×

WNY native responsible for iconic prop

“Friday the 13th” is the highest grossing horror franchise in the United States with inflation adjusted numbers by Box Office Mojo. The series tallied a whopping $687.1 million with the second being Nightmare on Elm Street at $592.8 million.

What made Jason Voorhees, the iconic killer from “Friday”, so infamous originated right here in Western New York.

Martin Jay Sadoff, the 3-D supervisor for “Friday the 13th Part 3,” and the Paramount Pictures crew were working on reimaging the well-known machete wielder. In parts one and two, Jason’s look did not stick. In the second movie, he was wearing a brown bag over his head with one hole for an eye.

Ideas swirled as the crew was trying a new makeup route. However, a former University at Buffalo club hockey player, Sadoff, had a simple suggestion: try my goalie mask.

“Paramount didn’t distribute parts one and two (of “Friday the 13th“), they bought the rights to it and part three was the first one they did on their own,” Sadoff told the OBSERVER. “That’s when they decided to get rid of the bag over Jason’s head. It was just a total goof one day. We said, ‘Gee, what should we put on his head.’ I said, ‘I got my hockey mask. Put my hockey mask on.’

“And it stuck. … It’s my hockey mask from the time I went to college.”

The iconic mask was a hit. Just for perspective, the movie came out in 1982; its premiere was 35 years ago. However, the movie series did have a recent rendition publish in 2009.

The following Halloween in 1982 was a tell for how prominent the porous, 80s hockey mask has become as kids suited up to become Jason.

“I thought it was fantastic,” Sadoff said. “I sold the original hockey mask. I should have kept it, it would have been worth a lot of money.”

Sadoff was a goaltender for UB as he attended the school for two years. Sadoff transferred to New York University and with the help of another Buffalo native, his career thrived. Frank Mancuso Jr. was making his way up his family company at Paramount Pictures where his father Frank Mancuso Sr. was president.

Sadoff and Mancuso Jr. were close as they both came from the Nickel City.

“I was a big 3-D fanatic,” Sadoff said. “I always loved 3-D. When I got to New York, I met this guy named Morg Marks, who was playing around with 3-D and built 3-D cameras, but he couldn’t get anybody to take any interest in it. Then I moved to Toronto and I took the 3-D with me and Frank (Mancuso Jr.) at the time had a Paramount in Canada and he came and saw some 3-D.

“I said, ‘If you ever become the head of Paramount Pictures call me.’ And believe it or not, he became the head of Paramount Pictures and he called me. It was like out of a movie.”

BUFFALO BACKGROUND

Sadoff grew up on St. Lawrence Avenue in the city of Buffalo. Sadoff’s father managed theaters in New York City as film became a growing facet in his life.

“He was the one who got me really interested in film,” Sadoff said. “It was a big deal in those days. I used to go every Wednesday — the movies changed every Wednesday. There were a lot of neighborhood theaters. There were a lot of neighborhood theaters in Dunkirk/Fredonia.”

Western New York has always been at heart for Sadoff. The television series, Friday the 13th, began in 1987. Sadoff noted that the killer wasn’t approved for TV, so the concept was adapted. The show circled around an antiques store. The store, however, was another Buffalo origin as Sadoff remembered a magic shop across the street from Shea’s Performing Arts Theater and had the TV show’s store based off that.

The region is addictive as people do leave, though many fondly come back with favorable memories.

“Buffalo is a great town to come from,” Sadoff said. “My brother was in Los Angeles, too, for a while and he came back to Buffalo because he loved it so much. And I always wished that Buffalo was a real city like Toronto is, where you can actually stay. But in Buffalo, you are never offered the opportunity. You have to leave to get into (film).”

Sadoff still holds a little bit of Buffalo with him as a T-shirt hangs in his bedroom of the Anchor Bar, known for being the originators of the chicken wing.

Hockey is a passion for Sadoff as well. Western New York was turning into a hotbed for hockey as outdoor rinks. Sadoff noted that the only professional team in the city in the late 60s was technically the Buffalo Bisons, a triple A baseball farm team. The NHL was still growing and it was in 1970 that the Buffalo Sabres came about.

For Sadoff, he would play hockey everywhere. Outdoor rinks were throughout the region including Dunkirk/Fredonia.

“Dunkirk/Fredonia, I knew it pretty well,” he said. “I mean, I used to hang around in that area and play hockey out there for a long time (at) outdoor hockey rinks.”

Despite leaving the region to continue his career in the film industry, he struggled on the decision to leave. After the death of his parents, Sadoff has not visited as much and hasn’t seen the area in a while.

“It’s hard to leave Buffalo,” Sadoff said. “Buffalo has been a big part of me. It was hard for me to move to Los Angeles too. I miss Buffalo tremendously. I used to go back all the time; I haven’t been back in years now.”

It was his hometown that helped Sadoff become a movie editor, producer and much more. The impact that Buffalo made for Sadoff was unmatched and possibly changed the film industry.

“Buffalo helped me so much,” he said. “If it wasn’t for Buffalo and Frank Mancuso (Jr.), I would have never done Friday the 13th and there wouldn’t be 3-D today. 3-D today is very immersive.”

3-D FILM REVOLUTION

Back in the 1950s, 3-D films were a hit. The production died down because the industry changed the projection system from two to one, which the dual projectors created the 3-D effect. Sadoff, after meeting Marks, strived to use the technology and reinvigorate the 3-D genre.

“It’s a shame you don’t have a chance to watch Friday the 13th in 3-D, everything came off the screen,” Sadoff said. “Everything now is from the screen going backwards. 3-D is behind the screen. In Friday the 13th, everything is in front of the screen.”

Friday the 13th Part 3 seemed impossible. Theaters were not equipped to produce with only one projector. Sadoff and the crew had to assist theaters to run their movie.

“We had to build all the lenses for all the theaters. We built 3,000 theater lenses; I was responsible for building the lenses as well so the movie can be exhibited in 3-D,” he said. “It wasn’t like they do movies nowadays. Everybody that played Friday the 13th had to play it in 3-D, unless you were a drive-in. … But all the indoor theaters couldn’t play it flat.”

The timing was not fitting. The production started to shoot in April and the following Friday the 13th was on Aug. 13, 1982. That was only five months to film, edit and produce the lenses for the theaters.

“Frank (Mancuso) took a gamble with this hand. There was no place to play this movie and the movie started to shoot in April and we were on the screen in August,” Sadoff said. “… It was a gamble for a low-budget picture. I looked at the box office and some movies were making $18 million. Friday the 13th was doing that when ticket prices were $1.50.”

Sadoff added that the 3-D production then added to the experience. In laymen’s terms, the three systems for 3-D are polarized, anaglyph and Adobe. Polarized, Sadoff believes, was the best because it created depth forward, towards the viewer without harming the color of the film.

Friday the 13th had rumors of producing a movie for Oct. 13, 2017. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film which would have been done by Paramount Pictures was shut down.

Although there may not be another Jason Voorhees to hit the big screen in the near future, the look likely will remain the same. A hockey mask that comes from none other than Western New York.

“It just stuck. I don’t how it did,” Sadoff said of the mask. “Nowadays, some ask how did it happen. It was such a minor thing in those days. We were doing a minor movie. Paramount was the biggest studio when I did Friday the 13th and this was a small movie for them. I don’t know what it is. It’s amazing to me that it just stayed and is still popular today.”

Twitter: @Kuczkowski95

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today