| His Name Was Jason:30 Years of Friday The 13th | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Daniel Farrands |
| Produced by | Anthony Masi |
| Written by |
|
| Narrated by | Tom Savini |
| Starring |
|
| Music by | John Corlis |
| Cinematography | Pete Young |
| Editing by | Monica Daniel |
| Studio | Masimedia |
| Distributed by | Anchor Bay Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | February 13, 2009 |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
His Name Was Jason:30 Years of Friday The 13th is a 2009 direct to DVD documentary exploring 30 years of the Friday The 13th horror franchise. It includes interviews with cast and crew from all 11 movies excluding the 2009 reboot. The documentary was released on DVD on February 13th 2009 in Region 1.
The documentary was developed in late 2008. Director Daniel Farrands stated in an interview: "I was the editor and, I guess you could call me the co-publisher of “Crystal Lake Memories” with Peter and Geoff Garrett. We had pooled a lot of resources and money into creating “Memories” and it was a big success with the fans, everyone seemed to love it. And it wasn’t long after that that we approached Tony Masi who had done the Halloween documentary, and talked about how it would be an interesting time to do a documentary [on Friday]. But nothing happened for a while, and then the anniversary was coming up, and the remake was announced, and we kind of just put our heads together and said “This is the time, there’s going to be a lot of interest because of the remake.” So the timing was right."
The documentary was released as a two disc special edition with the 90 minute documentary and over 4 hours of bonus features on Friday February 13th 2009.
The documentary received mixed reviews when released. Christopher Armsted of Film Critics United stated: "The only issue I probably had with this documentary is that there are so many movies and so many people involved in the series that it is spread rather thin, but that’s what Disc 2 of the DVD is for if you really want to get down, and I’m and curious why James Roday from ‘Psych’ and that ‘Sleepaway Camp’ chick were in this thing. But like any good doc you don’t have to be a fan to enjoy ‘His Name was Jason’… hell, I’ll bet my man Roger Ebert would probably enjoy this." Christopher Kulik of DVD Verdict.com says: "His Name Was Jason is a must-own for horror and Jason fans. Casual viewers would benefit more from a rental before purchasing, unless you really want a $5 coupon to see the new Friday The 13th." Adam Hakari of Reel Talk.com stated: "As an overall film, His Name Was Jason seems pretty modest and low-key. Though clips from the various movies are scattered throughout, there aren't as many as you'd think; Farrands mostly uses talking heads and snapshots to relay his points. This wouldn't be such a problem if some of the interviewees didn't go over the same information again and again. Most of the stories are interesting (including the numerous figures who take credit for Jason's mask), but some feel like the subjects are just reading from IMDB trivia pages." Vegan Voorhees.com stated: "Several horror bloggers get screentime to admire the best of Big J but there’s even less technical information here than in the Halloween doc, as if the whole project was dumbed down to suck in airheaded fanboys who only care about the method by which various teenagers are disposed of."