Blu-ray Review: ‘Friday the 13th: The Complete Collection’

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CHICAGO – For the first time, all 12 films in the legacy of Jason Voorhees are available on Blu-ray in one box set, “Friday the 13th: The Complete Collection,” and the results are wonderfully comprehensive if not overly impressive. It’s great to have all of these films in one place, especially for hardcore fans of this insanely inconsistent but influential series, but the true opportunity to provide something new other than packaging, a few HD transfers, and physical collectibles is disappointing.

Rating: 3.0/5.0

What’s new? Just availability on Blu-ray. Parts 4 through 10 have never been on Blu-ray before. So, yes, you can now have “Jason Goes to Hell” and “Jason HX” in glorious HD. Well, sorta glorious. None of the new transfers are particularly striking and the lack of new special features is particularly frustrating. There are 11 hours of previously available features, most of them on a bonus disc, and a lot of this material is great but we’ve seen it all before. And the inclusion of samples from the beloved “Crystal Lake Memories” instead of something new feels more like an advertisement than something special. A Camp Crystal Lake counselor patch? Really? That’s the best you got? With Scream Factory killing it in the way they gather people for new special features and upgrade their films beautifully, this set feels lackluster. It’s comprehensive, which is nice for fans of the series, but will leave the most hardcore fans, the ones who have already seen all of this bonus material, wishing for something more.

Friday the 13th: The Complete Collection was released on Blu-ray on September 13, 2013
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

Special Features:
o Collectible Tin Case
o 40 Page Crystal Lake Memories Book
o Brand New Embroidered Camp Crystal Lake Counselor Patch
o Killer Bonus Disc Full Of Special Features

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com