His Name Was Jason: 30 years of Friday the 13th
release year: 2008
genre: documentary
viewing setting: home DVD, 7/5/09
synopsis: This documentary covers all angles of the Friday the 13th film series, from the 1980 original to the 2009 remake.
impressions: This was pretty good. It contained interviews with dozens of filmmakers and actors from the various movies, who all offered their insights and memories of working on their part of it all. Most of the people involved seemed genuinely appreciative of what they got to do (and what it did for them.) One section of this documentary profiled the various stuntmen and/or actors who have played Jason. Another section profiled the varius movies, though it spent only a little time on each one. There were also some details about some of the deaths and how the special effects were pulled off. Finally, a few of the actors and filmmakers involved in the 2009 remake discussed that movie.
acting: n/a, though Tom Savini did a pretty good job narrating.
final word: Good viewing for any fan of the series, or of horror in general. It's pretty interesting to see what some of the actors and actresses look like 20-30 years later.
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