Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th

I am a huge fan of the 'Friday the 13th' franchise. Watching this documentary was just so enlightening! See how everything started, one of the biggest horror films ever made,is amazing, and while watching the documentary I felt like part of that. Seeing all my favorite characters, the stunts, and even how the hockey mask became a thing was fantastic.

From all the actors who portrayed Jason Voorhees , my favorite is Steve Dash. This guy was such a professional. (watch the documentary and you will understand) :)

I don't usually write reviews, but this doc was amazing!

GREAT documentary about all the "Friday the 13th" from the 1980 original to the terrible 2001 "re-imaging". They talk to actors, writers, producers, composers...basically anyone who worked on the movies. Even better they show footage that had been cut out and explain why. Also the documentary has interviews with some of the actresses who hated their directors (for good reason) and they don't hold back. It's refreshing to see a documentary where people are telling the truth.

It's well-narrated by Corey Feldman and it is very long (6 hours and 40 minutes) but if you're a fan (like me) you'll love it.

Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th (2013)

**** (out of 4)

Honestly, what can you say about a documentary that clocks in at six hours and forty-minutes? This look at the FRIDAY THE 13TH series is without question a dream come true for fans of the horror series since, for the longest time, Paramount really didn't do too much in regards to special features for the series.

Although Paramount finally came around and delivered some extras, this here is basically all you F13 fans will need when it comes to details about the series. I eman, the first two hours are devoted to the first four films so that tells you how much detail is given to each one of them. What's so great about this series is the fact that it looked at all of the films and even the television series and thankfully most of the cast members and directors are here.

I'm not going to list all of the actors and directors that were interviewed but lets just say that Steve Miner is the only one that really stands out as being missing. Oh yeah, Kevin Bacon too but did we really expect him to talk about the film? The interviews are rather priceless because you're hearing from a lot of the actors for the very first time unless you were able to catch them at a convention. All of them are obviously happy about getting to discuss the films, their work in them and what it means to be involved in the series.

We get great stories about all aspects of the production. We learn about ideas that weren't used. We learn about the box office take as well as the various issues with MPAA. We learn about alternate endings as well as scenes that were shot but deleted or other scenes that were never shot. All of these stories are just what F13 fans have wanted and to have them in one film, all together is just wonderful.

CRYSTAL LAKE MEMORIES is a very long documentary but the second time I watched it I watched it in on sitting and I must admit that I loved every second of it and wished it had been twice as long. If you're not a "fan" of the series then you might just want to watch this film-by-film. In all honesty, if you are a fan I really don't see what you'd complain about here.

When studios make DVD extras they hire people who most of the time are not "Fans of the Film" that they are working on. The First Release "Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me" is an example of a passionless produced product.

That is not the case here. "Crystal Lake Memories" is a professionally produced product that happened to be made by people who love the films and that comes across hear "LOUD AND CLEAR".

Each film is covered here. There is interviews of the cast as well returning to certain locations.

I found the most entertaining segments were the ones devoted to "Friday the 13th Part IV" and "Friday the 13th Part VII"

I have no complaints about this documentary. I just wish that the fans could raise the funds and restore the gore that was edited out of each film.

You don't need the actors to come back. Body doubles and insert shots is all we need.

I wasn't blown away by the Friday 13th franchise, I think they were ground breaking and positively genre defining but none of them exactly blew me away.

I recently watched the Friday 13th documentary His Name Was Jason (2009) and wasn't exactly impressed with what I saw.

How can a person like myself who found the franchise lackluster enjoy a documentary about the material? Well, I did. This documentary is so in depth, so thorough that I was positively fascinated. Giving around 30 minutes of stories, background and factoids about each movie the documentary stands at over 5 and a half hours so isn't swift viewing.

With countless interviews from the creators and cast to unseen footage and deleted scenes this is one of the most competently made fan service documentaries I've ever seen and is a must watch for any fans or even just horror addicts like myself.

Want to know why some of the movies were so cut? Interested to find out why Kane Hodder didn't play Jason in Freddy Vs Jason? Eager to discover which movies succeeded and which bombed? This documentary covers these questions and so much more.

Brilliant viewing and that's coming from someone who as mentioned doesn't consider the franchise as critically acclaimed as most others.

The Good:

Corey Feldmans opening and closer

Essential viewing for fans of the series

Extremely in depth

The Bad:

Uses the same interview segments as His Name Was Jason (2009)

Some key figures weren't interviewed

Things I Learnt From This Documentary:

You can make a good documentary about anything if you just handle it right

Across all 12 movies and a total of 120 potential points on IMDb they only garnered 63 from me