PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Jason goes To Hell has always been the most ambitious of the Friday the 13th series. Whether you love it or hate it, its amount of enthusiasm is a fact. I happen to love the entry for how brave it is and its creativity, and I also find it to be one of the scarier entries of the franchise. I recently got the opportunity to sit down with the director of Jason Goes To Hell, Adam Marcus, and it was like a dream come true for this horror fan. We talked for over two hours about the new documentary for Jason Goes To Hell, his new indie flick, Secret Santa, and the process a film goes through from conception to release. It was absolutely fantastic! You can read the first half of my interview with him here.
Pophorror: How did the documentary for Jason Goes to Hell come about?
Adam Marcus: The documentary came about when I got a call from Nick Hunt. I think this came about because the 25th anniversary is coming around and he got really excited about the idea of doing this kind of movie. He said right from the beginning, “If you’re not involved, I have no interest in doing it.” I thought that would be great. I kind of vetted him for a bit, mostly because there have been a number of interviewers in the past where all they want to talk about is how great Jason Goes To Hell is, and when I read their piece, I get this apprehensive feeling that they don’t really feel that way about the movie.
That used to happen much more 15-20 years ago. At a Fangoria convention, I was there with John Esposito, who I actually became friends with back when I was making Jason Goes To Hell, and I was at the bar and met this guy who said he really wanted to pick my brain about Jason Goes To Hell because he is such a huge fan. So, I agree, and this guy launches into a series of questions about how terrible it is, and how it destroyed the franchise.
Pophorror: That’s rude.
Adam Marcus: I’m like, “What the hell?” and my buddy, John, in a speech that Erin Sorken must have written for him, tore this guy to pieces. In that moment I was like, “Okay, hold on.” And I sort of just killed him with kindness. I get that the movie is very divisive. It is very rare that I come across someone that is like, “Oh yeah, Jason Goes To Hell, it’s okay.” It’s either, “Adam Marcus raped my childhood,” or “It’s my favorite of the franchise.”
Nick Hunt is definitely the latter. He totally gets what I was trying to do. He appreciates the fact that, as a huge Friday the 13th fan, I really wanted to tell a story that was for the fans, because we never really got a clear mythology on that character. It’s a lot of nonsense.
Pophorror: That’s actually very true. I never thought about it that way.
Adam Marcus: Yeah. I was with the Cunninghams, and we were watching a beta max screener of Friday the 13th Part 2 before the movie came out, and Sean’s wife, Susan, was the editor, actually. So, there we were watching the movie, and I remember saying, “Wait a second. Jason was just a little boy in the lake. How did that happen?” Like suddenly, he gets the address of the woman that killed his mom, got to her house somehow, and killed her? For now, let’s forget that – how Sackhead Jason gets to the house and kills her – how did he grow two feet? How did that happen? Did he suddenly have a growth spurt at 48?
Pophorror: Right?
Adam Marcus: For me, that kind of logical stuff always driven me crazy. With those questions, Sean Cunningham would always tell me, “Shut up. It’s bad magic.” (laughs) So, when Part 2 came out, I was 13. So it was a 13-year-old that was saying that this didn’t make sense. Granted, I am a huge fan of Friday the 13th Part 2.
Pophorror: I get it. I think that is our go-to response as a horror fans, that it’s just evil, and this is how it works. Stop asking questions. (laughs)
Adam Marcus: That was kind of my thought process, incorporating the Evil Dead props. It is supposed to look like some sort of sacrificial room. There was a problem. New Line didn’t own the rights to Evil Dead. I never even asked New Line if it was okay to put the Necronomicon in the movie. The only person I asked was Sam Raimi, and Bob K went and got the book for me. The thing is, I was so obsessed with Evil Dead as a kid. I was 13 or 14 when it came out. No place near me was showing the movie. So, I had a buddy in New York get me a bootleg copy of the movie. My friends were out of their minds. So, we got the VHS, and it was a real crap-ass copy of the movie. We were in my friend’s basement rec room, and we burned through that copy within two months, because we loved the movie so much.
