Friday the 13th appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. I saw no obvious issues here with this Dolby Vision presentation.
Sharpness worked fine. A few slightly soft wider shots emerged, but these remained minor and the flick offered mostly tight imaging.
Moiré effects and jaggies failed to appear, and I witnessed no edge haloes. In addition, source flaws were completely absent.
Friday featured a restrained palette that veered toward teal and amber. Within those choices, the hues looked well-rendered, and HDR added a little punch to them, though their subdued nature restricted impact.
Blacks appeared dark and tight, while shadows seemed smooth and clear. HDR gave whites and contrast extra depth. Across the board, this became a strong presentation.
I also found the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Friday to be pretty positive, though the soundfield really only came to life during a few action sequences. The opening rampage provided fairly good material from the side and rear speakers, and the climax also used those speakers to reasonably positive effect.
Otherwise this was a mix heavy on atmosphere. Those elements created a nice sense of place but lacked a lot of active material.
Audio quality satisfied. Speech sounded crisp and distinctive, and music appeared robust and full.
Effects were accurate and dynamic. Low-end response showed good thump and richness. Nothing here dazzled, but the audio merited a “B”.
How did the 4K UHD compare to the original Blu-ray? Though the 4K switched from Dolby TrueHD 5.1 to DTS-HD MA 5.1, the two sounded virtually identical to me.
As for the Dolby Vision image, it came from a 2K source, and that meant sharpness felt pretty similar for both. The 4K UHD’s HDR did add dimensionality to colors and blacks, though, so this disc acted as a moderate visual upgrade over the Blu-ray.
This Arrow release mixes old and new extras. Also found on the Blu-ray, the 4K presents both the theatrical version of Friday (1:37:14) as well as an unrated Killer Cut of Friday (1:45:30).
How do the two differ? Unsurprisingly, the “Killer Cut” comes with a bit more gore and nudity.
The longer version also adds a subplot in which a character escapes captivity as well as minor tidbits that add to backstory. The latter don’t make a real difference.
As for the segment in which a victim flees, this feels fairly superfluous. I don’t think the changes to the “Killer Cut” harm the film but I don’t believe they improve it, either.
New to this set, we get three audio commentaries. Alongside the theatrical version, the first comes from director Marcus Nispel, as he provides a running, screen—specific discussion of what attracted him to the project, story/characters, sets and locations, cast and performances, genre tropes, and related domains.
Overall, Nispel offers a pretty good chat, though he doesn’t dig as deeply as one might hope. Early in the chat, he alludes to conflicts with the studio so severe that he nearly took his name off the film.
Unfortunately, Nispel never gets into the reasons for these problems. He also makes perplexing claims that Austin Texas includes no lakes, a surprise to me given how much time I spent at Lake Travis over the years.
These omissions/goofs aside, Nispel still delivers a largely informative track, even if he loses steam toward the end. He covers enough useful material to ensure we stick with the piece.
Also matched with the theatrical cut, the second commentary comes from writers Mark Swift and Damian Shannon. Both sit together for their running, screen-specific discussion of story/characters, allusions to other films, changes between script and screen, and thoughts about where a sequel would've gone.
Because they crack beers at the start, one might expect a rollicking commentary here. That doesn't occur, but this doesn't mean we find a subdued chat.
Swift and Shannon can just narrate the movie a little too often, but that doesn't become a real issue. They offer good insights about their intentions and alterations made between their screenplay and the final result.
Paired with the “Killer Cut”, we get a third commentary from film critics Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson. Both sit together for a running, screen-specific chat about the state of horror in the late 2000s, genre tropes/domains, themes, and general views of the movie and its context.
While not a dry track, this turns into a well-researched affair that digs into the flick and its siblings well. We get a serious look at the movie in this informative and rich discussion.
All the video extras reside on Disc One, and we’ll start with those that also appeared on the Blu-ray. The Rebirth of Jason Voorhees runs 11 minutes, 24 seconds and provides comments from Nispel, Swift, Shannon, producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller, special effects makeup artist Scott Stoddard, and actors Derek Mears, Jonathan Sadowski, Willa Ford, Danielle Panabaker, Nick Mennell, Amanda Righetti, Julianna Guill, Kyle Davis and Travis Van Winkle.
“Rebirth” looks at the reinvention of the series and story elements, cast and characters, makeup effects, and an alternate scene. Should you expect more than fairly standard promotional material here? Not really.
We get a decent look at the Jason makeup, and we learn why they reshot a sequence that we’ll find in the “Additional Scenes”. Otherwise, there’s not much meat here, so “Rebirth” feels watchable but insubstantial.
Three Additional Scenes last a total of eight minutes, 20 seconds. One expands the killing in which Jason gets his hockey mask, while another shows the call that brings the police to help Clay and the others. For the final clip, we get an alternate ending.
Scene One is superfluous, and Scenes Two and Three are a little more worthwhile, but they would’ve slowed the film when it doesn’t need to decrease its pace. Scene Three would’ve fit the final cut the best since it includes action, but I think the existing ending fares better because it more closely connects to the original film.
