Friday the 13th 4k review

Sep 02, 2022- Permalink

After seeing the success of 1978’s Halloween, producer/director Sean S. Cunningham decided to make his own horror flick and in 1980 the project, Friday the 13th, was released launching a franchise. It also gave birth to one of the slasher genre’s most iconic characters, Jason Voorhees, though he only appears as a young boy in this film. Paramount has released a 4K and I had a chance to review it.

The movie centres around Camp Crystal Lake, which decades earlier had been the scene of an accidental drowning that was followed by the death of several camp counselors. Despite warnings from the locals, the camp is reopening and several young counselors (including an early film role for Kevin Bacon) arrive to set it up, have fun, and have sex. A mysterious figure has other plans for them and one by one they begin to be the victims of some grisly murders.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded native 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The transfer is from a new restored remaster sourced from the original camera negatives. The real star of this movie is the black levels. So much horror lurks in the shadows and though so much takes place in dark scenes, these scenes maintain detail in the darkness and the blacks don’t crush. Details abound in the image from the natural scenery of the lake area to the cabins and from the faces and hair to the textiles. The colour palette is great across the spectrum, from the lush greens of foliage to the primaries of clothing. The HDR enhances the specular highlights of camp fires and flashlights.

On the audio side, there’s an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track as well as a French Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono track. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, and French. This is apparently the same 5.1 track featured on Shout Factory’s 2020 Blu-ray. The terror is increased if you feel like you’re in the camp and the surrounds do an excellent job of placing ambient and action effects all around you and low frequencies add some weight to the action. The score is dynamic and the dialogue is clear.

Friday the 13th contains both the theatrical and unrated versions of the movie. There’s a digital code and extras include some production featurettes, a reunion, and an audio commentary.

Parmount’s Friday the 13th 4K gives the iconic slasher great audio and video presentations. If you’re a fan of the genre, you’ll want to add this to your collection.