Video: How Does the Disc Look?

This is what fellow DVDFiler and merry prankster Mike Restaino said about the 2004 DVD release’s picture quality:

“The Final Chapter looks decidedly better than its DVD predecessor – where that edition had severe color timing issues and a grossly dirty telecine, this one definitely improves on many of its technical qualities – even though it isn’t a wondrous transfer. The print has been cleaned up nicely, but there’s still quite a lot of grain fuzzing out the overall look of the film, and line quality and color contrast both fall a bit flat. An upgrade, to be sure, but not a slam dunk.”

The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 is presented in anamorphic video “mastered in high definition” which is noted on the cover art. First, take heart and don’t be fooled by the wretched, fluttering Paramount opening logo, which made my jaw drop. Things indeed get better. In fact, the print is very clean with more detail noticeable due to the remaster. With decent lighting, contrast can reveal pleasing depth, then in an instant it can show fading and flatness as Mike noted. Grain can be inconsistent, which will probably never be completely rectified. Certain scenes in the hospital can show some fluttering and grain (such as Jason laying on the gurney), then a following shot is fine. While the print source certainly has its challenges, overall, scenes have more depth and shadow detail than I’ve ever seen on video for this film.

However, it should be noted that during the ending scenes, with Jason stalking folks inside the dark house, shots certainly have their share of shadows that display black crush, eating up shadow detail and leaving images flat. The dark cellar is a case in point where it’s next to impossible to tell what is going on. It’s hard to tell if the severe darkness is intended or not. Fleshtones are rather bland as is color saturation overall. Still, this release is yet another improvement.

Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?

The disc includes a new remixed Dolby Digital 5.1 track. This novelty of this new mix is that it mostly extracts the score and exhibits it into stereo. Bass from the soundtrack is very mild but nicely placed to the subwoofer and the highs from the strings can be harsh but fall short of distorting. Strangely, midrange is almost void, leaving the soundtrack a bit hollow. The rest of the dialogue and production sounds hammer through the center speaker (ugh) with below-average dynamics; the original mono audio is mediocre and it’s a bummer the film didn’t try to originally record in stereo at the least.  Surround speakers are a tepid mash of ambiance bleed from the fronts. Granted, I toggled between this mix and the original mono mix, and this 5.1 mix is a notable upgrade as it opens up Manfredini’s underrated score, which engenders better envelopment. But don’t expect a revelation.

The other language tracks are English, French and Spanish 2.0.

The optional subtitles are in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and English Closed Captions.