Fanedit Title: Friday the 13th -Jason's Odyssey

Original Movie Title: Friday the 13th: A New Beginning/Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives/Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood/Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan/Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday

Original Release Date: March 22, 1985/August 1, 1986/May 13, 1988/July 28, 1989/August 13, 1993

Original Runtime: Varies

Fanedit Release Date: April 30,, 2025

Fanedit Running Time: 5 hours, 58 Minutes

Time  Added/Removed:  Varies

Complete Rundown and Thoughts:

Going through the same process as my first Friday edit, I started by removing any ancillary opening credits:

• 2 minutes from Part 5

• 41 seconds from Part 6

• 5 minutes from Part 7

• 3 minutes from Part 8

• 3 minutes from Jason Goes to Hell

That's a problem right there, I could cut more time from only 3 movies in my previous edit.  Let's start to tackle this mess:

Part 5 Change List:

• Added Part 7's opening narration to the top of this edit, building up the legend of Jason

• Shortened Tommy's pursuit of Jason at his grave

• Reduced Joey's shenanigans

• Cut the roadside greaser scene

• Removed the cops taking the greasers away

• Cut the deaths of the waitress and her boyfriend

• Flipped a shot during Eddie's death so that the killer doesn't change direction when winding the belt around his head

• Shortened the ride into town to see Demon

• Shortened the lead up to Vi's death scene

• Removed the continuity error with Pam's reappearing sweater while shortening the climactic chase

• Cut Roy's photo of himself in his wallet - the thought of someone having a picture of themself in their own wallet seems odd

• Removed the sheriff's mention of Roy being obsessed with Jason Voorhees - that's clear from the events of the film

• Cut the ending before Tommy attacks Pam

That's 25 minutes cut from an otherwise 1 hour, 31 minute film.  The total runtime of this edit is now 7 hours and 5 minutes long.  Despite the number of scenes I was able to cut in their entirety, I'm surprised by how much is left of the film - it tells a compelling enough story reflecting Tommy Jarvis' mindset after defeating Jason in his childhood.  The home for wayward teens is a unique setting for the franchises and when we do get a look at Jason, his minor redesign is memorably striking.  

The next installment is going to be a difficult project to tackle because it's my favorite in the series thanks to its ghoulish atmosphere, tight writing, and balance of humor and horror.

Part 6 Change List:

• Cut Horshack's mugging before Tommy uncovers Jason's body

• Removed the paintball sequence

• Removed the deaths of Martin and the couple in the woods

• Shortened the lead up to Cort's death scene

• Shortened the lead up to FRIEND'S death scene

• Shortened Paula's search around the cabins before her death

• Cut Tommy telling Megan to go to the cabin with the kids right before screaming for her not to

• As with a few previous entries, condensed Jason's final rampage for the sake of pacing

• Cut the line, "Is he killed?"

• Replaced the final shot of Jason with the opening shot of Jason from Part 7

The final runtime of Part 6 is 68 minutes after an initial 87 minute runtime. Nineteen minutes is normally not too shabby, but the edit is still currently running at 6 hours, 51 minutes - far too long for a single sitting.  Luckily, parts 7 and 8 of the series are some of the most padded, semi coherent installments in the whole series, so I'm hoping that working through those will lighten the runtime

Part 7 Change List:

• Added date cards for Tina's childhood in 1978 and the "present day" 1991.  

• Removed Tina's flashback of the start of the film when she goes to talk to her dad but resurrects Jason instead

• Quickened the pace of Michael and Jane's death sequence

• Cut the opening bit of the party with the painfully stock sci fi nerd character Shortened the lead up to the nerd's death

• Removed another mention of the sci fi nerd's rejection by countless magazines

• Cut the penis enlarger joke

• Shortened Dr. Cruise and Tina's Mother's chase from Jason before her death

• Cut everything following the house's explosion, inspired by Raymix's edit of part 7 to do the same - Part 7 doesn't offer the strongest ending - it works for a final scene in the last of a series, but there's still three films left to cut together before the edit's done.  

