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Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th
For the past 30 years, cinematic icon Jason Voorhees has terrified audiences around the world, his long-running exploits spanning 11 films and generating over $600 million in box office receipts. Now, for the first time and in their own words, over 200 alumni of the series recall three decades of behind-the-scenes stories, struggles, controversies and calamities. This Standard Text Edition has been fully revised and expanded upon the original hardcover print edition with new interviews and text material. Crystal Lake The Complete History of Friday the 13th is the ultimate oral memoir of the most successful horror franchise in the history of motion pictures.(An Enhanced Edition is also available, which includes additional image materials, including over 700 behind-the-scenes photographs, storyboards, screenplay excerpts and archival documents.)
830 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 21, 2005
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November 20, 2020
Film school in a box. There's no better way for me to describe Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th, which regardless of what your opinion of slasher movies or this long-running series is--11 films and a television series are covered--stands as one of the best books I've read about the creative process. Published in 2006, it's an oral history, which I always appreciate, and author Peter Bracke exhausts every aspect of the making of low budget, non-union movies--financing, script development, casting, production, special effects, post-production, distribution, marketing, etc.--which is literally grab a camera and your friends and make a movie.
-- Sean Cunningham, Producer & Director: I discovered Bruno Bettleheim and his book Uses of Enchantment back in the mid-1970s when I had tried to develop an update of Hansel & Gretel. He says one of the values of these grim, ugly fairy tales is that young people have unnamed fears: fears of abandonment, fears of death, fears involving sexual repression. Scary stuff. Parents read these stories and get spooked, but the kids love it, because at a young age we don't have words or names to go around these things, we just know they are out there lurking. What fairy tales can do, and by extension certain kinds of horror movies can do, is take the fear, dress it up in a costume, look at it in the safety of a story and then put it away.
We had a tough bullet to bite--there is no discount for the patron at the box office to see a low budget movie. On any particular night, people are either going to see your film or someone else's. They are all first-run movies. Even at that time, the whole idea of a second feature, the B-movie that plays at drive-ins and exploitation houses, didn't exist anymore as a viable alternative to conventional distribution. That was the reality. When Victor and I were conceiving Friday the 13th, we were very aware that we needed to create something that had an element of circus to it.
-- Victor Miller, Screenwriter: Everything happened really fast. This was in the middle of 1979. My first week's work was coming up with about 50 different venues. Anywhere that kids would be. Like high schools, playgrounds, forests, whatever. I would go over and pitch my ideas to Sean and we would say, "Nah, nah, nah." Then I remembered that going away to summer camp was just too scary for me. My older brother went to camp and I did not like the stories he came back with--the whole idea living in these big rooms with people and sleeping in double bunk beds sounded pretty awful. So I finally went over to Sean's and said, "I think I got it. It's a summer camp before it opens." And we both said, "Yippie!"
I went off to my little office, typing my life away. And after I started writing I came up with the highly unfavorable title of "Long Night at Camp Blood." That was its working title until about the third or fourth draft, when Sean came and said, "I've got the name of the movie."
-- Barry Moss, Casting Director: The first thing you do when you cast is, you read the script and write down your ideas for the role. Then you send a breakdown out to all the agents and ask for their submissions, and they send you headshots and resumes. From there you audition--usually the casting director interviews everybody first, and then you bring back your top choices to read for the director. On Friday the 13th, we usually brought in three or four actors for each part, and sometimes you just get lucky right on the first day. Like when you bring in Kevin Bacon, and he's the answer--you don't even have to bring in anyone else.
-- Kevin Bacon, "Jack": When I first started out, I had the idea there were two sides to acting--"out of work" and "star." That was a misconception that was blown apart when I realized that there was this whole middle range of actors who were making a living in the theatre, playing a wide variety of roles, tuning and tightening and mastering their craft. So I took whatever acting work I could get at the time. I worked as an extra, and tried unsuccessfully to land commercials. I did soap operas. That being said, I think I was still really careful not to make work decisions based on money.
Friday the 13th, honestly...it was material that, for whatever reason, I didn't necessarily feel connected to. But I tried to take the size of the budget and the size of the part and the size of the paycheck out of the equation. And then a huge variety of things open up to you, because there is something about a truly collaborative effort that really feels right. Movies are an isolated medium. You're taught or learn to look out for number one--yourself. Rarely do you encounter something that's really my concept of what an ensemble is.
