Friday the 13th, Jason Goes to Hell - The Final Friday (1993)
d. Adam Marcus, 87 minutes

Film Plot Summary

A car drove toward Crystal Lake (4 miles away acc. to a mileage sign: Fairfield was 33 miles and Westport 43 miles away). The film introduced:

• FBI agent Elizabeth Marcus (Julie Michaels)

The in-shape agent entered a cabin, and after replacing a burned out light-bulb and stripping out of her thong bikini and bra to take a bath, she was attacked by Jason Voorhees (Kane Hodder) (resurrected again somehow from the previous film) wielding a machete and succumbing to the sexy bait. Barefooted and wrapped in a towel, she was pursued into the woods, where an FBI ambush had been set up. Floodlights on stands were illuminated, and Jason was pelted with hundreds of rounds of bullets. He was also blown up with incoming artillery fire - his decapitated head landed in the dust next to his still-beating, throbbing heart. From afar, an unidentified figure (a bounty hunter soon identified as Creighton Duke) witnessed the explosion, and the FBI's claim that Jason was finally dead (# 1 death?), but the dark man asserted otherwise: "I don't think so."

During the credits sequence, the grisly body parts were taken to the Federal Morgue (in Youngstown, Ohio) for an autopsy, where the Coroner Phil (Richard Gant) examined the remains that had been subjected to "extreme explosive trauma" and had third-degree burns over much of the torso. He spoke about how the body had well over 100 bullet wounds - "this guy's deader than s--t". The Coroner examined the heart, declaring it "malformed," twice the size of a normal heart, and "filled with a black viscous fluid...it's not blood."

When hypnotized by the beating black heart, the Coroner seized it in his hands and took large gnawing bites out of it. The transference caused his body to become possessed by Jason.

[Important Note: For the remainder of the film, those 'possessed' by 'Jason' were counted as committing 'Jason' kills: Coroner Phil, Deputy Josh, Robert Campbell, and Officer Randy. Each of them died while passing on 'Jason's' dark spirit - marked in red below.]

The foul-mouthed Asst. Coroner (scriptwriter Dean Lorey) delivered pizza to the 'Jason'-possessed Coroner and then was stabbed with a long autopsy dissection probe in the back of the neck. His face was pushed through the metal grating on the autopsy table (# 2 death). The two security guards outside the room were also murdered by the 'possessed' Coroner. Their bloody corpses were seen on a TV program called "American Case File":

• Security Guard # 1 suffered a pencil through his spinal cord (# 3 death) (off-screen)
• Security Guard # 2 had fingers poked through his skull (# 4 death) (off-screen)

The TV show's host Robert Campbell (Steven Culp) surveyed the history of the notorious serial killer named Jason Voorhees:

"Born in 1946 to Elias and Pamela Voorhees, Jason was believed to have drowned in Camp Crystal Lake at the tender age of 11. Sadly, he did not. Since then, he has been responsible for 83 confirmed murders, and speculated scores of others."

The investigative TV show featured an interview with black-hatted, long-coated bounty hunter Creighton Duke (Steven Williams) at his training compound one week after Jason's alleged termination. His first response to the words Jason Voorhees, was: "That makes me think of a little girl in a pink dress sticking a hot dog through a doughnut." Duke claimed that Jason's dark spirit could now hop from one body to another:

"What you think of as Jason is not Jason. That body he's wearing. That's just meat. That boy knows how to dress. He wears other people's bodies like folks wear a suit....There's only one way to put an end to him for all time and I'm the only one that knows the way. So if you want him dead, truly dead, $500,000 is my fee, and for that, you get the mask, the machete, the whole damn thing."

Host Campbell claimed that there were "five more Jason-style murders" stretching from the morgue on a path that led back to Crystal Lake. And then he proposed to pay Creighton Duke his bounty fee, if he provided conclusive proof of Jason's living existence, and confirmed death.

Middle-aged waitress Diana Kimble (Erin Gray), working at Joey B's Diner in Crystal Lake (Jason's hometown) where she lived, was aghast at the American Case File TV report that had just aired. The diner, run by manly Joey B. (Rusty Schwimmer), was marketing Jason's notoriety, with a "Jason is Dead, 2 for 1 burger sale" - and hockey-mask shaped burgers. Duke was in town, ordering "a Voorhees Burger and a side of Jason Fingers," and introduced himself to waitress Diana, already knowing her identity. He told her that he was there to kill Jason Voorhees: "I need you to help me...Name your price. Everyone has a price." He warned her: "He's coming for you, Diana, and your daughter" and also asserted, "I know who you really are."

Diana's older boyfriend, Cunningham County Sheriff Ed Landis (Billy Green Bush) defended her honor after the Duke insulted him ("She is only your lady because she ain't had a taste of the Duke yet"), and ordered the jailing of the tabloid TV serial killer bounty hunter. At the diner counter, Diana spoke briefly to Steven Freeman (John D. LeMay), who used to date Diana's daughter Jessica (and fathered her child) but was now estranged. She urged him to come to her house at 11pm that night, to speak to him about something very important.

