So, as I said during the last review, after the disappointing box office of their last few films, Paramount sold the franchise (though kept the rights to the name, thus the Final Friday in the title) to New Line Cinema. This move of studios also prompted the return of Sean Cunningham, who had produced the House series of horror films (not to be confused with the medical drama, where coughs turn out to be rare diseases) for New Line. He had hoped for a crossover between New Line's Nightmare on Elm Street, which had been an idea floating around, but New Line decided against it. First time director Adam Marcus became attached, having been considered for Cunningham's previous film, My Boyfriends Back (which went to ... Bob Balaban? Huh.), and who was a big fan of the franchise. It was him who came up with the initial conceit of Jason being destroyed and going through various bodies. When Jay Hugely (previously a writer for Magnum PI, apparently) turned in a nearly unreadable script based on Marcus' original treatment, Cunningham recruited Boyfriend writer Dean Lorey and two other writer to finish and polish the script. Half of the film (43 minutes of an 87 minute feature) came from reshoots and inserts made after shooting wrapped up, due to a number of errors made by first time director Marcus. The film would use a number of props from other films, including the Necronomicon from Evil Dead (apparently used without the creator of the prop's permission) and the crate from Creepshow. Released to decent box office after the last one, it was critically panned and fans are split over this entry.
Having somehow gotten back to Crystal Lake from getting sunk in toxic waste in New York, Jason (Kane Hodder) goes about his business, killing random teenagers, and chases a girl (Julie Michaels) who was exploring the cabin. However, it turns out the girl is FBI agent Elizabeth Marcus, who leads him to a trap set up by the FBI, who use enough fire power and explosives to blow up Jason. Bounty hunter Creighton Duke (Steven Williams) looks on. The coroner Phil (Richard Gant) gives his autopsy report, but is prompted to heat Jason's decayed heart, which causes the soul of Jason to seize the coroner's body as a vehicle, and he goes about his killing spree. Duke realizes his real mission, and heads to Crystal Lake. There, he has a brief encounter with waitress Diana Kimble (Erin Gray), who is revealed to be Jason's half-sister. Diana's daughter Jessica (Kari Keegan) has an infant daughter of her own, Stephanie (Brooke Scher), and a relationship with crime show host Robert Campbell (Steven Culp). Sure enough, Jason, in the form of a sheriff's deputy, goes after Diana and tries to transfer to her. Jessica's ex-boyfriend Steven (John D. LeMay) finds this, and attempts to stop Jason, but is subdued, and Diana is killed. Steven is arrested for the murder, and encounters Duke in prison, who explains that Jason is going after his family members as permanent hosts for his comeback. Steven escapes, to try to stop Jason from reaching Jessica and making his comeback.
Once again, the best part of this entry are the effects, with the heart and a later scene with Jason as some sort of demon baby as particular highlights. Steven Williams as Creighton Duke is easily the best character of not only this film, but any of these films who isn't Jason. He is very charming, very charismatic, and he seems like to a formidable match for Jason.
Which is a shame when he is not only sidelined for a majority of the film, but dispatched in a fairly unromantic fashion (though apparently Marcus has retconned this). We instead follow Steven, who is far less interesting and less compelling as a foe for Jason. The concept of Jason taking the form of other people and attacking through that isn't a bad concept, but 1.) it feels more like a discount zombie movie this way, and 2.) it just doesn't really have the same menace to it. It doesn't help the film has a confusing, barely coherent plot that has severe continuity errors with the other ones and some internal continuity issue. I barely know what was going on some of the time. The supernatural element, while certainly present in the other films, (with his resurrection by lightning), feels off in here, like there should've been more build-up to it, and it feels incongruous to his portrayal in the previous films.
This is the first one of these I actively dislike. Even the ones here I described as not very good, I never really said they were bad. The problems with the other ones were either repetitiveness or something particular to that film. This one is just bad, with the clear signs of severe cuts and studio interference all over it. It is the sign of a decaying franchise. I can't really see a scenario, unless you really love this franchise, that you would have to see this. Definite skip.
Well, Jason goes to space in the next one. Maybe that'll be better.
Having somehow gotten back to Crystal Lake from getting sunk in toxic waste in New York, Jason (Kane Hodder) goes about his business, killing random teenagers, and chases a girl (Julie Michaels) who was exploring the cabin. However, it turns out the girl is FBI agent Elizabeth Marcus, who leads him to a trap set up by the FBI, who use enough fire power and explosives to blow up Jason. Bounty hunter Creighton Duke (Steven Williams) looks on. The coroner Phil (Richard Gant) gives his autopsy report, but is prompted to heat Jason's decayed heart, which causes the soul of Jason to seize the coroner's body as a vehicle, and he goes about his killing spree. Duke realizes his real mission, and heads to Crystal Lake. There, he has a brief encounter with waitress Diana Kimble (Erin Gray), who is revealed to be Jason's half-sister. Diana's daughter Jessica (Kari Keegan) has an infant daughter of her own, Stephanie (Brooke Scher), and a relationship with crime show host Robert Campbell (Steven Culp). Sure enough, Jason, in the form of a sheriff's deputy, goes after Diana and tries to transfer to her. Jessica's ex-boyfriend Steven (John D. LeMay) finds this, and attempts to stop Jason, but is subdued, and Diana is killed. Steven is arrested for the murder, and encounters Duke in prison, who explains that Jason is going after his family members as permanent hosts for his comeback. Steven escapes, to try to stop Jason from reaching Jessica and making his comeback.
Once again, the best part of this entry are the effects, with the heart and a later scene with Jason as some sort of demon baby as particular highlights. Steven Williams as Creighton Duke is easily the best character of not only this film, but any of these films who isn't Jason. He is very charming, very charismatic, and he seems like to a formidable match for Jason.
Which is a shame when he is not only sidelined for a majority of the film, but dispatched in a fairly unromantic fashion (though apparently Marcus has retconned this). We instead follow Steven, who is far less interesting and less compelling as a foe for Jason. The concept of Jason taking the form of other people and attacking through that isn't a bad concept, but 1.) it feels more like a discount zombie movie this way, and 2.) it just doesn't really have the same menace to it. It doesn't help the film has a confusing, barely coherent plot that has severe continuity errors with the other ones and some internal continuity issue. I barely know what was going on some of the time. The supernatural element, while certainly present in the other films, (with his resurrection by lightning), feels off in here, like there should've been more build-up to it, and it feels incongruous to his portrayal in the previous films.
This is the first one of these I actively dislike. Even the ones here I described as not very good, I never really said they were bad. The problems with the other ones were either repetitiveness or something particular to that film. This one is just bad, with the clear signs of severe cuts and studio interference all over it. It is the sign of a decaying franchise. I can't really see a scenario, unless you really love this franchise, that you would have to see this. Definite skip.
Well, Jason goes to space in the next one. Maybe that'll be better.
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