Jason va en enfer

People give this film way too much hate... It is a fun and wild time that still has all of the core elements that people love about the franchise intact.

Okay, okay - its not the greatest of the series (I personally like Part 5 and Jason X for its pure unadulterated hamminess), but I think the problem with the film is more than just being bad but it was bizarre - it was so totally off the charts, I enjoyed it more looking at it from the perspective of a stand-alone film rather than part of the series. As part of the series, well, lets just say there is a lot to complain about, but on its own - its not bad. Certainly has a bit more personality than the other films. It felt a bit like Freddy Part 6 but made less sense! Its not that bad - worth a look if you like the series.

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday is (supposedly) the last Friday the 13th chapter... FBI agents hunt down and destroy Jason at Crystal Lake - but Jason has the ability to possess other people's bodies and continues his bloodbath.

I don't think this would be a favourite of the fans - it is quite corny, Jason doesn't feature a lot in the movie... but I think the movie half-way through takes a turn for the better. Instead of being another mindless slasher - the movie goes all John Woo with some cool gun fights and slow motion camera. It was like the director had watched a couple of John Woo films for the first time half-way through shooting the movie and decides... "it would be cool to use this stuff in this movie"!

The "Invasion of the Body Snatcher" plot doesn't work - but I think the stylish gun battles redeem this film somewhat. Sort of recommended!

Not actually killed in Manhattan (surprise, surprise), Jason is still at it until an undercover FBI agent (Julie Michaels, who makes time to take a shower) tricks him into an ambush where he's blown to pieces. If you think being head and limbless will stop Mr. Voorhees from returning to his murderous ways, think again. Now we learn that he can be "reborn" through a blood relative and can possess victims by sending an evil black monster into their bodies (idea stolen from THE HIDDEN).

In a touching tribute to the good ol' days of simplicity, overage-looking "teens" make time for skinny-dipping and tent sex before Jason splits the girl in half with a tent stake. This ninth installment in the endless Friday THE 13TH series features a good cast, but is derivative, annoying, unpleasant and not likely to be the final word in the Jason saga, despite ANOTHER cheat title (remember "The Final Chapter" way back in 1984?).

It played theaters in a cut R version (where it flopped), but the unrated "Director's Cut" video and DVD version restores most of the excellent KNB Group gore effects and some nudity, redeeming factors in a low-grade production like this. Kane Hodder (in his third appearance as Jason) also gets a credit for stunts.

'Friday the 13th' may have been panned by critics when first released but since then it is one of the most famous and influential horror films, the franchise containing one of horror's most iconic villains. The film is popular enough to become a franchise and spawn several sequels of varying quality and generally inferior to the one that started it all off.

'Jason Goes to Hell' for me is one of the worst of the 'Friday the 13th' films, a strong contender even for the worst. Is it irredeemably awful? No, not quite, don't think any of the 'Friday the 13th' films are. Then again this is coming from somebody who tries to see the good in bad films etc. and even tries to say where good to great films etc. could be improved on, not somebody who hates on everything or declare every film seen a classic. Sadly though, despite not caring hugely for the previous two instalments, 'Jason Goes to Hell' is indicative of the series has gone to hell.

Are there good things here in 'Jason Goes to Hell'? Yes there are. The highlights are the tense opening scene and the slicing in half death (very strange but both disturbing and not easy to forget). Kane Hodder does a lot with little and is suitably creepily intimidating.

There are instances too where the film is also inventively shot.

On the other hand, while a good deal of 'Friday the 13th' films are silly, the silliness here is overkill that it becomes insultingly ridiculous. It is certainly the most bizarre film in the series, and not in a good way, and it completely gets in the way of scares or suspense. 'Jason Goes to Hell' overdoes just as much on the weirdness as it does with silliness. A lot fails to make sense, with too many parts confusing the story, and things that beg for an explanation are left unexplained, anything explanations are like the previous films didn't happen because so much doesn't fit.

Hodder aside, the acting is really poor, even for the 'Friday the 13th' films where acting rarely was a strength. Likewise with the dialogue, which is 'Friday the 13th' at its most taking-simplicity-to-extremes, stilted, cheesiest and lacking in taste.

Nothing is truly scary here, apart from the opening and one memorable death and suspense is nil. The kills are generally neither creative or shocking (going for more quantity, with a very large body count, than quality where gore feels too much and gratuitous. The pacing is far too hectic, the film never stops moving and everything here feels incredibly rushed, and this hurts the atmosphere and the storytelling. 'Jason Goes to Hell' is also the first film in the series where the music score is a drawback and not a redeeming feature, not only does the music sound cheap here it also is so discordant with what's going on and like it was written for a different film.

Concluding, not a good film and indicative of a severe decline of a variable series of films. 3/10 Bethany Cox