Ahead Of Its Time And Bloody As Hell: A Look Back At JASON GOES TO HELL
The 1990s saw a change in the horror landscape. The slashers that had dominated the previous decade were being replaced by more sophisticated beasts. In place of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and HALLOWEEN we were getting movies like CAPE FEAR and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, horror in awards-friendly wrapping, and before you knew it, the old guard was slowly being whittled down. 1991 saw the death of Chucky with CHILD’S PLAY 3, New Line Cinema was putting an end to their lucrative icon Freddy Krueger with FREDDY’S DEAD: THE FINAL NIGHTMARE and in 1993, Jason Voorhees was finally going to be put to rest with JASON GOES TO HELL: THE FINAL FRIDAY which is now celebrating its 30th anniversary. So, let’s look back on the life and “death” of the man behind the mask.
FRIDAY THE 13TH was a juggernaut of a hit. Made on a budget of $500,000, the film grossed over $5 million at the box office and Paramount, seeing a cash cow on their hands, immediately went into development of a sequel. Realizing that they needed a new villain since (SPOILER ALERT) they had killed Pamela Voorhees off, the producers quickly established the idea that Jason, the previously thought dead son, would become the killer. This did two things: first, it established some of the most wild and inconsistent continuity ever in any franchise and second, it solidified Jason Voorhees as the next level in the horror echelon, taking the reins from two previous slashers: Leatherface and Michael Myers. As the franchise progressed, Jason’s popularity grew and FRIDAY THE 13TH was more than just a film series, it was a brand: everything from TV shows to video games were utilizing the FRIDAY THE 13TH title and it seemed like the success would continue for quite some time.
Unfortunately, as tends to happen, oversaturation was leading the franchise to turn more into a parody of itself and Jason was being seen more as an anti-hero rather than the villain that the audience is supposed to be afraid of. Fans who had cowered in fear when Jason stuck a corkscrew through Crispin Glover’s hand were now cheering him on as he crushes a victim's head into a pulp. Along with this, the MPAA was getting more and more strict with their rating guidelines and the over-the-top gore that had once dominated earlier films in the franchise was now being cut to the point of being practically bloodless and, dare I say, family friendly. These factors were resulting in lower box office returns and it was up to one last ditch effort to save the franchise from the fire: Jason was going to New York.
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN was going to be truly incredible: Jason was going to literally dive off the top of the Statue of Liberty! Instead, because the studio was unwilling to allow any major filming in New York, Jason spends most of the film taking a cruise before stalking through the back alleys and toxic waste strewn sewers of Vancouver (though they did film a sequence in Times Square which is pretty astounding). As was expected, the lack of Manhattan in the film left many fans cold and the film wound up being the lowest grossing in the entire franchise. It seemed like Jason was finally dead…or so it would seem.
New Line Cinema, the home of Jason’s prime rival Freddy Krueger, purchased the rights to Jason Voorhees (I could go into the extremely long and convoluted legal issues that this franchise has faced but that would be a series of articles) and it seemed like things were finally going to coalesce into the oft discussed and theorized over FREDDY VS JASON. Unfortunately, that film was still a few years away (if you’d like to read about that I highly recommend Slash Of The Titans by Dustin McNeill, you won’t be disappointed) and, instead of a battle of two horror icons, we are given the most wild and insane offering this franchise has to offer (and that’s truly saying something given where this franchise had gone and would go afterwards).
JASON GOES TO HELL: THE FINAL FRIDAY foregoes what had been the typical formula of the previous films, gone are the boatloads of horny teens looking to get high and fool around (okay, there is one set of them, but they get dispatched fairly early), gone is Jason as the anti-hero actually…gone is Jason altogether. After a sequence in which he is completely and utterly destroyed, Jason’s soul begins a wild and blood-soaked journey to be reunited with his family in order to be reborn that concludes in, you guessed it, Jason being sent to Hell.
The film is, unfortunately, the second lowest grossing of the whole franchise. Perhaps it was ahead of its time in exploring the idea of America’s fascination with serial killers as well as bringing a self-referential spin previously unseen in slashers that audiences may just not have been ready for at the time. Wes Craven would perfect the formula of self-referential with his films NEW NIGHTMARE and the SCREAM franchise but, perhaps he owes a bit of a debt to JASON GOES TO HELL than even we know.
