Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday is the ninth entry in the Friday the 13th franchise, and has remained something of a bastard stepchild in an already shaky series. Two versions exist, an R-rated theatrical cut and a slightly longer unrated director’s cut, the latter of which will be making its way to Blu-ray for the first time.
Following the news that a 12-film Blu-ray set containing every movie in the saga is on the way, Jason Goes to Hell director Adam Marcus was tagged in a post about it and asked if the version of his film included in the set would be the uncut one. His response was enthusiastically in the affirmative.
“Yes, this will be the first true unrated BluRay!!! With new features and awesomeness! It’s gonna rock!!!“
Jason Goes to Hell operates rather differently than most Friday the 13th installments, first off by beginning rather than ending with Jason’s apparent death. It’s revealed that he is able to overcome his obliteration by gunfire by his heart being consumed by random individuals, whereupon his spirit is able to temporarily possess their bodies, but only a member of his bloodline can restore him to his more familiar indestructible state, and conversely are also the only ones capable of truly killing him. Trust me, it’s as demented as this sounds.
Marcus was a first-time director and also developed the story from which the screenplay was written, and has always remained proud of his creation despite the frosty reception it received from critics and audiences, who disliked the alteration of the mythology and the removal of Jason himself as a physical presence. However, the movie has always had champions within the horror community, and in more recent years has gained something of a cult following after being reappraised by many.
The unrated cut doesn’t have any major changes, pretty much just more boobs and blood, and certainly doesn’t alter the film into something that those still critical of it will find more palatable. But for the people to whom Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday was always something special, it finally making its way to Blu-ray will fill a hole that has long remained empty.