As Steven drove to Crystal Lake, he picked up three hitchhikers standing under the mileage sign from the beginning of the film. He joked with them about their destination:

"Planning on smoking a little dope, having a little premarital sex, and getting slaughtered?"

They were left off by the side of the road at the broken-down Camp Crystal Lake sign, where they set up a tent camp:

• brunette Deborah (Michelle Clunie)
• her boyfriend Luke (Michael B. Silver)
• Alexis (Kathryn Atwood), a red-headed female

The trio of campers were naked around a campfire after skinny-dipping in the lake. Soon after, the couple retired to their tent to make love. Outside, Alexis was repeatedly slashed with a scalpel (# 5 death) by the 'possessed' Coroner, after which the love-making couple in the tent was also murdered - the killer stepped on their discarded and unused condom as he approached. When she climaxed on top of Luke during intercourse, Deborah was stabbed through the back with a sharp metal spiked fence post and ripped in half up through a bloody gash in her torso (# 6 death), while Luke's head was crushed (# 7 death) (off-screen).

The demonic, 'Jason-possessed' Coroner then proceeded to Joey B's diner, where he killed unfaithful Edna (Diana Georger) when he slammed her head with the car door (# 8 death) in the parking lot. She had just driven up, to carry on an affair with Deputy Sheriff Josh (Andrew Bloch).

The next scene was at the Voorhees house (the mailbox name-sign incorrectly spelled the name 'Vorhees'), where Josh had been abducted and taken prisoner by the Coroner. Strapped down with large leather straps and bound to a table, Josh was shaved with a sharpened straight-edge razor after an application of shaving cream, and then Jason's dark and evil, snake-like heart was transferred into him by mouth - a kiss of death from Coroner Phil to Josh (# 9 death).

By phone, Diana spoke to her daughter Jessica Kimble (Kari Keegan), who surprisingly, was dating TV host Robert Campbell. Jessica's infant baby named Stephanie had been fathered by her estranged boyfriend, Steven Freeman.

Suddenly, 'Jason'-possessed Deputy Sheriff Josh entered Diana's house and attacked her - in a mirror reflection she saw 'Jason', prompting her to reach for a gun and shoot him in the head. When 'Jason' revived, he reattacked with a protruding snake-like tongue. Arriving at the house to meet with Diana as planned at 11 pm, Steven Freeman burst into the house and found them wrestling on the floor. He separated Josh from Diana, but then the killer grabbed a knife-sharpening implement from the kitchen and threw it into Diana's back and spinal cord, fatally wounding her (# 10 death).

Steven retaliated by thrusting a fireplace poker through Josh's back, impaling his heart on itand he crashed through a glass window to the ground below - but soon melted into the grass lawn and disappeared (was he alive or dead?) - presumably alive (as later events unfolded). As Diana died, she told Steven: "You saw him. You know who he is. You have to save Jessica."

Although Steven explained what had happened and protested his innocence to the Sheriff, he was falsely accused and arrested for Diana's murder, and jailed. Later, when Jessica arrived to visit Diana, she found waitress friend Vicki (Allison Smith) scrubbing bloodstains from the rug. She learned that Steven was in jail, and saw him in person in the police department where she had come to sign papers, when he was being transferred from one holding cell to another. Jessica left her infant daughter in the care of Vicki for the day, as she (and TV host Robert Campbell) visited the Sheriff.

In the cell next to his, Creighton Duke spoke to Steven, reminding him of his alleged crime: "the murder of the mother of the girl you love." Duke then revealed his secret knowledge of the identity of Diana's real killer:

"It was Jason that killed Diana...There's only one way to put an end to that devil. And they don't know the way."

Duke suggested that the price was very high, and asked if Steven was "willing to pay." After breaking one of his fingers, he told Steven how Jason could be definitively killed:

"The only way to kill Jason Voorhees is to destroy his heart, and there's only one person that can do that now that Diana's dead -- her daughter...and he will try to get to her before she can get to him."

He required more payment, another broken finger, before divulging that Jason needed a surviving descendant or blood relative, in order to be reborn in his own body. He also described how only members of Jason's direct bloodline could kill him, and that he would be reborn into a new host if killed by someone outside the family:

"Those FBI idiots destroyed Jason's body, so now he needs a new one. The ones he's jumping in and out of - they can't last. They get diseased. He gets weak. Jason needs to be reborn again and he needs Jessica to do it....In a Voorhees was he born. Through a Voorhees may he be reborn, and only by the hands of a Voorhees will he die. Jason had a sister, your girlfriend's mother, Diana. Now that she's dead, he has only two blood relatives left in the world with the power to kill him, or make him reborn - Jessica and her baby."

