Movies
13 Days of F13: Day Ten – Jason Goes To Hell
Man, remember the first time you saw Jason Goes To Hell? Or, more specifically, the last 10 seconds? It was every horror fan’s biggest wet dream come (almost) true. But what about the 90 minutes before that memorable shot, did it satisfy Jason fans like BC? Read on to find out as we start to wind down on our epic 13 part retrospective on this beloved series.
For a horror fan, there is no escaping Jason Voorhees or Friday the 13th. Even if you have never seen a single movie (for shame!), you know who he is, what he does, and what he looks like. But that’s from my perspective. I grew up in the 80s, played the video game on a system known simply as Nintendo (now referred to as “The 8 Bit”), and suffered the indignity of that comic where he fought a talking Leatherface.
But what about those who grew up in the Jason-starved 90s? The only Jason films they might remember in theaters are the ones where he fights Freddy or goes off into space. The remake may be their first real introduction to the hockey masked behemoth that stalks teenagers at a place known as Crystal Lake. So for them, Bloody Disgusting and Horror Movie A Day would like to present this retrospective series: 13 Days Of Jason. Each day leading up to the remake’s theatrical release, BC will be showcasing one of the original films, with trivia, factoids, thoughts, and his own full blown review.
Bloody will also be presenting a few other articles that highlight some of the series’ traditions, such as the lovesick nerd character and Jason’s habit of using unique weapons. Because even if you don’t agree with BC’s assessment of each film, there’s one thing we can all agree on: Jason fucking rules.
AKA: “The one without Jason”
RELEASE: August 13, 1993 (1,355 theaters)
GROSS: $15,935,068
PLOT: Sometime after the events of a few movies that we never got to see (which would detail how Jason grew back up and made his way back to Crystal Lake from New York), Jason is blown up by a bunch of SWAT guys. But some doctor eats his heart (just go with it) and becomes possessed by Jason’s soul. The movie then rips off The Hidden for a while before Jason is finally reborn (complete with all of his wounds and half-mangled hockey mask), only to be killed a few minutes later by a magic dagger and some giant puppet arms. An in-joke then frustrates fans for a decade.
THOUGHTS: Nonsensical “mythology” aside, it’s actually not too bad of a movie as a stand alone thing… but where the fuck is Jason? Come on, guys! At that point it had been 4 years since his last adventure, and they send him off (pfft) in a movie that he only actually appears in for like 10 minutes? Fuck that. At least his makeup is pretty great when you see it, and it’s also the most “quality” movie of the entire series (at that point), with actual production value and established actors and things like that (it certainly looks like it cost more than it did – the budget was actually lower than that of a few other entries).
(Read BC’s full review at Horror Movie A Day)
BEST KILL: The whole diner massacre is pretty awesome. Not-Jason breaks a dude’s arm in half, smashes a fat woman’s face in, and tosses another guy on a grill. Then he squeezes a girl’s head until her brain shoots out. If it was actually Jason in the scene, it would probably be his best mini-spree in the entire series.
MOST “HUH?” MOMENT: Homoerotic shaving, anyone? Actually the whole movie’s kind of like that: Kane Hodder’s guard character takes an awful long time to pat down everyone that comes into the morgue (why is it so high security anyway?), and Creighton Duke’s jail cell scene with John LeMay has probably raised a few eyebrows as well. Say what you will about the movie, but you gotta admit it has a wonderfully quirky personality.
FUTURE STARS: Nothing earth-shattering, but a couple minor folks you may recognize pop up; including Leslie Jordan (who was a frequent guest star on Will & Grace), Steven Culp (Desperate Housewives), and Rusty Schwimmer (Perfect Storm).
TRIVIA: There’s a deleted bit that has never appeared on the DVD or anything. During the (awesome) opening sequence, the girl was going to spin around and shoot Jason with a small gun right before the SWAT guys show up. It would have been a way more awesome moment had they left it in (you can actually see the gun in her right hand as she runs for cover). Also – Crystal Lake is moved from New Jersey (more or less the accepted locale) to Connecticut.
Check back tomorrow for Jason X!
Click here to keep up with all of our 13 Days of Friday the 13th coverage!
Universal has been having a hell of a time getting their Universal Monsters brand back on a better path in the wake of the Dark Universe collapsing, with four movies thus far released in the years since The Mummy attempted to get that interconnected universe off the ground.
First was Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man, to date the only post-Mummy hit for the Universal Monsters, followed by The Last Voyage of the Demeter, Renfield, and now Abigail. The latter three films have attempted to bring Dracula back to the screen in fresh ways, but both Demeter and Renfield severely underperformed at the box office. And while Abigail is a far better vampire movie than those two, it’s unfortunately also struggling to turn a profit.
Where does the Universal Monsters brand go from here? The good news is that Universal and Blumhouse have once again enlisted the help of Leigh Whannell for their upcoming Wolf Man reboot, which is howling its way into theaters in January 2025. This is good news, of course, because Whannell’s Invisible Man was the best – and certainly most profitable – of the post-Dark Universe movies that Universal has been able to conjure up. The film ended its worldwide run with $144 million back in 2020, a massive win considering the $7 million budget.
Given the film was such a success, you may wondering why The Invisible Man 2 hasn’t come along in these past four years. But the wait for that sequel may be coming to an end.
Speaking with the Happy Sad Confused podcast this week, The Invisible Man star Elisabeth Moss notes that she feels “very good” about the sequel’s development at this point in time.
“Blumhouse and my production company [Love & Squalor Pictures]… we are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” Moss updates this week. “And I feel very good about it.”
She adds, “We are very much intent on continuing that story.”
At the end of the 2020 movie, Elisabeth Moss’s heroine Cecilia Kass uses her stalker’s high-tech invisibility suit to kill him, now in possession of the technology that ruined her life.
Stay tuned for more on The Invisible Man 2 as we learn it.
[Related] Power Corrupts: Universal Monsters Classic ‘The Invisible Man’ at 90
Dev Patel’s ‘Monkey Man’ Is Now Available to Watch at Home!
Five Underseen Vampire Horror Movies to Stream This Week
‘Stream’ – Horror Movie from the Team Behind ‘Terrifier’ Sets August Theatrical Release
‘The Blair Witch Project’ – Original Stars Release a Statement Asking Lionsgate for Residuals & Recognition
‘Mountain Man’ – Joe Manganiello Will Battle Zombies in Upcoming Horror Movie
