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.
... View MoreDirector Daniel Farrands surpasses His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th, with Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th. This like the 2010 film, Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy and Farrands offers again an in depth and comprehensive documentary.It discusses each of the twelve films, from the original to the 2009 remake, as well as the television series. It's also narrated and book-ended by Corey Feldman (who is also interviewed). It features candid interviews with key individuals in the franchise's history and the expected clips and glimpses of deleted and alternative scenes. It also looks at their post release reception and impacts. If you've done a lot of reading on the making of the Friday the 13th this will offer few surprises and at nearly 7 hours long it may be too much for the casual documentary viewer. But for Friday the 13th completists, horror film enthusiast and fans of the series this is a must see.
... View MoreIn my opinion - For anyone (in their right mind) to actually sit through nearly 7 hours of watching this ridiculously redundant and preposterously repetitive "Friday The 13th" documentary would certainly have to be a bona-fide masochist of the highest order. I mean, 7 hours!!?? Like, talk about milking a subject to absolute death.If you ask me - I think this "Crystal Lake Memories" documentary could've easily been reduced to a running time of, maybe, 2.5 hours, at best. It seemed to me like just about everyone and their dog appeared in this documentary gushing and paying glowing lip-service to a horror movie franchise that, since 1980, has spawned 12 mind-numbingly predictable sequels in all. And, unfortunately, at this point, there seems to be no end in sight for more of this nonsense.Yes. I will admit that I watched most of this documentary in fast-forward mode. But, hey, with that said, when I did stop the rush of images to hear what anyone was babbling about, it was just the same old, tired bull from start to finish. And I knew I hadn't missed anything worthwhile at all.Let's face it - This documentary is strictly for hard-core fans only!P.S. - I thought it was really hilarious that actress Betsy Palmer, who played Jason's murderous mother in the original Friday The 13th, was the only one in this documentary who had the guts to come forward and say that she couldn't understand this horror film's lasting appeal. She was the only one and I applaud her for that.
... View MoreBookended by sequences narrated by Corey Feldman, this incredibly lengthy, eleven hours long documentary about the making of the Friday the 13th film series, told, in chronological order, by the cast and crew of each film, is interesting even if you already know a lot of what is being discussed. Each film is given a fair amount of time for coverage, about 25 minutes or so, with interviews of the cast and crew of that specific film, as opposed to some random fan, like we ended up getting in His Name was Jason. Monica Keena's comments are amusing, but it also seems like she is perhaps taking Jason a bit too seriously. She seemed a bit too insulted by Jason later killing her character in comic book form. From his interviews, one gets the feeling that Derek Mears is genuinely a fan of the character and the series, and made the character frightening again, for the first time since part VII. Kane Hodder was a good Jason, he made the character his own by doing something unique with it, which had never been done before, but his Jason wasn't scary or frightening, more slow and methodical. Even the segment devoted to the (in my mind, underwhelming) in-name-only television series was well done.
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