When I went to go make Jason Goes To Hell, I knew we were dealing with this Hell mythology. I felt like we had opened up Pandora’s box. So, I thought to myself, “What would be my reasoning behind this little boy living at the lake for thirty years, growing two feet over the summer, finding directions to someone’s house, getting there, and getting back to Crystal Lake? Then, getting resurrected in Part 6… which by the way, so it is on the record, Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives is my favorite of the series.
Pophorror: That is actually mine, too! That is my go-to of the series. Quick question though, my spouse and I were watching Jason Goes To Hell last night so I could brush up on it, and he pointed out something. He was under the impression that Jason was picking the people he was going to possess based on the knowledge that they had within their brains. So, he picked the sheriff because he knew where the sister lived. I disagreed. I just thought that he was picking them because they were familiar enough that wouldn’t have the door slammed in their faces if they showed up. So, does he get the memories and the knowledge of the bodies he takes over?
Adam Marcus: No, he does not. By the way, your spouse is clever. I wish I would have been that clever at 22 when I read the script, because that is really smart. It is a really good idea, and I’ll probably steal it for something else. However, there will be no more body hopping movies for Adam Marcus because, holy shit, if I have to hear one more complaint about body hopping…
Pophorror: I thought that was an awesome addition to the series, though. For me, as of that point in the franchise, we have done the original formula to death!
Adam Marcus: So much so, we’re putting it on a boat.
Pophorror: At some point, we have to add something new, give it new life, and that’s what frustrates me so much. I get that some fans were upset because to them, Jason is Camp Crystal Lake and they wanted more of the old formula, but if they would just open up their minds a little bit, they would be able to appreciate this new idea and a concept that is amazing.
Adam Marcus: Thank you. You don’t know how much I appreciate that. Because look, we sweated it out with that script. The number of people that claim the script was a different movie and we just slapped Jason into it… I wrote the treatment for the script when I was 21 in 1990 – right before I turned 22 – we started it and didn’t finish until I was 23, and then we made the movie. We never stopped working on that script. The truth is, what I didn’t like about the franchise is that there’s this flippant attitude about the fans that basically translated to, “What do they know? They’re stupid kids.” Which is diametrically opposed by the way that New Line treated their fans about Freddy.
New Line LOVED Freddy. Paramount was losing interest in Jason.
Pophorror: Why?
Adam Marcus: Because Friday the 13th was a B picture. It was supposed to make a few bucks, and the returns were diminishing. Friday the 13th was a way to capitalize off the gore effects of Tom Savini. Here’s the thing. They made a movie about a mom getting revenge for the death of her son. It wasn’t a movie about a giant, wrestler-like man. In a way, Part 2 was the horror movie version of The Elephant Man.
Siskel and Ebert hated it so much that they put out all of the addresses of Sean, the studio, and Betsy Palmer so that people could write angry letters to them about how horrible it was.
Pophorror: Are you kidding me?
Adam Marcus: No. In the review he put all the addresses of the people involved so that you could write them. That’s how angry people were. [You can read the original review by Gene Siskel here]
Pophorror: I get that these well-known critics are a necessary evil. It’s probably what kept horror movies trying to be so great, and why they were so great. However, it’s just so frustrating! Maybe this isn’t your kind of movie. So, why are you spending your time reviewing it from the perspective of someone who doesn’t like horror movies? There is no chance for a movie to have a fair shot that way.
Adam Marcus: The shame of it, for me, is Roger Ebert, who is one of my heroes, simply because he was that rare critic that actually tried to make movies. He wasn’t great at it, but he understood the process. Roger Ebert was the first to give Night of the Living Dead five stars. So, Ebert was a friend of horror. That was why it was so shocking when he came out tearing these movies to pieces. He just hated them. So Paramount, first they make the mother/revenge movie, then they make The Elephant Man movie, and then Part 3 rolls around with the hockey mask. This was at the rise of professional wrestling. All of this happened at the same time. Suddenly, Jason becomes your favorite anti-hero wrestler with the hockey mask. Without that, it was never gonna work.
