Friday The 13th Complete 1-8 Box Set [DVD]

In one of the most iconic horror franchises ever to of come out of America, a (mostly) masked, unstoppable maniac, kills anyone silly enough to venture into his neck of the woods. More often than not he hangs about in the vicinity of Crystal Lake and projects his anger toward teenagers that reside at the summer camp near the lake. The maniac dispatches his victims in a number of grisly ways, sometimes when they have had the common (in)decency to take their clothes off...Now then, where do I start with this lot... Hadn't seen any of these I'd say, for the best part of 20years. Some I had very fond memories of, some I didn't. I consider Jason to be probably one of the most iconic villains to have come out of American Horror cinema ever and would opt for this guy over most other slasher horror franchises. But have I been right to do so for all these years, or is this franchise just another toilet load of, over appreciated, fanboy chocolate doughnuts!In 1: This I had fond memories of but I think my tastes have, shall we say, matured since then. Its so~so, not bad for its day when you compare it to slashers of old. The cast aren't the greatest actors but their spirited enough. The kills aren't particularly exciting, with the exception of Bacon's, (Savini would go on to create much better effects in Maniac, Rosemary's Killer and The Burning!) and there's a rather disturbing lack of nudity, despite every opportunity with a game of strip monopoly. The production's well put together though and the music works, but just how it ever spawned any sequels at all, let alone the amount it did is beyond me. As for Mrs Voorhees and the protracted end I'd of kicked her head off the first time she hit the deck! 3.5/5 is fair I reckon.In 2: Spends the first 7 minutes or so almost exclusively repeating the first films irritating ending, but fortunately once that's done with and the lass with the chin, who cant act, from the first film, has been given a good (cork)screwing, Crazy Ralph is back sounding like a broken record. The tone of this is a little darker and once again its got decent enough production values/skills but seems to be very similar to The Burning in story line (They were released within a week of one another), right down to the old camp fire mask trick. Which annoys me, because the makers of this missed a trick there, what they should've done, is killed the survivor from the first film off, during that scene, thus getting the audience to wonder whether it's just a story. Thus creating its own little cinematic fan urban legend. Anyway, back to the important stuff, nudity = 1 and there is a glorious hotpants moment that had me drooling but sadly the slayings were tame. 3.25/5In 3: Thoroughly enjoyed this, even though everyone else (the fans) seems to hate it, which is a shame because this was probably the film responsible for kick~starting its iconic, fan friendly, franchise model. Again, it starts with the ending of the last film, just in case you fell asleep watching it! Jason, now a hulking mass of retard, finally gets his mask and wipes out a Thomas Chong clone, an irritating twerp with a perm and in probably my favourite moment of the series (in this boxset), shoots a woman in the face with a spear~gun. Nudity brief, gore okay, lead characters useless, score like something off 'Zombies Ate My Neighbours'. 3.5/5In 4: Oh no, opening explanation, movie montage madness! Great, now we see (body) parts of 1,2 & 3 but thankfully, it doesn't go on for ever like the opening of the last two films. In this we get to see George Mcfly give a demonstration as to why men shouldn't dance (unless highly intoxicated) and Savini's back on board, so we get a bit more splatter. There's nudity during the slow bits and some likeable characters, but I've never been a fan of the close shave ending. This however, with its merciless, intimidating presence of Jason and body count is a pretty decent slasher. 4/5In 5: Straight into the film (finally) and Tommy Jarvis just got 10yrs older in 1yrs time!?! Maybe he's got a strange form of progeria? Either way, he's an ignorant toad that gets put in a 'loony' retreat. There's a 'hilarious' hillbilly family, another fat twerp with a perm, lots of bad language, a likeable kid and it's played for laughs and contains more nudity. Albeit the kills are weak and the final explanation is total rubbish! But heck, at least it's fun! 3.25/5In 6: Well whaddya know, we got talkative Tommy back, who accidentally resurrects The J~dog (or whatever it is you kids call him these days) with a lightening strike. Better gore but in the end its more of a parody and an action flick than an actual horror...and that don't impress me much. What, with it's silly overkill and (un)funny hijinks. Plus there's no nudity and Jason gets every opportunity to massacre a bunch of annoying brats, whilst asleep in their bunks and totally fluffs it! Loser! 3/5In 7: Back to opening flashbacks (snore). Then the credits role to some 'Terminator' inspired industrial score that goes on way too long! Highlights in this include the telekinetic girls' mother's hairdo and a really ridiculous cache of weapons sported by Jason who pops up with all sorts of new toys (maybe he's just had a birthday!). The idea is good and it tries but unfortunately, it's just really cheap and badly scripted, with the casts abilities and character wavelengths varying massively. Jason is good though, and the rest of the money appears to have been spent on the effects and ending, because they're by far the best thing about it! 3.5/5In 8: Jason is resuscitated through an electric shock (again) and gives the audience a malevolent chuckle for good (bad!) measure! The cast are the least likeable so far and the kill scenes are hackneyed beyond belief! In fact, this is so cliched that someone actually screams, just as the camera cuts to an out pipe on the ship, with the ships horn, then drowning out said scream! The audience (well, me at any rate) by this point wondering, is there really this many neurotic idiots in America with this much baggage and angst? Because if its the writer/directors fault, then I'd just like to say, that trying to make your audience like the charmless cast, by making them emotional cripples, so that we in turn feel sorry for them, is not the way forward! This also has some terribly unfunny humour, with the biggest joke going, being the title... Jason Takes Manhatten? I think not, more like Jason takes a greasy spoon cafe and a ride on the subway. At one point, a creepy teacher asks "Are you girls using drugs", they reply not, but I wish I had been throughout this mess! The kills are tedious and the nudity is lacking. 2.5/5And now for Bully's special prize: Overall on my calculator, I score this series of films (contained within this boxset) at 3.3/5 ish... So not particularly great overall. Its not that I hated the series but its certainly not the greatest and to watch these films almost back to back as I did, is a risky business indeed. Personally, I wouldn't spend more than a tenner on this boxset knowing what I know now but with that said I'm sure at some point I'll end up going back to these in another 20yrs. I still like Jason as an unstoppable killer spaz~tank but as for the films they are okay if you want to see how bad different hairstyles in the 80's really could be! Also, heaven knows why anyone would want to go to Camp Crystal Lake, because all it ever does is rain every 5 minutes! Like being up Pendle Hill!Ok franchise but there's much better stalk and slash films out there!The discs on review are from the region1 boxset of the first 8 films, which are passable prints and there's a disc full of extras including 5 or 6 making ofs/featurettes

