Search - His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th on DVD

Jessica S. (jess83) from CHARLESTON, WV
Reviewed on 2/14/2012...

A great addition to a Friday 13th fan's collection or an entertaining watch for horror fans in general. It was great to put this DVD on and listen to behind the scenes comments, thoughts, and retrospectives from writers, actors, and other involved with the franchise. Even though I enjoyed this DVD tremendously, but I felt it would have work better as special features added to a collection of the films.

2 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.

Excellent documentary, but brilliant DVD release

Dave. K | Staten Island, Ny | 02/08/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The actual documentary gets **** Out of 5. But ***** overall for the DVD.

His Name Was Jason: 30-Years of Friday the 13th is a must own for fans of the franchise; this documentary on the series was written by Thommy Hutson & Anthony Masi and directed by Daniel Farrands who wrote Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers and hosted by Tom Savini. Due to some of the people involved like Anthony Masi and the fact this was put out by Starz Home Entertainment (using the Anchor Bay name) no doubt people will compare this to Halloween: 25-Years of Terror.

As much as I enjoyed His Name Was Jason it isn't without its flaws. I was hoping this documentary would cover some of the production on the movies, but actually very little of the making of the films are covered and that's where 25-Years of Terror edges it out. For most of the 90-minutes it's various members of the cast and crew and other filmmakers talking about the movies like Jason's psyche and some of the kill scenes. In a sense it's sort of like hanging out with friends talking about the films, which was really cool, but I would have liked to have heard more about the production of the films. The first 10-minutes or so are spent talking about the plots and I thought this documentary might fail. I mean I enjoy the series, but there weren't many plots. The first and third are really the only ones with hint of a plot, but once we get past that His Name Was Jason really picks up.

What I absolutely loved about His Name Was Jason was seeing some of the actors taking part. Some of the actors have done conventions or put themselves out there with interviews for various horror sites, but some of the actors are ones that haven't been heard of since the releases of the films. There were a lot of actors involved and that's what really made this so much fun. My only complaint is too much time was put on Joe Lynch director of Wrong Turn 2, Adam Green director of Hatchet and James Roday star of the TV series Psych. While I loved Hatchet and love Roday on Psych, I do feel too much time was spent with them. First off Lynch and Green were hysterical, but I would rather hear more from the people actually involved.

Like I said most of His Name Was Jason focuses on stuff you would chat with friends about rather than the making of the movies. Shavar Ross who played Reggie in the 5th part mentions how originally he was set to return for the 6th. Obviously that didn't happen since Jason Lives went in a different direction, but it would have been nice if stated what the original idea was. Granted it's not a huge deal, but information like this would have been nice. The documentary was very fun and at times informative, but I hoped for more focus on the production of the movies and there really should have been a lot more focus put on the people involved, but despite these complaints His Name Was Jason truly is a must own for fans and again despite any complaints the fans of these movies will love this documentary flaws and all.

Some people have complained about certain people not being involved, but look this documentary covers every film in the franchise and it would be impossible to get everyone involved. It would have been nice to see Dana Kimmell, Thom Matthews and Corey Feldman, but regardless His Name Was Jason is still great and has at least 1 person per film. Every film in the series has at least 1 person involved so due to that people have to lighten up.

As good as His Name Was Jason was it's the bonus features that really make this DVD so amazing. The DVD is jam packed with bonus features of 4-hours of content and this is how a DVD release should be like. Quite honestly His Name Was Jason would rate as one of my favorite DVDs; Anchor Bay truly did an amazing job at the release.

The 2nd disc has a feature called Final Cuts, which runs at a total of 77-minutes and are extended interviews with all the directors except Steve Miner and Ronny Yu. Neither of them took part in this set and it's quite a shame Steve Miner wasn't involved. Miner directed Part II, which was Jason's debut as the killer and Part 3, which was the first time Jason dons the Iconic hockey mask. When it comes to the franchise Jason and the mask are the first two things that come to mind and I would hate to think Steve Miner thinks he's above the series.

Final Cuts goes into much better detail on the making of the movies and gives pretty good insight. Some of what is said has been stated before, but this goes into pretty good detail about how the movies came about as well as filming them. His Name Was Jason was shot in 2008 and at that time some of the films ranged from 15-years old to 28-years old so it's understandable that certain details might be forgotten, but this is what the actual documentary should have been like. Again some of this stuff may have been stated before, but it was an excellent feature and really gives excellent insight.

From Script to Screen runs at 31-minutes and has interviews with Victor Miller writer of the original, Barney Cohen writer of the Final Chapter, Todd Farmer writer of Jason X and Damien Shannon & Mark Swift writers of Freddy Vs Jason and Friday the 13th 09. This is another solid feature, which gives excellent insight to the actual writing of the movies.

But my favorite features were Fox Comes Home, which runs at just under 4-minutes and features Gloria Charles who played Fox in part 3 she was a member of the biker gang and in this feature Gloria Charles walks around the filming locations of part 3 and at the end she recites one of her famous lines. Closing the Book on the Final Chapter runs at 12-minutes and features Erich Anderson who played Rob and director Joseph Zito.

This feature like Fox Comes Home is walking around the filming locations and even includes the Jarvis house as it looks now and that was really cool to see. This feature gives some really excellent insight to the making of the movie and again this is what the actual documentary should have been like.

