The Many Lives of Jason Voorhees

Finally, a decent doco about the Friday the 13th series! There's some good interview footage here with Sean S. Cunningham, Kane Hodder, Joe Bob Briggs etc and some perplexing footage of the guys from American Movie.

The only qualms I have are: no interview with Tom Savini, and no footage from any of the first eight Fridays. Paramount owns the rights to those movies (this disc was from New Line who only did the last two) and it's way past time for a special edition of at least the first Friday the 13th, with a decent doco on the series at bare minimum.

For the moment, though, this'll do.

With a running time of half an hour(or 28 and a half minutes, sans credits), this is the longer of the two featurettes on the DVD of Jason X, and focuses, of course, on that movie, though it isn't a making of... the shorter of these is. It consists of interviews(including with the awesome and terrifying Kane Hodder), clips of the various films(and ones not from this series) and stills of promotional stuff and reviews("Jason Lives – for no readily apparent reason", *excellent* headline). They talk about the earliest slasher flicks, the history of the franchise(starting with the first(detailing how they put the original together and its background) and going over the major changes, and how this one is a bit of a reimagining), the various death scenes, and they get into the violence in movies discussion(...care to take a guess at what side they're on? *Man*, are some horrible things said on this subject, dude, if that's your best argument, STFU and don't give the opposition ammo like that). There is blood, gore, violence, sexuality and nudity in this. I recommend this to fans of the Friday the 13th flicks. 6/10

So I got dragged to the theaters to see "Jason X" and I felt ripped off (even though I didn't pay). Then I get stuck in bed after a car accident, and my girlfriend rents me "Jason X" on DVD. I decided that I was not going to watch the film for a second time, but I would check out the special features. This is where I discovered "The Many Lives of Jason Voorhees" documentary. Say what you want about the "Friday the 13th" series (they suck), but this documentary is very interesting. Realizing just how much money was spent, and how much was generated was something of amazement. You realize early on (hearing from crew members of the various movies) that no one ever took these movies seriously. They saw them as money-makers, nothing else, and it works. But to say this is just a documentary about the character of Jason Voorhees, but about the horror/slasher film genre itself. From the great aspects of the genre to the criticisms of that genre and its effect on society.

In addition to the various crew members, you hear from various critics and horror film people, from Joe Bob Briggs to Mark Borchardt, director of "Coven" (see "American Movie). Plus, as an added bonus, you get to see Kane Hodder (Jason himself) unmasked. After hearing what he had to go through to play the role of Jason on four times makes me respect Kane Hodder much, much more then I ever thought I would. Overall, this documentary is worth the five dollars you'll have to shell out to rent "Jason X" (just do it in disguise when no one else is around, or have your significant other rent it for you to avoid any embarrassment).

8/10

An extra on the "Jason X" DVD, This is just an average documentary about the "Friday the 13th" franchise. It doesn't have any new nuggets of info even for the most casual viewer. the 30 minutes only made me long for the old Paramount Friday movies, as the Ne Line ones pretty much suck This gets plus points for having Joe Bob Briggs in it, but those points are evened out by having Drew McWeenie AKA: Moriarty (I dislike Ain't It Cool-related people). It's OK, but feels a little like a fluff piece then anything else. Feel free to skip it, you won't miss anything. Ironically it still is better then any of the Friday films that New Line has put out.

My Grade: C-

If you been wanting to watch the Friday the 13th flicks but your not sure what you should start with or that you don't know much about the franchise than this is the best place to start. "The Many Lives of Jason Voorhees" is the best Documentry about the movie series it goes all the way from the first movie. "Friday the 13th." all the way to "Jason X." In this Documentry you'll learn who the major players are and how the Character of Jason and the movies have evolved from the very first low budget film all the way up to the powerhouse it is now. You'll learn intresting facts like that no one has ever played the Role of Jason Voorhees more than once with the exception of Kane Hodder. And that Paramount was ashamed of the movie that they picked up. I think this is the best way to get a understanding of this cult clasic movie franchise. I give it a 10/10