Blu-ray Movie Reviews

In 1958 at the Crystal Lake kids camp, young Jason Voorhees drowned due to the inattention of the camp counselors. Shortly following the drowning, two camp counselors mysteriously died in a double homicide resulting in the camps closure. Twenty two years later, the owner of the property thinks enough time has passed and a new generation of kids should enjoy the beautiful setting—boy was he wrong!

I'm not a big fan of slasher flicks, but for nostalgia's sake, I decided to give this one a spin. While the first 30 minutes build up a bit of suspense, it's soon forgotten when the gore begins to fill the screen. I didn't find it particularly scary, with the exception of the dream sequence that ends the film, but this low-budget classic certainly cemented its place in film history and spawned nine sequels and a soon-to-be-released 2009 remake.

I watched this movie about five years ago on DVD and found it lacking in many areas. While the AVC encode ups the ante quite a bit, it still isn't going to blow anyone away. Detail is improved, especially in the low-light scenes, although the black levels never approach inky and are very unstable with heavy grain and noise. The color saturation is decent for a film of its age—especially red—but the overall palette is muted, befitting the era of the production.

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack really shows how much audio has improved over the past 30 years in cinema. The anemic track is heavily weighted toward the front and collapsed in the center speaker with wimpy dynamics. The surround channels are virtually silent except for the occasional ambient effect, and the score sounds tinny and weak. Granted, the budget was more heavily weighted to produce some decent gore effects, so I can't complain too much.

Surprisingly, there are quite a few bonus features included on this catalog release, and many are presented in HD. These include a Friday the 13th reunion from September 13, 2008, a look at director/producer Sean S. Cunningham, two additional short featurettes on the series, and a theatrical trailer. Additional supplements include a commentary with the director, cast, and crew, and two other SD features.

I'm certainly no fan of the genre, but one can't argue with the success the franchise has enjoyed for nearly 30 years. This is a remarkable improvement in A/V over the DVD, but still doesn't look that great compared to other offerings on Blu-ray. Still, given the tight budget in 1980, fans shouldn't be too disappointed.

Release Date: February 3, 2009
Studio: Paramount

Movie: 6/10
Picture: 6/10
Sound: 4/10

Review System

Source
Panasonic DMP-BD55

Display
JVC DLA-RS1 projector
Stewart FireHawk screen (76.5" wide, 16:9)

Electronics
Onkyo Pro PR-SC885 pre/pro
Anthem PVA-7 Amplifier
Belkin PF60 power conditioner

Speakers
M&K S-150s (L, C, R)
M&K SS-150s (LS, RS, SBL, SBR)
SVS PC-Ultra subwoofer

Cables
Monoprice HDMI cables (source to pre/pro)
Best Deal analog-audio cables
PureLink HDC Fiber Optic HDMI Cable System (15 meters) from pre/pro to projector

Acoustical treatments from GIK Acoustics