EXT. ROAD - DAY

The TRACK is SILENT.

The CAMERA looks at a sign.

It reads: CAMP CRYSTAL LAKE Established 1935

For such an influential and adored series of horror flicks, the Friday The 13th films have been treated like so much garbage over the years in a series of meager releases, with nonexistent special features, completely ignored/avoided "special" editions and a basic all around apathy for the sheer vocal power of the fan base.  With the exception of a few bootleg versions of uncut releases, most fans shelves are stocked with bare-bones discs that have a trailer or two each and which, quite frankly, most of us were reluctant to waste our hard earned money on!  For the price of a few of these discs, a trip to Frys Electronics will set you up with a region free DVD player to watch some discs from a country that wasn't afraid to include the director's full vision and the full, unedited gore that we buy these damn things for in the first place! 

Now it would be, of course, just too unbelievable (sarcasm intended) to think that this new box set would include the uncut versions of these films, since this is after all what the fans want more than anything.  So here is the fair warning right up front.  You will not be receiving the uncut versions of these films in the From Crystal Lake To Manhatten box set!  We will touch more on this later, but let's just suffice it to say that these movies will still not be receiving the respect that they deserve, but this is the most we have even gotten out of Paramount, so I suppose that we owe them at least that much.  To understand a bit more why these films should be treated better, let's take a look at where they come from in the first place and how much they have done for our favorite genre.

An up and coming director by the name of Sean Cunningham left Connecticut (where he had been working since leaving his native New York) and headed out to Tinsletown in the hopes of striking film gold with a instant smash hit.  Soon after arriving he met a fellow Hollywood rookie, Wes Craven.  After hitting it off, the pair went in together on a softcore flick called Together, which dealt with a bunch of naked people in a commune talking about sex.  Not exactly award winning material, but when you have naked people and sex anywhere near each other, someone is going to make some money.

In this case, two somebodies made some cash and used that cash to produce one of the most influential rape revenge/exploitation films ever made, The Last House On The Left.  With Craven sitting in the director's chair and Cunningham billed as producer, both were now firmly rooted into genre fan's minds, as well as having the genre itself firmly rooted into their minds.  Sean next used up some of his earnings on a worthwhile porn spoof entitled Case Of The Full Moon Murders in which a vampiress gets her sustenance by sucking not only the blood, but certain body parts as well, of her male victims, and a very odd take on The Bad News Bears which featured way too much adult humor and far too many foul-mouthed kids to be the "children's" movie which Cunningham has claimed.  There was of course also some meager success with an actual children's picture called Manny's Orphans, but it was not enough for Sean.  He had not forgotten that his bread-basket was built upon the foundation of horror cinema, and soon a return to the genre was required.  

Not having an idea of what his film would be about, Cunningham did have one thing...a title.  Thinking that the idea of a horror film entitled "Friday The 13th" was a brilliant idea, he took an ad out in a July 4th issue of Variety Magazine (knowing full well the huge reader pool he would reach) touting an upcoming film that was to be the most frightening film ever made.  His ploy worked and within a short time he had the funding needed to green light the project...a project which still did not exist!  Next up came some brainstorming and the rest is cinematic history!  Designed at first to be simply a one time shot which hinted at the possibility of a supernatural killer while actually remaining firmly grounded in reality and misdirection, Cunningham made one final decision that would prove to be the wisest thing he had ever done (next to bringing Tom Savini on board for visual effects!).

While we all know that the killer in the first film was Jason's mother and not the resurrected body of her child, come to seek revenge on the camp counselors who let him drown, a sequence was derived in which a young Jason Voorhees would spring from the lake at the end of the film, in a move that was designed simply to scare moviegoers unexpectedly.  Cunningham thought at first that this was too much a departure from the reality which he had set up with his film, until it was decided that the scene would be used as a dream sequence instead.  Same scare, less loss of credit.  Had he however conceded this scene to the cutting room floor, we would not have another ten sequels to fill in space on our DVD shelves.

It was not long (1981) before Jason had made an appearance in a sequel where he could do all his own killing, without his hockey mask at this point, but with a far more frightening and unsettling burlap sack over his head.  Cunningham had moved on at this point (to other films such as House [producer], Deep Star Six [producer], and A Stranger Is Watching [director]), and would not be back as a viable part of the series until 1993's Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday.  Given the >ahem< quality of this one, I am left to wonder if he should not have come back at all!  In the first eight films which are al included in this collection, Jason would find himself going up against psychic girls, the handicapped (in my favorite Jason kill of the series!), more teenage girls than a boy band concert, and of course, The Big Apple.  All of these adventures and more are included here, but these are not why you are reading this review.  What you want to know is, "Why should I have spent WAY too much money on Paramount's existing overpriced DVDs with no extras, and now spend even more if I am not going to get the uncut versions of the Friday films with this set?".  Good question; let's see if you like the answer.

