Just when you thought it was safe to back in the lake, Jason Voorhees is back with more Deluxe Edition DVDs.
In honor of the 2009 remake (which bowed in February, opening at #1), Paramount Home Entertainment has pulled out all the stops on their existing Friday the 13th titles, securing producer Daniel Farrands to think outside the coffin and come up with unprecedented special features.
The most-recent batch — consisting of Parts 4, 5, and 6 — boasted scripted mockumentaries about the stories behind the mask, not to mention never-before-seen photos and restored footage, and brand-new commentaries. Parts 7 and 8, coming out on September 15, 2009, are mock-free but there is still an awful lot to discover here. Diehard fans of the series should be delighted with all the recent interviews and the treasure trove of trivia.
In case you've forgotten (or you get mixed up on all the numbers, like me) Part 7 is the one with "Telekinetic Tina" and Part 8 is the one about the high-school grads who take the ferry to Manhattan.
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood
Taking a few cues from big-screen horror hits like Carrie and Firestarter, The New Blood concocted a novel way to bring Jason back from his watery grave… yet again. This time, he's summoned by Tina Shepard (Lar Park-Lincoln), a teenage girl with wayward extrasensory powers. Tina and Jason share a special connection, as it's established that some years before we meet her in the movie Tina killed her abusive father at the infamous Crystal Lake. Jason, laden with his own parental issues, has just been waiting for her to come back. And sure enough — at the behest of crooked psychologist Dr. Crews (Terry Kiser) — she does.
• Jason's Destroyer: The Making of Friday the 13th Part VII - This very interesting behind-the-scenes featurette with all new interviews tells the story of how Kane Hodder was hired to play the machete-wielding, mask-wearing killer. There's also talk of the battles with the MPAA (mainly in question was the "sleeping bag bash"), and what composer Fred Mollin made of Harry Manfredini's iconic Friday the 13th score music. There's also a funny story about a stuntwoman, with conflicting memories, told by director John Carl Buechler and Elizabeth Kaitan (the actress who was doubled).
• Mind Over Matter: The Truth about Telekinesis - These are exactly the kinds of featurettes which have been missing in years past; while the new interviews and commentaries are certainly welcome, stuff like this is what makes the DVD worth buying. In this featurette, which is presented along the lines of a mini-documentary, spotlights not only the opinions of learned scholars on telekinesis, but how it's presented in the film. Intercut with the experts — Jack Rourke, a psychic; and Dr. Barry Taff, PhD., — is footage from the movie. Ideas ranging from the government's experiments with so-called "remote viewing" and even variables of epilepsy are discussed in connection with the psychic character.
Also:
• Commentary: Killer Commentary by director John Carl Buechler and actors Lar Park Lincoln and Kane Hodder
• Makeover by Maddy: Need a Little Touch-Up Work, My Ass
• Slashed Scenes Intro / Slashed Scenes
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
We pick Jason up where Tina left him: at the bottom of the lake. Reanimated by a live wire, he gets a charge and goes charging after a group of random (and quite obnoxious) teens who are on a ferry headed for Manhattan. About as exciting as taking a slow boat to China, this tedious tale plays out practically bloodlessly until — way too late — Jason finds his way to Times Square and goes on a tear.
• New York Has A New Problem: The Making of Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan - Writer/director Rob Hedden talks about the burden of responsibility that he felt in making the very last (or so he believed) film in the Friday the 13th franchise. Kane Hodder reveals that he was not approached to play Jason again, so he lobbied for the part (apparently, it wasn't that the producers didn't like his previous performances — they just assumed he wouldn't be interested) because he "loved it" so much. Hedden admits he relied on Hodder quite a bit to inform him on the Jason's characteristic during the course of shooting. There's a bit about the secrecy surrounding the making of the film, even to the point that many of the actors came on board thinking they were making a horror flick called Ashes To Ashes. My favorite part is the bit about the "decapi-cam" built around V.C. Dupree's disembodied head.
Also:
• Commentary: Killer Commentary by writer/director Rob Hedden and actors Jensen Daggett and Kane Hodder
• Gag Reel
• Slashed Scenes
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