Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		0.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		2.5

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 29, 2025

Horror fans are among the most devoted to their genre among the many (haunted?) nooks and crannies of various film idioms, and that may help to explain the perhaps surprising decision by Arrow to release two of the arguably less appreciated films in the Friday the 13th franchise, this one and Jason X, in brand spanking new 4K editions replete with Arrow's customary bounteous supply of bonus content. In this particular case, fans' appetites may be further whetted by the fact that Arrow is offering both cuts of the film (details below).

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday has had two prior releases on 1080 (actually more than that if you include standalone and collection releases as well as what was evidently a replacement disc for at least one release). Those interested can click on the following reviews for plot information, lists of supplements, and reviewer assessments of technical presentations:

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday Blu-ray review is of the Warner Brothers release and is by Michael Reuben

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday Blu- ray review is of the Shout! Factory release and is by Martin Liebman

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: This release does not include a 1080 Blu-ray, so these screenshots are taken directly from the 4K UHD disc and downscaled to 1080 and SDR. Color space in particular is therefore not accurate, and I recommend those interested to look at some of the screenshots in our previously published 1080 reviews (linked to above) for a probably better representation of the palette. Since this release does not include a 1080 disc, the 2K video score above has been intentionally left blank.

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Arrow Video with HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfers (of both versions) in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the presentations:

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday has been restored by Arrow Films and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with 5.1 and 2.0 stereo.

Both the Theatrical and Unrated versions of the film are presented in 4K resolution in HDR10 and Dolby Vision.

The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K / 16 bit resolution at Warner Bros. / Motion Picture Imaging. A 35mm interpositive element was scanned in 4K / 16 bit resolution for the sections unique to the unrated cut version.

The film was restored in 4K resolution and color graded at Duplitech.

This new restored master of Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday has been approved by director Adam Marcus.

All materials sourced for this new mater were made available by Warner Bros. QC review was completed by Pixelogic.

As I am probably overly fond of reminding people, different reviewers means different opinions, and for a salient example in that regard the scores Michael and Marty gave to the 1080 presentations they reviewed fairly divergent scores. I have had no 1080 release of this film in my personal collection, and so I can't really authoritatively compare this to either the Warner Brothers or Shout! 1080 releases, but my overall impression of this new 4K version is positive, with the one major exception of an almost smothering darkness (something that Marty also overtly mentions in his review) which, even given the blandishments offered by HDR / Dolby Vision, still can leave deficits in detail levels rather recurrently. A glut of opticals in the opening 13 or so minutes also gets things off to a somewhat rocky start, with a pretty splotchy looking grainfield and less fulsome looking saturation and clarity than after things settle down post credits, and especially once things get out of the laboratory environment. In fact a number of the brightly lit outdoor scenes really pop with considerable immediacy, and the palette is noticeably more vibrant than in some of the darkest material. Detail levels tend to fare best in brighter lighting as well, as might be expected, but actually depending on framing choices, even in some lesser well lit material, objects in close-ups at the forefront of the frame can offer good fine detail levels. HDR/ Dolby Vision adds some nice highlights to both the warmer (yellow) and cooler (blue) grading choices employed in an almost ping ponging fashion throughout the story. The Unrated Cut expectedly shows a bit more variance in quality due to the IP interstitials and my score for that version is 4.25.

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Marty was evidently considerably less enthused about the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track he listened to than Michael was about the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track he listened to, but I found the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track on this disc to be a generally very well designed and executed surround track, albeit one that is probably not at the consistently hyperbolic immersive levels that tend to accompany more contemporary horror outings. The surround channels are instantly engaged by the kind of weird opening sounds which combine kind of drone like ambient environmental noises with scoring and other sound effects (like whispers), and it gets things off to an appropriately spooky start. Immersion can definitely ebb and flow as the story wends its way, with some of the "procedural" elements probably offering more front and center activity, but with some of the outdoor material in particular then opening up the soundstage considerably. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: I've marked new supplements below with an asterisk (*). More information on the ported over supplements from prior releases can be found in the above linked reviews by Michael and Marty.

4K UHD Disc One (Theatrical Cut)

• Faces of Death* (HD; 16:47) is an interview with special make-up effects creator Robert Kurtzman.


• Undercover Angel* (HD; 11:55) is an interview with actor Julie Michaels.


• Mixing It Up* (HD; 12:26) is an interview with composer Harry Manfredini.


• Gates of Hell (HD; 36:03) is an interview with director Adam Marcus.


• Jason vs. Terminator (HD; 11:34) is another interview with Adam Marcus, this one recounting some childhood memories.


• Über-Jason (HD; 28:22) is an interview with actor Kane Hodder.


• Friday the 13th Props (HD; 1:08) is a brief look at various iconic accoutrements utilized in the series.


• Additional TV Footage (HD; 12:35) features optional commentary by Adam Marcus.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 1:12)


• TV Spots* (HD; 5:27) looks like it includes some additional pieces based on running time when compared to the older 1080 release, which I'm assuming may be the Canadian spots included.


• Stills Gallery (HD)


• Posters and Behind the Scenes Gallery (HD)


• Introduction by Director Adam Marcus (HD; 00:13) is accessible under the Play Menu and is authored to lead directly into the main feature.

4K UHD Disc Two (Unrated Cut)

• Audio Commentary with Michael Felsher and Steve Barton*


• Audio Commentary with Director Adam Marcus and Author Peter Bracke


• Audio Commentary with Director Adam Marcus and Screenwriter Dean Lorey


• Introduction by Director Adam Marcus (HD; 00:13) is accessible under the Play Menu and is authored to lead directly into the main feature.

This Limited Edition also features a reversible sleeve and encloses a double sided foldout poster. An illustrated collector's booklet contains new writing by J.A. Kerswell and archival material. Packaging features a slipcover.

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Even some diehard fans of the Friday the 13th films tend not be overly excited about either Jason Goes to Hell or Jason X, but if you are a fan of the film, Arrow is once again providing a cult item with nice technical merits and some really appealing supplements, along with handsome packaging and non disc swag that should appeal to collectors.