With the influence of Halloween: 25 Years of Terror, a group of filmmakers set out to make a Friday The 13th retrospective documentary on the entire franchise.Sadly,these filmmakers failed.First of all, this documentary is all over the place.Rather than explore all the Friday The 13th movies in order, we get several rants from obnoxious horror filmmakers giving their dumb opinions on the films.They barely let anyone who actually worked on the movies talk.There were certain people who did not need to be in this documentary like Steve Barton,Seth Green,Joe Lynch,Adam Green,Jeff Katz,Ryan Turek and tons more people.They do not offer anything about the making of the franchise so what's the point of having them interviewed? Also the heavy metal music is so annoying and painful to listen to!! It was just so horrible to have that music blarring in the background. Also Tom Savini's hosting is very cheesy and annoying. Honestly, he's tries to be funny and entertaining but he fails every time.The special features on the second disc were actually better than the documentary itself. At least we get to hear the cast and crew actually speak!! This was just a horrible documentary that could have been so much better.But as horrible as it was, it was still a slightly entertaining look back on the Friday The 13th franchise. But if you want a real retrospective on the series, get the CRYSTAL LAKE MEMORIES book instead!

In a Starz Documentary titled "Going to Pieces : The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film" (Great doc by the way for fans by fans) the girl who played Angela in "Sleepaway Camp" refers to Italian gaillo cinema as first coming up with a lot of original deaths aka, spear through two lovers backs. Then the documentary shows us that "Friday the 13th" actually stole that bit from I believe an Argento picture but then in this documentary she claims it to be ORIGINAL Wow just wow!!! I mean that's beyond changing your mind. It's on the same exact shot!!! Oh my take on this documentary it's totally unstructured 100% unstructured. It doesn't build a story or to a climax or even start at 1 and go to the end it's all over the damn place. I like it but it's not really a true documentary. There is almost no craft too it, but I still enjoy watching it. I'm a fan so it's really like watching one of those well edited but semi cheesy holiday vacation videos of a truly great vacation. This film makes me nostalgic for good slasher movies and despite desperate editing. (And I understand that) it is a truly enjoyable picture as a fan of Jason. Despite being a documentary where most of the stories I've already heard before it still managed to feel fresh which is one step better than "American Nightmare" which is a very stale documentary.

There is a plethora of loyal Friday the 13th fans and we have all been waiting for a documentary like this. Finally we get our money's worth. The Friday the 13th box set was an incredible rip off and it was a slap in the face to those of us who have supported Jason for more than three decades. This DVD gets it right but it still suffers from Steve Miner's absence. I'm not aware of any rift he had with Sean Cunningham or Frank Mancuso, so if anyone can shed some light on this for me, it would be much appreciated.Here are some of the highlights: Make-up effects legend, Tom Savini takes us through its humble beginnings to the re-imagining that came out in February.We take a tour through the Jarvis house with director Joseph Zito and Jason hunter Erich Anderson. They take you on a shot by shot recollection of filming in the house. The house, while dated, still has a great look to it this day.We get every director, except for Steve Miner of course, giving us their thoughts on the films they directed. We even get a bit by Danny Steinman, who I heard went onto become a porn director, as he tells us his thoughts on Friday the 13th Part V, which in my opinion is one of the most underrated of the Friday's.There is also a very funny piece with Larry Zerner (Shelly from part 3) and Catherine Parks (Vera part 3). Shelly portrays a greasy lawyer who wants to represent the victims of Friday the 13th and Vera appears, still with the harpoon in her eye as she took it in the film. It is quite well done, and quite funny.There is a very good piece done by one of the guys who runs a website devoted to horror films, who goes on to say that watching horror films is good for you. And I agree with him. It didn't turn me into a raving psychopath hell bent on murdering people. This particular piece actually made me proud to be a Friday the 13th fan.The best piece though is reserved for Sean Cunningham and his seemingly never ending recollection of getting the film going and dealing with sudden fame as the series took off.If you are a Friday the 13th fan, this is a DVD for you. If you are not, why the hell are you even reading this? 8/10

In this exciting documentary for the true fans of the series. Which it has honest interviews with the cast & crew from each film including fans & journalists. Hosted by Tom Savini, who worked in the original "Friday the 13th" and "Friday the 13th:The Final Chapter". He takes you inside into the entertaining horror series. Which the cast and crew tells you how much fun they had making these movies including hard work, difficulty on the set and the motion picture association of America (MPAA). Which the rating board wanted the studio Paramount or New Line Cinema to trimmed down some of the memorable death sequences.Directed by Daniel Farrands (Screenwriter of "Halloween 6:The Curse of Michael Myers) made an amusing documentary for the ultimate fans of the series. This is a much bigger improvement comparing to the "Friday the 13th" box set from 2004. Which the bonus disc from that edition was certainly lacking in bonus features. This new documentary interviews most of the memorable characters of the series, including each actor/stunt man who played Jason as well.The two-disc set from Anchor Bay. Disc one has an decent anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1) transfer and an good Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. DVD extra on the first disc are the extended interviews on the actors/stunt man who played Jason. Disc two includes "Final Cuts" interviews with the directors of each film (expect Steve Miner, who directed "Friday the 13th Part 2 & 3" and Ronny Yu, who directed "Freddy Vs. Jason"), "From Script to Screen" interviews some of the screenwriters of the series, fan films, two hidden features and much more. "His Name Was Jason:30 Years of Friday the 13th" is a much better documentary than you expect to be. You could tell the filmmakers behind this... including the actors, fans and journalist had so much fun doing this. It was certainly an labor of love for Sean S. Cunningham, who directed the original "Friday the 13th". Non fans of the series will find some of the interview segments intriguing and hilarious. Don't miss this one. (****/*****).