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Released by: Paramount Studios
Released on: June 16, 2009
Director: Tom McLoughlin
Cast: Thom Matthew, David Kagen, Jennifer Cooke, C.J. Graham
Year: 1986
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The Movie:
After the mediocrity of the fifth film in the series, Friday The 13th Part VI - Jason Lives wisely brings the action back to the camp that started it all. When Tommy Jarvis (Thom Matthew) and a friend named Allen (played by none other than Ron Polillo) dig up the grave of Jason Vorhees (C.J. Graham) so that Tommy can know once and for all that he's dead for good, they open up the casket just in time for the body to be struck by lightning. Jason is resurrected by, makes short work of Allen, and Tommy heads into town to have words with the local sheriff about Jason's revival. Unfortunately, the adults that live in the area have convinced most of the younger folks that the stories of Jason and Pamela Vorhees are nothing more than folk stories so when Tommy comes running up to Sheriff Garris (David Kagen), he finds himself believed to be insane. Garris looks him up, but not before his daughter, a camp counselor named Megan (Jennifer Cooke), realizes how cute he is.
Megan heads up to the infamous with her fellow counselors to usher in a new season's worth of kids, but shortly after they arrive it's obvious that Jason's back with an axe to grind. After making his way through a group of business executives out playing paintball, he hits up the camp and starts wreaking havoc. Megan busts Tommy out of jail and the local authorities believe he's insane, going to very extreme lengths to convince people that Jason is really back, but Tommy and Megan know that Jason really is back from the dead and he's none too happy about, well, anything really, which is probably why he keeps killing everyone.
While this entry is played with tongue placed firmly in cheek, it's done with a whole lot more style and wit than the entry that came before it. At this point, it was probably hard to do much of anything with Jason seriously, as he'd become his own pop culture parody in many ways, so the writers just decided to keep it light and run with it. Where the movie falls short is in the sex and gore department. While we do get a couple of decent kill scenes and some after shots of the carnage that Jason meets out with a vengeance, a whole lot of the impact is lost as much of it happens off screen. There's virtually no skin on display either, rare for a series that had based its success on the combination of wanton sex and righteous violence.
Bringing Tommy back to finalize things was a decent plot device, however. It makes sense in the context of the ongoing saga that he might want to come back to bring some closure to the events that he'd gone through in his younger years. While it was far too easy to just have the sheriff's pretty young daughter fall for him so easily, Matthew and Cooke make for a likeable enough combination and carry the film without making it ever look too difficult. Like a lot of horror movies made in and around the same time, the fashions and music (much of which comes courtesy of Alice Cooper) date the film and make it seem cornier than it really is, but sometimes nostalgia is half the fun.
Director Tom McLoughlin keeps the movie kicking along at a really good pace and C.J. Graham makes for a pretty intense Jason using his considerable screen presence to, if not frighten us, at least make for a reasonably intimidating foe for the protagonists. Some self-referential humor makes some good natured nods to long time fans of the series and Harry Manfredini's score gets some new life breathed into it this time around that does a good job of blending the traditional scores from earlier films with some new and welcome tweaks. In the end, it may not be high art, but who gives it shit - it's a whole lot of fun.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The difference between this new 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and the previous DVD releases isn't as noticeable with this film as it was with the first five entries in the series simply because this one just happened to look better than the earlier ones so there wasn't as much room for improvement. That said, you will notice some differences in the colors, however, as the blue tinting isn't nearly as heavy this time around for whatever reason. The image is slightly cleaner with a bit more detail but the colors are what you'll probably really notice. Color changes aside, the transfer is pretty strong. No problems with compression artifacts or heavy edge enhancement and print damage is all but completely missing, though a welcome bit of film grain is present. The image looks a little darker than it has in the past but that's not necessarily a bad thing and it doesn't come at the cost of lost detail. All in all, the image is quite good.
Audio options are supplied in a newly created Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound track in English with Dolby Digital Mono options available in English, French, and Spanish. Subtitles are also supplied in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. While purists will be thankful for the Mono track, the 5.1 mix does a nice job of spreading things out when it counts. The score in particular has more resonance to it than the last release afforded it while dialogue and sound effects are all nice and crisp and levels remain properly balanced throughout.
The supplements kick off with a strong commentary track that comes courtesy of director Tom McLoughlin who is joined by editor Bruce Green and actor Vincent Guastaferro. While you might think that McLoughlin and Green would dominate the track given how editor's and director's often work quite closely together, it's actually Guastaferro who helps McLoughlin out here and the pair really find that they have a lot to say about this picture not only in terms of how it all came together and what it was like shooting it on location in Georgia, but also about some of the troubles that they ran into on set, what it was like working with the various cast members, and about how they feel about this picture in general. There's a good, friendly and interesting tone to this track that makes it very easy to listen to and quite enjoyable.
Up next is the sixth installment in the Lost Tales From Camp Blood short film series that Paramount has been including on this recent Deluxe Editions. This one finds the lone guy from the hospital battling it out with a killer in the woods and it's actually marginally more interesting than the first few entries which were fairly weak. Also look for the third entry in the Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited series of fake news reports to appear here as well. Like the first two, it's moderately amusing but doesn't offer much real substance in regards to the films.
More interesting is the Jason Lives: The Making Of Friday The 13th Part VI, a thirteen minute featurette that has input from McLoughlin, his wife (who we learn is the first victim in the movie), actor David Kagen and effects technicians Gabe Bartalos and Chris Biggs. You won't find much new information here if you've seen the features from the previous boxed set release but it's a fun look back at the movie that these guys made. That said, couldn't they have rounded up some more of the cast?
A very cool exclusive extra on this release is Meeting Mr. Vorhees, which is essentially a three-minute alternate ending of sorts. It was never filmed so it's recreated here using storyboard artwork with narration from McLoughlin. While the ending chosen for the feature version of the movie is better, it would have been interesting to see where the series had gone if Jason's father were introduced…
Rounding out the extras are six minutes worth of slashed scenes (which contains some noticeably gorier extensions to the murder scenes we see in the R-rated cut and a longer bit with Tommy Jarvis from the end of the film - these are cool to see, though some appeared in the boxed set release prior), the film's awesome theatrical trailer in which an empty coffin pops out of Jason's grave, a promo spot for The Uninvited, animated menus and chapter selection. Once again, this release comes in a nifty lenticular slipcase cover. While it would have been nice to see a few more people who worked on the film rounded up for the extras here, Paramount has otherwise done a pretty respectable job with the supplemental material on this disc.
The Final Word:
Don't take this one too seriously and you're bound to have a good time with it, even if it scores low in the bloodshed category. Jason Lives is a fun slasher with some solid kills scenes and enough memorable moments that it's easy to understand why it's a fan favorite. Paramount's new Deluxe Edition re-release provides cleaner video, marginally improved audio, and considerably more extras than it's had in the past, making this a welcome addition to any Friday The 13th fan's collection.