D V D C R Y P T

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII THE NEW BLOOD

Directed by John Carl Buechler
Written by Manuel Fidello & Daryl Haney
Music by Harry Manfredini & Fred Mollin
Cast: Kane Hodder, Lar Park-Lincoln, Kevin Blair, Terry Kiser, Susan Jennifer Sullivan

1988/90 mins/Color/Dolby Digital 5.1
1.85:1 anamorphic/English/US/NTSC Region 1

Review from the Paramount DVD

After the events of FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI JASON LIVES, Jason Voorhees is now chained at the bottom of Camp Crystal Lake (now called Lake Forest Green). Years ago a terrible accident happened near by where Tina's father felt in the lake and drowned. Now Tina is back to the cabin along with her mother and doctor to try to help her control her anger-triggered psychic powers.

In an attempt to resurrect her father, Tina accidentally revives Jason with her power. Soon enough, everyone's favorite machete killing machine is back for more in this Carrie vs. Jason clash.

The film was originally planned to be a duel between Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger of the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET franchise. Plans fell apart when Paramount Pictures (who held the rights to the FRIDAY THE 13TH series at the time) and New Line Cinema (who held the rights to the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET films), failed to come to an agreement. That film was eventually made possible when New Line bought the rights to the FRIDAY THE 13TH series, but did not see release until 2003.

To receive an R rating, the film was terribly butchered by the MPAA making it one of the most censored of the entire franchise excising almost all its gore. All existing home video versions of this film, have the infamous "sleeping bag death" cut to one hit, whereas the original theater-shown version had the uncut, six-hit sleeping bag death scene, with blood all over the sleeping bag, intact. The film was directed by John Carl Buechler, better know for his makeup effects work in films such as GHOULIES (1984) and RE-ANIMATOR (1985).

Release on May 13, 1988, the film managed to make only a domestic box office gross of around $19 million making it one of the less popular film of the series. The film marked the first appearance of Kane Hodder in the role of Jason Voorhees. The film is mentioned in the novel American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis.

The film is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio and it is anamorphic. The image looks good with rich colors saturation. The newly remastered English Dolby Digital 5.1 sounds very good. An English 2.0 Surround track is also available along with French and Spanish mono stereo soundtracks. Subtitles are available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

The disc features a commentary track with director John Carl Buechler and actors Kane Hodder and Lar Park-Lincoln. Buerchler is in the studio while Hodder is on the phone and Lincoln's track was recorded separately. It is interesting especially with Lar going into lots of small details on the making of the film. 'Jason's destroyer The Making of FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII THE NEW BLOOD' is a cool 15 minutes making-of. The 7-minute 'Mind over Matter' looks at telekinesis, while 'Makeover by Maddy' is a totally useless featurette with Maddy (Diana Barrows) and Robin (Elizabeth Kaitan) from the film going shopping. Finally probably the coolest special features of all the Deluxe Editions is the 16 minutes 'Slashed Scenes' which features all of the extremely cool original kills from the film. Sure they are now in rather poor quality but it’s a lot of fun to watch. The film is separated in 15 chapters, features static menus with music, comes in a keep case which itself comes in a neat holographic cover and without a booklet or inlay card.

"On Friday the 13th, Jason will meet his match."

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