Hello, everyone!
Thanks to Shawn's irresistible charm, HeSaid SheSaid received a free, early release copy of the His Name was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th documentary. Now, those of you familiar with our site know I have a massive geek crush on all things Friday the 13th, so I thought I'd share my thoughts on the documentary before I watch and review the newest installment hitting the theaters this weekend.
The documentary (to air on Starz later this week) is nothing really special production wise. It's set up a lot like a VH1 Remember the 80's episode, where you have an assortment of actors, directors, etc. sitting in a studio in front of a green screen, commenting on different aspects of the production and themes of the original series. Classic moments of the films are sprinkled throughout to illustrate the topics of disussion.
Special effects master Tom Savini narrates, which is pretty cool, but he is basically just there to segueway into different parts of the documentary. They give him a crappy Camp Crystal Lake set, which looks like one of those "ghost trails" you'd pay a dollar to walk through on Halloween. But, hell, what is Friday 13th without a little campiness, right? Savini also gets to "scare" and "kill" a few extras on the set during his delivery, which is also pretty cheesy (but some of the girls get naked, so I am willing to forgive).
All in all, the production value of this documentary is nothing special, and, as I said before, it is the same kind of thing you'd see on VH1 aside from a few F-bombs and a couple pair of tits. But, as with all documentaries, it's the content that really counts…
The documentary opens with a brisk run-down of each installment of the series to date. The main commentators include an assortment of actors, directors, special effects artists, etc. The documentary does a fair job of including most of the recognizable figures in the series, including all of the leading ladies - some of whom are really showing their age! (Forgive me, ladies, but please remember that I had teenage fantasies about seeing you naked and never did because you were always the "good" girl, which I guess is why Jason didn't kill you, so the standard in my mind is higher than any person could hope to attain 30 years after the fact…but I digress…) It also includes all of the actors who played Jason as well as his mom (who looks amazing for her age, by the way!). Of all of them, I found Art Lehman to be the most insightful, but more on that in a second.
Once the introductory aspects are out of the way, the documentary really narrows in focus, and it starts with an exploration of Jason's origins, as well as the character's motivations. I found it really interesting that everyone was adamantly defending Jason, sympathizing with him about his upbringing, as well as his relationship with his mother. Lehman described the Jason character as being "silent and faceless, like death," which I think is a beautifully accurate description that pinpoints exactly why Jason has become an icon that we all recognize, despite the countless (and much more forgettable) copycats out there.
As the documentary digs deeper into Jason's character, we hear about the progression of his abilities and powers through the series as he goes from childish freak to outright demon and finally to hybrid cyborg. There is a section highlighting everyone's favorite kills in a montage of scenes from the movies. My personal favorite is there (the sleeping bag), but my second favorite is not (decapitation punch). There were a lot of scenes that I didn't even remember, and, if accomplishing nothing else, this documentary makes me want to go back and watch them all again!
Of course, gruesome deaths are only half the formula of the F13 franchise. The documentary spent equal time focusing on sex and naked teenagers. In fact, I was a bit surprised at how in depth they took this thread of the discussion. I mean, any fan of the series knows that the sexual overtones are an important psychological aspect of the series (especially the early installments), but it was really interesting to hear from the directors themselves that the themes of sexuality were intentional from the very beginning…not just sex for the sake of sex, as I has always assumed. One director (I forget the name) observed, "He (Jason) takes your sexuality, then fucks you with his machete." Brilliant.
The documentary winds down with some of the trivia involved in the series, like who came up with the idea for the hockey mask (opinions vary), and why, if parts 2, 3, & 4 happened on consecutive days, were the movies not titled Friday the 14th, 15th, & 16th. There are some pretty lengthy (and boring) extra features, including a "Men Behind the Mask" mini-doc, which is basically just a montage of cuts from the feature presentation. There are also some deleted scenes, which are nothing new to any true fan of the series. I was really disappointed that more time wasn't taken on the censorship issues and the directors' complaints over the years that the movies they made where not the final cuts that we saw on screen. The subject is mentioned briefly in passing, but it seems to be let go as just a passing remark. I admit I have not watched all of the extra features in their entirety (over four hours!), so perhaps I am speaking too soon, but the controversy was one aspect of the F13 franchise that always intrigued me, and I was left wanting in this regard.
All in all, His Name Was Jason is basically just an R-rated VH1 documentary clone. I wouldn't dish out $13 for the DVD unless you are a collector, and I definitely wouldn't run out to subscribe to Starz before the weekend. It's basically just a marketing ploy to promote the new movie. And let's all keep our fingers crossed that the new installment won't let us down. I'll see you in the theater this weekend!
Regards,
The Eskimo
