Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning DVD contains a few extras. We get an AUDIO COMMENTARY from Director/Co-screenwriter Danny Steinman, actors John Shepherd and Shavar Ross and fan Michael Felsher, who joins the others by phone. The DVD contains another entry of "Lost Tales from Camp Blood - Part 5" (7 minutes), as well as the fauxumentary "The Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited Part II" (10 minutes). "New Beginnings: The Making of Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning" (11 minutes) contains comments from Steinman and several cast members. To their credit, they take all of it very seriously. It takes guts to not only admit that you were involved with this movie, but to praise it. The final extra is the THEATRICAL TRAILER for the movie.

We can accuse the powers that be behind the Friday the 13th films of many things, but it's clear that they can learn from some of their mistakes. After the odd debacle which was Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning, things went back to normal (somewhat) with Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives. (It should be noted that Part V made money, but there was a backlash from the fans.) Part VI continues the adventures of Tommy Jarvis (now played by Thom Matthews). As the film opens, Tommy, accompanied for some reason by Ron Palilo -- TV's Horshak -- visits the grave where Jason is buried. He feels that he must exhume the body to convince himself that Jason is truly dead. This leads to a freak accident which brings Jason back to life. Now a zombie, Jason is ready to wreak havoc once again. Tommy rushes to the nearby town of Forest Green (the name Crystal Lake was changed to try and make people forget about the tragedies which occurred there) to warn Sheriff Garris (David Kagen). But, Garris sees Tommy as the boy who cried wolf and ignores him. Garris' daughter, Megan (Jennifer Cooke), however, finds Tommy intriguing. She and her friends are counselors at Camp Forest Green. Little do they know that zombie Jason still holds a grudge against camp counselors and that he's now back from the dead to continue his mother's work.

Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives is an interesting movie, and that's saying a lot for a Friday the 13th film. Writer/Director Tom McLoughlin decided that the series needed some tweaking, so he decided to inject some (intentional) humor into the movie, while keeping the violence and gore intact. What we get is something which McLoughlin claims influenced Kevin Williamson, the creator of Scream. The movie contains the requisite dumb teenagers and creative deaths by Jason, but there is a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor and one moment where a character addresses the camera. The movie makes nods to genre conventions and the characters are somewhat smarter than they've been in the other films. McLoughlin attempts to inject some gothic creepiness into the film and he's done a great job in shooting the movie. Part VI is the most accessible entry since the original film and it's relatively large budget ($3 million) really shows on-screen.

Despite all of this effort, this is still a Friday the 13th movie. We get some new characters, and Tommy's quest to stop Jason, but at the end of the day, this is still about watching Jason kill people. And now that Jason's a zombie, he truly is unstoppable. This one stands above some of the others, but only slightly.

Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives gets a sinking feeling on DVD courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the transfer is enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs. The image is sharp and clear, showing no overt grain and no defects from the source material. This transfer looks markedly better than the last two, as the image is crisp, showing good colors and never being too dark or bright. The DVD holds a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track which provides clear dialogue and sound effects. Make it 3-for-3 in the disappointing sound department, as this "mix" shows no signs of surround or subwoofer effects.

The Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives DVD contains the standard extras. We begin with an AUDIO COMMENTARY from Director Tom McLoughlin, Editor Bruce Greene, and actor Vinnie Guastaferro. There are more entries of "Lost Tales from Camp Blood - Part 6" (7 minutes) and "The Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited Part III" (10 minutes). "Jason Lives: The Making of Friday the 13th: Part VI" (13 minutes) focuses primarily on McLoughlin and his views on the film. He talks about his decision to spoof the series while still trying to make Jason scary. We also get a look at the speial effects. "Meeting Mr. Voorhees" (3 minutes) has McLoughlin discussing his original idea for the ending along with some comic-book like art to portray the story. "Slashed Scenes" (6 minutes) offers 10 extended scenes from the movie, most of which show uncut gore footage. The problem is that they are 1.33:1 and very dark. The final extra is the THEATRICAL TRAILER for the film.