Part 7 is slightly underrated.  Just slightly.  Positioning the sequel as a Jason vs Carrie film was a strong choice, and it also delivers on the bare minimum elements of setting up a new cast of teens for Jason to prey upon.  The edit is now 6 hours, 41 minutes long, which tells me that I've cut 10 minutes from Part 7's runtime.  Surely I can cut some fluff from Part 8, Jason Takes Manhattan.  To be honest, this is the first Friday the 13th film that I ever considered to be bad.  It doesn't live up to its title and its protagonist and victims are some of the least noteworthy of the series.  That said, there are still some standout sequences, and if it weren't for Raymix's fix of the film's ending, I wouldn't know how to tackle this one

Part 8 Change List:

• Created an earlier date card to put the events of this film one day after Part 7

• Excised Jimmy's story about Jason's origin

• Cut the exchange between Rennie's teacher and her Uncle Charles

• Removed Sean's struggle with his ship captain father

• Cut the callback to the voyage being doomed

• Cut JJ and her death

• Cut Rennie's first vision of Jason as a boy drowning

• Removed Tamara's prank, pushing Rennie into the water, along with Rennie's second vision of Jason

• Cut Sean referring to his father before he and Rennie find the captain dead

• Shortened the camera nerd's death

• Cut the blonde kid's death, the one who climbs up the crow's nest only for Jason to teleport and pull him down

• Shortened Rennie's confrontation with Jason on the ship, removing her visions of Jason's younger self

• Removed Uncle Charles' inspection of the lower levels of the ship

• Cut the ship party arriving in Manhattan, removing Rennie's interaction with the rapists in the city

• Added a date to Renee's flashback, placing it a few months before the events of Part 1, where Jason's still an adolescent (in my canon at least)

• Cut Rennie telling Sean that her parents died before Jason attacks them

• Shortened Rennie and Sean's chase through the sewer

• Shortened the time Jason is shown unmask

• Removed the scenes of young Jason after he melts in the toxic waste

• Cut Sean and Rennie's conclusion after defeating Jason

I'll say this, Part 8 is a freaking mess. From what I know about the development of the film, it was written to take place mostly in Manhattan but budget restrictions caused more and more of the production to take place on the boat leading the students from Crystal Lake to New York - and it certainly shows.  The characters are all flat and the protagonist Rennie lacks any kind of interesting redeeming quality.

In any case I cut a half hour from Part 8's runtime, leaving the edit with a thick 6 hours and 11 minutes left. Luckily the ninth film in the series, Jason Goes to Hell, is a body-swapping departure from the series, so there'd hopefully be enough to cut the whole beast down to something close to 5.5 hours.

• Added a date to the opening sequence

• Cut out all the credits that interrupt the autopsy

• Removed Creighton Duke and all mentions of him from the American Casefile report

• Cut Diana talking to Steven at the diner

• Cut Steven grooving to the radio while driving

• Cut the redhead camper's death, revealing her body only when the brunette camper returns to the tent

• Removed Diana looking for Tango

• Shortened the shaving sequence

• Cut Diana being unable to say "the baby" before dying.  Unless I'm wrong, it's never stated that Steven doesn't know he's a father, just that he's never met the child

• Cut Steven's closet gag

• Added a bit of the Evil Dead 2 score when Steven uncovers the Necrnomicon at the Voorhees house

• Removed the sheriff scoping out the diner

• Cut Ed the Sheriff speaking when it seems like he's possessed by Jason - I don't like that Jason speaks as the deputy, but at least this makes the red herring a little bit more convincing

• Added a bit of the score from Creepshow when the Crate from that film appears in the Voorhees basement

• Cut the shot explicitly showing where Jason enters Diana

• Shortened Jason's final fight with Jason

• Added a bit of the Evil Dead 2 score once Jessica stabs Jason- Added the A Nightmare On Elm Street theme when Freddy's glove appears 

That leaves us with a final fanedit runtime of 5 hours, 58 minutes after cutting 13 minutes from the ninth film's runtime.