-- Betsy Palmer, "Mrs. Voorhees": I was in some city once, doing a radio show and the kids were calling in to talk to "Mrs. Voorhees." And I asked one of the girls, "Why do you kids love this woman so much?" And she said, "Because we know why you did it." That is the reason why I think the character has stayed alive as long as she has. I didn't think I was a bad lady. I thought I just got the short shrift in life. If her little boy hadn't drowned she never would have killed all those counselors. I just tried to save those other children every summer when they tried to reopen the camp. Doesn't the movie talk about how I had set fires and poisoned the water, and it eventually closes the camp down? Doesn't it make sense?
-- Tom Savini, Special Makeup Effects: It's a very primitive thing, but it's all about a mindset. It's the same mindset that I teach the students here at my school: "What do I need to make me believe what I'm seeing is really happening?" Then you create the pieces. And in the case of a movie, the pieces are the shots. I need a shot of the actor clean. Then, a shot of the threat of the knife or the threat of the ax. Show that first, because then the audience knows there's going to be a meeting of that weapon and the actor. And finally a shot of the impact, of that meeting. That's what the audience can't wait for. It's almost like an exhibit from your favorite artist.
That's really what Friday the 13th was about, not just gore--magic tricks that are fooling you into believing that what you're seeing is really happening.
-- Bill Freda, Editor: I remember the Paramount screening distinctly, because I was working the soundboard in the back. All the studio execs at the distribution level were there, too, including Frank Mancusco. And when Sean and I had been editing, we used scratch music. And there was this one piece of music that we used at the end, with a big "Bang!" in it, for when Jason pops out of the water at the end. And at that screening, I remember I took the volume band and just went crazy with it. I mean, everything would shake at that volume. And boy, when I bounced that thing up all the execs just jumped. I think that's the thing that sold it. I think these guys sat there and said, "Even if we buy this movie for the ending, it'll be worth it."
-- Steve Miner, Associate Producer: The enjoyment with this kind of film is audience participation. The audience didn't even mind the dumb stuff, because they could talk back to it. They really stayed with the story. What does happen with a lot of these movies is that they have terrific ad campaigns but then don't deliver. I don't think that was the case with Friday the 13th, because business continued strong for weeks and weeks. Practically all of the advertising money was spent during its first week of release, which means that its continued success was based on good word of mouth. I think a film like Friday the 13th is pure entertainment, like a rollercoaster ride is pure entertainment.
These excerpts cover the making of the original Friday the 13th (1980) and take the reader to the 13% mark. If I were a film professor, I think I'd want a class to prepare students for what low budget, non-union, by hook or crook filmmaking was all about and I'd use Crystal Lake Memories as my textbook. Each week, Professor Valdez would look at a different aspect of filmmaking, talk about what these guys did and whether it was successful or not. Even if you hate the Friday the 13th movies, and I have criticisms of all of them, I felt like this book was inspiration to go out and produce something better.
Bracke's fantastic book served as the basis for a 400 minute documentary of the same name in which most of those he interviewed give on-camera interviews, with footage from all the movies. If I had to choose my favorite, I'd say that the two directed by Steve Miner--Friday the 13th Part 2 and Friday the 13th Part III--stand out. Part 2 has the best Final Girl in Amy Steel, whose character "Ginny" actually uses her college degree to survive Jason, while Part III, shot for and released in 3-D the following year, is the best rollercoaster ride.
-- Sean Cunningham, Producer & Director: I discovered Bruno Bettleheim and his book Uses of Enchantment back in the mid-1970s when I had tried to develop an update of Hansel & Gretel. He says one of the values of these grim, ugly fairy tales is that young people have unnamed fears: fears of abandonment, fears of death, fears involving sexual repression. Scary stuff. Parents read these stories and get spooked, but the kids love it, because at a young age we don't have words or names to go around these things, we just know they are out there lurking. What fairy tales can do, and by extension certain kinds of horror movies can do, is take the fear, dress it up in a costume, look at it in the safety of a story and then put it away.