Shelly Lives features Larry Zerner in character and was a laugh riot! This feature is bound to put a smile on the faces of the viewer and since Shelly was such a beloved character it makes this feature even better.

Overall His Name Was Jason: 30-Years of Friday the 13th is hands down one of the very best DVDs ever released. The documentary was very solid, but it's the bonus features that make this release so amazing. Fans of the series will no doubt enjoy the documentary and will love the bonus features; this is a must own for all Friday the 13th fans.

There are a lot more features on this DVD, but too many to review all of them, but trust me this DVD is worth every penny."

For All the 'Friday the 13th' Fans!!!

Pumpkin Man | 02/08/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I received this as an early Valentine's present because the remake is coming out in 5 days, so I wanted to be pumped and ready for it! This documentary is very entertaining and interesting if you love the series and love seeing Jason do his thing! They bring back a lot of the important actors who were in the movies. Even though the women are a little older, they are still beautiful! They talk about how they got the job, how each movie came to be, a little about the remake, etc. I loved the fan film in the bonus features, including Freddy Vs. Jason in 30 seconds with bunnies! If you love Jason Voorhees, and the Friday the 13th series, I highly recommend HIS NAME WAS JASON: 30 YEARS OF FRIDAY THE 13TH!!!"

A Great Recollection Of The Man Behind The Mask, Mr. Voorhee

Eric Ericson | Venice, Florida USA | 02/12/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Produced and made by the same team that put together 08's Halloween:30 Years Of Terror (30 must be Horror's magical number lately), comes this extensive two disc documentary of the history of one of Horror's most beloved franchises Friday The 13th and it's star Jason Voorhees. It's main feature is an hour an a half reflection on the entire franchise from Pamela to Freddy to remake, one thru 12. Broken up in segments hosted by a somewhat wooden yet honorable Tom Savini, many and most of the stars and filmmakers show up to tell their expierences on making their Friday film, as well as opinions on others they weren't a part of (and sometimes brutally honest) and feelings on Jason himself and his effect on pop-culture. The Savini segments feature an odd but expected choice of all being filmed on the set of the Universal Horror Nights Set of Friday The 13th:Camp Blood, complete with Tom interacting with the park's hired actors getting slain just like in the films. This documentary is a slight improvement on H30 on the fact that most of it's footage comes from it's crew in an intimate one-on-one setting rather than H30's majority convention footage which can be tiresome to watch in one sitting. This main feature is very entertaining and informative, and I myself could see a reviewing of it a little more quickly than with Myers' homage.

As for bonus features, when the box says over 4 Hours, it's not kidding. Not only do you get very extended interviews with pretty much everyone you saw in the feature, you get comical Internet fan films, Comic-Con footage promoting the remake, recaps of Friday's history done in 30 seconds (with bunnies?) and in four fan-spoken minutes, a walk-through of the house used in The Final Chapter, and much, much more. You even get two Easter Eggs of a musical nature, though once you watch them, you might want them to remain hidden. It's a chockful set, complete with a replica poster, embossed slipcover, and even, for I assume a limited time only, a free movie ticket (no online printing needed!) to the remake. There's even a parody laywer commercial reuniting three of the stars of Part Three that's guaranteed to make you smile.

Of course when trying to cover 12 films in 5 hours, there bound to be an omission or two. For one Corey Feldman, one of Jason's biggest rivals Tommy Jarvis, who was more than happy to contribute to the Paramount version enclosed in their boxset, is nowhere to be found. Neither is Kevin Bacon or FVJ director Ronny Yu. Also, even though it seems a miracle a Paramount/New Line owned franchise got honored through Anchor Bay in the first place, there really isn't much footage from the movies here other than a five second clip here and there, not to mention no footage whatsoever of the 2009 remake, of which I'm certain this release was supposed to be coinciding to begin with. Another strange thing is one of the bonus features, a walk-through of the Universal Camp Blood set, only has it's leading designer walking through the unfinished set explaining what you would see here, when they just should have taken the camera in there (ala Back To The Future:The Ride on the reissue DVD) when it was actually running, which that would have been really cool. But for pure recollections and fond memories, these omissions don't cloud an overall great documentary release.

And unlike H30's FullFrame presentation, this time Anchor Bay did it right with an Anamorphic 1.78:1 crisp picture (though at times that "water-ripple" effect on every interviewed background does get distracting) and a decent 5.1 audio mix. So, even if you're a casual fan or a Jason groupie like myself, this is one great DVD to be seen and owned. Finally Jason (and his victims!) get the respect they have deserved.

Pros:
*Probably the greatest retrospective Friday The 13th has ever,
or could of ever, been made.
*Surely they won't talk about Jason Goes To Hell or Freddy Vs Jason, right? WRONG! Heck, they even bring up the "in-name-only" television series (they coulda left that one out though...)
*Many familiar, yet painfully aged, faces show up to recollect their time with Jason. Man, thank goodness for the names at the bottom of the screen, it's hard to recognize some of them now, but I'm glad they're all here.

Cons:
*Could have used more clips from the actual films. Sure, there ARE clips, but there should have been more.
*This presentation is one HUGE spoiler-alert. If you are a newbie to the franchise and plan on eventually seeing all 11 previous chapters, do NOT watch this first. Each movie's plot (believe it or not) is explained in full.
*Don't expect an impartial reflection from some of these interviewed. If they thought a certain chapter sucked, they are going to tell you. Really tell you....

(RedSabbath Rating:8.5/10)"