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Originally released in 2006 as a coffee table crusher, Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th has just been given a much-needed (a much less pricey) re-release as an e-book. And what a treat for slasher fans the world over.
Editor Peter M. Bracke pulls together interviews with cast and crew members from every episode of the franchise—except the 2009 remake. Bracke’s rational for the exclusion? The remake, while well made and offering some good scares, is a different continuity than the other eleven (yes, eleven) entries in the series.
I find it fascinating that a film franchise that was never originally conceived as a series of sequels has stood the test of time for fans. Sean Cunningham, the director of the first movie, readily admits that Friday the 13th was written and directed to cash in on the success of Carpenter’s more subtle (if there is such a thing in the slasher genre) Halloween. However, with 13th, Cunningham unwittingly unleashed an icon and elevated practical visual effects and makeup to a whole new level of nasty. He was, of course, aided by the brilliant Tom Savini, who had also worked on Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. Savini came back for the fourth entry, The Final Chapter (Not!), just so he could kill Jason.
The book devotes the largest chapter (in a book that is over 1000 pages) to the making and financing of the first movie, and it has some very informative interviews with actors (including Kevin Bacon before he was six degrees of anything), the original writer, Victor Miller, and the composer, Harry Manfredini, whose own voice gives Jason Voorhees his musical shape (much like John Williams did with Jaws).
Of course, most critics hated the movie(s) upon release (and still do to this day). But, no matter, the movies made millions compared to budget costs. And let’s be clear on this: these movies were not about the art (although there is the argument for the visual effects, especially considering what some of these technicians were asked to do on the budget they were given); they were about the commerce. Yet, the franchise still retains a devoted fan base. So while some of the entries were more successful than others (both artistically and commercially), they all have a production story to tell. In Crystal Lake Memories, you’ll get the gossip, the daily struggles just to get an independent movie completed, a studio’s disappointment with a director’s vision, the lot of the underpaid actors and their dedication to a role, reflections from the actors 30 years after the fact and their love/hate relationship with the particular episode, the battles with MPAA, and the deep cuts made to each episode.
Whichever sequel you hold as a favorite (for me, it’s Tom McLoughlin’s Jason Lives, with Jason X close behind—I know, I know. Jason X?), reading this history will lure you back for a second—maybe even tenth—viewing of these movies. The Friday the 13th movies made Paramount a lot of money, yet, for many years, they had the reputation as sleaze, as porn (one of the directors, Danny Steinmann, did direct some hard-core porn), as the redheaded stepchild of the studio. They were, and are, treated like poor Jason Voorhees himself. And, like poor Jason, they have come back to haunt and slash their way through horror movie history. And, like Jason, I hope they never die.
As you can imagine, with a book this big, there’s too much to explore in a one-page review. As a horror movie fan, this is the book to get. As a film fan, this is a book to get. And, boy, is this version worth the money. In fact, there are two versions of the e-book available. The cheaper version contains just the interviews. But, for a couple of bucks extra, you get the enhanced version, with both publicity and personal photos from the sets of each movie. Quite frankly, it’s one of the best e-books of the year.
