Movie Review: To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story (2017)

This wasn’t much what I was expecting, and I mean that in a good way. While the documentary starts with your usual personalities — Robert Englund, Bruce Campbell, Adam Green, Sean S. Cunningham, John Carl Buechler, Cassandra Peterson — expressing praise for the legendary stuntman, as well as Hodder discussing how he started in the industry, it’s then mostly about Hodder’s near-fatal stunt, and his long road to recovery.

I knew Hodder had been badly burned before, and I had assumed it was in his incredible fire stunt in Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood.

And for years, that’s what he said was the cause of it, because he was embarrassed of what actually happened. He goes into detail of what actually happened, years earlier, and how he nearly died, through some medical malpractice, and his own suicidal thoughts.

Hodder’s incredibly vulnerable here, and it’s fascinating to watch, to hear him detail how it destroyed his relationships with his family. You can’t help but feel sorry for him, but also feel great for him when he got his life and career back on track.

It’s incredibly heartwrenching, far more so than you’d expect from a documentary about the guy who — as he proudly proclaims — has killed more people on screen than any other actor.

Rating: 7/10