Back then, if critics hated your movie, it sort of killed it. Now, Paramount is stuck with this franchise because people love the mask, and even though the critics hate it, it’s successful. So, it’s become this un-killable monster of their own. I think it’s part of the reason why we’ve seen such a turnaround over the years on how critics view horror movies. They kind of had to get on the bus, because you can’t call every movie that does well a piece of crap.
Pophorror: Right!
Adam Marcus: You’re gonna have to start understanding what makes movies in this genre good. I will say this: there are good movies and there are bad movies in this genre. There are also good horror movies that get horrible reviews, and there are some bad horror movies that get rave reviews, and I just scratch my head. Like, what movie did you watch?
Pophorror: 100% agree, and that’s honestly why I think we keep getting the same kind of horror movie in mainstream horror right now. It’s because of the critics. I want that ’80s and ’90s horror feel back, and we aren’t going to get it until someone is given the chance, in mainstream horror, to show that it can be successful, and that might just require the critics to hop on board.
Adam Marcus: Dude, I am dying for you to see Secret Santa. Do you know Ben Kaplan?
Pophorror: Actually, yes. He was my first ever interview, and he even writes for us sometimes. He is a really great guy!
Adam Marcus: Ben saw it recently and loved it. It’s very much an ’80s and ’90s horror film in feeling. Not in story, but in feeling.
Pophorror: I’m incredibly excited to be able to see it!
Adam Marcus: Back to Jason Goes To Hell and incorporating the Evil Dead for a minute. My thought process was, if Pamela Voorhees got ahold of the Necronomicon, she would absolutely read an incantation to bring her son back. So, for me, Jason being a deadite, and how all of those creature work, all leans on that idea. I’m gonna bring you a monster show, because Jason is a monster. That is why the best thing that could have happened for Jason is the franchise going to New Line. There wasn’t a moment when New Line wasn’t swinging for the fences with Jason. I was very lucky that New Line was the place that I got to make this movie, because they supported the vision.
Pophorror: Okay, so let’s circle back around. Nick Hunt contacts you and you vet him, so to speak. When was the point in which this documentary actually became a thing?
Adam Marcus: I’ll tell you, the moment it became a thing was when we started reaching out to cast members. Once Kane Hodder, Stephen Williams, and John Lemay jumped on board, I was on board. These are people I really care about and respect. I want to tell this story from the point of view of those individuals and myself. So, that is how this movie became a thing.
Pophorror: That makes sense.
Adam Marcus: Here’s the thing. I made this movie when I was 23, and the great thing about that age is that you aren’t afraid to go for it. There is an arrogance about that age that can breed greatness. Even if people don’t like the movie, you can’t say that any of Jason Goes To Hell doesn’t seem assured.
One of the biggest questions I get is about Jason shaving the guy on the table.
Pophorror: That was actually one of my questions. (laughs)
Adam Marcus: Awesome! The reason I had Jason shave that guy on the table is so that I could get asked about it twenty years from then. It’s literally why it’s in the movie. Our audience is predominantly female. So, for the males in the audience, sure we can attempt to scare them with all the gore, but I’m more interested in playing with their psyche. That scene…
Pophorror: Is uncomfortable.
Adam Marcus: Exactly! That’s the idea. I want the audience to ask, “What is this scene?” “Why… why is he shaving him?” with a scrunched up face. That’s what I wanted people to feel. When Jason leaves a body, I could have very easily had the body just lay there and been cheap about it. However, I said no. When he leaves someone’s body, I want it to be the most painful, repulsive things that the audience sees in the movie.
There are eight movies before mine that are all the typical formula. So, if you want another one of those films, there are plenty out there for you to watch. Why? Why would I make another one?
Pophorror: That’s a valid question.
Adam Marcus: When I got to Jason Goes To Hell, I was told to ignore all the other ones. I did not ignore them all, but I did ignore Part 8 in my thought process. I will admit it had flaws, 1993 and 23-year-old flaws, but I am very proud of it. I think that the acting was superlative, and I feel very confident in saying that it was the best acted in the entire franchise. I think the characters were real people, not just sign posts or one note characters. I made a movie that didn’t follow the narrative of sex equals death. I made a movie that said that unsafe sex equals death. The Wall Street Journal called the film “a return to morality.”
