His Name Was Jason: Les 30 ans de Vendredi 13

I was about to enjoy this documentary at least as much as I loved the 20 minutes bonus featurette on the first DVD edition of "Friday the 13th" Part 1. Alas, even if it has some irresistible elements (Tom Savini tremendous hosting, all the cast and crew reunited, occasional nice info...) I began to get quite irritated by some pretty obvious flaws half way through:

what is it all about this horrible and distracting heavy metal score endlessly spoiling the viewer's pleasure? It sounded as if I had an inconsiderate neighbor having his stereo playing out loud just to p*** me off.

At times, I could also get fed up with the bloody effects systematically interrupting the interviewee just when he or she was about to tell us something interesting.

Will anyone tell me what guideline exactly the editor used to do his work? It is as if the interviews had been put together pretty much at random, for all I could understand.

Finally, the last 10 minutes outrageously promoting the so called remake recently released (which I didn't much like by the way, but that's another story!) was the last straw.

And I ended up almost hating what I was bound to love in the first place. So paradoxically, I put 5/10 because the good elements just couldn't be overlooked. But, please Mr Farrands, try to be a little more modest next time. YOU'RE NOT the interesting part of the show, the SUBJECT IS. Be a little more at the service of it, not the contrary. When you get that, try and make another documentary.

Now that I've watched every Friday 13th movie I can confidently say that though they are certainly entertaining and undoubtedly genre defining they really aren't for the most part that good.

This documentary does not really follow the movies per say, its more about Jason himself and bounces around across his 12 outings at random through interviews with both cast, creators and celebrity fans.

Sadly for a documentary it really isn't very enlightening, it recycles information you'll already know if you've seen the films and the interviews are surprisingly tame.

A few revelations came up regarding difficulties in production and censorship issues but outside of that I was very unimpressed.

Kudos to Tom Savini for playing host but truth be told the whole thing felt extremely rushed. How do you make a documentary about such an iconic household name that spanned 12 movies in one 90 minutes documentary?

For Friday 13th fans I'd say this is a logical watch, for everyone else I'd pass.

The Good:

Tom Savini hosts

A few interesting tit bits

The Bad:

Feels like an advert for the 2009 remake

Comes across as rushed

Very little new content

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

The twins from part 4 are even dumber in real life than they were in the movie

His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th (2009)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Entertaining documentary covering the nearly thirty-years that Jason has been stalking movie goers and cutting up film critics along the way. Fans will certainly see this as a dream come true considering the large number of people they've gathered from all the movies. The only noticeable people missing are Steve Miner and Corey Feldman. I'm really not sure why Feldman wasn't involved since he was interviewed on the Paramount disc from the box set but a few of the interviewees take a couple pot shots at him. It's also worth noting that there's really not too much discussion dedicated to parts four and five but then again I'm sure fans could take 90-minute documentaries on each film and not just the entire series. On the whole this is a fun documentary as we get to hear from countless victims, fans, producers, directors and so on. Tom Savini hosts the doc and does a good job, although they could have left out all the newly filmed horror sequences, which usually just features cheap death scenes and women screaming. Some of the best moments deal with the surviving women trying to give their ideas on all all-star revival of them going after Jason. If you're a fan of the series then I'm sure you've already heard or read these stories countless times but it's nice to have all of them together.

If you grew up watching these films, you will be pleasantly surprised to see many faces you probably won't recognize, all characters from each film. Love him or hate him, Jason became THE face for horror slashers. Such a great piece of work bringing everyone back together to celebrate Mr. Voorhees life...or um death. Tons of extras, even $5 bucks off the remake which comes out next week. This documentary will sit beside each Friday film, proudly. Don't worry about cheap edited shots or school room interviews. Nothing is edited here, you see most of the deaths again from every film. Don't worry about this being nothing but a rehash of the films as a cheap way to fill minutes. You get interviews with every Jason actor, the victims, they go back to certain sets and key locations. This documentary is pieced together very well, and will be something to watch over and again just like all your favorites. I imagine this being a staple on the Sci-fi channel every Halloween for the next 10+ years easily.

In spirit of the upcoming (reboot? remake? re-imagining?) of Friday the 13th comes a ninety-minute retrospective of the series thus far. What the fans get is a mixed bag of interesting interviews and fascinating tidbits of one of the largest franchises and yet critically maligned series in the history of cinema.

pros: The cast/crew that they gathered is very impressive, covering a good portion of the series. Anchor bay, the DVD's distributor, was able to use footage from all of the films, so it's fun to view the footage as it's being talked about. The whole experience is nostalgic for die-hard fans and for others as well.

cons: The documentary itself comes off as tacky at times. One would wish they would stick to a topic instead of going off on a few different rants all at the same time. Tom Savini's hosting was just fine, but the whole 'ride' device was distracting and unneeded. The funnest bits end up being the extras on the two-discs.

Ultimately, it's enjoyable for what it is: an hour and a half reliving the history of Jason Voorhees and thirty years of his body count.