Excerpts from Terror Trivia Track encapsulates a picture-in-picture feature from the Blu-ray. With a running time of 43 minutes, 13 seconds, it involves some written production notes, footage from the shoot and interviews.
We hear from Form, Stoddard, Mears, Fuller, Nispel, Sadowski, Swift, Shannon, Mennell, Ford, Panabaker, Guill, Van Winkle, Davis, and actors Ben Feldman, Jared Padalecki, America Olivo and Ryan Hansen.
The “Track” covers story/character areas, cast and performances, makeup and effects, sets and locations, stunts and action, and editing. It delivers a reasonable amount of useful information and works better in this format, as it removes the frustrating dead spots we got when “Track” accompanied the entire movie.
Hacking Back/Slashing Forward runs 11 minutes, 41 seconds and provides comments from Nispel, Swift, Shannon, Righetti, Padalecki, Van Winkle, Guill, Sadowski, Mears, Fuller, Ford, Form, Stoddard, and actor Arlen Escarpeta.
They discuss memories of the franchise and the reboot’s expansion of the series. We don’t get a ton of substance here, but there’s enough meat to make it worth watching.
Under The 7 Best Kills, we get a 22-minute, 32-second compilation that looks at many of the movie’s death scenes. We hear from Panabaker, Van Winkle, Form, Mears, Sadowski, Nispel, Swift, Shannon, Feldman, Stoddard, Olivo, Ford, Guill, Hansen, Mennell, Righetti, and Padalecki.
We learn the ins and outs of how these sequences came to be. Though it can be fluffy and full of praise, “Best Kills” includes a fair amount of good information as well.
From here we go to extras new to the 4K UHD, and we go to an Interview with Director Marcus Nispel. Shot in 2024, this piece spans 28 minutes, 39 seconds.
Nispel discusses story/characters and the series’ appeal, genre domains, influences and the film’s update on the franchise, locations, cinematography, and thoughts about horror remakes.
On its own, this piece becomes fairly informative, but it often feels redundant, as Nispel repeats a lot of material from his commentary – down to his still-perplexing claims that Austin enjoys no lakes! A few fresh notes appear here but don’t expect to learn many new details if you already listened to the commentary.
An Interview with Screenwriters Mark Swift and Damian Shannon also comes from 2024. It lasts 37 minutes, nine seconds.
Here we get thoughts about how they came to the film, the opening sequence, their take on the franchise and connections to prior flicks, Easter eggs, story/characters, production observations, cut scenes, and their approach to the property.
Inevitably, Swift and Shannon repeat some of the notes from their commentary. However, they seem less redundant than Nispel and they offer such a fun interactive chemistry that I don’t mind.
Next comes a circa 2024 Interview with Cinematographer Daniel Pearl. This reel goes for 23 minutes.
Pearl chats about how he got into movies and what brought him to Friday the 13th, favorite scenes, shooting film vs. digital and various cinematic techniques.
It feels surprising that Pearl didn’t pop up for any of the Blu-ray’s extras, so his presence here becomes welcome. He offers a good take on the work he did for the flick and makes this an informative reel.
A Killer New Beginning offers a “video essay”. It occupies 18 minutes, 22 seconds and involves critic Matt Donato.
We find thoughts about the early 2000s rush of horror remakes, with an emphasis on the 2009 Friday the 13th. Some good insights emerge, but “Beginning” feels more like basic appreciation than a real critique.
Finally, we locate a mix of components under Promo Materials. We find a teaser, a trailer and 15 TV spots. Annoyingly, the latter don’t come with chapter marks so you can’t jump straight to any of them after the first one.
An Electronic Press Kit spans 35 minutes, 10 seconds. It involves Padalecki, Panabaker, Righetti, Van Winkle, Mears, Guill, Ford, Nispel, Swift, Shannon, Form, Fuller, and actor Aaron Yoo.
The participants reflect on story/characters, the movie’s kills, the franchise as a whole, performances, and updating the franchise. We get little more than the usual publicity fluff here.
However, at the 19-minute, 55-second mark, these dull interviews end and we get to see “B-roll” footage from the shoot. This behind the scenes material occupies the rest of the EPK.
I enjoy this stuff and we get a good collection of clips. Conveniently, the EPK comes with chapter stops so feel free to skip ahead to chapter three, as you’ll miss nothing of interest if you don’t bother with the interviews.
An Image Gallery completes the set with 50 elements that mix shots from the set with movie scenes. The latter dominate heavily and make this a dull compilation.
While I’ve enjoyed a few of the modern horror remakes, the updated Friday the 13th does little to improve the old model. Indeed, it feels like more of the same but with 21st century production values. The 4K UHD delivers solid visuals and audio as well as a slew of bonus materials. I find this to be a quality release for an average film.
To rate this film visit the DVD review of FRIDAY THE 13TH
