Among Friday the 13th fans, few pieces of lost media have achieved mythical status quite like the uncut version of Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood. Decades after the MPAA demanded extensive trims to the film’s graphic violence, collectors have continued hoping an uncut version still exists in better quality than the battered VHS clips we’ve seen.
It turns out one fan has something incredibly close to the franchise’s holy grail.
The collector, known as corterax on reddit, recently revealed that they own two rare VHS workprint tapes used during the post-production of Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood. According to the owner, the tapes once belonged to composer Fred Mollin, who scored the film.
Rather than being copies of the finished movie, the tapes offer a look at the film while it was still being assembled. One tape is described as a window dub containing rough cuts of several reels accompanied by temporary music cues from Harry Manfredini’s scores for earlier Friday the 13th films. The second tape is even more interesting: an early rough cut of the entire movie featuring no completed score or sound effects.
According to the collector, both tapes contain alternate takes, extended scenes, original sequences that were later changed during reshoots, and the infamous uncut gore effects that horror fans have wanted to see in good quality for nearly forty years. Among the material said to appear on the tapes are Robin’s original death scene and an alternate ending.
Unfortunately for curious fans, don’t expect the footage to appear online anytime soon. The collector explained:
“Unfortunately I had to sign an agreement when I purchased these tapes to not publicly screen their contents as Paramount can be very litigious. Fred may have been supposed to return them way back in the day (!).”
So while the workprints apparently survive, they remain unavailable for public viewing.
For longtime fans, Friday the 13th Part VII has always represented one of the franchise’s biggest “what ifs.” Director / legendary effects artist John Carl Buechler’s original vision featured much more elaborate makeup effects created by him and his team, but repeated MPAA cuts significantly reduced the on-screen gore before the film reached theatres in 1988.
The existence of these workprints provides confirmation that the material still survives in some form, even if fans may never get to see it.
Directed by John Carl Buechler from a screenplay by Manuel Fidello and Daryl Haney, Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood has the following synopsis:
Years after the strange drowning death of her father, Tina Shepard returns to the site of his demise, Crystal Lake. Her developing psychic powers were responsible for ending his life, leaving Tina riddled with guilt as an adult. While deceitful Dr. Crews tries to manipulate her abilities for his own ends, both physician and patient are in for a shock when Tina’s powers unwittingly free camper-killer Jason Voorhees from his watery slumber.
The film stars Lar Park Lincoln, Kevin Blair Spirtas, Susan Blu, Terry Kiser, Susan Jennifer Sullivan, Elizabeth Kaitan, Jon Renfield, Jeff Bennett, Heidi Kozak, Diana Barrows, Larry Cox, Craig Thomas, Diane Almeida, William Butler, Staci Greason, Debora Kessler, Michael Schroeder, and Jennifer Banko, with Kane Hodder making his first appearance as Jason Voorhees.
Would you want Paramount to officially restore and release the uncut version of Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood? Let us know in the comments below.
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