Frank Mancuso of Paramount Pictures took a huge chance on Friday The 13th when it was first run past him.  He fought for US and Canadian release of a film that no one was even familiar with, and from a director/producer that had really only had one hit...of which most of the credit for went to Wes Craven.  This sort of support is NOT common from a major studio on an independently financed feature...even less so on an independently financed horror feature; which leaves us all with this question.  At what point did Paramount decide to sweep the Friday The 13th series, which has been a huge genre success and financial cash cow, under the rug?  Regardless of who is to blame or for what reasons, the stats are as follows...in the eight films bearing the Friday The 13th name that Paramount has released there are five trailers included as extras.  No, not five per disc...five.  Total.  By themselves.  For a classic horror series that every Tom, Dick and Harry on the planet is at least an armchair fan of, this was absolutely inexcusable!  So, Paramount has now done the noble thing and put together whatever they can (short of the long awaited and much cried for unrated versions) and released to fans...THEIR fans...the Friday The 13th: Ultimate Edition DVD Collection.

There are five DVDs in this particular collection, four of which contain two films each, and a fifth which contains all the goodies that will make the fans actually want to buy this set!  Those first four discs of the films (only parts 1 - 8 due to New Line Cinema now owning the rights to the Friday The 13th franchise and the movies which came after Jason Takes Manhattan) are nearly as bare and devoid of fun tidbits as the originally released DVDs.  There are, however, commentaries now added to Friday The 13th: Part 3 with select cast and crew, Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives with director Tom McLoughlin (who is now a fairly prolific TV director with but one other feature theatrical release since this film), Friday The 13th: The New Blood with Kane Hodder (the REAL Jason!!) and director John Carl Buechler (who is a rarity in Hollywood, a director and effects make-up artist who supervises his own special effects department on many films), and Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan with director Rob Hedden (who would eventually embarrass himself with the script to Clockstoppers).

The commentaries are interesting and each one goes fairly in depth into the behind the scenes world of the film to which it is attached.  One problem with these though, is that the true, die hard fans already know all of this stuff!  We have had to do so much research just to find a few interesting facts about these movies that most of what is covered on the commentaries plays like a simple confirmation/verification to facts that we already know.  Paramount was going to have to go one step further with this set if we were to take the hook and run when they dangled it, and they came up with just the right bait!  A fifth disc; loaded with goodies and the holy grail (sort of)...the forbidden footage from the uncut editions as well as more gore galore that hit the cutting room floor!

Starting this disc off is "The Friday The 13th Chronicles Eight Part Featurette" which goes film by film through each history and eventual creation.  Interviews and memories from all sorts of cast and crew (Sean S. Cunningham, Betsy Palmer, Corey Feldman, Kane Hodder and the immortal Tom Savini included!) are assembled to spell out the story of how these films came to life, what their legacy has been, and what sorts of secrets they hold.  Watch them all together or discover each film one at a time.  Next, your journey will take you deep inside the secrets of Friday The 13th's gore, with Tom Savini (The Godfather Of Gore!) and John Carl Buechler (Trancers, Ghoulies II, Halloween 4) presenting extremely rare peeks into the photos, plans, drawings, techniques, and footage of Jason Voorhees' handiwork.  Machetes, knifes, jagged poles, axes and more await you in this insider's tour through the world of special effects gore!

And if you ever wondered where all those corpses are now, you will not want to miss out on "Crystal Lake Victims Tell All!".  A group of Jason's victims has been gathered up to tell you exactly what it is like to be hunted by one of the most imposing slashers of them all.  Hear, in their own words, what each death scene was like and what they remember most from the experience.  And if it is a shame the way Jason cut up these campers, it is a CRYING shame the way the Friday The 13th films have been cut and edited over the decades.  In "Tales From The Cutting Room Floor" you will finally be treated to the missing gore scenes from each and every movie that they were cut out of!  Now, I know that all of you are getting excited about the same thing that I did..."Now I can splice this footage in and have my very own unrated versions of all these great flicks!".  Sorry to report, but the folks over there at Paramount have gone and spoiled it for everyone by being more than a little sneaky.  Each and every chopped scene is spoken over by the directors and cast members associated with it, and if that were still not enough to deter you from splicing those scenes right in, you are still out of luck!  Each scene is shown on only half the screen, while the edited version plays on the other half!  This is supposed to be showing you the difference between the two, but we all know that this is simply a sneaky way to prevent bootlegging of what they could have just given us in the first place...THE MOVIES WITH THE SCENES IN THEM.  That is all that us fans have ever wanted and it still isn't what we are going to get.

It is still pretty nice to be able to check out some of the gore that was not available before, and I suppose that any graphic slaying is better than no graphic slaying, but it is like finally scraping together the change for that candy bar you have been lusting after all day and finding out that it is stale.  The treat is there, but most of the thrill is gone, gone, gone.  The rest of the features included are pretty standard stuff: a look into the collectibles and private collection artifacts that surround the film, a collection of the films trailers and a little chat with the famous voice that spoke over them.  A decent wrapping up of a disc full of very cool extras...but is it a disc worth the purchase of this set?

You see, one problem arises with this box set.  These movies have been around for awhile, and most fans have picked them up by now if they were going to.  This makes the decision of buying the entire box set a little hazy at best.  You are pretty much paying the entire cost for the one disc of extras and the packaging, unless you are some sort of super-collector who simply has to have every single little thing (like me...).  If you have two or three of these films hanging out on your shelf, then go sell those bad boys while it is still Halloween season and the odds of getting a decent price for them are still good.  If you have all eight of these occupying space on your shelving unit...well, it's a tough one.  I would say go ahead and pick it up and sell the eight bare bones discs you have to ease the financial sting...

...what do you say?

-aaron-