To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story

I've been interested to see this since I first heard about. Kane is one of those Horror Icons that seems like an interesting guy. He's one of the best stuntmen in the business and been some of the biggest characters in horror like Jason Voorhees & Victor Crowley. I figured if anything it wouldn't be a dull watch. I'm a sucker for documentaries anyway. Combine that with my love of Horror and this was pretty much a no-brainer for me.

This was actually much more than I expected. It has a lot of heart. We learn a lot about Kane and how he came into acting/stunt work. The trials and tribulations he's gone through as well as the triumphs. There are loads of interviews with members of the horror community, friends and Kane himself.

I don't want to spoil anything so I will leave it at that. Even if you're not a big horror fan it's worth a watch. A must see for those of us who are horror junkies. It's a damn interesting view. We get a glimpse into the life of one of the people most synonymous with the genre. It's touching, funny, and as I said, has a lot of heart.

My Rating: 8/10

Such strength in the face of adversity. This guy is truely incredible.

This was a documentary that I heard about for some time and was intrigued in that I'm a fan of the person it focuses on, Kane Hodder. He is the Jason Voorhees that I know from the Friday the 13th films that came out when I was growing up or the ones that always seemed to be on television when I would seek them out. I didn't really know his life story, but heard some interesting stories in regards to him. I was quite interested to learn more. The official synopsis is the emotional story of Kane Hodder who survived a harrowing childhood and near-death accident to become one of films biggest and most beloved horror icons.

As the synopsis states, we start off learning about Kane's childhood. I knew that he was bullied and that it was something that really took a toll on him. It is kind of crazy to think about, because of how such a physically opposing guy he is. He did grow up on a military base in the pacific, which makes it also quite interesting. He does reveal that he was a daredevil, even in his youth. Listening to him as he dealt with bullying was good and I think it is a solid message for those that have to deal with it. It also has a message for those that think they are helping when they might not be.

What really got to me in this though was the accident that Kane survived. He attempted to do a fire stunt and it ended up going wrong. This left him burnt and trying to get over the damage he did to his body. The physical and mental toll was quite emotional for me as a viewer. It was really touching for him to open up, allowing the viewer to get to know the person behind the man on the screen.

This documentary also does a solid job in that it interviews his friends in the industry and outside of it, fans, those he works with and things to this effect. I do find it interesting to hear things from the person themselves, but also to get the other perspectives. Now I don't expect to hear people talking about bad about him in that it's a documentary about him, but the people that were interviewed all seem to generally like him. I find it interesting that I've never heard anyone I've interacted with who have met him say anything bad and that he truly loves his fans. It is good to hear despite some of the bad things that have happened to him in Hollywood that he has become such an icon of the genre.

Despite the film's almost 2 hour running time, it really doesn't feel like it. The film goes through many of his major roles, giving some stories from the sets of them. It also goes through the major disappointments of his life in the industry and outside of it. Regardless though, I was captivated from beginning to end and this really did move quite fast. I will say that I don't necessarily know if I believe 100% everything that is stated, but there isn't much I questioned either.

This is going to be another shorter review as it is hard to talk about documentaries. This is the man that I think of as Jason even though he's some of the worst films in the Friday the 13th franchise. His life is quite interesting and listening to the stories he tells really had me feeling emotional and in awe of him. If you like to learn more behind the scenes of films or about actors in general, I would give this film a viewing. I think it is definitely worth it for fans of Kane, Friday the 13th or other films he has appeared in. It is one of the best documentaries I've seen in the genre for sure.

This is a surprisingly good movie. Kane Hodder is a very funny, compassionate all around awesome human being.

The stories he tells are the main force of this film. Starting with a tale of being bullied, through long, sometimes graphically excruciating accounts of a terrible full body burn stunt accident and onto the legends that made him the most iconic actor to take on the famous role of Jason Voorhees in some of the later Friday the 13th movies. The worst part was the incompetent doctors who almost killed him because they did not know what they were doing.

The film is full of great interviews with fellow horror icons Robert Englund, Cassandra 'Elvira' Peterson, Bruce Campbell, Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, directors Adam Rifkin, Sean S. Cunningham, Adam Green, makeup artists, tattooists, old friends and family member.

This is honestly one of the most thoroughly researched documentaries I've seen in a long time. According to the Q&A I attended with director Derek Dennis Herbert, they had thirty nine hours of footage with Kane alone.

They were even able to get Kane to revisit the San Francisco Burn Unit that saved his life over 40 years ago. This is not a fluffy nostalgic puff piece about a horror movie actor. There is real emotional healing in those scenes. I was considering sharing a trailer for some of the PTSD facebook groups I belonged to, but I don't think a trigger warning would be enough to prepare some of the members for the endless scenes of hardcore movie violence.

I enjoyed horror movies as a teenager a lot. But I've had to walk out of horror movies in more recent years because of my PTSD. This film is unexpected, and I wish there was more that I could do to help it get the attention and praise it deserves.

It does get a bit long towards the end, especially for a theatrical film, but I still have to give it my highest recommendation.

So Sayeth the King of Funny Faces.

To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story (2017)

**** (out of 4)

This here is an excellent documentary that has Kane Hodder talking about his career in front of the movie camera as well as the various tragic events that led to him getting roles in films like the FRIDAY THE 13TH series as well as the HATCHET series.

If you're a fan of slasher movies then you'll known who Hodder is but I'm not too sure how much of his story you'll actually know. I'll admit that I really didn't know too much about him outside of what I knew about the making of various films he appeared in and that's why TO HELL AND BACK: THE KANE HODDER STORY was so great. Not only do we get to know about his stunt work, which led to him getting to play characters like Jason Voorhees but we also get to know what happened before that.

A great portion of the running time is devoted to an event that happened to Hodder when he was twenty-two years old. I'm not going to ruin what happened for those who don't know but there's no question that the stuff dealing with this event is the highlight of the film. Not only do you learn about these things but it helps make more sense of how he handles his work on movies as well as how he deals with his fans.

There are a lot of familiar faces who show up for interviews including Adam Green, Robert Englund, Danielle Harris, Bruce Campbell, John Carl Buechler, Sean S. Cunningham, Sid Haig as well as others including some of Hodder's family members. All of the interviews are extremely good and entertaining but a the same time there's no doubt that the highlight are the interview clips with Hodder who gets to tell his own story.

Throughout the story there are countless clips from his movies and this here is a major plus. There's no doubt that horror fans are going to love this documentary but I think Hodder's story is strong enough to where even outsiders will be entertained by this film.