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Blu-ray Review: “Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History Of Friday The 13th”

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A chronicle of the history of the Friday the 13th franchise.

Growing up in the ’70s and ’80s with a great love of everything horror, there was one title that truly fascinated me and that was “Friday the 13th.” I was too young to rent any horror movies from my local video store so for years, I would just browse video covers and pick up all the horror titles and wonder what they were about. Because the Friday the 13th movies kept growing every few years with a new sequel, I would see them on the shelf, Parts 1, 2, 3 and then the aptly titled “The Final Chapter.” I kept thinking that they must be really good movies if they keep producing a new one every few years. As I got a little older, I got to know the clerk at the video store and he was cool letting me rent these titles. As a horror fan, I’ve seen every Friday the 13th movie and my personal favorites from the entire series, would have to be “Friday the 13th Part 2 and “Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives.” While I enjoyed all the other movies in the series, even the terrible ones like “Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning” and “Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan,” the series as a whole is still intriguing to say the very least, especially when you take into consideration the fact that the first in the series burst onto screens exactly 35 years ago.

Back in 2012, Sparkplug Press released a hardcover book titled ‘Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th’ in which the authors spoke with the cast and crew of every title in the series and produced the first ever in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the making of Crystal Lake and its most famous resident, Jason Voorhees. Now we have a Blu-ray and DVD release utilizing the same title where the producers spoke with the actors, writers, directors and pretty much anybody and everybody connected with the series. While this box set is aimed primarily at the die-hard fans, even casual fans will find many of the stories and anecdotes amusing and insightful. One of the most amazing aspects of how Friday the 13th came to fruition, is how its creator, Sean S. Cunningham, got the ball rolling. Back in 1979, he took out a full page ad in VARIETY claiming “From the Producer of ‘Last House On The Left’ comes The Most Terrifying Movie Ever Made! FRIDAY THE 13TH.” This was deliberately placed because Mr. Cunningham wanted to see if it would generate interest and it was this very ad that garnered the necessary enthusiasm and financial backers that would allow him to make his movie and, in essence, begin one of the longest-running and most lucrative horror film franchises in film history.

The show takes its time with each film including the short-lived TV series, “Friday the 13th: The Series,” which ran from October of 1987 to May of 1990 in first-run syndication on Paramount Television. There were behind-the-scenes problems and arguments between cast and crew on some of the films, especially on “Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning.” It quickly became evident that the film’s director, Danny Steinmann, was not known as an actor’s director, in other words, he was more concerned about the visual aesthetics of the movie and spent hardly no time or none at all working with the actors so he could give them their inspiration and character’s motivation. Many of the actors on the set clashed with him over this and they immediately distanced themselves from him and worked on their character’s incentives and momentum individually. For many years the film was universally detested by the hardcore fans but over time, it has built a devoted following as more of a conventional whodunit than a straight-forward slasher flick. The fact that Jason never appears in the movie at all had critics and fans comparing it to “Halloween III: Season of the Witch, the third Halloween movie in which the filmmakers neglected to tell their audience that Michael Myers wasn’t in it.

Each Friday the 13th movie is fun and campy, some more than others. “Jason X” was instantly despised by critics and fans in general but it has built a loyal fan-base over the years and I have to admit, because the film’s director, Jim Isaac, set the movie in outer space, you cannot take it seriously, on any level. The best thing you can do is just sit back and have fun at all the exaggerated methods Jason utilizes to kill his victims. As far back as the late ’80s, there had been talk of a crossover between Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees and Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger and even when “The Final Friday: Jason Goes to Hell,” the ninth installment in the franchise, ended with Jason’s hockey mask being pulled underground by Freddy’s glove, accompanied by his maniacal laughter, fans thought their dream was about to come true but they would have to wait another ten years, in 2003, before the two horror icons would come face-to-face in “Freddy vs. Jason.” As a fan of both series, naturally I went to see it on opening weekend and was immediately disappointed. Most of my horror-loving friends were the same way too. I think expectations had become so high over the years, it wouldn’t have mattered what the filmmakers had put out there, most of the fans would end up disgruntled either way.

