Friday the 13th: Part III - Turbine Collector Series 3D Blu-ray

There was a time when Jason wasn’t the horror and Halloween shop icon he is today. First, he was a moldy rotten kid in a lake. Then he was a Farmer John-type killer with a sack over his head. It wasn’t until 1982’s Friday the 13th Part III that Jason took on his complete form of Hockey Mask and razor-sharp machete. While I love this flick, I have to admit that it’s not a particularly great film. As I mentioned in the SteelBook Blu-ray release, it’s a ride but it also suffers from the routine stalk-and-slash mechanics. This is the film where you stop caring about the everyday humans and start rooting for Jason to wipe them out one machete-chop at a time. 

But because this film had jumped in on the exhibition craze and was shot in 3D, it has always looked and felt like an odd entry for home video. Those gimmicky 3D effects like yo-yos, pitchforks, ax handles, and spears just don’t land in 2D. Without 3D they’re an oddly timed interlude in the story. However, in 3D, the gags make more sense, and the energy of the moment completely shifts when a derelict holds an eyeball out at the screen or an eyeball pops out at our faces. The mood changes from “Why is this scene taking this long?” to “Oh, gross it’s coming right at me!” 

So yes, it’s a 3/5 movie in terms of plot and story, but on the scale of entertainment value, in the right conditions, it’s a 4/5. Some films shot in 3D do work flat, but others weigh so heavily on the visual element that seeing them in 2D can be a chore. But what I do love about Friday the 13th: Part III is its little place in the franchise history. Sure, it’s the first appearance of the hockey mask, but it’s also the first film to set up a real storyline of continuity. The events of Part IV pick up immediately after this film leading to the daffy Part V which then segues into my favorite sequel Part VI Jason Lives. Not the best Friday film, but I get a kick out of it - especially when watching it in 3D.

Vital Disc Stats: The 3D Blu-ray
Friday the 13th: Part III spears fans in the eye one more time with a new 3D Blu-ray release from Turbine as the 11th entry of their ongoing Turbine Collector Series 3D discs. For this review, we were given a check disc in advance and it should be pretty much the same deal as the final retail edition. When we have the final retail version in hand, we'll update the review accordingly Pressed on a Region Free BD50 disc. The disc loads to a simple 3D main menu letting you choose your language options and subtitles. There is no outward 2D option unless you turn that function off at the player or television level.
UPDATE 3/7/25
We now have retail copy in hand and it's exactly as advertised from the check disc we received. Nothing appears to have changed from that edition to the final authored disc. The disc is still a Region Free BD50 disc, housed in a clear case with reversible insert artwork. The main menu is the same as the check disc so there's nothing much else to report in that regard.

I can’t fault Scream Factory’s ambition when delivering their Friday the 13th Deluxe Edition Collection. It was a huge undertaking to get all of the franchise Jason appearances spread between two studios with new scans and restorations for most of them and a boatload of bonus features all into one huge box set. However, it had issues. More than a couple of discs needed replacing, including their edition of Friday the 13th Part III. While they fixed the depth issue of the opening credits, the Left/Right misalignments persisted. While there was a nice sense of depth, these small misalignments caused ghosting issues on top of very uncomfortable eyestrain for many fans - myself included. 

The great news here is Turbine has fixed those misalignments to their best of their ability. Working from the same master supplied for the Scream Factory disc, the 3D effects are far easier on the eyes without having as severe crosstalk/ghosting effects. As I watched this new disc from Turbine, I’d repeatedly flip back to the Scream disc every five to ten minutes or so and I’ll tell you, the difference is immediately appreciable. With this new disc, I didn’t feel like one of my eyes was always trying to wander around when I was trying to maintain a steady focus on the screen. And because these misalignment issues were largely fixed, I felt the image looked sharper and clearer in 3D because the two eyes weren’t fighting each other. Turbine also looks to have slightly reframed the image. Compared to the Scream disc it’s a little closer looking but without losing a ton of image data around the edges. The encoding for this disc is also a little more robust, quite often the Left/Right bitrate of this new disc is nearly double the Scream disc.

Turbine

Scream Factory

Here are some details about what was done for this release: “The image was adjusted in the parameters Horizontal Position, Vertical Position, Zoom, Rotation, Keystone X, Keystone Y and Trim. These optimizations were carried out jointly for both eyes as well as separately for the left and right, making a total of 21 parameters per image setting. The image parameters were adjusted scene by scene when the camera was static. If the camera moved through a scene, changing its angle or using the zoom, these 21 parameters had to be adjusted for each position. The parameters were first determined automatically using a 3D correction system and then manually fine-tuned.”

Ultimately this is the kind of work that should have been done at the initial scan stage, not after a digital 3D master had been finalized and delivered to a licensing label. Turbine was essentially left to work with what they had, and I think they did a bang-up job. That isn’t to say this title couldn’t use a new scan and remaster, there are still spots, and what look like creases and hairs in the right or left eye at various points that still stand out. They were there in the Scream Factory disc so their presence here isn’t new. Without a hell of an investment for a front-to-back restoration effort, Turbine’s new disc is likely the best we’ll see out of Friday the 13th in all three dimensions. 

In addition to German audio tracks, this set comes with two English options - DTS-HD MA 5.1 and DTS-HD MA 2.0. Both sound about the same as what we had from the Scream disc. Which isn’t bad. The 5.1 track isn’t my favorite piece of surround sound reworking but it works. Listening through the 5.1 mix, it does sound a little different than Scream Factory's version - even though it was supplied by Paramount. The 5.1 here doesn't sound pitched as high in the Front/Center channels and seems to offer a little more spread into the surrounds. Still not a very dynamic track since it's just an upsample but I'd say it does sound a bit better here. With that, I'll stick with the 2.0 mono option. It just sounds more lively and impactful without sounding quite so thinly spread.

Nothing in the bonus features on this one beyond the reversible insert artwork. The Scream Factory disc had the fun cast commentary but I imagine that’s an in-house effort.

Friday the 13th: Part III certainly isn’t the best of the franchise, let alone of all the sequels, but it is a fun flick. Most notably remembered as the film that introduced Jason’s iconic hockey mask, it’s also the only one in the franchise filmed in 3D. And as such, it’s had a complicated home video release history. For quite a while, any time it was offered in 3D on home video it was in that pesky red/blue anaglyph format that wasn't very effective. For years our best option was the Blu-ray disc from Scream Factory. That one was a vast improvement over the anaglyph options and had an appreciable 3D presence. But as good as it was, it's overall quality was undercut by the misalignment issues. Working some magic of their own, Turbine has largely fixed that problem doing extensive corrections for a cleaner and easier-on-the-eyes viewing experience. It’s nice to watch this film with the glasses on and not feel like my eyes are going bungy! For 3D fans it’s a welcome improvement and worth keeping an eye out for… or both eyes for that matter! Highly Recommended  

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