Friday The 13th SEs/Box Set Info Coming on September 19th!? - Page 9

RYAN----Interesting post. I agree that the 5.1 tracks really aren't needed. Last year I went through the 8 Paramount discs within a couple days and IMO, none of them need any work when it comes to the V/A. Part 4 has one horrid looking scene (the shower scene) yet it's weird because THE PROWLER (directed by the same guy) has one bad looking scene and it takes place in the shower.

As I said earlier, extras mean nothing to me so I'm happy with what I've got. However, I will buy whatever is released. I'm going to be buying the extras because I'm a die-hard fan. Had I been a lesser fan I'd certainly skip these upgrades. As for being uncut, I've still got my doubts. "Some" footage has been found but this could just lead to more controversy. For years (decades really) there have been rumors about what was cut and what wasn't. Since this hasn't actually been seen, we're going on mainly rumors so if we get uncut versions, the edits could be as small as what we saw in part 1. I've seen part 7 uncut and there is a major difference there so that would be a big change. The DVD of part 5 and I think 3 feature a few extra seconds so it'll be interesting to see how much more is out there.

I'm currently holding onto my current discs because I'm worried that these "director's cuts" might hurt the actual films. I don't mind them putting the gore back in but I really hope they don't add anything just to make it "uncut". Meaning, I hope something filmed for television isn't just thrown in for a fake uncut release (ala what people buy on Ebay). My favorite of the series is part 6 and rumor has it that this was filmed in different versions. I personally love the rather non-violent version out there now and personally, I'd hate to see this thing as some bloodbath because it could take away the film as I know it.

I think another thing to keep in mind is that it might not be possible for uncut releases. This is what I meant earlier when I said fans would never be happy. I think the bottom line is that Paramount is trying to restore these but in the end, it might not be possible and I hope fans understand this. The effort could be there and the final results might not be what we wanted but there isn't anything else to be done. The cut footage in OFFICER is lost so we should probably expect "some" stuff to be lost here.

So, for F13, I will rebuy these for the extras, which will be commentaries, interviews and perhaps deleted scenes. I'll do this because I love the series. I own the NIGHTMARE set and this is something I'd never rebuy. I'll watch the movies but don't need extras for any of them. With F13, I'll take some extras but if it doesn't happen I still have the movies to watch at least.

Michael,

I remember someone posting months ago that Friday 5 only has 10% or so of it's violence intact...

Part 6 was butchered as much as 7... It was shot in 3 versions... A Directors PG-13, R, and X...

The Friday 6 we have now is the Directors PG-13 version with an R rating...

Every movie in the series with the exception of Part 1 and 3 I think is heavily cut... Savini mentioned that Part 4 was even submitted to the MPAA a few times... This is a movie most thought had no cuts...

About this set in general... I have been seeing people all over who claim to know about this set... Some claim we will be happy with the set... Some claim this set will be a waste of time... But, anytime I or someone else have asked for more detail, no answers are given... So, I wouldnt know what is true and what isnt...

You would think Paramount has a gag order on these people... No one likes to talk about this set at all or the details... Personally, the best thing to do is just to wait for Paramount to release official specs themselves before getting excited or disappointed...

Walt,

Actually, believe it or not, people would buy this set as long as there were tons of extras I think... Look at the Nightmare Box set... None are the uncut prints that are out there and very easy to find... No one seems to care or notice though because the box set has so many extras...

There are a section of people who wont buy this set cut... It will put a dent into who will buy it and who wont... For example, if it is all theatrical versions again, I wont buy it... It just would not make sense to me to upgrade...

One must admit New Line did do a great job on the transfers... But, I would have preferred they invested their time and money in restoring the uncut prints and workprints over paying for all those new interviews and extras I dont watch...

A funny thing I notice... People buy a movie because it has hours and hours of extras... They say look at all the extras... I will ask how were they??? Their answer to me... I dont know... I didnt watch them, I just wanted them...

I have found that many people will be sold as long as you give them a lot...

Me??? I prefer quality over quantity... I would rather have two excellent, killer, spectacular extras before 100 bad to mediocre ones....

