Friday the 13th Star Kane Hodder to Appear at Convention for Jason X Photo Op as Uber-Jason

Friday the 13th star Kane Hodder has been appearing at conventions for decades, offering fans the opportunity to pose with him for photos, but his upcoming appearance at Monster-Mania Con in Cherry Hill, New Jersey will offer fans an all-new experience, as he will be dressed in his Uber-Jason outfit from Jason X. Hodder will be attending the event for the entire weekend, but will only be dressed as Uber-Jason for one of the days he will be in attendance. With Jason X marking Hodder’s last appearance in the franchise, it makes for an exciting opportunity for fans who hold the futuristic sequel close to their hearts.

It’s hard to overstate Hodder’s impact on the Jason Voorhees character, despite not taking on the role until late in the franchise’s history. After his performance in Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, Hodder became the first actor to not only play Voorhees twice, but play him in four consecutive installments. As far as what made his performance so memorable, Hodder thinks it was the respect he paid the character that inspired a noticeable difference on screen.

“I think maybe some of the previous guys didn’t really find the role that interesting because they’re like, ‘Well, I don’t get to show my face and I don’t talk, so how hard is it going to be?’” Hodder recalled to ComicBook.com. “They took it too lightly, I think, because it’s far more difficult to be scary without using either one of those tools, or your voice or your facial expressions. I would put the costume on and look in a mirror and do movements and see what I thought looked good or scary or natural because my whole goal was to make the performance look like I was not acting. I didn’t want anyone to say, ‘Ah, it’s just a guy in a mask trying to be scary.’ I just didn’t want that thought to enter your mind and so that you just watched a fucking terrifying individual, regardless of what he was doing.”

In addition to the mental approach to the character, Hodder detailed specific, subtle decisions he made to help make the villain feel more “alive,” despite his multiple on-screen “deaths.”

“And I incorporated the heavy breathing technique, nobody had really done anything like that,” the actor shared. “So that if Jason is standing there staring at you, I thought it looked like he could be a mannequin if he’s not doing anything else. So what can I do to make him look like he’s about to explode, even though he’s standing motionless at the moment? And that’s when I came up with the breathing thing and that seems to be, according to most fans I’ve talked to, my signature move of playing the character. Everyone that dresses as Jason at a convention will always do the breathing thing when they stare at me. And most of the time, they’re trying too hard. Once again, it’s a tough thing to do something like that and not make it look like you’re acting. I mean, it sounds like a simple idea, but it’s really the key. Don’t look like you’re performing.”

You can learn more about the event at the official Monster-Mania Con website.

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