So, another reason that I wanted to do this documentary is because I love the movie, and I think it deserves a commentary. Speaking of commentary, whenever anyone asks what version they should watch of the film, unrated or rated, I always say watch the unrated version of any movie over the rated version. While you’re at it, turn on the commentary. Jason Goes To Hell may be a horror movie, but the commentary… the commentary is a comedy. What we have to say about the movie years later says a lot about what went into the movie, how much we cared, and I think it’s the only Friday the 13th film that had a month of rehearsals before we started shooting even a frame of footage.
The actors weren’t getting paid to do that. They just came to work. They couldn’t believe that someone who was making a horror movie wanted to rehearse scenes. We did freaking theater games, because I wanted everyone to get used to working with each other, so that it translated into their performances. I had a cast that was willing to do that, and I was blessed to have had that.
Pophorror: So you talked about the unrated and rated R versions of the film. There was a whole petition online for a director’s cut that supposedly exists. Does it exist, and will we ever get to see it?
Adam Marcus: What I can tell you about it is this: Is there a two hour plus version of Jason Goes To Hell? Yes, there is. Here’s what I will tell you about that version. That version is dull as shit. It’s way too long and it’s like any first cut of a feature film. However, I was told very early in the editing process that they had it under control, and they didn’t need my assistance. We will touch on it more in the documentary. What I will say is, if I was allowed to edit the footage in my own epic version of the film, it would have been more character driven, longer, and we would know why the fuck Crayton Duke was there. There would be a lot more that audiences would get from the content.
There was a reason for why the film was cut to 90 minutes. You get an extra showing a day and that played a part in why we came in number two in the box office. The first position went to The Fugitive, but the reason I am so proud of that fact is because of the headline we earned. “Number One Goes To The Fugitive, The Rest Of The Box Office Goes To Hell.”
Pophorror: That is a really cool headline!
Adam Marcus: New Line also did these cuts, and this is why I love them, because they wanted to be able to release two versions of the film on home video. Jason Goes To Hell was the first movie to be released with a rated and unrated version at the same time. So, every mom and pop shop had to buy two copies of the movie instead of one. It was the biggest home video release New Line had at that point.
Pophorror: That’s really smart.
Adam Marcus: I love that those guys started that petition, and if I ever got the chance to digitize the existing footage, I would be able to do so much more for Jason Goes To Hell, and I think fans would love it! I would literally do it for free because I’m not concerned with making money off of it.
Pophorror: Us fans would love that!
Adam Marcus: Well, if Warner Brothers realizes that there is money in those hills, and all they would have to pay for is production of Blu-rays, something could come of it. Money is literally just sitting there.
Pophorror: Final question about Jason Goes To Hell: What was your favorite moment of shooting the film?
Adam Marcus: There was a scene where the agent, played by Julie Michaels whom I adore, is running through the woods. We shot it once, and she had put on these footy slippers that are flesh-colored because she’s supposed to be barefoot. Well, the DP told me that they were able to see the slippers. So, I looked at the trail, and it was really rough. Julie tells me that she can run without the slippers. I was like, “Absolutely not. You aren’t doing that. Just run a little bit faster, and it should be fine.” We shoot it again, and it’s perfect. The DP says we can’t see the slippers, and I go to congratulate her. I look down, and there is a trail of bloody footprints behind her, and she’s smiling. She had done it without the slippers against my wishes. Granted, she’s a stuntwoman. One of the reasons we hired her is because she is a stuntwoman. So, here she is smiling, and I immediately bent down, picked her up, and carried her off set. I think that was the moment everyone on set got to see who I really was, and what I stood for. I am all about the safety and protection of the people that I work with.
Adam Marcus is a phenomenal guy. He is funny, smart, creative, and was a joy to interview. My initial nervousness was quickly extinguished as the interview turned into a conversation between to people who love the genre. I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed doing the interview.
What are your thoughts on the Jason Goes To Hell documentary? What would you like to see included? Let us know in the comments below! Be sure to stay tuned to PopHorror for all the latest and greatest in horror news!
