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

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.

Being a long time fan of "Friday the 13th" and, well of course, Jason Voorhees, I was thrilled to sit down to watch this documentary, although I had no idea about the length of the feature. It was a pleasant surprise that it ran for just about 400 minutes, because this was just cramped with goodies and inside information crucial and long sought by the hardcore fans of the franchise.

I am not going to go into detail here about every single installment, but you have one for each of the movies and for the TV series as well. Each is done with a lot of care, determination and touch of details. And it was a real treat to sit through the entire franchise from the very first movie up to the reboot in 2009.

We all have our own individual favorites in the franchise, being it complete movie, singular moment, kill scene, and what not. And "Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th" does get around just about everything crucial to each movie.

"Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th" is a definite MUST own and watch for everyone who enjoys the "Friday the 13th" franchise.

This is an 8 out of 10 stars from me, no questions asked.

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

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.

If there's one word to describe 'Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History Of Friday The 13th (2013)', it's "comprehensive". That's a good thing, too, because this taking-head documentary clocks in at a whopping six hours and forty minutes. Working its way through all twelve 'Friday The 13th' films and even spending some time on the anthology television series of the same name, the franchise retrospective oozes enthusiasm and somehow keeps you entertained and informed for its entire duration. It spends an equal amount of time on each picture, and it isn't biased towards one over the other; it treats even the most universally derided entries with the same care and attention, never unduly focusing on their flaws (although never outright ignoring them, either). Almost everyone interviewed seems down to earth, friendly and grateful to have been part of the iconic series. That's even more surprising considering that the documentary manages to nab an incredible amount of people, seemingly almost everyone with even a small connection to any of these movies. Actors, directors, editors, composers, producers, and special effects wizards all show up to say their piece and it truly feels like - outside of a handful of notable exceptions that include but aren't limited to Kevin Bacon, Crispin Glover and Steve Miner (although most significant missing people, alive or dead, are mentioned in some capacity by the other interviewees) - anyone who's anyone in this space is given time to reminisce and enlighten. Following a consistent structure, the film successfully navigates its chapter-based structure. Its narrative flows fairly seamlessly within each of its segments, despite one or two slightly jarring transitions here and there, and it pretty much never takes a tangent that isn't interesting to some degree. It's remarkably compelling, although a certain degree of restlessness is inevitable when you're sat in front of the television for as long as this requires. The information presented is as intriguing as it is entertaining, presented by mostly charismatic people (including narrator Cory Feldman, who also features in the piece itself) who each bring their own perspective to proceedings (sometimes, the same events are covered from different points of view). Even someone like myself, who's already seen multiple behind-the-scenes featurettes and interviews, will likely discover plenty of new and unexpected tidbits. If you're a fan of this series, this is kind of essential. It's definitely the most complete retrospective I've come across, and not just in terms of this series. It's really fun and filled with the kind of stuff that I delight in, both as a fan of the franchise and of films and filmmaking in general. It's worth mentioning that I've never given a single 'Friday The 13th' film more than 6/10 here on IMDb, yet the series has enough charm to it that I happily watched this almost seven hour documentary. Imagine how much you'd love this if you'd given even one of these movies 10/10...