After dying, coming back, taking Manhattan and dying again, Jason Voorhees is now back as a body snatcher in Jason Goes to Hell, an impossibly fun slice of campy supernatural slasher action! Jason Voorhees is finally dead! Or is he? After being blown to smithereens in a sting operation, the infamous killer’s body is taken to the morgue in Youngstown, Ohio. But Jason can’t be killed so easily, and his still-beating heart possesses the body of the coroner performing his autopsy. The now body-hopping Jason begins hacking and slashing his way back to his stomping ground of Crystal Lake, where his last living relatives, Diana, her daughter Jessica and her newborn baby Stephanie still reside. Only by them can he be truly killed, and only through them can he be reborn, and Jason is determined to return to full power. Can the last remaining Voorheeses survive long enough to finally send Jason to hell for good? Featuring fan favourite Kane Hodder as Jason and spectacular special effects by industry legends Howard Berger, Robert Kurtzman and Greg Nicotero of KNB EFX Group, Jason Goes to Hell is a madcap entry in one of the most lasting and entertaining franchises of all time
It is now time for Jason Voorhees to boldly go where no serial killer has gone before in Jason X, a spectacular sci-fi twist on the Friday the 13th franchise brought to life by legendary special effects supervisor Jim Isaac (Gremlins, eXistenZ). The year is 2455, humanity has left an overly polluted Earth for a new planet they’ve christened Earth II. A crew of scientists on an expedition to Earth I discover a research facility near Camp Crystal Lake where Jason Voorhees’ body has been cryogenically frozen. They decide to bring him back on their spaceship, but in so doing seal their doom! As they depart once again for the furthest stars, the masked maniac awakens, ready to kill again! With fan favorite Kane Hodder returning as Jason this time sporting a new space age look, and some of the most creative kills in all of slasherdom, Jason X is a rollicking blast from take-off to landing!
What We Thought:
Are Jason Goes to Hell and Jason X great movies? Absolutely not. Are they required additions to any Friday the 13th collection? Yes. These new 4Ks look great and are jam packed with bonus features so fans of Jason Voorhees will eat these up.
I’ll be honest, Jason Goes to Hell is probably my least favorite of the Friday the 13th films. Other than the original movie where the mother is the killer, it has the least amount of Jason in the movie. It opens with him being set up in a trap and blown up, but after that there is very little Kane Hodder as Jason in the movie. It tacks on a supernatural element I didn’t like and has the “heart” of Jason jumping from body to body so it has other people doing all the killing and not Jason.
Then there is the acting, it’s rough. You don’t expect Oscar worthy acting in a slasher franchise film, but man is it bad. Plus the score is just awful. Gone is the classic Jason Voorhees music replaced with a terrible score. The only real positive is the ending that set up the Freddy Kreuger/Jason Voorhees crossover.
Jason X is bad, but you kind of expected that when you found out it was headed to space. Jason is captured at the beginning, but of course the powers that be want him transported elsewhere so he kills a bunch of people and ends up cryogenically frozen and found 400 plus years later along with a woman he stabbed before they both froze.
Despite being made decades after Alien and Aliens, the space elements look terrible. The sets and production value are laughable and the film really wants to be Aliens, but with Jason instead of Xenomorphs. It’s bad, but it’s at least campy fun and does include the infamous sleeping bag kill throwback. Like Jason Goes to Hell, the acting is bad with the cyborg woman being completely wooden and one guy being a Tony Todd ripoff. It’s at least a fun (re)watch and is lightyears better than Jason Goes to Hell.
All that being said, I love these new 4K releases of Jason Goes to Hell and Jason X. You can spend hours going through the bonus features and the kills look fantastic in 4K even if the films themselves were never meant to look good. They aren’t good movies, but being the last two movies of the franchise requires you to own them. Jason Voorhees is on the Mt. Rushmore of Slasher Films so you need to own all of them. I do wish we got more of Kane Hodder in Jason Goes to Hell, but it’s too similar to the one Halloween film they tried to go supernatural with. Jason X has terrible production value, but I had plenty of fun laughing at it. If you collect Friday the 13th films, you need to add these to the collection.
Bonus Features Jason Goes to Hell:
- 4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
- 4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) of both the Theatrical Cut and the Unrated Cut
- Original lossless stereo and DTS-HD 5.1 surround audio on both cuts
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing on both cuts
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gary Pullin
- Double-sided foldout poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gary Pullin
- Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by JA Kerswell and original production notes
- DISC ONE – THEATRICAL CUT
- Introduction to the film by director Adam Marcus
- Faces of Death, a brand new interview with special make-up effects creator Robert Kurtzman
- Undercover Angel, a brand new interview with actor Julie Michaels
- Mixing it Up, a brand new interview with composer Harry Manfredini
- The Gates of Hell, an archival interview with director Adam Marcus
- Jason vs. Terminator, director Adam Marcus on growing up with the Cunninghams
- Über-Jason, an archival interview with Kane Hodder on playing Jason
- Additional TV footage, with optional commentary by director Adam Marcus
- Theatrical trailer and TV spots
- Still, behind-the-scenes and poster galleries
- DISC TWO – UNRATED CUT
- Brand new audio commentary with film historians Michael Felsher and Steve “Uncle Creepy” Barton
- Archival audio commentary with director Adam Marcus and author Peter Bracke
- Archival audio commentary with director Adam Marcus and screenwriter Dean Lorey
Bonus Features Jason X:
- 4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
- 4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
- Original lossless stereo and DTS-HD 5.1 surround audio options
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Introduction to the film by actor Kane Hodder
- Brand new audio commentary with film historians Michael Felsher and Steve “Uncle Creepy” Barton
- Archival audio commentary with writer Todd Farmer and author Peter Bracke
- Archival audio commentary with director Jim Isaac, writer Todd Farmer and producer Noel Cunningham
- Scoring the Stars, a brand new interview with composer Harry Manfredini
- Outta Space: The Making of Jason X, an archival documentary on the making of the film featuring interviews with producers Noel Cunningham and Sean S. Cunningham, actor Kane Hodder and writer Todd Farmer
- In Space No One Can Hear You Scream, an archival interview with writer Todd Farmer
- Kristi Is a Headbanger, an archival interview with actor Kristi Angus
- Jason Rebooted, Sean S. Cunningham on Jason Goes to Hell and Jason X
- The Many Lives of Jason Voorhees, an archival documentary on the history of the character
- By Any Means Necessary: The Making of Jason X, archival making-of documentary
- Cast and crew interviews
- Behind-the-scenes footage
- Electronic Press Kit
- Theatrical trailers and TV spots
- Still, behind-the-scenes and poster galleries
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gary Pullin
- Double-sided foldout poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gary Pullin
- Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Matt Donato and JA Kerswell
The Nerds Templar 