“Did you know a young boy drowned the year before those two others were killed? The counselors weren't paying any attention... They were making love while that young boy drowned. His name was Jason...”
So began the legend of Jason Voorhees, the vengeful mommy's boy of Camp Crystal Lake. It has been almost three decades since his first appearance and his legacy is growing stronger by the year, with a new generation of horror fans discovering the infamous franchise. And with the series about to start over again this February with the much-anticipated remake, this is the perfect time to look back at the life and crimes of pop culture's most recognised serial killer.
“Though I was too young to see most of the Friday films in theatres, I vividly remember sneaking in to see Friday the 13th Part VII with two friends after school. We were covering our eyes, screaming, laughing…it was such a blast and such a great memory. From there I had to see the rest of them,” says Thommy Hutson, co-writer and producer of His Name Was Jason: Thirty Years of Friday the 13th, a detailed retrospective set for release stateside on the 3rd February 2009. “The idea of a documentary had been kicked around by them for a number of years and it was brought up again. When we discussed it at length, I was immediately enthusiastic. From there things really started to snowball and it happened very quickly (as many a good project often does!). In terms of its release coinciding with the new film, that was something that was in the back of our minds since interest would be high, but it wasn’t something that was a definitive plan, though we certainly saw the merits in it.”
Friday the 13th was first released in the summer of 1980 and, thanks to an ingenious marketing campaign by Paramount, became a huge and unexpected success, ushering in a new wave of exploitation movies known as slashers. The story centred around a group of teenage camp counselors who are sliced 'n' diced one-by-one until only the 'final girl' remained. Despite the murdering being revealed to be a middle-aged woman, still grieving over the accidental death of her son years before, her offspring, Jason, would later move centre stage and become the 'star' of the show. Over nine years and seven sequels Paramount shamelessly capitalised on their success by bringing back their antagonist time and time again, with various degrees of success. After selling their product onto New Line, a further three instalments were produced before the decision was made to emulate the current Hollywood trend and start over again.
After the success of the Michael Myers documentary Hallowen: 25 Years of Terror, producer Anthony Masi and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers writer Dan Farrands decided to collaborate along with Hutson on a similar project for Friday the 13th fans. “Halloween: 25 Years of Terror was my training ground. From a creative perspective I learned so much about how to present information that spans 25 years. From a business perspective, I learned about licensing, how ego plays a big part in the Hollywood game, and so much more. I didn’t go to film school but that project certainly felt like a great substitution,” explains Masi on how his latest project was first conceived. “These projects definitely primed me for His Name Was Jason: Thirty Years of 13th. Most of all, I learned what NOT to do in the production, and those things are sometimes more valuable than what TO do. Anchor Bay gave us exactly 13 weeks to get the production shot and delivered, and to say that it was challenging would be an understatement! Producing H25 definitely gave me the experience to keep my head together, and fortunately I was working with a very skilled and dedicated team of people.”
His Name Was Jason won't just be a group of celebrity fans discussing why they love the character (as with the featurette The Many Lives of Jason Voorhees, found on the Jason X DVD), instead the filmmakers have gathered together cast and crew from each movie to produce a detailed and entertaining analysis of Friday the 13th. “ Everyone was eager to come in, lend their talents, tell their stories, share with us items we could use…it was truly incredible and felt great to be part of something that so many people involved with the series truly hold dear and remember fondly. It was a real treat to watch and listen to the cast and crew speak of their time in the films,” states Hutson of the interviewees that consisted of over eighty guests – from fans such as Jeffrey Reddick and Joe Lynch, to fellow slasher stars like Felissa Rose to F13 veterans like resident composer Harry Manfredini. And if that is not enough, cast from the new movie – including Amanda Righetti and the new Jason, Derek Mears – also give their thoughts on the series, with FX legend Tom Savini (who recently wrote the foreward for the Gorezone booklet Friday the 13th Companion) as the presenter.
“We do not go chronologically. We did that in H25 and personally I wanted this project to have a different feel so I suggested that we address “topics” or “chapters”… we summarize the storylines of all the movies in the first 10 minutes just to get everyone up to speed, and then from there we delve into Jason’s history, what ingredients are needed for a successful Friday the 13th movie, we get to see Jason’s “greatest hits” - a compilation of Jason’s best kills with actors and crew members describing how they were done,” reveals Masi on the narrative structure that the filmmakers incorporated. “The actors who played Jason get their own chapter, the final girls get their own as well, and we even cover topics such as how Jason penetrated pop culture, and we explore the ambiguities and inconsistencies that riddle the series. The new movie gets the spotlight as well, and it’s all hosted by Tom Savini who appears between the segments to lead us out of one topic and into another. Tom was a total pro, and I was honored to meet and with with him. As all of this is happening, fans will be treated to never-before-seen photos and rare footage, and will probably have to watch it a few times to absorb the slew of information we’re crunching into 90 minutes!”
