Jason va en enfer

'Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday' is far from picture, but when I compare it to the ones I have seen (2, 3, 4, parts of 5 and 6, 8) it isn't that awful.

The film is far from scary. I saw the unrated version and only jumped when someone knocked on my window. So if you are in for something to keep you out of your seat rent 'Scream.'

But I liked it because I enjoy gore. It makes the first fifteen minutes of 'Scream' become tame. This movie is hardcore, especially the director's cut (which is available.) It is not for a weak stomach.

So you might as well try it out. I think you will enjoy it.

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.

If there's one thing that can and should be said in defense of "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday", it's this...

...this is one bold, gutsy move for the franchise! Completely subversive and joyously disparate when placed in comparison to the previous eight films. A bizarre, red-headed-stepchild with a strange and sharp leaning towards the overly fantastical and blatantly magical. Taking what had been to that point an increasingly repetitious series, and attempting to inject some fresh blood for what was at the time considered to be the one... last... film to cap it all off.

Is is a success? Well, I'd say for the most part, fans do consider it a failure because it strayed so much from the formula in trying to establish a grandiose finale. And I think I would probably consider it to be a bit of a failure for that very same reason. But it's definitely a fascinating and daring failure. One that I can get behind. Especially after the increasing monotony of the previous two films.

Sue me, but I'll take an interesting failure that attempts to shake up the formula over a bland retread any day of the week!

Jason Voorhees has finally been killed. After an FBI Sting Operation blows his body to smithereens, the town of Crystal Lake is finally able to settle down, knowing the figment that has haunted them for so many years is finally gone.

Or is he?

Nope! As it turns out, Jason has become something more than human, and his evil has given him the ability to possess others through some sort of relatively-unexplained magical means. Now, Jason is coming back to seek vengeance, taking the forms of various characters through body-swapping, intent on locating surviving members of the family, so that he may be reborn again through them in his original form. Now, his only living relative (Kari Keegan), her ex (John D. LeMay) and a bounty hunter who knows the truth about Jason (Steven Williams) must team up to stop him once and for all!

Look, this movie's ridiculous. It's completely out of left-field. It doesn't really connect properly with the previous films. Its storyline is just bizarre. And it's a completely different beast tonally from any of the other flicks...

...but it's a lot of fun!

Director Adam Marcus and writers Jay Huguely and Dean Lorey seem to have a ton of ideas on how to exploit this ridiculous concept, and are given free reign to just go crazy. There's a little something for everyone here. From a touch of the self-aware laughs that made "Jason Lives" so enjoyable, to some wild and whacked-out imagery (you won't look at a straight-razor the same way again!) to some good old-fashioned kills that harken back to the first couple of movies, this film aims to deliver a roller-coaster ride from Hell... and it does deliver on that promise.

Add to that some likable performances, fun and inventive kinetic camera-work that knows how to make the best of it's lowish budget, weirdly entertaining humor and plenty of gore to go around... and it produces a film that I find to be a decent bit of dumb-fun.

This movie is stupid. Beyond belief. And it doesn't feel anything like the previous eight outtings. But I'm OK with that. It's got a lot of insane-o concepts and ideas to play with, it knows exactly what it wants to be, and it's got some fiendishly creative minds at it's helm.

It's a failure... but an entertaining and wildly ambitious failure that I can't help but root for.

So I'm giving it a middle of the road 5 out of 10. If you're a fan of the franchise and are open minded, give it a shot. You might be one of the proud few who really enjoys this off-the-rails nutcase- of-a- flick.

If longtime fans of the "Friday the 13th" saga have anything to say about it, the people behind this film will burn in the same place as its hockey-masked star. "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday" is completely preposterous, out of place and an affront to what had been a dependable horror series.

Admittedly, director and co-writer Adam Marcus deserves credit for his boldness. He seemed inexplicably convinced that the wheel of the "Friday" series needed to be drastically reinvented, even though fans had lined up for basically the same plot eight times prior. But the brainwave of having Jason possessing one body after another alters the very fabric of what made these films good. Suddenly it's like we're watching an "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" rip-off. Throw in Jason's newfound grunting, a far-too-heavy plot and a magical dagger (!) and you have something completely unworthy of the "Friday" moniker.

"Jason goes to Hell" is also incredibly lazy. All "Friday" films, by their very nature, require a leap of faith, but this is really too much. Firstly, this marked the first time that no explanation was given for Mr. Voorhees' reemergence. Were we all dreaming when we watched him get melted down to goo in the sewers of New York City? And what about Jason's rebirth toward the end (the most ridiculous moment of any "Friday" film)? How can a little slimy demon be reborn into a man already wearing ripped clothing and a hockey mask? And what about bounty hunter Creighton Duke? It's never explained how he knows so much about Jason and the mythical circumstances surrounding his life. In each of these instances, there seemingly are no easy answers. So rather than be inventive, the writers just threw all of this at us and hoped we would lap it up like thirsty kittens at a milk dish. This sequel completely ignores the continuity of the Jason legend that had been meticulously built up over the years.

What's equally tragic about "Jason goes to Hell" is its insistence on mocking the series. At one point, John D. LeMay's character sarcastically asks a trio of teens headed for Camp Crystal Lake whether they plan to smoke dope, engage in premarital sex and then get slaughtered. Har har. The transformation of Jason into some kind of media star is just as unnerving. Jason is a legend, a mythical figure whispered about in wildly imaginative campfire stories. Yet this movie turns him into a serial killer so well known he makes the TV tabloids and is targeted by the FBI. This is not the Jason we know, and "Jason goes to Hell" is not the "Friday the 13th" we love. It essentially breaks the fingers of the hand that feeds it.

The failure of "Jason goes to Hell," both in terms of concept and box office revenue, inevitably draws comparisons to the much-panned "Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning." That film drew plenty of boos for its Jason-less gimmick, but at least it had the feel of a "Friday" flick. "Jason goes to Hell" is substantially worse than any other entry, mainly because it is completely unrecognizable. Like "Part V," it probably would have worked better as a horror film independent of the Jason saga, rather than dragging Mr. Voorhees into a place he has no business being.

Clearly, Adam Marcus was wrong. The "Friday the 13th" wheel did not need reinventing. The failure of this film (and "Jason X" years later) shows that fans want a return to simpler times when horny teens in cabins were afraid to look out their windows. As the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

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.