Friday the 13th (2009) - Arrow Video 4K UHD Limited Edition

Being a fan of Marcus Nispel's take on Tobe Hooper's 1974 seminal horror classic, I was initially optimistic about this 2009 reimagining of Friday the 13th from Michael Bay's production house Platinum Dunes. At best, the German-born director returns the franchise to its viscerally shocking roots but with more buckets of blood and topless women. Sadly, the story's bizarre hodgepodge of the best bits from the first four films feels like a tonally cheap, updated, and frustrating slog featuring the biggest douchebag jerk of the entire franchise. It's the visual wet dream of a fanboy's gleeful fantasy run wild — the way we would love to imagine and remember the original series. From the same writing duo that conceived Freddy vs. Jason, giving fans a clue at the level of intelligence to be found in this mess, combines the first four films into one big parade of "ooh, ooh, and do you remember this part." 

The plot is — likely by accident — a decently bearable watch thanks to the subtle appropriation of those aforementioned movies. We begin with a dumb cold open surmising part one in under two minutes and then, jump twenty years with a false start that annoys more than it surprises — if someone is jabbing a machete from beneath the floor, why are you crawling rather than jumping up and running!?! Afterward, Jared Padalecki shows up essentially as Rob from The Final Chapter while Jason goes from the white burlap sack of Part 2 to his iconic hockey mask of Part 3 in mediocre fashion. And everybody dies the miserable deaths they pretty much deserve. Most stupid of all, since when does Jason keep hostages? And how does someone get stuck on a woodchipper without being completely sucked in? (Movie Rating: 2/5)

For another take on this Nispel and Bay collaboration, check out Crystal Lake expert Peter Bracke's review of the 2009 Blu-ray release HERE.

Vital Disc Stats: The Ultra HD Blu-ray
Courtesy of Arrow Video celebrating the movie's 13th anniversary, Marcus Nispel's Friday the 13th (2009) hacks its way into home theaters as a two-disc 4K Ultra HD limited edition. For this review, we were given pre-retail check discs, but for final packaging, the discs will be housed in their standard black keep case with a side-sliding slipcover and reversible cover art, with two Region-free UHD100 discs. The package will also include a Crystal Lake postcard, a double-sided poster, and a photo booklet with essays by film critics Matt Konopka and Alexandra West. At startup, the disc goes straight to a menu screen with full-motion clips, music playing in the background and the usual options at the bottom left corner of the screen.

Coming from a fresh remaster of the 2K digital intermediate provided by Warner Bros., the modernized take has been reimagined — or rather, re-graded — for Ultra HD, offering fans a notable step-up over its several Blu-ray predecessors. Most apparent, the HEVC H.265 encode delivers significantly richer black levels with inky, velvety shadows that don't obscure the finer details and penetrate deep into the screen, providing the 2.40:1 image with appreciable dimensionality and a beautiful cinematic quality. Contrast balance also receives a welcomed boost, showing brighter, more brilliant whites while specular highlights add a crisp, luminous glow from the various light sources and an intense sparkle along metallic edges. The Dolby Vision HDR presentation comes with a warmer, more abundant palette, bathing the action in lush fiery oranges, strong marigold yellows and vivid electrifying blues. However, a couple of daylight exteriors seem slightly toned down, but it's not clear if that is intentional or not. Overall, the upscaled 4K transfer looks slightly sharper with stronger, well-defined lines in the clothing and surrounding foliage while close-ups are very revealing. Except for a few instances of very mild aliasing along the sharpest edges, the picture is a nice upgrade that fans will love. (Dolby Vision HDR Video Rating: 92/100)

Arrow equips Nispel's remake with a highly entertaining DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack, but a back-and-forth comparison to its Dolby TrueHD counterpart didn't yield any significant difference between the two. Rear activity employs a variety of atmospherics and shares the space with the musical score, generating a satisfying soundfield with excellent panning and great directionality. When applying the receivers' Dolby Surround or DTS: Neural:X up-mixing functionality, various ambient effects, namely the noise of local wildlife and the music, effortlessly spread into the overheads, further enhancing the soundfield and creating a nice sense of space and immersion. Imaging is expansive and very engaging, displaying several off-screen effects that are discrete and convincing. The mid-range and acoustics are sharp, detailed and very well-balanced, maintaining appreciable clarity in the highs and good, room-penetrating mids. The low-end packs a powerful, couch-shaking punch, providing the action with a serious oomph and Jason's footsteps with scary weight while the dialogue is well-prioritized amid the mayhem. (Audio Rating: 88/100)

For this UHD edition, Arrow has ported over many of the same supplemental materials from the previous Blu-ray but added a few new surprises exclusive to this package. The majority of them are housed in the first UHD disc while the second only comes with a commentary track.

4K Disc One - Theatrical Cut

• NEW Interviews (HD) discussing various aspects of the production
• Mark Swift & Damian Shannon (37 min)
• Marcus Nispel (29 min)
• Daniel Pearl (23 min)
• Audio Commentaries begins with the thoughts of Nispel while the second track features the writers and producers, Mark Swift & Damian Shannon, sharing their perspective
• Excerpts from Terror Trivia Track (HD, 43 min)
• Electronic Press Kit (HD, 35 min)
• The Best 7 Kills (HD, 23 min)
• A Killer New Beginning (HD, 18 min)
• Hacking Back/Slashing Forward (HD, 12 min)
• The Rebirth of Jason Voorhees (HD, 11 min)
• Image Gallery (HD)
• Deleted Scenes (HD, 8 min)
• Trailers (HD) features two theatrical previews and several TV spots

4K Disc Two - The Killer Cut

• Audio Commentary features a lively chat between film critics Alexandra Heller-Nicholas & Josh Nelson, both of whom appear to be fans of this remake.

As a fan of what he did with The Texas Chainsaw remake, I walked into Marcus Nispel's reimagining of Jason Voorhees' origins with high expectations. Sadly, his Friday the 13th was, to put it bluntly, a disappointment, littered with frustratingly annoying characters and leaving the audience without anyone to root for, even for the sibling subplot. Nevertheless, this 2009 remake hacks its way to Ultra HD courtesy of Arrow Video, and the results are a beautiful Dolby Vision HDR presentation and an excellent DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, making it a notable upgrade. With a treasure trove of bonus material for fans to sift through, the film might be a little rough, but for fans, this limited UHD edition is a Highly Recommended upgrade.

All disc reviews at High-Def Digest are completed using the best consumer HD home theater products currently on the market. More about the gear used for this review.