To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story

I'm not a horror movie fan at all. Just don't like that genre of movies. But I sat down and watched this documentary and really enjoyed it. Kane loves his fans and loves what he does no question about it. His story is pretty amazing.

I met Kane in '90 at a toronto horror convention, it was a big deal for me at that time. He was really cool. Very friendly. I brought a sharpie knowing I might get a few autographs, he signed a photo, let me take pictures, and a bit later someone else was asking him for an autograph and he looks over to me and says "hey, *says my name*, can i borrow your pen?". That was the coolest. Such a small thing but even my girlfriend was like "hey he knows your name!".

This was a great documentary. I admit i teared up a few times.

Years later i would work on jason x. Never would have dreamed of that. Hope he does Jason again.

I have a new found respect for Kane Hodder. The man has been through a lot and this is a story of much depth. More of a fan of his work after seeing this than even before!

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

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.