We had a tough bullet to bite--there is no discount for the patron at the box office to see a low budget movie. On any particular night, people are either going to see your film or someone else's. They are all first-run movies. Even at that time, the whole idea of a second feature, the B-movie that plays at drive-ins and exploitation houses, didn't exist anymore as a viable alternative to conventional distribution. That was the reality. When Victor and I were conceiving Friday the 13th, we were very aware that we needed to create something that had an element of circus to it.
-- Victor Miller, Screenwriter: Everything happened really fast. This was in the middle of 1979. My first week's work was coming up with about 50 different venues. Anywhere that kids would be. Like high schools, playgrounds, forests, whatever. I would go over and pitch my ideas to Sean and we would say, "Nah, nah, nah." Then I remembered that going away to summer camp was just too scary for me. My older brother went to camp and I did not like the stories he came back with--the whole idea living in these big rooms with people and sleeping in double bunk beds sounded pretty awful. So I finally went over to Sean's and said, "I think I got it. It's a summer camp before it opens." And we both said, "Yippie!"
I went off to my little office, typing my life away. And after I started writing I came up with the highly unfavorable title of "Long Night at Camp Blood." That was its working title until about the third or fourth draft, when Sean came and said, "I've got the name of the movie."
-- Barry Moss, Casting Director: The first thing you do when you cast is, you read the script and write down your ideas for the role. Then you send a breakdown out to all the agents and ask for their submissions, and they send you headshots and resumes. From there you audition--usually the casting director interviews everybody first, and then you bring back your top choices to read for the director. On Friday the 13th, we usually brought in three or four actors for each part, and sometimes you just get lucky right on the first day. Like when you bring in Kevin Bacon, and he's the answer--you don't even have to bring in anyone else.
-- Kevin Bacon, "Jack": When I first started out, I had the idea there were two sides to acting--"out of work" and "star." That was a misconception that was blown apart when I realized that there was this whole middle range of actors who were making a living in the theatre, playing a wide variety of roles, tuning and tightening and mastering their craft. So I took whatever acting work I could get at the time. I worked as an extra, and tried unsuccessfully to land commercials. I did soap operas. That being said, I think I was still really careful not to make work decisions based on money.
Friday the 13th, honestly...it was material that, for whatever reason, I didn't necessarily feel connected to. But I tried to take the size of the budget and the size of the part and the size of the paycheck out of the equation. And then a huge variety of things open up to you, because there is something about a truly collaborative effort that really feels right. Movies are an isolated medium. You're taught or learn to look out for number one--yourself. Rarely do you encounter something that's really my concept of what an ensemble is.
-- Betsy Palmer, "Mrs. Voorhees": I was in some city once, doing a radio show and the kids were calling in to talk to "Mrs. Voorhees." And I asked one of the girls, "Why do you kids love this woman so much?" And she said, "Because we know why you did it." That is the reason why I think the character has stayed alive as long as she has. I didn't think I was a bad lady. I thought I just got the short shrift in life. If her little boy hadn't drowned she never would have killed all those counselors. I just tried to save those other children every summer when they tried to reopen the camp. Doesn't the movie talk about how I had set fires and poisoned the water, and it eventually closes the camp down? Doesn't it make sense?
-- Tom Savini, Special Makeup Effects: It's a very primitive thing, but it's all about a mindset. It's the same mindset that I teach the students here at my school: "What do I need to make me believe what I'm seeing is really happening?" Then you create the pieces. And in the case of a movie, the pieces are the shots. I need a shot of the actor clean. Then, a shot of the threat of the knife or the threat of the ax. Show that first, because then the audience knows there's going to be a meeting of that weapon and the actor. And finally a shot of the impact, of that meeting. That's what the audience can't wait for. It's almost like an exhibit from your favorite artist.
That's really what Friday the 13th was about, not just gore--magic tricks that are fooling you into believing that what you're seeing is really happening.
-- Bill Freda, Editor: I remember the Paramount screening distinctly, because I was working the soundboard in the back. All the studio execs at the distribution level were there, too, including Frank Mancusco. And when Sean and I had been editing, we used scratch music. And there was this one piece of music that we used at the end, with a big "Bang!" in it, for when Jason pops out of the water at the end. And at that screening, I remember I took the volume band and just went crazy with it. I mean, everything would shake at that volume. And boy, when I bounced that thing up all the execs just jumped. I think that's the thing that sold it. I think these guys sat there and said, "Even if we buy this movie for the ending, it'll be worth it."
