*May contain spoilers! (Not that I am spoiling much)

This had to be the worst Friday the 13th movie to date, and lets face it there weren't that many great ones. The huge problem with this is what the heck happened. The last time we saw Jason he was in Manhattan and he was somehow turned back into a kid, in this movie he is again a walking corpse. I can live with that, but then he gets blown up, they made it look so easy, they should have done that from the start. Now though it gets strange as Jason becomes something from like the movie alien or all those body snatcher movies. At this point I am wondering "didn't I pay to see Jason hack up people directly?". Then comes the startling revelation that Jason has a sister! What! Get Real!!! There is no way the woman in the first one had a daughter before or after Jason (or before or after her head was chopped off for that matter). If she had a daughter she would have had someone to fall back on and Jason's death wouldn't have pushed her over the edge (most mothers like their daughters more anyway). In the end Jason is killed by another relative, because apparently a relative is the only one who can kill him (how did they come up with that) and the movie thankfully ends.

This supposedly "final" entry in the series (although yet another has been recently, unwelcomely made) wisely takes the theme in a different direction from the repetitive stalk-and-slash antics of the previous entries. Unfortunately for us, the film decides to takes its inspiration from that underrated classic THE HIDDEN, turning Jason into an evil being that swaps human bodies by sliding from mouth to mouth! Sadly the producers still see fit to throw in a few moronic teenagers, plenty of dumb characters, and stupid dialogue. But they also make one of the slimiest, ickiest entries in the entire series and in my book, that deserves points. Whether we're watching the human vessels that Jason travels in being shot to bits, impale,d and generally destroyed, or witnessing the truly disgusting "body melt" that occurs after he leaves the body of one of his hosts (ROBOCOP has nothing on this),the special effects are pretty damn good.

Although the general acting of the cast leaves something to be desired, as a bonus point for cult fans we get the appearance of Erin Gray (Wilma Deering from BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY) who shows up in a small but important role as a waitress who becomes one of Jason's victims. The male lead, who looks a lot like Ted Raimi, is actually quite good in his role, and the female lead isn't too bad either. However, the truly psychotic Steven Williams manages to steal every scene he's in as a sadistic bounty hunter following Jason's trail - just witness his totally unnecessary snapping of a man's fingers just for the hell of it. Of course fans of cult TV will no doubt recognise Williams as being the guy who played Mr. X in THE X-FILES, and the two characters are very similar: they shout a lot, throw their weight around and are generally fun to watch.

So, for a Friday film, this offers us up a lot of action and violence, which is most welcome and makes things easier to take, a silly plot seemingly written on the back of a beer mat and designed to give Jason a motive (when they mentioned that Voorhees had a secret sister I groaned),and surprisingly good special effects. There are also a couple of in-jokes for movie buffs too, including the appearance of the Necronomicon from EVIL DEAD 2 and Freddy's gloved hand from A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. The crazy finale sees Jason being dragged into the ground by a load of giant hands which are supposed to represent the demons of hell - I was expecting more from this, especially with the build-up, the title and the fiery box art, and thus left disappointed. This isn't bad stuff though, just not particularly original. It could be worse - just try watching numbers 2, 4, 5 and 7 in this series instead. It would have made a good conclusion if they'd just decided to leave things alone after all, but when there are bucks to be made, you just know they're somehow going to contrive a reincarnation, no matter how absurd it might be...

Jason is tricked by an FBI sting where they blew him to bits. Only his dark heart still beats. When the coroner falls under the trance of the beating heart, he eats it up and becomes possessed by the great evil.

Steven Williams is too campy as bounty hunter Creighton Duke. And he's not the funny kind of campy. An older Erin Gray stars as Diana Kimble. At least I like her.

The problem with this one is it takes a lot of side trips away from the simple Jason-killing-teens story. It's what the franchise is about. It's what we expect. The FBI thing just comes and goes. I understand that it's meant to surprise us. But after the surprise, there isn't much follow thru. The possession premise of this movie strays too far from the franchise, and just misses the whole point of it all. It's as if they're trying to throw everything at this including the kitchen sink.