Summary:
After being blown up, Jason’s soul possesses a morgue worker and he tries to find a member of the Voorhees family so that he can be reborn through magic.
My Thoughts:
I’m not really a “Friday the 13th” franchise fan like I am a fan of some of the other 80s slasher franchises. At this point in my life, I’ve seen every “Child’s Play” movie, more than three-fourths of the “Halloween” franchise, and about half of the “Nightmare on Elm Street” films; “Friday the 13th” movies are something I only really will watch if I’m watching them with friends or roommates, and there’s good reason for that.
If I’m being honest, the “Friday the 13th” series is the epitome of everything I hate in horror (and I’m a huge horror fan). I hate horror movies that have extensive scenes that objectify women for no reason whatsoever- that’s not horror- that’s just sleazy cinema. Unfortunately, most of the “Friday the 13th” movies I’ve seen have been about teenage boobs, smoking pot, and just the occasional brutal kill. I’d much rather watch a silly sequence of Freddy Krueger driving some kids through a desert dreamworld (“Nightmare on Elm Street II: Freddy’s Revenger”) than I would watch the five minute softcore porn scene in the “Friday the 13th (2009)” remake. There’s just no need for that kind of content. Anyways, I’ve mostly avoided “Friday the 13th” movies, but when my roommate suggested we watch one, I assented, after all, I do write for a movie blog, and I do like tearing into movies.
We decided to go with this film, and I’m going to be honest- since we didn’t watch any of the preceding entries, the beginning of this film was a bit over the top and hilarious. This films starts with an ENTIRE FREAKING ARMY chasing Jason through the woods; they kill him by shooting him hundreds of times and then exploding him with a rocket launcher, raining down flaming chunks of flesh on the surrounding witnesses. Right away, I was far more onboard than I had been on any other Jason movie. After the hunks of flesh are gathered and brought to a morgue, somehow Jason transfers his soul to the mortician and starts killing again, making his way towards a relative, whom is his only shot at becoming fully Jason again.
So, I think what I liked about this movie was its total irreverence to everything. This movie sort of feels like “Exorcist III” and it also sort of feels like “Fallen”, where demons sort of move through different bodies to kill again. I actually kind of like the concept that went into the storyline, though, in reading a little bit more about the “Friday the 13th” series, this is widely regarded as one of the worst of the whole franchise. The way the concept was handled wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was far more interesting than watching a redneck with a machete hack some people up for another hour and a half.
I also liked a lot of the practical effects that went into this film. Even compared to the remake of “Friday the 13th” this film seemed to have far more gore and practical effects, where the remake seemed to be more concerned about how many boobs it could show. There were some genuinely fun kills, and the way that Jason transfers his soul- through a little slug-like creature- looks pretty cool too.
Verdict:
You don’t go into “Friday the 13th Part IX: Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday” expecting “Citizen Kane”, you go in looking to kill an hour and a half, and this film is an acceptable way to do that. While the “Friday the 13th” remake was so offensively bad that I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, this film is perfect for late-night, bleary-eyed viewing with friends. It’s stupid enough that I found myself laughing quite a bit, and I honestly wouldn’t have a problem watching it again with the right group of people. It’s not a good movie, by any means, but if you’re looking for dumb fun, it’ll do quite nicely.
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