-- Steve Miner, Associate Producer: The enjoyment with this kind of film is audience participation. The audience didn't even mind the dumb stuff, because they could talk back to it. They really stayed with the story. What does happen with a lot of these movies is that they have terrific ad campaigns but then don't deliver. I don't think that was the case with Friday the 13th, because business continued strong for weeks and weeks. Practically all of the advertising money was spent during its first week of release, which means that its continued success was based on good word of mouth. I think a film like Friday the 13th is pure entertainment, like a rollercoaster ride is pure entertainment.
These excerpts cover the making of the original Friday the 13th (1980) and take the reader to the 13% mark. If I were a film professor, I think I'd want a class to prepare students for what low budget, non-union, by hook or crook filmmaking was all about and I'd use Crystal Lake Memories as my textbook. Each week, Professor Valdez would look at a different aspect of filmmaking, talk about what these guys did and whether it was successful or not. Even if you hate the Friday the 13th movies, and I have criticisms of all of them, I felt like this book was inspiration to go out and produce something better.
Bracke's fantastic book served as the basis for a 400 minute documentary of the same name in which most of those he interviewed give on-camera interviews, with footage from all the movies. If I had to choose my favorite, I'd say that the two directed by Steve Miner--Friday the 13th Part 2 and Friday the 13th Part III--stand out. Part 2 has the best Final Girl in Amy Steel, whose character "Ginny" actually uses her college degree to survive Jason, while Part III, shot for and released in 3-D the following year, is the best rollercoaster ride.
May 2, 2012
Though I'm not a huge fan of the FRIDAY THE 13TH series, this book was fascinating from beginning to end. Every movie in the series is covered in incredible detail, and the story of each installment, even the really crappy ones, is genuinely compelling. I've read another comprehensive book about the series, seen the documentary HIS NAME WAS JASON, and even read about the later films in Fangoria when they were being made, but this was still packed with stuff I didn't know.
I read the enhanced e-book edition, which apparently has an extra 100,000 words of content that wasn't in the hardcover. (This book is IMMENSE!) It's also got video interviews, screenplay excerpts, MPAA paperwork, storyboards, shot lists, and more.
Easily one of the best horror movie-related books I've ever read.
I read the enhanced e-book edition, which apparently has an extra 100,000 words of content that wasn't in the hardcover. (This book is IMMENSE!) It's also got video interviews, screenplay excerpts, MPAA paperwork, storyboards, shot lists, and more.
Easily one of the best horror movie-related books I've ever read.
June 4, 2018
I have a confession to make: I absolutely love the Friday the 13th series. I was born a little too young to be part of when it was a mega-sensation (i.e. I was a teenager in the 90s rather than the 80s) but I came to lose Jason Voorhees through the magic of VHS. Which, for those of you who have no idea what those initials means, were magical boxes that contained images as well as the souls of dead unicorns.
Crystal Lake Memories is a novel which contains collected anecdotes and a rough timeline for the creation of the original Friday the 13th to Freddy vs. Jason. We get to hear from virtually every single cast member, member of the production staff, and the writers. Their perspectives are almost uniformly positive and, honestly, include a bit of lying since poor Adrienne King (Annie in the 1st movie) quit show business due to a crazed F13-inspired stalker that goes completely unmentioned in the book.
The anecdotes are quite candid in places and sometimes contradictory, which is good for the book's humor value. For example, one creator spends a long time explaining how ridiculous the concept of "if you have sex you die in a F13" movie is, only for the next to say, "Sex equaling death was clearly a major part of our idea for the movie." Plus, there's more than a few lurid innuendoes about how the actors tended to hook up during the long shootings.
The biggest contribution this book may have made to F13 fandom is the fact it resulted in the creation of the identically-named documentary that's available for purchase on Amazon.com. That was hosted by Cory Feldman and, frankly, does the book's job a great deal better. The Kindle Edition may be much longer but the content tends to be a bit on the repetitive side with many actors somewhat embarrassed about their roles despite their pleasant memories. The lack of pictures also hurts it versus the coffee-table version that was at least visually stimulating. The book also lacks any coverage of 2009's reboot, perhaps because it's a bit harder to get in touch with Amanda Rhigetti and Jared Padalecki (but apparently not Kevin Bacon or Crispin Glover).