Good value for money

The iconic slasher hero from the 80's on DVD, with the first eight of the current twelve film franchise.Not a masterpiece in presentation, but to have all 8 films in a boxset at such a reasonable price is worth owning.Only the original has any extras added, and the artwork seems to have been changed to reflect this. As other reviewers have said, early additions stated extras on other discs, which have now been changed. If it's extras you want then I can recommend the DVD "His name was Jason", released to celebrate 30 years of Friday the 13th.So what of the films? Well the first three in the franchise rewrote the book 'how to shock the audience with the unexpected', but after the fourth it seems the audience had cottoned on to the formula and it was more about including inventive ways to be killed rather than its scare factor. A short review of the films are as follows :Friday the 13th : The original and best of the series. With an eeriness throughout, the tension builds to its climatic ending, which is one of horrors all time classic finales. ***** stars.Friday the 13th Part 2 : After a tense trademark opening, the film tails off, only for the shock formula to re emerge for the final third, with yet another unexpected ending. **** stars.Friday the 13th Part 3 : The iconic hockey mask makes its debut, but despite a twist on the original ending, and dramatic overuse of the classic 'ki ki ma ma', it offers little more. *** stars.Friday the 13th The Final Chapter : By now you're wondering why Jason doesn't die, and the formula is wearing thin. A gory looking Jason, but without its trademark surprise ending. *** stars.Friday the 13th A New Beginning : Without doubt the worst of the series, with little sign of Jason, only some gory sequences and a touch of humour save the day. ** stars.Friday the 13th Part 6 : What part 5 should have been. Jason is resurrected from his part 4 slumber and with a comical script and superb Jason effects, the series is back on track, albeit tongue in cheek now. **** stars.Friday the 13th Part 7 : Before Jason met Freddy he met Carrie. The films final third make it a worth while watch. *** stars.Friday the 13th Part 8 : Jason visits Manhattan and with him standing in Times Square with 'real' people observing from the sidewalk and some gory flashbacks of a young Jason, this makes for an enjoyable er vacation. **** stars.Part 9 (Jason Goes to Hell), Jason X, Freddy vs Jason and the recent remake are also available to buy individually.

The friday the 13th from crystal lake to Manhattan has the first eight installments of the friday the 13th series' The boxset is a budget buy as it is obvious that it was quickly put together ( the discs are from previous releases and the pics are from different F13 movies). The boxset is two DVD cases big making it very shelf friendly, probally becouse the last three aren't on it and the extras have been hacked to pieces as their is nothing but trailers for each movie. these ratings are by horror movie standerds.Part 1 - A great movie all round and the most descent since halloween, another classic series. 10/10Part 2 - A better sequel than most would think with my favourite gavering of charecters in the whole series. 10/10Part 3D - Bit cheaper than the previous flicks and not 3D, but still entertaining and the hockey mask comes in. 8/10Part 4 - A not so final movie which stars Corey Feldmen who's a bit weird. A pretty good flick. 7/10Part 5 - [SPOILER] Without Jason is just seems un-rememberable and redundent. 5/10Part 6 - Jason's back from the dead,descent charecters and some memborable scenes.Probally my favourite, 10/10Part 7 - Similer to the last with Kane Hodder playing Jason, who battles telekinetic Carrie. 9/10Part 8 - Very cheap and not as original as the rest but Jason still has his good moments. 6/10

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