His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th (Two-Disc Splatter Edition)
by Sean S. Cunningham, Daniel Farrands
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: James Roday, Kane Hodder, Seth Green, Tom Savini, Travis Van WinkleDirector: Daniel Farrands, Sean S. Cunningham
Brand: STARZ/SPHE
Producer: Anthony Masi
Producer: Thommy Hutson
Producer: Blake Reigle
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Anamorphic, Color, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-02-03
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Starz / Anchor Bay
Product features:
- Special Two-Disc Splatter Edition Featuring Over Four Hours Of Bonus Footage! 30 years ago, a small horror film gave birth to 12 sequels, an endless body count and one of the most terrifying icons in horror history. Gore FX legend Tom Savini is your host for the ultimate documentary on everybody s favorite hockey-masked momma s boy and his three decades of cinematic carnage, featuringic clips from
Movie Reviews of His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th (Two-Disc Splatter Edition)
Movie Review: Excellent documentary, but brilliant DVD release
Summary: 5 Stars
The actual documentary gets **** Out of 5. But ***** overall for the DVD.
His Name Was Jason: 30-Years of Friday the 13th is a must own for fans of the franchise; this documentary on the series was written by Thommy Hutson & Anthony Masi and directed by Daniel Farrands who wrote Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers and hosted by Tom Savini. Due to some of the people involved like Anthony Masi and the fact this was put out by Starz Home Entertainment (using the Anchor Bay name) no doubt people will compare this to Halloween: 25-Years of Terror.
As much as I enjoyed His Name Was Jason it isn't without its flaws. I was hoping this documentary would cover some of the production on the movies, but actually very little of the making of the films are covered and that's where 25-Years of Terror edges it out. For most of the 90-minutes it's various members of the cast and crew and other filmmakers talking about the movies like Jason's psyche and some of the kill scenes. In a sense it's sort of like hanging out with friends talking about the films, which was really cool, but I would have liked to have heard more about the production of the films. The first 10-minutes or so are spent talking about the plots and I thought this documentary might fail. I mean I enjoy the series, but there weren't many plots. The first and third are really the only ones with hint of a plot, but once we get past that His Name Was Jason really picks up.
What I absolutely loved about His Name Was Jason was seeing some of the actors taking part. Some of the actors have done conventions or put themselves out there with interviews for various horror sites, but some of the actors are ones that haven't been heard of since the releases of the films. There were a lot of actors involved and that's what really made this so much fun. My only complaint is too much time was put on Joe Lynch director of Wrong Turn 2, Adam Green director of Hatchet and James Roday star of the TV series Psych. While I loved Hatchet and love Roday on Psych, I do feel too much time was spent with them. First off Lynch and Green were hysterical, but I would rather hear more from the people actually involved.
Like I said most of His Name Was Jason focuses on stuff you would chat with friends about rather than the making of the movies. Shavar Ross who played Reggie in the 5th part mentions how originally he was set to return for the 6th. Obviously that didn't happen since Jason Lives went in a different direction, but it would have been nice if stated what the original idea was. Granted it's not a huge deal, but information like this would have been nice. The documentary was very fun and at times informative, but I hoped for more focus on the production of the movies and there really should have been a lot more focus put on the people involved, but despite these complaints His Name Was Jason truly is a must own for fans and again despite any complaints the fans of these movies will love this documentary flaws and all.
Some people have complained about certain people not being involved, but look this documentary covers every film in the franchise and it would be impossible to get everyone involved. It would have been nice to see Dana Kimmell, Thom Matthews and Corey Feldman, but regardless His Name Was Jason is still great and has at least 1 person per film. Every film in the series has at least 1 person involved so due to that people have to lighten up.
As good as His Name Was Jason was it's the bonus features that really make this DVD so amazing. The DVD is jam packed with bonus features of 4-hours of content and this is how a DVD release should be like. Quite honestly His Name Was Jason would rate as one of my favorite DVDs; Anchor Bay truly did an amazing job at the release.
The 2nd disc has a feature called Final Cuts, which runs at a total of 77-minutes and are extended interviews with all the directors except Steve Miner and Ronny Yu. Neither of them took part in this set and it's quite a shame Steve Miner wasn't involved. Miner directed Part II, which was Jason's debut as the killer and Part 3, which was the first time Jason dons the Iconic hockey mask. When it comes to the franchise Jason and the mask are the first two things that come to mind and I would hate to think Steve Miner thinks he's above the series.