In the end, the book is a little dry and on the technical side. It's amazing the author managed to get seemingly every single person involved in the production of the movies interviewed. However, the anecdotes dominate everything when I think the book could have benefited from maybe summarizing the films or adding some bits for the laymen. It's basically 11 or 12 ComicCon panels in text form.
8/10
Crystal Lake Memories is a novel which contains collected anecdotes and a rough timeline for the creation of the original Friday the 13th to Freddy vs. Jason. We get to hear from virtually every single cast member, member of the production staff, and the writers. Their perspectives are almost uniformly positive and, honestly, include a bit of lying since poor Adrienne King (Annie in the 1st movie) quit show business due to a crazed F13-inspired stalker that goes completely unmentioned in the book.
The anecdotes are quite candid in places and sometimes contradictory, which is good for the book's humor value. For example, one creator spends a long time explaining how ridiculous the concept of "if you have sex you die in a F13" movie is, only for the next to say, "Sex equaling death was clearly a major part of our idea for the movie." Plus, there's more than a few lurid innuendoes about how the actors tended to hook up during the long shootings.
The biggest contribution this book may have made to F13 fandom is the fact it resulted in the creation of the identically-named documentary that's available for purchase on Amazon.com. That was hosted by Cory Feldman and, frankly, does the book's job a great deal better. The Kindle Edition may be much longer but the content tends to be a bit on the repetitive side with many actors somewhat embarrassed about their roles despite their pleasant memories. The lack of pictures also hurts it versus the coffee-table version that was at least visually stimulating. The book also lacks any coverage of 2009's reboot, perhaps because it's a bit harder to get in touch with Amanda Rhigetti and Jared Padalecki (but apparently not Kevin Bacon or Crispin Glover).
In the end, the book is a little dry and on the technical side. It's amazing the author managed to get seemingly every single person involved in the production of the movies interviewed. However, the anecdotes dominate everything when I think the book could have benefited from maybe summarizing the films or adding some bits for the laymen. It's basically 11 or 12 ComicCon panels in text form.
8/10
February 26, 2024
Friday the 13th was a big part of my teenage years and had the VHS tapes worn out I watched them so much, so I jumped at the chance to buy this when I saw it in a store.
I did something different for this read and watched each movie and then read the chapter in the book corresponding to the movie. 11 movies in all and brought back some nostalgia about my childhood while learning about each movie and the inner going ons.
Simply put, this this is a friggin encyclopedia. It’s massive. With pictures and interviews with EVERYONE. there’s so much info packed into this book and the whole thing is pretty much interview style so it’s a bit dry. But tons of information about each.
The thing I found interesting was how much drama and fighting and how horrible most of the shoots were. There is no punches held back with this and it’s honest to a fault.
Looking back on the movies now, things just don’t really hold up. It’s pretty bad but I think that’s why I loved them as a kid. So bad that they were fun to watch.
If you enjoyed the horror iconic series like I did, and want to learn everything about the movies I would recommend this. 3 and a half stars.
I did something different for this read and watched each movie and then read the chapter in the book corresponding to the movie. 11 movies in all and brought back some nostalgia about my childhood while learning about each movie and the inner going ons.
Simply put, this this is a friggin encyclopedia. It’s massive. With pictures and interviews with EVERYONE. there’s so much info packed into this book and the whole thing is pretty much interview style so it’s a bit dry. But tons of information about each.
The thing I found interesting was how much drama and fighting and how horrible most of the shoots were. There is no punches held back with this and it’s honest to a fault.
Looking back on the movies now, things just don’t really hold up. It’s pretty bad but I think that’s why I loved them as a kid. So bad that they were fun to watch.
If you enjoyed the horror iconic series like I did, and want to learn everything about the movies I would recommend this. 3 and a half stars.
