Michael_Elliott 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.

mariaribeiro-87166 I am a huge fan of the 'Friday the 13th' franchise. Watching this documentary was just so enlightening! See how everything started, one of the biggest horror films ever made,is amazing, and while watching the documentary I felt like part of that. Seeing all my favorite characters, the stunts, and even how the hockey mask became a thing was fantastic.From all the actors who portrayed Jason Voorhees , my favorite is Steve Dash. This guy was such a professional. (watch the documentary and you will understand) :)I don't usually write reviews, but this doc was amazing!

Dalbert Pringle In 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.

Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki Bookended 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.