Friday the 13th Scream Factory Box Set: Steve Miner Interview

 I will preface this by saying, I realize Friday the 13th fans have been really interested in Steve Miner's thoughts on his two films in the franchise for quite a long time. I have been as well. But if you were hoping for in depth details about what happened on the set of the second and third Friday the 13th films, this interview on the Scream Factory bonus disc for the Box Set will be an extreme disappointment. Now, Miner has a lot of personality and is forthcoming about many of the films in his career and mentioned how being the director of the second and third film handcuffed him. Perhaps that is why Miner never talked about Friday the 13th 2 & 3. While he is a key fixture in the early films of the franchise and their popularity (he mentions Wes a lot more than he even does Sean, which I thought was fascinating), they did sidetrack him. I thought his mentioning trying to make a Godzilla film was cool...I wish he had gotten that off the ground, considering he even contacted Toho and seemed on the verge of a big deal to make that film. He doesn't talk about "House" (1986) as much as Sean Cunningham did, but he brings up how that film got off the ground, bringing up Fred Dekker and Ethan Wiley (Wiley would direct the second House film). If anything, and this I figured would definitely kvetch Friday fans, Miner was much more forthcoming about "Halloween: H20" (1998) than he ever was with his Friday the 13th films. He barely talks shop about the second film at all, but does mention how he wanted to make the third film 3D and discusses the eyeball coming at the screen gag. Miner does tell us that Williamson was essentially the major writer on "Halloween H20", brings up how he and Curtis wanted to kill Michael Myers, how Bob Weinstein gave them the go-ahead, while Akkad obviously had a serious problem with that idea. Williamson, according to Miner, was the one who concocted the ridiculous and insulting opening act/trick that resurrected Michael in #FuckResurrection. So Miner being quite willing to discuss "Halloween H20" while barely even saying anything about Friday the 13 Part 2 (1981) would obviously be considered a bummer, if not outright infuriating for many fans of the Friday films. I just accept that the franchise doesn't mean that much to him. As fans we just have to recognize that while we enjoy his contributions to the franchise we love, Miner just doesn't feel the same way. It is what it is. He clearly is proud of his work on "Lake Placid" (1999), bringing up Stan Winston's incredible crocodile creation, bragging a great deal on its impressive look and detail, while also praising David E Kelly. Miner makes no bones: he didn't want to be typecast as just a horror director and his work in television allowed him to somewhat avoid what happened to Wes Craven. Miner brought up that Craven only made one non-genre film, but doesn't altogether hate on the Friday franchise nor horror...he just had other aspirations. But Sean Cunningham also mentioned in his interview for the Scream Factory bonus features disc that he wanted to make a love story...that it just hasn't panned out.

I do think we often fail to realize that directors often don't just want to be pigeonholed. They don't want to just be seen as a boogeyman director. It was like when Bogart complained to Warner execs about being cast in "The Return of Doctor X"...he mentions how that vampire belongs to Karloff or Lugosi. To be multi-faceted and prolific is ideal to filmmakers and those in films. So I can see why Miner felt that way, too. But I think I can speak for Friday fans that feel rather frustrated and say that I would have loved to just get a small bit of on-set revelations regarding the cast and crews Miner worked with on those Friday films. They are beloved and very popular. Pop culture Jason Voorhees staples that still continue to only gain in interest to this day. Instead, this interview, "Machete Memories", is a career retrospective for Miner. And that, I hate to say it, will be what we get, still left wondering about how this and that was decided on in those second and third films according to Miner's perspective.

***Miner does sort of follow Sean in discussing the early career of "Last House on the Left" and other 70s films, working for very little, gaining knowledge and insight in various aspects of filmmaking. That learning process carried him through decades of film and television***