Fans of the franchise will be in for the ride of their lives, as the producers have managed to track down cast members who only briefly made an appearancein the F13 universe, before slipping into obscurity. These include Darcy DeMoss (who had her face smashed into the side of a camper van in Jason Lives), Bonnie Hellman (the banana-eating hitch-hiker from The Final Chapter), the aptly-named Debi Sue Voorhees (the naked girl who received garden shears through her eyes in A New Beginning) and Catherine Parks, who holds the distinction of being the first character to die on-screen by the hockey masked Jason in Part III.
“The interviewees were very enthusiastic! You have to picture it…we did the bulk of the interviews at a soundstage in Burbank over a 10-day period. That’s 10 non-stop 8-10 hour days where every hour on the hour a Friday the 13th actor or crew member walked through the door. I pretty much saw my childhood flashing before me over those 10 days, and the actors coming in were bumping into each other after not seeing each other for many years, and so there was tremendous excitement to be there, and everyone recognized that this was the first epic documentary on the ENTIRE franchise,” adds Masi, who was in his element when surrounded by so many familiar faces. “I made this documentary for one reason: Everyone in the world knows who Jason is! You show a hockey mask to anyone and they’ll say something about Jason. That’s why. He’s iconic. The film series is going strong three decades after the first movie was made, that’s more than enough reason to stop and take a look back on all of the films that came before!”
Anchor Bay, who have had a consistent track record of producing astonishing special editions, will be responsible for His Name Was Jason's DVD release, which has been announced as a '2 Disc Splatter Edition.' Both discs will be loaded with countless features and treats for the fans, with such lost gems as Jason's appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show back in 1989 (though sadly, due to copyright issues, Alice Cooper's promo for Jason Lives will be absent). “We do include the Arsenio clip as well as a bunch of others in the feature documentary, and our bonus features include extended interviews, on-location Friday the 13th tours with actors and crew members, fan films, spoofs, and other goodies. This is a DVD package that will take a lot of time getting through!” says Masi on what fans should expect for the release, which will hit shelves in America the same day as the 'deluxe' re-releases of the first three movies. It seems that after a decade of disappointment, Jason may finally be resurrected in a away that will make fans proud.
“I think that it’s popular because the movies always offer something familiar, something new…things that fans feel they have to come out and see. They are, in a way, almost like the old serial films. Jason Voorhees will just keep coming back and, if you’re a fan, don’t you just have to see how, and what he is going to do next? I’d say the films offer a little bit of something for everyone: scares, makeup effects, creativity, a hero, a villain…and no matter what a fan thinks of each film they are really escapist entertainment and fun,” says Hutson on the long-lasting appeal of the franchise, which is now twenty-eight years old and eleven movies strong (with a twelth due out on February). “I think that as time has gone on a few things have happened. The first being that the films became less and less scary and more of a roller coaster ride. Of course, each film has its scary moments and jumps, but if you look at parts 1 and 2, I think those were definitely very scary, edge of your seat films. There wasn’t any real intentional humor back then, other than some antics by the characters; antics that fit within the story. Other than that, it was regular kids being murdered one by one. The second thing is that Jason, the character, became less a scary, “race after you and kill you” character and more of the commodity. Instead of staying in the shadows and being that scary thing that is lurking around the corner, he came out into the spotlight to be showcased. But, what else can be done after so many movies and so many iterations of the theme. It’s what audiences wanted and they certainly got that in all it’s crazy, bloody fun!”
“You can’t really avoid them because horror movies never go out of style, and when I was a kid I was captivated by every single horror movie I saw. I had no judgment and nothing was “bad” in my opinion when I was a child,” adds Masi, who plans to give a similar treatment to the Nightmare on Elm Street series once His Name Was Jason has been released. “So I’ve carried that love of horror movies into adulthood and I can always appreciate a horror movie, simply because it IS a horror movie. My love for Friday the 13th made it very easy to pitch His Name Was Jason. The folks at Anchor Bay have the same appreciation for these films, so it wasn’t difficult at all for them to “get” the retrospective idea. By the way, the DVD comes out on Feb 3rd, and Starz is airing it on Feb 13th, the day the new movie is released.”
