Friday the 13th: From Crystal Lake to Manhattan Ultimate Collection (Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part IV: The Final Chapter / Part V: A New Beginning / Part VI: Jason Lives / Part VII: The New Blood / Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan)
Five discs gather the first eight movies in theFriday the 13thseries, plus a batch of behind-the-scenes featurettes. You can track the rise, fall, and endless resurrections of Jason Voorhees, from the original 1980 film to Jason's self-kidding trip to the Big Apple. Horror fans eat up packages such as this, but there's something odd about the deluxe treatment for a series that spotlighted atrocious acting, pitiful production values, and inane storytelling.You'll spot a few future "name" actors in various installments:  Kevin Bacon is morbidly dispatched in the first one. But in general, the dominant focus is how to kill horny teenagers, most of whom have gathered at Camp Crystal Lake in the misguided belief that the curse of the impossible-to-kill Jason has worn off. The first movie has a certain raw, crummy ability to shock,Part 2is a dismal retread, andPart 3actually features interesting use of 3-D, which doesn't translate to its flat DVD version. The fourth is boldly subtitledThe Final Chapter, and we all know where that went, but it does have Crispin Glover doing a funky dance.A New BeginningandJason Livescontinue Jason's bad mood, maybe because the hockey mask doesn't fit right. The seventh chapter,The New Blood, stakes Jason against a worthy opponent (Crystal Lake's answer to telekinetic Carrie), but the result is the same. Part 8's subtitle,Jason Takes Manhattan, is wittier than the movie itself, as Jason menaces an unlucky cruise ship of high-schoolers bound for New York--where Mr. J fits right in.Some of the films come with commentaries from directors or cast members, including heralded Jason performer Kane Hodder. Brief documentaries (ranging from five to 15 minutes) cover separate installments with amusing anecdotes, including interviews with Sean S. Cunningham, Tom Savini, and various actors. In another doc, actors speak of the fraternity of young actors who've been slaughtered by Jason over the years. A deleted-scenes section is skimpy and not very interesting, while the tricks of special-effects gore merit a film to themselves. It's a customer-savvy DVD box, even if the effect of watching a bunch of this stuff together is a little dispiriting.--Robert Horton