Final Cuts goes into much better detail on the making of the movies and gives pretty good insight. Some of what is said has been stated before, but this goes into pretty good detail about how the movies came about as well as filming them. His Name Was Jason was shot in 2008 and at that time some of the films ranged from 15-years old to 28-years old so it's understandable that certain details might be forgotten, but this is what the actual documentary should have been like. Again some of this stuff may have been stated before, but it was an excellent feature and really gives excellent insight.
From Script to Screen runs at 31-minutes and has interviews with Victor Miller writer of the original, Barney Cohen writer of the Final Chapter, Todd Farmer writer of Jason X and Damien Shannon & Mark Swift writers of Freddy Vs Jason and Friday the 13th 09. This is another solid feature, which gives excellent insight to the actual writing of the movies.
But my favorite features were Fox Comes Home, which runs at just under 4-minutes and features Gloria Charles who played Fox in part 3 she was a member of the biker gang and in this feature Gloria Charles walks around the filming locations of part 3 and at the end she recites one of her famous lines. Closing the Book on the Final Chapter runs at 12-minutes and features Erich Anderson who played Rob and director Joseph Zito.
This feature like Fox Comes Home is walking around the filming locations and even includes the Jarvis house as it looks now and that was really cool to see. This feature gives some really excellent insight to the making of the movie and again this is what the actual documentary should have been like.
Shelly Lives features Larry Zerner in character and was a laugh riot! This feature is bound to put a smile on the faces of the viewer and since Shelly was such a beloved character it makes this feature even better.
Overall His Name Was Jason: 30-Years of Friday the 13th is hands down one of the very best DVDs ever released. The documentary was very solid, but it's the bonus features that make this release so amazing. Fans of the series will no doubt enjoy the documentary and will love the bonus features; this is a must own for all Friday the 13th fans.
There are a lot more features on this DVD, but too many to review all of them, but trust me this DVD is worth every penny.
More His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th (Two-Disc Splatter Edition) reviews:
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Summary of His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th (Two-Disc Splatter Edition)
Studio: Starz/sphe Release Date: 02/03/2009 Run time: 84 minutes"Jason has no expiration date," as someone observes in the exhaustive His Name was Jason, a touch-all-the-bases approach to chronicling horror's blankest killer. Yep, it's all too true. Timed to mark the 30th anniversary of the Friday the 13th franchise, but probably more to serve as publicity for the 2009 remake, His Name was Jason is a two-disc set containing the 90-minute title doc plus a bevy of shorter, themed extras. Jason gives a quick run-through of all the Friday the 13th installments, filled out with detailed analysis of Jason as a cultural phenomenon and copious memories from the various casts and crew. (The better-known actors who have passed through the series--namely Kevin Bacon, Corey Feldman, and Crispin Glover--aren't around for interviews.) Special-effects gore maestro Tom Savini's wry delivery guides us through the story, with a few newly-staged murders along the way. Extensive clips are used to illustrate the grisly single-mindedness of Jason's killing, and various directors, including franchise guru Sean S. Cunningham, weigh in on the heaviness of guiding the various episodes. It all seems surreally weird, in the light of the movies' general lousiness and the trashy elevation of the empty-vessel killer to icon status. The 90-minute documentary is just the beginning, it turns out: fans can delve deep into the nuances of life (and death) at Crystal Lake. A 45-minute featurette on the actors who played Jason fills out disc one, and a plethora of other shorts (most of them culled from the same interview sessions, this time without the supporting clips) crowd disc two. There's another hour and 20 minutes of stories from directors, and 30 minutes of screenwriter anecdotes. "Dragged from the Lake" gives light to some amusing discrepancies in the series, as well as detailing actress Adrienne King's horrifying experience with a stalker. Fourteen minutes of fan films give parodistic views of the Jason experience, and "Friday the 13th in 4 minutes" gives a tongue-in-cheek shorthand account of the entire saga. Director Joseph Zito and actor Erich Anderson re-visit the set of The Final Chapter, and actress Gloria Charles takes a tour of the deadly barn from Part 3. Shorter extras include a 5-minute Crystal Lake survival guide (i.e., interviewees reciting the worst mistakes you can make while in proximity to Jason), a quick trip to a Comic-Con, and a tour of Universal Studio's Friday the 13th horror house. Things round off with a funny bogus ad for the law offices of a character from Part 3, Shelly Finkelstein, the kid that introduced the hockey mask into the series. It's a lot of effort for a low point in horror history. --Robert Horton
Stills from His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th (Click for larger image)
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