freddy vs. jason

When you pit two horror legends against each other, both of whom are already dead, how can you honestly expect there to be a winner? If Freddy wins, Jason fans will cry foul and vice versa. Either way, the movie reignited interest in both waning franchises and a few years later both would reboot their series with “Friday the 13th” coming out in 2009 and “A Nightmare on Elm Street” released the following year. Neither movie did big business but there is still talk of another reboot of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and a sequel to “Friday the 13th.” Studios today seem totally incapable of letting talented up-and-coming writers and directors produce fresh and original material, instead, they would rather spend millions re-making an already successful series in the hopes that it will take off again. There were several noticeable absentees from the documentary, particularly Kevin Bacon (“Footloose,” “Tremors”), Crispin Glover (“Back to the Future,” “Charlie’s Angels”) and Tony Goldwyn (“Ghost,” TV’s “Scandal”). It appears that they were too embarrassed to talk about the Friday the 13th movie that started their film careers and that’s a shame. While the Friday the 13th movies may be looked down upon by the purists and film snobs as worthless, they still have their place in the universe and are followed by legions of horror fans.

Also absent, was director Steve Miner. He directed “Friday the 13th Part 2” and “Friday the 13th Part 3” but over the years, he has publicly distanced himself from the series that, like the aforementioned actors, began his movie career and led him on to other projects such as “Forever Young” with Mel Gibson, “Halloween H20: 20 Years Later” with Jamie Lee Curtis and “Lake Placid” with Bridget Fonda and Bill Pullman. It should also be noted that he is the only director to have made a Friday the 13th movie as well as a Halloween movie. “Crystal Lake Memories” is the definitive look into the making of all the Friday the 13th movies and is highly recommended for Friday fans and horror fans in general. “Friday the 13th” was made on an estimated budget of $550,000, pocket change in today’s filmmaking environment but when it was released on May 9th, 1980, little did the filmmakers know at that time, not only would it make almost $40 million on its initial release in the U.S. but the overall franchise would eventually go on to earn over $465 million at the worldwide box-office. Take that you film snobs. As far as Jason goes, each movie, from Part 2 thru Part 6 had a different actor playing that role. That would change with Part 7.

Titled “Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood,” actor and stuntman Kane Hodder assumed Jason’s tattered outfit and legendary hockey mask and would go on to play Jason in four Friday films in total and he was one of the biggest supporters of the “Freddy vs. Jason” idea that had been floating around Hollywood for many years but when New Line Cinema decided to finally bring the two horror icons together, an executive decision was made to oust Kane and bring in a new actor to embrace the role. Enter Ken Kirzinger, a 6′ 5″ Canadian actor and stuntman. While he did a fine job portraying Jason in the movie, the die-hard fans were pissed at New Line for evicting Mr. Hodder from the role they felt he was born to play. Over the years, Mr. Hodder never lost his professionalism and while he expressed his personal disappointment in having been dropped from the role, he has always conveyed his gratitude for having being able to play Jason four times, more than any other actor in the history of the franchise. The one aspect of the series that is instantly discernible, is the forever immortalized hockey mask. You show a hockey mask to almost anybody, horror fan or not and more than likely, they will connect it to Jason.

While the die-hard fans know that Jason didn’t appear until Part 2, when he did materialize, he wore a burlap sack over his head, much like the killer in another horror film, “The Town That Dreaded Sundown” but it wasn’t until Part 3 when Shelly (Larry Zerner), a practical joker and prankster, jumps out of the lake in an effort to scare Vera (Catherine Parks), a girl he likes, wearing a wetsuit accompanied by a hockey mask, that we get the first glimpse of things to come. Shelly eventually meets his demise and Jason takes possession of the mask, a symbol that would eventually grace the posters and artwork of all Friday the 13th movies to come. When asked who actually came up with the idea of the hockey mask, almost everyone involved with the film claims some sort of stake in its creation, as one the producers claims, “Invention has many fathers.” There are more stories, including one about Adrienne King, the heroine of the very first movie, who inherited a stalker shortly after the film’s release and many others that keeps you attentive and engrossed for the show’s duration. I can’t recommend “Crystal Lake Memories” enough, especially if you are a fan of the series but even if you’re not, you will find enough personal recollections and anecdotes to keep you thoroughly entertained.

*As an aside, I met with Lar Park-Lincoln, the heroine of “Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood” a few years back in regards to a film I was trying to get off the ground titled “God’s Chosen,” a supernatural thriller. She was a wonderful person and had some terrific ideas but unfortunately, the financing fell through. I’m still working on getting that film made.

Available on Blu-ray & DVD September 8th and on Digital October 6th

 
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James McDonald

Originally from Dublin, Ireland, James is a Movie Critic with 40 years of experience in the film industry as an Award-Winning Filmmaker. He is also a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association.