Jason Goes to Hell : (NOT) The Final Friday

Alternate titles : Friday the 13th Part 9 : Jason Goes to Hell

Tagline : "Evil has finally found a home."

Jason Goes to Hell : The Final Friday The Final Friday the 13th is here! (yeah, right, that's what they said about part 4). Jason is ambushed by the FBI at Crystal Lake, and quite literally blown to pieces by a Police SWAT unit.

With Jason apparently gone for good, the local townsfolk start to relax and a few people begin returning to the Crystal Lake area. But with Jason's body lying in pieces in their morgue, the police are then baffled by the disappearance of one of the morticians and another spate of mysterious killings taking place soon after.

Bounty Hunter Creighton Duke (played by a pre-X-files Steven Williams) knows what is happening and also knows the only way that Jason can be truly stopped for good (until the next film that is). But fans of the series will be in for a big disappointment, as despite the return of Kane Hodder as Jason, the actual character only appears in the film briefly, as it quicklu descends into a rip off of "The Hidden", in a farcical pot that owes more to "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" than "Friday the 13th".

Also starring John D LeMay, who appearing in the TV series, and US TV actress Erin Grey, I had expected much better than this dismal effort, and in many ways is a bigger turkey than Part 8. I can't say too much without spoiling the plot, but Jason's new "ability" which allows him to survive and carry on, following the film's intro, makes no sense what-so-ever and the ending is also exceptionally corny, which features another popular horror character. I won't say who, but he's pitched up against Jason in a future film (there's a clue for you).

Overall Marks : 4/10.

Terrifying Trivia

Alternate tag lines "The creator of the first returns to bring you the last", "Horror, has many faces... death, wears many different masks... but pure evil, wears only one... and this is your final chance, to see it.", "Jason goes to hell, and he's NOT coming back!" (oh yes he does).
First of the "Friday the 13th" films to be produced by New Line Pictures, who purchased the rights from Paramount after they felt the series had exhausted it's financial appeal.
Director Adam Marcus also worked on the first film, whilst Sean Cunningham, who directed of the first movie, returned to produce.
Harry Manfredini, who scored arts 1-7, returned to provide the music.
A flashback scene was originally scripted featuring Jason's Mother, Pamela Voorhees. Original actress Betsy Palmer was asked to reprise her role, but declined and the scene was eventually dropped.
Kane Hodder also starred as one of the guards at the morgue that gets killed by Jason.
The book in the old Voorhees house was the Necronomicon from the Evil Dead trilogy. The knife used to kill Jason at the end was the same dagger used in Evil Dead 2 : Dead by Dawn.
The film was heavily cut for it's US theatrical release, but released uncut for DVD. The original UK VHS release was of the cut US theatrical version, but the DVD
Two scenes filmed but not used, the undercover cop pulling a gun from her bathtowel and shooting Jason in the head at the start of the police ambush and one of the diner employees being roasted on the grill. Pics exist, but so far these have not been shown. There were also several additional dialogue scenes cut from the film, which were included in the special edition release as extras, including Steven making a prank phone call at the diner, extended dialogue when Robert interviews Duke on TV and when Steven fights with Officer Randy on the roadside. There were also several extended scenes in the diner and police station and an additional scene where the chief, Ed, warns Robert not to exploit the fact that Jessica is Jason's sister in the media.