Steven vowed to escape from his cell to protect them, but was forewarned by Duke that only niece Jessica could kill Jason:

"Tell Jessica about her birthright. Make her believe you. Go to the Voorhees house, find proof, because if you don't, Jason will kill her and your baby."

With the reluctant aid of boyhood friend Officer Randy Parker (Kipp Marcus), Steven broke out of jail with the keys, knowing he would become a fugitive who could be shot on sight. At the dilapidated Voorhees house, Steven roamed around, and found a copy of the Necronomicon (from The Evil Dead films), and then fell partway through rotten floor boards. He then heard American Case File host Robert Campbell enter the house, and eavesdropped as he spoke on his cellphone. Campbell discussed how to exploit the Voorhees house for his TV show:

• He would add "a few body parts in the refrigerator" for a segment to highlight the "twisted secrets of the Voorhees house revealed."
• He also spoke about how the next day's headlines would be: "Body of slain Voorhees woman stolen from morgue" - and how he had stolen Diana's body and planted it in a closet in the house.
• Campbell also crudely boasted how he then "went home and f--ked her daughter." He claimed he could persuade Jessica to shoot their film there with his spiced-up ideas, to further his own career and to get the ratings to soar "through the f--king roof."

Deputy Josh, still 'possessed' by Jason, attacked Campbell and died as he passed on 'Jason's' dark-hearted spirit. Josh's body painfully melted away into a pile of gooey flesh (# 11 death). Robert Campbell became the new host, possessed by 'Jason' and his demonic spirit. The 'possessed' Robert left the Voorhees house, with Steven following, both in quick pursuit to Diana's house, where Jessica was undressing to take a cleansing shower.

As in the opening bath scene, the power to the Voorhees house went out and extinguished the light. In the garage, she was approached by Robert, who attempted to kill her, but Steven intervened and dragged her away to a car, as she screamed: "I don't want your help." He then ran over Robert with the car (and also ran over him in reverse), but the damage to the man's body wasn't permanent. When Jessica forced Steven to pull the car over, she couldn't believe what Steven was saying ("He is not dead and that is not Robert"). She also didn't believe his vow that he didn't kill her mother. When he warned: "You and the baby are in a lot of danger," she threw him out of the car ("F--king psycho. You killed my mother! You think I'd let you near my baby?") and drove away to the police station.

There, she told Sheriff Landis how Steven had run over Robert and killed him, and that Steven was near "the old Myers place" [a reference to the Halloween films], forcing the Sheriff to send Officer Randy Parker to apprehend and arrest Steven on Lake Road. After a scuffle and mutual gun-draw stalemate, Randy told Steven about seeing Jessica at the police station: "You totally wrecked Jessica." Steven allowed himself to be cuffed and taken to see her there.

Meanwhile, back at the station, 'Jason'-possessed Robert marched beyond the counter and massacred the first of three police officers:

• female Officer Ryan's (Madelon Curtis) head was bashed against a locker (# 12 death)
• shortly later in the hallway, after quickly reviving, Robert bashed the heads together of Officer Mark (Mark Thompson) and Officer Brian (Brian Phelps) (# 13-14 deaths)

When Sheriff Landis came to Jessica's defense as Robert was trying to transfer his heart into her, he was knocked out. Just then, as Steven and Officer Randy arrived, Steven stole the deputy's gun and fired multiple shots into Robert's head and body, to protect Jessica.

Duke found an opportunity during the chaos to escape from his cell. Steven and Jessica (now convinced of Steven's story) raced together to Joey B's diner to retrieve her baby Stephanie from Vicki. Greasy-spoon proprietor Joey B. held Steven at gunpoint (she believed Steven was a "f--kin' felon," guilty of Diana's murder). She also sent her fat son Ward (Adam Cranner) to summon the police, although he was warned against it. When there was a struggle for a gun, a bullet struck the diner's electrical power line, causing the emergency lights to come on.

Outside the diner, 'Jason'-possessed Robert confronted Ward, twisted and fractured his arm, and tossed him against the outside of the diner doors (# 15 death). The killer then murdered a diner patron by heaving him into the diner counter (# 16 death). Another diner patron was accidentally killed when Vicki tried to shoot at Robert with a shotgun and one of the stray bullets struck him at a table booth (# 17 death) (accidental).

As they ran to the back of the diner, Jessica found that her baby was gone, abducted by Duke who had left a note (which she secretly grabbed):

"I have what you want. Come to the Voorhees house, ALONE!"

