Classic Movie Review Jason Goes to Hell The Final Friday

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

Movie Review: The Emperor's Club

The Emperor's Club (2002)

Directed by Michael Hoffman

Written by Neil Tolkin 

Starring Kevin Kline, Steven Culp, Embeth Davidtz, Patrick Dempsey, Emile Hirsch, Rob Morrow 

Release Date November 22nd, 2002 

Published November 22nd, 2002 

In Life as A House, Kevin Kline pandered unsuccessfully to Oscar voters with a character that begged to be loved. Why an actor as talented as Kline felt the need to beg for an Oscar nomination is beyond me because, with his roles in the highly underrated comedy Dave and the forgotten cop thriller The January Man (which is a personal favorite of mine), Kline has proved he can act as well as anyone. In his latest film, The Emperor's Club, Kline takes on yet another role that seems to scream for Oscar attention while not deserving it.

Kline stars as Mr. Hundert, a professor at an all-boys private school named St. Benedictus. Mr Hundert teaches the classics and Roman history, to a group of kids who will grow up to be politicians and the future captains of industry. At first, he is simply dealing with a group of bright kids who are just there to learn. Things change when the troublemaking son of a senator named Sedgewick Bell (Emile Hirsch) joins the class and begins to disrupt things. At first, Mr. Hundert is at a loss as to how to teach Sedgewick since the kid simply refuses to do anything. However after speaking to Sedgewick's father (character actor Harris Yulin, in a typically villainous role), Hundert sees a way to reach the young boy.

The culmination of the school year is a competition between students to become Mr. Julius Caesar, a crown bestowed on the student who has the greatest knowledge of Roman history. Sedgewick begins taking part in class and earns a spot in the contest finals for Mr. Julius Caesar. Though Sedgewick didn't truly earn his spot, Mr. Hundert increased Sedgewick's score on a test, just enough to get him in the contest. Whether he felt sorry for Sedgewick or felt his hard work warranted the extra couple points, Mr. Hundert's decision will come to haunt him when he catches Sedgewick trying to cheat in the contest.

The film begins with an older Mr. Hundert reuniting with his class of 1976, the class which incluses Sedgewick and his friends, and ends with the actual reunion which was organized by Sedgewick as a rematch of the Mr. Julius Caesar contest.

The Emperor's Club is notable for its simplistic scale. This is not meant to be a broad inspirational tale, but rather, a straightforward, earnest character study. It is a movie that seems dedicated to the one teacher that everyone remembers fondly, but instead is a study of one man and his decisions and morals. Mr. Hundert is a good man whose bad decisions haunt him for a long time, but never overwhelm him.

This is not Mr. Holland's Opus or Dead Poets Society; this film isn't that broad. The Emperor's Club is a simple character study. If only that character were more interesting than this one. The Emperor's Club could have been pretty good. Kevin Kline has natural charisma and intelligence yet his Mr. Hundert is an endlessly dull character, as are his students.

Anyone who has never been to a private school and could care less for its rites and traditions will find that The Emperor's Club does little to make them interesting. I expected the film to illustrate the exhilaration of learning. Learning even the most obscure knowledge can be exciting, but the film fails to show this. Instead, the film glosses over the teaching and learning in favor of its morality play.

I have yet to see a film that really expressed the joy of learning. Stand & Deliver came close, but was more concerned with racial politics than with learning. The Emperor's Club had the opportunity and missed. Still I believe someday a film will truly show the joy of learning and that will be one great film.