When he was just a kid, Jason Voorhees went to Camp Crystal Lake for fun times that turned out bad. All camp counselors were busy doing other activities that kept them from seeing Jason drowning out in the lake. Years after the death of Jason and everything seems to be normal at Crystal Lake, the bodies of the counselors start stacking up. Terror ensues at Camp Crystal Lake as the hockey masked wearing Jason Voorhees takes his undead revenge on all counselors and anyone else for that matter that at the lake or that is just seen by him.

 FRIDAY THE 13TH THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION THE MOVIES:
What can I say, I love these movies of the undead, unkillable, hockey mask wearing, machete wielding killer Jason. From the spooky sound of cha cha cha cha that plays giving warning to the viewer that Jason is near and ready to be killing to the most outrageous ways for naked teenagers to be killed, these movies are a lot of fun to watch. Sure the plots are stupid, nothing makes sense at all with anything and everything that happens in the movies, the effects are so low budget that you can tell when one of the victims has something under their shirt when they get killed, and there’s nothing to take away from them, well other than staying away lakes that have been known to be the home to a serial killer that can’t be killed.

However, for all that these movies are not, they are movies that are fun to watch, they are from an era when horror movies where actually scary and horror not just gore, though it’s seen coming the appearance of Jason can make anyone jump in their seats, and with Friday the 13th movies people actually rooted for the bad guy, aka Jason Voorhees. Over the years I’ve seen these movies many, many times and yep I’m not ashamed to say that they still get me. I jump some at certain points in them, I find myself making fun of certain moments in the movie, like oh say when it goes from looking like it’s noon to midnight in a blink of an eye or how with each movie the characters would still go to the camp, tell the stories of Jason, know that all those deaths happened, yet they stayed, or how Jason was able to follow right behind whoever he was chasing even though he only took 4 steps then stopped and watched as they ran away from him at high speeds but would poof be ahead of them in the next scene ready to slash or stab them. It’s hard not to make some corny jokes and laugh at how cheesy these movies are, but it’s also because of these reasons that make these movies fun to watch even over all the years and the many times I’ve seen them.

For me, the first 4 movies of these 8 are the best out of all Friday the 13th movies. For the first it didn’t even have Jason in it, just his mother. Then in the second movie Jason was there and he wore a pillowcase, no leather gloves, and a pair of overalls. This version of Jason was scarier than any other version of Jason because he was realistic, he was a man that put on a pillowcase and then went on a killing spree. At the time he could have just been this psycho killer but past the second movie this aspect was taken away for the Jason that was just some undead guy. Though in the third it was the first time the hockey mask was wore and in the fourth it had Corey Feldman and Crispin Glover in it. These first 4 were also the ones that had a somewhat hint of a plot line to the story. Past these 4 the cheesiness of the movies really kicked into high gear, case in point is movie number 8 where Jason Takes Manhattan. Yep, Jason in New York, that says it all.

FRIDAY THE 13TH ULTIMATE COLLECTION HOW IT LOOKS AND THE FEATURES:
These movies might be on DVD but they still have that old grainy look to them. The noise, the grain, the look of it being cheaply made from the 80’s shows in each of these movies, even more so with the first set. I wasn’t expecting much improvement to them, which is good because there’s really no improvement on how they look. I’m sure if I compared these DVD’s to the VHS versions that I have of them (yep I have the VHS versions of most of them) and I would bet that the DVD versions would look a whole lot clearer, sharper, and with better audio. However, in this time in movie watching where it’s on these HD televisions and filmed in HD, well these movies just look old.

The one movie that looks the worst though and the one I was the most disappointed with was movie number 3 in 3D. This 3D is not the nice new real D stuff we get with 3D movies today, no, this is the 3D of the past. To be able to watch this 3D you have to wear the red and blue lens glasses (2 pairs are supplied with the collection) to get the effect of the movie in 3D. I remember these movies being really cool when I was a kid but times have changed and I’m no longer a kid and this 3D version was horrible. First thing wrong with it is that the glasses just don’t sit right on the face, making me see some red and blue at times during the movie. Second thing is that the 90% of the time the effects where more blurry than they were 3D. Fourthly, most of the 3D effects is having a stick or yo-yo pointed directly at the center of the screen, which made me go crossed-eyed trying to see it. And lastly it gave me a headache just trying to watch it. But luckily enough on the DVD there is also the 2D version so I’m not stuck with having to be skipping over the third installment when I want to watch it.

None of that matters though, what makes this collection worth getting goes beyond just the movies. Let me start with what noticeable first, the collectors mask that comes along with the collection. It might be a little too small for an adult to wear but that don’t make it any less cool. The hockey mask looks exactly like the one worn in the movies (minus the slash from the machete), it has the straps, the dirty, and the red triangles on it. This thing is so cool that I couldn’t wait to get it out of the box to look at it, and yes I did try it on, that’s how I know it’s not big enough for adults, still fun though.

 Next out of the box was the case holding the DVD’s. They come in a hard cardboard case that’s made like it’s a book with the pages inside flipping like a book and holding the DVDs in a slip hole that’s in the pages. On the cover is a good photo of hockey mask wearing Jason. Inside on the pages is a lot of information telling about what each individual movie is about, it gives a count of how many people die in the movie, the special features that are included on that disc, what and how many weapons were used, and ‘Friday Facts’ about each movie. I’ve already flipped through this book/case a few times looking at the detail that’s been given it with the photos that line the bottom of the pages, the facts that are given, and reading what each movie is about. This book/case is very cool and so far I would rank it up on the top 5 of the coolest collector cases that I have for DVDs/Blu Rays.

Movies, cool mask, and cool case are all worth having this Ultimate Collection but what tops this list off are the special features put on each of the DVD’s. There are so many special features given on these DVD’s that I’ll be occupied for hours just watching them. Having the “Lost Tales from Camp Blood”, a featurette about 25 years after The Final Chapter (that hey it’s not the Final Chapter), deleted scenes that are called ‘Slashed Scenes’, a gag reel, this just names a few of them. It’s these kinds of special features and the amount of them that makes this Ultimate Collection worth getting and watch for any fan of these movies. Even the box that they come in is cool with the rough feel to it and the forest that’s on it.