For example, I would want one uncut movie with excellent picture and sound before I would want a badly cut movie with a horrible transfer and a ton of extras.

Personally, I will buy this set if I see at least effort made... If Paramount by some chance just cant find all the uncut prints, so be it... But, as long as I know they did restore and find what they could, I would be happy... Some may be lost or gone forever... Nothing anyone can do, not even Paramount if thats the case... Sure, people might be upset... I would think oh damn... But, if there is nothing anyone can do about it, there is really nothing that can be done...

It has just always been strange to me these bigger series seem so hard to locate material for... But obscure movies no one ever heard of (some of the Anchor bay movies for example) somehow end up uncut with very watchable transfers even though they are 10 times as rare and unknown and even older in many cases...

"I remember someone posting months ago that Friday 5 only has 10% or so of it's violence intact..."

Yes that was me, I found a 1985 CFQ interview/article where Danny Steinmann went into some detail as to the amount of gore cut by the MPAA & Paramount.

I agree quality over quantity, it doesn't fill me with hope that Paramount or rather the team they have putting the extras together are focusing on interviews at film convention panels etc.
Personally I say scrap that & put out the unrated versions & I'd be a happy bunny, but it all hangs on their ability to find those trims, time will tell.

Right, I'm thrilled to death that Paramount is spending time to make Friday SEs, but I am worried about the uncut issue.

Michael, I really think no one can possibly complain if Paramount releases these in the most uncut form available, the general consensus seems to be extras are good, but uncut is the most important consideration. I am a little worried Paramount will release regular r-rated Special Editions then when fans complain have an attitude like "What? We gave you what you wanted".

Remember when Paramount held a poll to decide the most wanted titles on DVD? One of the top responses was "My Bloody Valentine uncut!". Then Paramount released the standard R-rated version.

With regard to My Bloody Valentine, the ball is in Paramount's court, the producer found all the MPAA trims & other dialogue exstensions in his office, some 9mins in lengh it's been reported, and I'm told Paramount were not interested in putting out a complete version..at the time he asked them. Now If the Friday box set is a great seller, I'd be surprised if they didn't revisit that film down the line.

At the end of the day it's all about economics, would an unrated MBV shift in large enough numbers for them to spend money on a restoration? I seriously doubt it, An Officer & a Gentleman on the other hand...
Until such time I can day dream over the unrated MBV

Simon,

I wouldnt doubt if re-issues of both My Bloody Valentine and April Fool's Day would come out in the future if this Friday set sells well enough...

Paramount is running out of Horror titles... They will need something to put in their future Sept/Oct lineups...

If Paramount is worried about a loss, they could always lease them to Anchor Bay who could restore the prints...

I will never understand why Paramount is so dead set against leasing out some of their movies to another company... It's not like they would loose full rights... All that would happen is that Anchor Bay would restore the film and keep the profits from that specific release... After the disc is made, the rights would go right back to Paramount... Paramount would make money from leasing the rights...

New Line did the same thing with Elite for The Elm Street series in the mid 90's... New Line still to this day has the rights...

Anchor Bay went to Dimension and offered to restore the producers cut of Halloween 6... Dimension also refuses...

Is restoration really that expensive??? Does anyone know anything about this??? I mean Anchor Bay restores uncut prints all the time and the prices are cheaper than big studios... They still manage to turn a profit it seems even on really strange titles I myself have never heard of...

MGM restored The Burning uncut for Amazon on VHS at one point and turned a profit...

I mean if movies like those are turning a profit, I cant imagine why Friday the 13th, My Bloody Valentine, April Fools Day, etc. would have such a problem or be a loss...

The Friday the 13th series sells better than My Bloody Valentine, Aril Fools Day, etc., but I think all would turn some kind of profit...

This goes for all genres really... An Officer and a Gentlemen for example would sell well enough to warrant a restoration...

Personally, I wouldnt mind seeing the 3 hour version of the campy razzie movie "Mommy Dearest." I know... Im sick... lol...

P.S. I have just heard the "Children of the Corn" series of all unholy things will be getting High Definition Widescreen transfers... This is madness... If a series ever wasnt warranted for restoration, it would have to be this... Some of the movies only made $500,000... The two movies that did make it to the theaters bombed very badly.... This is just madness I say...

