Ah, another Halloween, another batch of fresh kills. If you're a
Friday the 13th fan (and if you're not, why are you reading this?) you
know that every year Paramount raids the vault for another couple of
Friday flicks to release. Alas, since it is 2002 as I write this,
we're at the tail end of the cycle of the Paramount Friday entries,
Parts VII and VIII. Some fans love all the flicks, some only the early
ones, so depending on your viewpoint, it's all about the law of
diminishing returns...
In an untold future after the events of
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, ol' hockey mask is trapped at
the bottom of Camp Crystal Lake, a bit squishy but still ready to go.
Unfortunately for poor little Tina, her parents have decided to set up
housekeeping in a cute little cabin on the lake, no doubt due to the
low real estate prices. But after dad slaps mom around one time too
many, our telekinetic Tina drowns him in the lake, and Crystal Lake
claims yet another victim. Flashforward another "five
years," and now our little prepubescent Carrie is all grown up
but still freaked out. Seems Mom and the evil "Dr. Crews"
want to cart Tina back off to Crystal Lake to finally cure her
telekinetic blues once and for all. Jason, of course, has other ideas.
And wouldn't ya know it, another batch of horny teens is partying
nearby... After umpteenth past installments grounded in more or
less everyday reality, Friday VII finally attempts to give the series
a bit of a psychic kick, and who wouldn't want to see Jason get
his ass whupped by Carrie-lite? The whole Tina telekinetic subplot is,
of course, not exactly handled like a docudrama, and full of glaring
plot holes - since when does the power of telekinesis extend to
reanimating years-old corpses? But Jason does look very cool in
this outing, thanks to director John Carl Buechler's extensive career
as a makeup effects maestro, and it also marked fan Kane Hodder's
first appearance as Mr. Hockey Mask, which is what fans lined up to
see anyway. This is a popcorn flick, no more, no less, and it's all
about watching countless, forgettable teens appear onscreen for about
30 seconds before getting offed.
Alas, it's well-known among
fans that this is the most heavily cut Friday of them all, which
certainly takes much of the fun away. After relatively low body counts
in the earlier installments (well, by Jason standards, anyway) this
one ups the kill factor considerably, but quantity does not always
mean quality. Much public complaining ensued after Buechler battled
the MPAA over numerous cuts required to obtain an R rating, which
"castrated" the film. Despite pleas from fans, this DVD is
again only the truncated theatrical version, which continues to boggle
the mind. I assume Paramount releases these flicks on DVDs for the
fans, but doesn't give them what they really want. The New Blood is
not likely to change anyone's mind who hates the Friday flick, so with
no uncut version, this is probably best left for diehard Jason fans
only. 
Video: How Does The Disc Look?
Presented
for the first time ever on home video in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen,
like most of the later Friday forays this one looks slick and
professional, if ultimately average. The print appears to have been
lying dormant for a while, with some signs of age including dirt,
grain and slightly faded colors; otherwise, it is in decent shape.
Fleshtones occasionally look too blue, and hues are often less than
vibrant. Blacks are nice and contrast fine, but detail and especially
shadow delineation suffer in the darkest scenes. Director of
photography Paul Elliott also relied heavily on soft filters for many
sequences, especially the flashbacks, so the film does have a soft
look throughout. On the plus side, compression artifacts are nil and
there is little annoying edginess or video processing. Not bad, not
great.
Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?
Boasting
the Friday series' first-ever 5.1 Dolby surround track, alas the
results are disappointing. For a low-budget slasher flick this is
certainly a well-recorded, above-average mix, but any sense of
envelopment is lacking. We get some nice stereo effects and a
spacious, bass-driven score (again by Friday stalwart Harry Manfredini
and newcomer Fred Mollin) that benefits from a fairly strong .1 LFE
track. Alas, surround use is just about absent, with only some slight
bleed to the rears and no noticeable discrete effects. It's a fine mix
and quite well-recorded, just not very engaging. 
Also included
are English 2.0 stereo and French mono tracks, plus English subtitles
and English Closed Captions.
Supplements: What Goodies Are
There?
Sigh. Like all the other Paramount Friday discs,
there are no extras, not even trailers this time out. And where's all
of that cut gore footage Buechler has been wanting to include on the
DVD? Let's hope that someday soon Paramount decides to revisit these
flicks and give 'em the special edition treatment fans deserve.
DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in
your PC?
No ROM extras have been included.
Parting Thoughts
By this point the Friday franchise
was running out of gas, but if you've collected 'em all so far, are
you really going to stop now? A perfectly fine transfer and audio mix
at least delivers Jason in widescreen, but shop around for a discount
if you can.
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