Crystal
Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th
(2013/Image Entertainment Blu-ray set)
Picture:
B+ Sound: B+ Extras: B Film: B+
Ch-ch-ch-ah-ah-ah...
Jason is coming for you!
Crystal
Lake Memories
is one of the most extensive documentaries I've ever seen for a film
franchise and a must for slasher/horror fans that are curious how
these films came to be. Covering all eight of the original Friday
the 13th
films from Paramount, Jason
Goes to Hell, Jason X,
Freddy
Vs. Jason from
New Line Cinema, and even the recent (terrible) reboot from Platinum
Dunes, you will walk away an expert on Jason Voorhees after watching
this.
Directed
by Daniel Farrands, who also produced the extensive Never
Sleep Again documentary
on A
Nightmare on Elm Street
(which I highly recommend, reviewed elsewhere on this site) proves
yet again that he is a fantastic and thorough expert on cult horror
films. Collaborating with author Peter M. Bracke, who created a 300
book of the same name, this film also serves as a companion piece to
that incredible release.
Disc
1 breaks down as follows:
1.
Prologue/Long Night at Camp Blood [44:40]
2. The Body Count
Continues [36:58]
3. A New Dimension in Terror [33:15]
4.
Jason's Unlucky Day [38:17]
5. Repetition [31:15]
6.
Resurrection [36:23]
7. Curious Goods [9:56]
Disc
2 includes:
1.
Jason's Destroyer [28:52]
2. Terror in Times Square [23:24]
3.
The Nine Lives of Voorhees [22:16]
4. Evil Gets an Upgrade
[18:59]
5. Winner Kills All [30:56]
6. Reboot [29:47]
7.
Reflections on the Water/Epilogue [15:01]
Narrated
by Friday
the 13th
Part 4
actor Corey Feldman (who plays a cool role in the documentary as an
actor around a camp fire), the documentary features interviews with
150 cast and crew members from the film franchise including key
players such as Jason actor Kane Hodder, Director and Creator Sean S.
Cunningham, Freddy himself Robert Englund, Gore Master Tom Savini,
Actress Danielle Panabaker, Jason actor (reboot) Derek Mears, the
late Betsy Palmer, the late Wes Craven, Producer Robert Shaye,
Musician Alice Cooper and many more. The total run time for this
film is a staggering 420 minutes!
Presented
in 1080p high definition with a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and
a lossy, English Dolby Digital 5.1 track (448 kbps), the film looks
and sounds great on Blu-ray with little left to be desired. There
are also English and Spanish subs on the disc as well.
Seeing
that the film itself is basically a giant bonus feature there is also
a commentary
track
and some trailers
from the original films.
Jason
Voorhees is without a doubt one of the most infamous villains in the
horror genre and for fans of the films it's hard to image a better
companion piece than this great documentary. While not all of the
films in the series are necessarily great, it's still fun to learn
how they came to be and hear from the cast and filmmakers on them and
see never before seen photographs, concept art, deleted scenes,
outtakes, and film clips. I look forward to more film studies like
this from Daniel Farrands in the future!
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.facebook.com/jhl5films
