Notes From the Set of "Voorhees"

Last Friday night I was once again on the set of "Voorhees" as it wrapped up the final scene of major shooting. I'm told that aside from a few pickup shots, the film is done being shot. Cody Faulk reported recently on Facebook earlier today that he is done editing the first act, so despite some setbacks, progress remains solid.

Shooting ran from around 8 PM until 2 AM in the middle of nowhere and the location is ultra-creepy: remote, rural and eerily quiet, with some very dense forest. Last time I was on set we heard a pack of coyotes howling in the distance, although this time the insects were a bigger aggravation. The guy playing Jason (whose identity will be secret until the final credits roll) is very large--roughly Derek Mears sized-- and when he first gets into costume its slightly terrifying, even to an old fan like myself.

The shoot I witnessed and participated in leads me to believe this will probably be the most brutal of the Jason Voorhees fan films currently being produced. I don't want to reveal too much, but I will say "Voorhees" could be the film John Carl Buechler wanted Part 7 to be.

After the movie goes live on YouTube, I'll be writing here a bit more about my role in the film, and why I've been invited to shoots--until then, I hope you're as excited as I am.

Part 8 Mask: Final Version

I don't think there's anything I can do to make this more accurate at this point. Mask on the left is the movie mask; mask on the right is a cast off the movie mask pulled in clear PETG by Beyond Disgusting Studios. The detail in the pull is impeccable and you can see the faint impression of the original mask--including the chevrons, the larger scratches, and the subtle warping around the sides--in BDS's pulls. Because of the thickness of the plastic, you have to cut the eyes slightly larger than how they appear in the pull. But aside from some possible roundness in the chin, the blanks are impeccable.

The straps are from Fiberglassmasks.com and I'm very happy with them. Important to note though, there are no commercially available straps that are hand-stitched like the movie mask's were--mask makers tend to use rivets instead of stitching.

I can't remember every detail, but I believe the movie mask was spray painted silver on the back and the front, then painted over with two slightly different shades of yellow (a sort of naples yellow, followed by a straw yellow). Slash marks were then scraped in, revealing the silver paint beneath, and in the biggest scrapes, the silver on the back side through the clear blank. This is one of the toughest masks to reproduce accurately (second only to the part 3 and 4 masks) due to the unusually high level of detailing by the Vancouver FX team, but I've got it close enough to satisfy me. Weathering is with black acrylics washes. Final coat is Krylon satin clear.

The Origin of the MEL Inc. Bust

The MEL Inc. part 3 bust is a spectacular sculpt, probably one of the top three or four Jason busts out there. There does seem to be some mystery around its origin, with some collectors having said it comes from the original part 3 molds (albeit with a retooling), though it seems to have more than a few anomalies when compared to the movie appliances on a point-for-point inspection.

For example:

There is some evidence that it may not be a movie mold piece at all, but a ground-up sculpt by a veteran FX artist named Todd Rex, who sculpted the piece for MEL Inc. back in 2012 or earlier. Rex stated as much on his Facebook page.

 Rex (center) can be seen showcasing his sculpt at a convention back in April 2012:

A fan and painter named Jackson Rupert (who asked to be named publicly) reached out to Rex on Facebook, who said the sculpt does not descend from any movie mold:

I have never spoken to anyone at MEL Inc. so I don't know if they have ever claimed that it is a movie mold piece, but I thought this was interesting since that's what some collectors seem to think. I can only present evidence that I have been shown, and let you decide for yourself.

Updates to my H40

I was a little dissatisfied with my ToTS H40 mask, so I made some enhancements recently. It made me realize that they likely went over-the-top with the weathering on the movie mask so that it popped on camera. I used three-tone weathering on this (thin black washes, raw sienna and a reddish brown mix). My only regret is that I didn't start with the proper dry brushing technique, but oh well. I will on the next one. Pretty happy with this now!

Above is a comparison--left is latest iteration, right is before the additional weathering. It looked cool but it just didn't "pop" like the movie mask.

The Ultimate Part 7 Ensemble?

This is probably the closest I will ever get to a perfect part 7 reproduction: a FF7 and a SSN Master Mold copy. Both pieces are movie mold, and long out of production. The hockey mask you see below was painted shortly after having seen the real one in person, although I made small adjustments using the hi-def photos from Mario Kirner's book to work from.

As you can see below, the SSN Master Mold piece fits the mask really well, with only a small degree of shrink as compared to the original appliances. While a lot of artists go with a bold, high-contrast paint job for the part 7 skin, I think the movie appliances were painted with a bit more subtlety-- it looks to me to be a dark gray base, then a dry-brush of a raw umber or similar brown and finally a very reddish brown, bordering on flesh tone, that gives the whole head a rotten roast beef look. That's what I tried to imitate with my piece.

You can also see above that the movie head, aside from the face, is a very different sculpt from the SSN version. There is more of an emphasis on propeller damage, with exposed fat layers and somewhat less texturing. The SSN is a gorgeous sculpt nonetheless.

Part 8 Mask Revisions

After getting my copy of Mario Kirner's F13 prop book, I made some changes to my part 8 mask. It seemed like no matter how much I expanded them, the eye cuts were just never big enough. I think now I finally got them.

Added more scratches as well-- little tiny dings appear across the whole movie mask. It had at least four or five layers of weathering textures that gave it an authentically battle-damaged look, although its hard to see in most photos.

Still have to clear coat this but other than that its basically done. Compare the eye cuts with the movie mask below. Did I get them right?

Voorhees Trailer: Part 2 Drops

"People go crossing into his grounds... they're gone for good."

Sounds about right.

The second "Voorhees" trailer dropped an explosion of gore on Youtube today with less dialogue, tighter shots, and a greater focus on action than the first one. This trailer also just feels more epic. Almost operatic in its grandeur. Watch it and you'll see what I mean.

Cody Faulk's Jason is as vicious as he is imposing so judging by this trailer, fans looking for Hatchet-like levels of blood aren't going to be disappointed by this film.

We are in the midst of a Friday the 13tht fan film golden age and this movie--with its unique genre-bending plot and high kill count--has the potential to be a crowning achievement. Fan films like this make me wish the major studios would stay away from Friday the 13th forever and let indie filmmakers explore the franchise from here on out. The fans have the imagination and the technology. And they even made a (vastly) better video game.

At the very least, maybe Hollywood could start hiring indie filmmakers with good scripts and forgo some of the more absurd adventures they took Jason on.

In any case, I'm really looking forward to this film coming out. I've been in semi-regular touch with the director, so I can say he has some great ideas in store that aren't even hinted at in the trailer that I think fans are going to love. But I won't spoil them for you! Just mark your calendar for Friday, September 13, 2019.

Why was NES Jason Purple and Blue?

A Youtuber called Generation Gap Gaming posted a pretty compelling theory as to why the old 1989 Friday the 13th game for NES featured a strangely purple and blue Jason.

 Though every fan of the game knows it was published by the infamous LJN, makers of bush league, cash-grab games based on movie titles, it was evidently created in 1988 by a Japanese company called Atlus. While the programmers were looking for inspiration, they evidently found the back cover of an older promotional book for Friday the 13th Part 3's Japanese release, which featured this fanciful image of purple and blue Jason:

Why they took such liberties with the program cover is unclear. But this seems like a pretty good explanation for why a Japanese company made such a strange edit to Jason's palette.

A Bunch of Jason Drawings I Did When I Was 12

These are about 25 years old now, and I'm still proud of them XD