Jason Goes to Hell The Final Friday (1993)
Directed by Adam Marcus
Written by Jay Huguely, Dean Lorey
Starring John D. LeMay, Kane Hodder, Erin Gray, Allison Smith, Steven Culp, Steven Williams
Release Date August 13th, 1993
August 17th, 2023
It's weird and rare to see a horror movie franchise parody itself and yet, that's exactly what we get in the opening moments of Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. The film opens on a beautiful woman alone at a summer camp. She's making all of the mistakes that a victim of Jason Voorhees makes. She's getting naked and then running around in just a towel. Naturally, of course, this grabs Jason's attention and he begins his usual methodical pursuit. And then the see is turned on its head. Floodlights fill the scene, the woman as well as dozens of FBI Agents pull guns and explosives are used to blow Jason Voorhees to little bits.
This sequence features a shot of Jason's mask flying toward the screen and a shot of Jason's still beating heart which is pretty cool. For a moment, only a moment, it seems as if Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, might have a sense of humor and purpose in taking this aging franchise in an interesting new direction. And then, the movie flies completely off the rails. If you could think of a worse direction to take Jason Voorhees and this franchise you would be meeting quite a challenge. The decisions made by director Adam Marcus and writers Jay Huguely and Dean Lorey are so insane that they defy any attempt to defend them.
So, with Jason blown to bits how does the story continue? Jason's charred pieces are taken for an autopsy. The coroner in charge of Jason's body, for reasons that cannot be explained, decides to eat Jason's heart. It's implied that something supernatural, something Jason is doing from beyond the grave, is causing this otherwise normal guy, to eat Jason's heart but that doesn't make this scene any less insane. Eating Jason's heart turns the coroner into Jason Voorhees but he still looks like the coroner. As the coroner, Jason sets about murdering the staff of the coroner's office and begins seeking a way to keep himself alive.
To let us know that Jason is still around, we occasionally see Jason, full hockey mask and overalls regalia intact, in reflections. You know, in case we forgot what movie we were watching. For real, we might actually need the reminder as Jason Goes to Hell is set to retcon more of Jason's backstory to serve this new narrative. In a move that baffled long time fans, Jason is revealed to have a sister, played by a slumming former television star, Erin Gray. She has a daughter who is about to give birth and Jason wants to get in that baby in order to be reborn into a new body.
Thus, Jason kills his way through several bodies, he can't sustain the bodies he enters by vomiting himself from one victim to another. All while he searches for his sister and the baby that he hopes he can enter and be reborn. Why and how a mindless killing machine like Jason Voorhees would suddenly have this supernatural body swapping power to the knowledge of how to use these powers is beyond any attempt to explain. He just now has these powers just as he now has a sister that he never had before. Look, if you're going to question it, you're not going to enjoy Jason Goes to Hell. I know, I didn't enjoy it.
Well, I should say, I didn't enjoy it in any way that the filmmakers intended me to enjoy it. On a derisive level, I did have a little fun making fun of Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. The sight of various characters in the guise of Jason Voorhees vomiting Jason from one body to the next is a gross but hilarious visual. I laughed at poor Erin Gray who seems to be lamenting every moment that she spends being in this movie. Gray was once a popular and beloved television star and its clear that being part of a late in life sequel to a dying horror franchise is not how she saw her career playing out. Her dead behind the eyes delivery borders on intentional comedy.
Find my full length review at Horror.Media
