Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		0.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.5

Friday the 13th 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 12, 2024

It may seem like summer isn't really over yet, even if kids are back in school and temperatures may be cooling (depending on your part of the country), but if your local grocery store or supermarket is anything like mine, there are already shelves of Hallowe'en candy presaging the next "big" holiday. And what goes better with the year's spookiest holiday (unless Christmas family reunions aren't your thing) than a good scary movie? Or at least a scary movie? Friday the 13th tried fitfully to reinvent the long running franchise, and even though it was met with a decided "meh" by the critical class (and you know how they can be), it seemed to do rather well at the box office, which may reflect at least decent word of mouth. This 2009 remake/reboot had a previous 1080 release over a decade ago (!) by home studio Warner Brothers, in a version which was met with a decided "meh" by my colleague Martin Liebman when he reviewed the Blu-ray. If this version of the story may not reach the giddy heights of the original, it has style to spare, and this 4K UHD presentation by Arrow helps to support one of the film's assets, some really moody and interesting cinematography by Daniel Pearl, along with providing fans Arrow's typical excellent assortment of supplemental materials. It is of course merely a coincidence that this review is being published on a Thursday the 12th, which means a lot of people will see it on. . .well, you know.

Marty's Friday the 13th Blu-ray review of Warner Brothers' now long ago 1080 release should provide more than enough plot information and analysis for interested readers.

Friday the 13th 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: This release does not include a 1080 Blu-ray, so these screenshots are taken from the 4K UHD disc and downscaled to 1080 and SDR. Color space in particular is therefore not accurate, and while Marty wasn't especially thrilled with the video quality of Warner Brothers' 1080 release, it may be helpful to at least glance at the screenshots accompanying that review to get a relatively accurate look at the palette. Because there is no 1080 disc in this package, the 2K video score above has intentionally been left blank.

Friday the 13th is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Arrow Video with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 2.39:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information about the restoration:

Friday the 13th has been remastered by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.40:1 [sic] with 5.1 audio. The film is presented in both its Theatrical and Extended "Killer Cut" versions. The film is presented in 4K resolution in HDR10 and Dolby Vision.

The 2K DI feature master data was supplied by Warner Brothers. The film was restored and graded at Duplitech.

All materials sourced for this new master were made available by Warner Brothers via Pixelogic.

I frankly don't have the older Warner Brothers 1080 release to do an authoritative side by side comparison, but I also frankly can't imagine fans of this film not being more satisfied with the presentation here, at least judging by some of Marty's less than stellar reactions to the 1080 presentation. This is a rare (for me, anyway) 4K presentation of a shot on film production where I didn't feel like I was wading through layers of grain to get to the actual imagery, and to my eyes this has a really beautifully organic and tightly resolved grain field virtually the entire way through. Marty hinted at the potential of filtering in the Warner Brothers release, but I didn't see anything "smeary" in this presentation, and grain, while not especially heavy at times, can still be quite clearly discerned, especially against lighter backgrounds. There are variances, and some of the darkest material can certainly see spikes (which kind of interestingly tend to have more of a blue chroma look than the typical yellow), but on the whole, things look great. Both the opening black and white sequence and then some later really fascinatingly graded material offer a range of tones and have perhaps surprisingly consistent detail levels. The color scheme here tends to ping pong between ice cold blues to teals and warmer yellows to golds, and HDR / Dolby Vision offer some really nice nuances, as well as promoting above average if not perfect shadow definition.

Friday the 13th 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

I am also evidently a bit more pleased by this disc's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track than Marty was with the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track on the older 1080 disc from Warner. Marty rightly mentions that a lot of the sound design tends to be anchored toward the front, but there's clear engagement of the side and rear channels throughout, noticeably in a number of the more hyperbolic scenes outdoors, and especially in the rain soaked climax. Scoring also is nicely positioned throughout the soundstage. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Friday the 13th 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K UHD Disc One

• Theatrical Cut (1:37:14)


• Commentaries

  Commentary by Director Marcus Nispel

  
  

  Commentary by Mark Swift and Damian Shannon

• Interviews

  Interview with Marcus Nispel (HD; 28:39) was newly produced by Arrow in 2024.

  
  

  Interview with Mark Swift and Damian Shannon (HD; 37:09) was newly produced by Arrow in 2024.

  
  

  Interview with Daniel Pearl (HD; 23:00) was newly produced by Arrow in 2024.

• A Killer New Beginning (HD; 18:22) is an appreciative video essay by Matt Donato, who may be more of a fan of this film than most.


• Archive Extras

  Excerpts from Terror Trivia Track (HD; 43:13) is compiled from the former picture in picture supplement on the Warner Brothers 1080 Blu-ray release.

  
  

  The Rebirth of Jason Vorhees (HD; 11:24)

  
  

  Hacking Back / Slashing Forward (HD; 11:41)

  
  

  The 7 Best Kills (HD: 22:32)

  
  

  Deleted Scenes (HD; 8:20)

• Promo Materials

  Teaser (HD; 1:28)

  
  

  Trailer (HD; 2:25)

  
  

  TV Spots (HD; 6:34)

  
  

  Electronic Press Kit (HD; 35:10)

  
  

  Image Gallery (HD)

  Note: The archival supplements are HD in name only, and are obvious upscales.

4K UHD Disc Two

• The Killer Cut (1:45:30)


• Audio Commentary by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Josh Nelson

Additionally, this is another nicely packaged release from Arrow with the keepcase offering a reversible sleeve, and enclosing a double sided foldout poster, a kind of cheeky Greetings from Crystal Lake postcard, and an illustrated collector's booklet with some good writing by Matt Konopka and Alexandra West. Finally, packaging features a slipcover.

Friday the 13th 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Somewhat hilariously, only a couple of days ago (as this review is being written) I mentioned in our Kill 4K Blu-ray review that that film's decision to offer its title card well into the proceedings may have seemed like a cool stylistic conceit, though trivia buffs will know it's a pretty old idea, as this film (certainly not the first to utilize such a concept) uses it, too. But, then again, a lot of this Friday the 13th can't help but feel like warmed over, um, remains. Marcus Nispel arguably offered a more visceral remake when he redid The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but fans of this remake should be well pleased with both the technical merits and supplements and non disc swag Arrow is providing with this release. With caveats about the actual film, Recommended.