Hobogoblins would deserve restoration before this series... Madness...

Now that is an enticing prospect!

Ryan, Some companies have already tried to prize MBV out of Paramount for a restoration, Dragon films in Austria I believe told me they (Paramount) asked for far too much money for a limited issue dvd release, Anchor Bay have also been after it with no luck.
And I think Don May Jr over at Synapse may have asked about Diabolik at one point.

I too don't understand why Paramount, Warner etc don't entertain the thought of leasing out their unloved offspring, The Devil's Criterion Collection anyone?
Now if only the Friday series had been with MGM

So you let that one slip, your a Mommie Dearest fan huh? I'll not rest until they release it with a miniature wire coat hanger pin, just like Palace Pictures did here in the UK with Eating Raoul, I still have my miniature frying pan badge that were handed out with both the theatrical & home video release, now that’s camp.

Interesting you’d bring up Children of the Corn, heavily cut for an R rating, the Japanese theatrical release contained a whole scene in a police station with the Sheriff being bumped off with a large kitchen knife, there was also more tea room massacre, footage of which EMI UK had a reel of but neglected to reinstate into the UK print.
I wonder if AB will uncover that long lost footage? Not that I’m a fan of anything but the musical score on that one!

I bought the NoES set because I don't have an LD player and I wanted the whole movie set so it seemed like a good buy(60 bux for 7 movies). I'll buy Friday the 13th set because I want all the movies. I'm done complaining, there are too many movies out there to bitch and complain that a couple of movies aren't being released uncut. Though if I had bought all the friday DVDs prior to this set, I wouldn't buy this set unless it was uncut.

Exactly my thoughts. I'll probably buy the set regardless, but only because I don't own any of the current releases.

Eric,

$60... You got a very good price on that set... I bought it in 1999 as soon as it came out and paid over double of what you paid...

I do remember being very surprised at the transfers back at the time... Same with the Halloween DVD set that came out that year... The transfers were just so good... Best since the theater days...

DVD was fun when it was new because you could see and be amazed by huge improvements from VHS...

Simon,

MGM is great... Nice transfers, uncut prints with R ratings on the box (I still cant figure out why they do that), and extras all for $9-$14 in many cases...

I do feel quite embarrassed for those that think a nine DVD set (in this case The Friday the 13th box) coming from Paramount is going to be below $50...

I would be shocked if this set could be had for under $100 on a pre-order...

Heck,i got the alien quadrilogy region 1 for 69.99 on preorder then , why should friday series be more ?Theres no way itll even have half the bonus material the quad had !

Tony,

This is Paramount we are talking about here...

I highly doubt they will release 8 movies and a bonus disc for below $50... You might as well just say that pigs fly, because it's not happening... What is that??? About $5 a movie??? You would have a better chance of winning the lottery than that coming from Paramount...

I Love Lucy Season 1 was $89 on pre-order originally... That was also 9 DVD's...

Paramount's Star Trek: The Motion Pictures collection 10 movie DVD set is $150 on sale from Amazon and half the movies in the set are barebones...

The Alien set is 4 movies and comes from an entirely different company all together...

Paramount does not believe in price comparing... If they did, many of their older barebones catalouge titles wouldnt have listed at $29.95 when they first came out...

Paramount is not known for cheap prices... They were always one of the highest for years... They do seem to be getting better though... They did slash prices on many items these last few years...

I think the lowest price this set would possibly be would be $89.95 on pre-order and that would be lucky...

Its a shame the bigger studios won't let Anchor bay etc handle films like MBV. The fans would really have a treat if they did.

Anchor Bay are releasing a little slasher called Cheerleader camp with new transfer etc. Thats what I call one hell of a good company.

Im still trying to have faith in Paramount, I mean they are at least trying. I have already got all the current F13 DVD's and I will only re-purchase if the set is good enough, Im talking quite a few UNCUT F13's in there.

Only time will tell.

Ryan, i guess 89.99 wouldnt be too bad.I wonder if itll get a region 2 release , so i dont have to import !I guess i could wait till 2006 when i make a trip back to the states for shopping.

