The Friday the 13th franchise is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year, and to mark the occasion, a convention called Crystal Lake Nightmares was recently held in California, featuring dozens of guests that had a hand in bringing my favorite franchise to the screen. JoBlo’s own Ryan Cultrera was in attendance and had the chance to talk to many of the guests, and some of his interviews have been cut together in the video embedded above. The main selling point of this video is the fact that it features interviews with three of the men who have played Jason Voorhees over the decades: Ari Lehman, who played the character for his appearances in the original Friday the 13th (including that famous jump scare); Ken Kirzinger, who played the character for his clash with fellow horror icon Freddy Krueger in Freddy vs. Jason; and Kane Hodder, who has played Jason more times than anyone else. Not only did he bring Jason to life in Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, and Jason X, but he also did the motion-capture performance the character when they were making Friday the 13th: The Game!
In addition to the Jasons, there are interview clips with Harry Manfredini, who composed the musical score for many of the movies in the franchise; Amy Steel, who played one of the most popular final girls in the series (Ginny Field in Friday the 13th Part 2); Thom Mathews, who played hero Tommy Jarvis in Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI (which was actually the last chapter in a “Tommy Jarvis trilogy”); Jason Goes to Hell director Adam Marcus, cast member Steven Williams (the legendary Creighton Duke), and special effects artist Robert Kurtzman; Freddy vs. Jason cast member Lochlyn Munro; and Jason Lives writer/ director Tom McLoughlin, the man I hold responsible for my entire horror fandom, as Jason Lives is the movie that I credit with getting me into the genre.
I’m a huge fan of the entire Friday the 13th franchise, so I could watch and listen to the people who have brought these beloved movies to the screen talk about them all day long. Are you a fan of this franchise? Take a look at the interviews above, then let us know by leaving a comment below.
