Friday the 13th Part 3 in 3D (Blu-ray)
Steve Barton
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Reviewed by Uncle Creepy
Starring Dana Kimmell, Paul Kratka, Nick Savage, Rachel Howard
Directed by Steve Miner
Released by Paramount Home Entertainment
Up until Freddy Vs. Jason the most successful film in the Friday franchise at the box office was Friday the 13th Part 3 in 3D. The reason is obvious — it’s in friggin’ 3D, man! Bringing Jason off of the screen and into your lap was an amazing idea, but for years an official 3D home video release just did not exist. True, you could find it out there through various means, but most fans were left with the 2D version as their only Part 3 go to.
A few short months ago Paramount gave fans what they were hoping for by releasing the film officially in 3D on DVD. Well … sort of. Yes, we wanted to see the movie as intended, but holy shit did the process used to create the illusion on the DVD suck. Things rarely looked as if they had depth, and as for popping out at you? Nope. Not even almost. Instead, when things were coming close to the screen to give you that coming-at-you effect, the image would just double-up, and in the end you’d be left with nothing but one hell of a headache. Not fun.
I’m not going to bother talking about picture quality and sound. Yes, the film looks and sounds as good on Blu-ray as Parts 1 and 2 do, though it should be mentioned that the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix found here is better than it is on the Blu-ray for Part 2. Instead, we need to address the four-hundred-pound gorilla in the room. A vicious creature who wants to know only one thing — Now that the film is making its Blu-ray debut, does the 3D effect translate better in high-definition? The answer is yes. The image does display a bit more depth this time around, but the effect is nowhere near as good or as crisp as it was when it first hit theatres way back when. The aforementioned coming-at-you effect fares a bit better this time around, but the image still ghosts way too much for comfort. In the end I had less of a headache. I suppose that’s a good thing.
What is definitely a good thing is that this Blu-ray actually has supplemental material on it, unlike the last DVD release of Friday the 13th Part 3 in 3D (review here), which was surprisingly bare bones.
Another thing good about these features (unlike the ones found on the Part 2 Blu-ray and DVD) is that they actually pertain to this film. Imagine that! Things kick off with a fairly comprehensive featurette detailing the choice, benefits, and pitfalls of filming Friday 3 in the third dimension entitled Fresh Cuts: 3D Terror. From there we get the final word on whose idea it was to use a hockey mask instead of the sack as Jason’s head gear for this new entry called Legacy of the Mask, which is followed up by a quick look at slasher films and their place in horror history. As per usual the only real stinker of the bunch is the Lost Tales from Camp Blood — Part 3 short film that is once again as terrible and out-of-place as can be. At the very least this episodic content is consistent. Add on the trailer and the inclusion of two pairs of 3D glasses, and we’re done.
Friday the 13th Part 3 in 3D is a piece of cinema history. Though the 3D effect presented here is less than stellar (I’m sure much to the chagrin of 3D supervisor Martin Jay Sadoff), it’s still way better than the one found on the aforementioned DVD release. Besides that, we finally get extras! Good on ya, Paramount!
Special Features
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3 1/2 out of 5
Special Features
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3 1/2 out of 5
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