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

A simple, entertaining, fan-centered documentary about the phenomenon of the Friday the 13th franchise. Directors, writers, and performers all talk about their participation in the developing franchise. Their varied points of view are effectively woven together to compose an interesting synthesis of the narrative constructed by the many many episodes in the franchise. Some great details emerge -- like the sound concept behind Jason's signature stalking motif -- and some amusing descriptions of how various scenes were accomplished. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the film involve everyone's theorization of "who is Jason" (given that the character has been reanimated using so many different conceits) which opens surprisingly interesting questions about the meaning of the narrative diachronically or synthetically. Mostly, however, the film works as a promotional teaser making even someone like me want to revisit all the films. Like I said, it's a fan-centered homage -- the filmmakers and stars being presented as participants in the same circuits of fan-culture as the presumed viewer of the film. But, really, quite engaging and interesting -- for a glorified DVD Special Feature. But there's a lot of material and, even for someone who fell off the Friday the 13th wagon after PartII, I found this homage to the series and its enduring pleasures to be utterly captivating.