Rest In Piece, Richard

Something compelled me to look up Richard Brooker today and I noticed that not long ago - April 8 - he passed away. I have to say that it was a sad day for myself, being a huge fan of the Jason Voorhees character that he pretty much invented in Part III.

Brooker was pretty much forced to invent Jason himself, when director Steve Miner told Brooker that Jason had no motivation. 

Here's a really old photo of Brooker and his horse. 

Part III (Behind the Scenes)

From: www.facebook.com/CrashCreations

I feel kind of lame horking photos from Crash's Facebook page, but here's another - the last one.  I just had to post this, Part III being my favorite. I do remember in the Part III commentary on the Crystal Lake to Manhattan box set, where Richard Brooker talks about walking out of the cabin during 'action' on a live set, smoking a pipe - and how everyone laughed except for Steve Miner.

This photo has to be the best behind the scenes shot of Part III that I have seen!

Some Part III Behind the Scenes Photos

Some more photos from the collection of Crash. I, of course, am a huge fan of Part III and really dig the above photo of director Steve Miner standing over a seemingly defeated Jason Voorhees. 

Friday the 13th: Part III Production Photos

A small collection of some really nifty, but not so rare, production photos from Friday the 13th: Part III. Enjoy.

Richard Brooker In Memorium on Hell's Kitchen

Another great find from Brandon Middleton, this in memoriam at the end of Hell's Kitchen episode 7 from season 11 can be viewed here. Brooker was responsible for state-of-the-art remote cameras used in the show and I also believe he did directing on the show. Reglardless of what he has done, he was loved by the crew so much that they dedicated the show to him.

Richard Brooker as Oghris in Deathstalker (1983)

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Right after Richard Brooker donned the hockey mask in Friday the 13th (Part III) he took another role in a sci-fi Roger Corman produced movie Death Stalker that spawned its own small franchise of four movies.

Richard Brooker and Steve Susskind

I plan on taking this week to pay respects to the late Richard Brooker, who played my favorite Jason. Here is a great behind the scenes photo of he and the late Steve Susskind, who played Harold. 

Godspeed to them both. 

Richard Brooker in Trapper John, M.D. (1984)

I am a huge fan of the 80s unsuspecting person (doctor, attorney) turned detective TV shows like Quincy, Matlock and Trapper John, M.D.. This was not one of the best episodes of Trapper John, but it did guest star the late Richard Brooker (Jason, Part III) as Vic in Season 5 episode 'The Fred Connection.' Vic was not a main character and really only had a few scenes and a handful of lines. He was part of a football team whose van crashed. 

Remembering Richard Brooker Video

Brandon Middleton sent me this link of an old TV show called Memories: Then and Now and they did one on Friday the 13th. 

RIP Richard Brooker

Yesterday when I saw the news, I couldn't rightfully write anything about it. I figured that I would give him a day of silence out of respect. Growing up and watching Friday the 13th: Part III on a rented VCR while living on a pig farm in rural South Carolina is among my fondest childhood memories. We had to have watched this film 6 times over the course of the weekend. One viewing I decided to watch the credits and I saw Richard Brooker as Jason in the credits. That name stuck with me because Jason literally scared the hell out of my 9 year old ass. It also made me deathly afraid of the old barn out back!

I remember being in middle school and my friend brought in some issues of Fangoria. One of them had a write-up about the Jasons and had a photo of Richard Brooker and I finally put a face to this name and read the entire article. 

When the internet was in gear, I learned the Brooker had a website and could easily be contacted. So, I chose to buy an autographed photo of him and to this day it was a very special item in my collections. Later on in life I had the chance to attend a small convention that Brooker attended and got to meet the man. That meeting wasn't amazing  since my time with him was merely seconds and he seemed rushed. But it did make me relive my childhood memories of Friday the 13th: Part III.

Death is always a sad thing, but we all do die and so do horror icons. My condolences to his family and those who were closest to him. Everyone knows what a huge fan I am of Part III and Brooker and needless to say, this news really hit me hard. 

His commentary for Friday the 13th: Part III (on the old Manhattan to Crystal Lake box set) is great, so in his honor, please give it a listen.

Stan Winston's Jason III

Stan Winston's Jason III

To Friday the 13th fans the fact that Stan Winston worked on Friday the 13th II and III is no shock. We are also familiar with the fact that Winston created the face of Jason III that was used throughout most of the movie. In fact Jason's face was only changed at the end of production to a face that more resembled the face of Jason II by Alan Appone and Douglas White.

Production Photos from Famous Monster of Filmland

A nice shot of Jason being hanged before dropping.
You can see how close he is to the barn opening.

These are a few neat photos that I found in old issues of Famous Monsters of Filmland. While they are not at all "unseen," they are a bit different than the scenes we see in the movie. On the top we have a lovely shot of Richard Brooker actually picking up Rachel Howard and below it looks like Richard Brooker and Steve Susskind are looking at the director. The third is an odd shot of the scene with David Wiley. The shot of Robbie Morgan (and Taso Stavrakis's hand) is a full body shot and the shot of Rex Everhart, Walt Gorney and Robbie Morgan is a lovely production photo.

Behind the Scenes Shot of the Part III Mask

Richard Brooker in Stan Winston's Jason Voorhees makeup

I'm not sure where I got this photo at, but I found it on my old external hard drive.

Friday the 13th Legend: Part III Alternate Ending

from: Crystal Lake Memories 

The alternate ending to Friday the 13th: Part III seems to be one of the more talked about lost scenes in the franchise. Here are excerpts from the Friday the 13th: Part III novel by Michael Avalone, a book written before the movie was finished based on the original shooting script. They are from Pages 186 - 200, taking up after the scene where Chris puts an axe into Jason's head. 

Fangoria # 22: Douglas J White talks about Jason III

Alan A. Appone and Douglas J White work on Jason
from: MEL Effects

In Fangoria #22 Douglas J. White talks about creating the face of Jason and what inspired the look.

"The other task was the creation of killer Jason's makeup, a task what was created within some time limitations. We'd already been working on the show for almost 10 weeks when they came up to me to do the (new) makeup for Jason (Jason's makeup was previously done by Stan Winston).

Short Part III reunion

Of course being shot by Scott Goldberg, the video looks superb- the video has Paul Kratka, David Katims, Richard Brooker and Larry Zerner and is from Screamfest 2007.

Watch Paul Kratka - Screamfest LA 2007 in Horror  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Behind the scenes photos of the week: Part III

indHere's a handful of behind the scenes photos from Friday The 13th Part III. Clockwise from the left: 1) Richard Brooker wearing the Part 3 stunt hock used for the axe chop to the head. 2) The slit throat gag from Lerry Zerner's (Shelly) death scene. 3) Richard Brooker (Jason) wearing Stan Winston's mask in between shots during Chili's poker death. 4) Director Steve Miner and (what seems to be writers Martin Kitrosser and Karen Kitrosser-Watson. 5) A shot from the long-lost alternate ending. 6) Special Effects master Douglas J. White applying make-up to Marilyn Poucher (Mrs. Voorhees).

Richard Brooker's "convention" mask: Real or Replica?

So, this topic seems to fire up a very hot debate, but I personally want to know something as a fan. Richard Brooker has been telling people that this mask is the mask used in Friday The 13th Part 3 and it's clearly not. The only surviving mask in Part 3 had the axe mark cut into the forehead and survived Part IV and made an appearance in Part V.