Update according to official site.

The Part 6 director wanted to do a commentary for Part 6, but Paramount turned him down due to budget constraints. I dont understand it.

I could care less about commentaries really, it's just scary if they are already having budget issues over a commentary.

I mean if they are having budget constraints on a commentary, what else will they have budget constaints with?

Although, Part 8 (Jason takes a Cruise) will have a commentary. The one movie almost no one cared about and that is ranked one of the worst in the series by almost everyone. Figure this one out.

The uncut footage for Part 6 has been found, but will most likely just be placed as an extra and not fixed in any way or be put back into the film. Well, this just sucks. I thought the whole point of this set was for Uncut films?

What is the point of releasing all theatrical movies again? Paramount will probably take the old movies from the old discs, slap them on new ones. Slap on some untouched extras. Then, sell the set for $200.

Instead of having camera crews at fan conventions no one cares about and hunting down 50 year old cast members for a 30 second interview, they should have used the budget to restore the movies. Thats all anyone petioning for the last 20 years ever wanted to begin with. Uncut movies. It was the number one thing. Really the only thing anyone who was after this set for years ever wanted.

I will most likely be passing on this set unless I hear of something worthwhile in the future. I will just rent the films to see the footage in the extras.

It's most likely a lost cause unless somehow Paramount looses or sells the rights. Either is almost slim to none. Although, hopefully they can still surprise in some form.

I just will never understand. Budget Constraints on one of the top 3 known modern horror series, but yet horror movies no one ever heard of get released yearly by smaller companies with so much more effort put into them.

License this series off to Anchor Bay. They would give it their all.

Chuck from above is probably right. Looks like this set wont be so special afterall.

I still say that they should get joe bob briggs to do commentary on some of these. I'd think he'd work pretty cheap and he almost single handely made the documentary better than the movie on the jason x dvd. I'll be happy as long as part 7 is uncut since it was the most butchered.

Matt,

Joe Bob Briggs would cost more than the director I think. He is better known. But, I think it would be a great idea. Although, the chances of that are zero unless there is a big surprise. I would like to see his intros, etc. from when he did his show. Thats more interesting to me than any commentaries.

Parts 5-8 were all butchured beyond comprehension. They all are probably equal with each other in terms of missing footage. The reason Part 7 is so talked about is because it's the only that was really known about. Even though Parts 5-7 were all probably cut equally. Even Part 8 was severly cut. Parts 2 and 4 were both badly cut as well.

I would rather see Part 2 uncut before Part 5 for example, because I like Part 2 much better. Part 5 always seemed like some horribly made porno flick to me.

I just think this set will be a missed opportunity. I mean does anyone really care about viewing footage of drug induced fans in Jason teeshirts at a fan convention?

I mean sure. It might be fun to laugh at once, but it's really so un-important and a waste of money that could be going towards other important things.

Jason X had a decent DVD. If only the movie could have been watchable. When they showed the dorks in the extras though talking about the movie, it almost made me wish I wasnt a fan of this series. Where did they find these sewer dwellers from?

No wonder people think fans of horror are demented. Look how the studios view them.

It was like that camp thing on the Freddy vs Jason DVD. The slow motion going up to Harry Knowles like he was some form of sea creature. The really ugly girls with the big stomachs wearing half tops dancing on stage.

These studios are just laughing their a**es off because they think all fans of horror are like this.

Watching extras like that just make me realize how the fans are viewed. Though many of us are actually normal and have never killed anyone before.

I think that could be the reason for a "budget" so to speak. This is a general (ala mainstream) horror series that is going to have a bigger appeal than say something by Lucio Fulci or a Jess Franco. With that in mind, these films have been on the market for several years and that mainstream crowd has already bought them. The question will then come in on how many of those mainstream fans will rebuy a SE. I really wouldn't expect too many. I know several non-horror fans that enjoy this series but I know for certain they won't be upgrading. Any excuse for a re-release would be for the die-hard fans and I'm sure many of these will come up with reasons for not buying the set. So, I guess we should be lucky that Paramount is doing anything else with them.