Joey B's husband, a cook named Shelby (Leslie Jordan) was scalded to death by having his head dunked into a deep-fat fryer and then sizzled on a hot-griddle grill (# 18 death). As she tried to help defend her husband and hit 'Jason' from behind, Joey B's face and mouth were bashed and dented in with a sharp elbow poke (# 19 death). Vicki continued to battle against 'Jason' with the shotgun and with a thick BBQ skewer pole, but the tables were turned on her. 'Jason' impaled her on the other end of the BBQ skewer (she threatened: "Go to hell" as she died) and then crushed Vicki's head with his bare hands (# 20 death). 'Jason' fell to the floor after being shot numerous times and skewered.

As Jessica drove off toward the Voorhees house in a truck, Steven saw Duke's note discarded onto the floor (This time it read differently (GOOF): "I have your baby. Come to the Voorhees house, Alone! Duke"), and armed himself with a machete from the wall.

Jessica met with Duke and asked for her baby back, while he claimed that 'Jason' could have jumped into another host: "Jason could have jumped into anyone by now but you." He asked for just two minutes of her time, to attempt to retrieve his bounty by stabbing 'Jason' with his magic dagger - to end the threat forever:

"It's not about the money anymore...Tonight we can send Jason Voorhees straight to hell for all time...Only through a Voorhees can he be reborn, and only a Voorhees can kill him - with that! You will always be in danger until Jason is dead. He won't stop coming for you until he gets you, until he's reborn. And then he will kill you -- and your baby. If you want this to be over, if you want your baby out of danger, then you will end it now, before more people have to die like your friends, like your mother. Because until you kill him, it will never be over."

An unidentified officer (later identified as Officer Randy) entered the diner and viewed the corpses lying on the floor. 'Jason' (Robert) emerged from his hiding place, transferred his snake-like heart into the officer's body, and died (# 21 death).

As they saw headlights approaching the Voorhees house, Duke cautioned that 'Jason' might be hosted in anyone's body: "You can't trust anyone." The floorboards gave way, and Duke fell into the cellar, as Sheriff Landis and 'Jason--possessed Officer Randy entered the house. Duke commanded Jessica to "kill the both of them...Do it or die!" After Sheriff Landis demanded the dagger, he lunged at it and impaled himself (# 22 death) (accidental), and then as he fell, Jessica lost the dagger.

Officer Randy grabbed the baby and began transferring himself for rebirth into Jessica's infant Stephanie. Steven rushed in and swung with his machete, severing Randy's neck (# 23 death). Through the officer's decapitation neck wound, a squirming, mutated heart (now transformed into a demonic, Hellbaby infant with a reptilian tail), crawled out, found its way into the basement, and entered the opened legs of Diana's corpse and burrowed its way through her vagina to her ovaries.

The climax of the film was remarkable - hockey-mask and all, Jason broke through the floor-boards from the cellar onto the first floor, now reborn. As Duke cried out: "Get the damn dagger," he was killed when his back was snapped and crushed with an overpowering bear-hug from the resurrected Jason (# 24 death). The dagger fell through the floorboards to the dirt below, as Steven fought and received a thrashing from Jason. They crashed through a window, and Jason was stabbed with a metal rake and hit with a shovel, while Steven suffered multiple rake-handle and shovel hits and was thrown into a jungle-jim metal scaffolding [used in Hitchcock's The Birds scene in front of a school house].

Steven was saved from certain death when Jessica (Jason's last remaining adult relative), who had retrieved the magic dagger, snuck up behind Jason, and stabbed him through the heart with it. The wound area glowed, and thunder crackled as his tortured soul was released. With a final thurst from her foot at the dagger to drive it even deeper, giant demon, mud-encrusted hands pulled the dying murderer down into Hell (# 25 death). Jessica saved Steven by grabbing his arm and saving him from being dragged down into the pit.

The couple kissed, now that the threat had disappeared underground and Jason was defeated. As dawn approached, they (with the baby) walked into the sunrise.

A portal to Hell opened, and Freddy Krueger's (from the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise) steel clawed-gloved hand snatched Jason's dropped mask left on the dirt surface, and took it downward, adding a maniacal laugh. This was a premature precursor to Freddy vs. Jason (2003), released AFTER the 10th film in the franchise.

Film Notables (Awards, Facts, etc.)

With a production budget of approximately $3 million, and box-office gross revenues of $16.9 million (domestic).

Also the film was now distributed by New Line Cinema, and this was New Line's first Jason film..

Although it was the ninth film in the series, it wasn't the "Final Friday."

With the tagline: "Evil has finally found a home."

Body Count: 25 + 5 (the first death was the 'death' of Jason, followed by 17 killings committed by four 'Jason'- possessed individuals who all died themselves (marked in red); also there were 2 accidental deaths: 1 committed by Vicki, and the accidental death of Sheriff Landis; the final death was the killing of a 'reborn' and 'resurrected' Jason, committed by Jessica Kimble). Earlier in the film, there were also "5 more Jason-styled murders" occurring in the week between Jason's escape from the morgue and his arrival at Crystal Lake.