I would hope part 6 would get a commentary over part 8 but I'm going to add a grain of salt to everything until an official announcement is made. Even if the set turns out to be a bomb, I'm still very happy with the current releases. Back to the budget, I'd rather money be spent on extras over 5.1 mixes. However, I'm sure some would rather have the new mixes over extras so we'll just have to wait and see.

As Michael said, take with a grain of salt.

However, it has been indicated by people in the know that commentary participants mostly get very little money, if anything at all. If the director of part 6 apporached Paramount to do a commentary, it would indicate that he wants to do it, so you would think Paramount would not have to pay him all that much.

Although it costs money to record a commentary in general, especially if you fly someone out, pay for a hotel room, provide a per diem, book studio time, pay an engineer, pay an editor in some cases, etc. Not an overwhelming cost, but there is at least a slight expense. Studios do seem to spend much more money recording commentaries than is really necessary. The track on the "Omaha" DVD by Dan Mirvish was recorded on the mic of a camcorder in a hotel room and didn't sound overwhelmingly different than any other commentary.

Paramount could probably just send a local engineer with some recording equipment to the director's house and just record the track there. I can't imagine the cost for that would be prohibitive.

Micheal,

5.1 mixes will most likely just be a waste of time and money. They will most likely be stinkers even if done due to the material. Part 7's is a stinker already.

Some say we should be grateful and basically pray to the mighty execs they are re-doing these. I am glad they are doing these, but I sure am not going to kiss a** for a shoddy effort. I dont understand why I should be grateful to spend $150-$200 of hard earned cash for a 20% effort? Technically, I am paying for a service. If the quality is not up there, I dont and wont buy it. I think these high price ranges should include some effort. Why is it MGM can release full blown and sometime uncut SE's for $10-$12? They also are a mainstream studio.

Price is not even really a concern for me. It is, but it isnt. For example, if they released all of these uncut as limited editions of say only 5,000 copies, I would pay $300 for the set.

The Forever Knight DVD's for example. The transfers are horrible, just horrible for DVD. Some of the worst. They did nothing at all with these but throw them on a disc from bad sources, yet charge a fortune. You cant even watch them with the lights on. Yet, the box set is $70. Nope. I will stick with my VHS tapes from TV that are actually better quality. I enjoy the series, but refuse to purchase something so poorly done with such a high price point.

These studios at times do take advantage of those who will buy whatever scraps they throw them.

According to the official site, the director of Part 6 offered to record a commentary, special features, and to re-cut the film all for free.

Paramount turned him down so far, but he is supposedly asking again.

Talk about things really making no sense.

Hopefully, all this new info from the site is false and uncut versions/bonus stuff will come out as originally planned. One can only hope.

Maybe they are trying to horribly lower expectations so they can surprise us later on.

I really hope this isn't true. I would be pretty dissapointed in Paramount if this was the case.

If these are not uncut, than I wont bother. this series isn't a number one priority for me (I've always prefered Halloween and Nightmare On Elm street to these). The only reason I would pick up the box set is if these are uncut and it's priced right.

My understanding is that the current disc have great transfers, and any hardcore fans have already bought these. The only way to get casual fans like me to pick this up is to sweetin the deal and give us uncut versions when available. See the Alien Quadrilogy as a fine example: 2 versions of every film for $70 CDN, IMHO, none of the Friday films would compare to the Alien franchise, so they should keep the price down so Joe 6-pack can look at it and think "Geez, for $100 I get 8 movies, this should be good for a laugh." Paramount would sell a ton of them!.

Personally I would happily settle for just a compilation of deleted footage as a seperate extra rather then having it reinserted into the films themselves, which I don't think is realistic.

Some of this footage must be in horrible shape and extensive, painstaking, and costly work would have to be done to make it match.

Fans should be pushing for this just in case Paramount has adopted an all-or-nothing approach.

Geez, if this is true then I don't even know what to say!



That's true. Personally I would like to see the "missing footage" inserted on a shot by shot basis. The parts that are still in good shape or easily restored should be inserted into their respective places in the films, the bad footage should be included as an extra. (like Sleepaway Camp 3 or Leatherface)