February 22, 2015
It doesn't get more comprehensive than this monster. When it says the Complete History of Friday the 13th, it means it! Friday the 13th was one of those movies that made a huge impact on my life. I know that either sounds pathetic or psychotic, but hear me out. I was too young to see the original in the theater. But I do recall being mesmerized by the VHS box at the local video store years later. I was a whopping 12 years old and up until then my introduction to horror was the late night Creature Features on Friday nights that I could rarely stay awake that late for. But things were changing fast as puberty was hitting and horror was one of those things that intrigued me. I remember the exact moment when I first experienced Friday the 13th. I had some friends over and we had a movie marathon night and my parents let us rent the original and Part 2. The tension, the special effects, the sympathetic characters you could relate to all wrapped up in a hide your eyes behind the pillow roller coaster. My life was forever changed and I was addicted to horror from that point on. That was 30 years ago and I've seen and read just about everything horror, including Friday the 13th and all it's sequels. Sure many of them stink from a cinematic point of view. Some have the thinnest of plots, terrible acting, ridiculous story lines and lousy cinematography. But, it was never meant to be filet mignon. It was meant to be a wild ride with cheap thrills, buckets of blood and a scare or two along the way.
This huge compilation is meant for the fan of the series. If you've only seen one of the movies and thought it was silly, Crystal Lake Memories isn't for you. It's an exhausting and comprehensive behind-the-scenes look at all of the movies in the series and it doesn't miss a thing. Interviews with cast, directors, production crew and just anybody you can think of that was connected to the series is all here. If you're a die-hard fan like me, you'll want to sink your machete into this one.
5 out of 5 stars
You can also follow my reviews at the following links:
https://kenmckinley.wordpress.com
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/A2J1...
TWITTER - @KenMcKinley5
This huge compilation is meant for the fan of the series. If you've only seen one of the movies and thought it was silly, Crystal Lake Memories isn't for you. It's an exhausting and comprehensive behind-the-scenes look at all of the movies in the series and it doesn't miss a thing. Interviews with cast, directors, production crew and just anybody you can think of that was connected to the series is all here. If you're a die-hard fan like me, you'll want to sink your machete into this one.
5 out of 5 stars
You can also follow my reviews at the following links:
https://kenmckinley.wordpress.com
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/A2J1...
TWITTER - @KenMcKinley5
September 9, 2023
Overall, this was a highly informative yet still extremely fun read all about the Friday the 13th film franchise! Each of the 11 original movies got its own chapter, and then there was a general wrap-up type chapter at the end. The book lost a star for me due to being bogged down by minutiae at times, but as a pretty big fan of the franchise, even that didn’t really bother me all that much. In fact, it almost felt like this reading experience was similar to the viewing experience of the films: the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. Because, at least in the case of this book, while the chapters were all weighed down by too many unnecessary details, and there was an issue with repetitiveness from time to time, still, the big picture that emerged overall was so vivid, so intense, and so damn interesting that it kept me turning the pages, fascinated and impressed by how the whole Jason Voorhees mythology came into being and evolved over time.
Anyway, this is really only recommended for diehard fans of the series, but if you qualify as such, definitely pick it up, because it’s an incredible deep dive into the behind-the-scenes world of the first 11 films. By which I mean Parts I-VIII, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, Jason X, and Freddy vs. Jason.
Included below are a few of my favorite excerpts. Well, maybe more than a few…:
The Original Film:
-Mancuso and Paramount thought big. They gifted Friday the 13th with a launch on more than a thousand screens across the United States—an unheard-of number for a "negative pick-up" at that time—and the kind of saturated multimedia marketing campaign previously afforded only to high-gloss, first-class studio pictures. The result was historic for an exploitation movie: Friday the 13th was not only a smash success; it helped to create a whole new paradigm in the way motion pictures are made, marketed and exhibited.
SEAN CUNNINGHAM, Director: “Tom Savini is a fucking nut. He’s wildly energetic. He’s got this Peter Pan quality about him, this desire to have fun and play around, and boundless enthusiasm.”
“At some level, we were looking for an alternative for that bloated, Kodachrome Hollywood crap that we were being fed. I think one of the reasons why the film is seductive in its own way is that the amateurishness gives it a verite kind of reality that a slick movie doesn't create. You feel like you're witnessing a real event.”
-The most vocal of the film's detractors was the late Gene Siskel, then still a local critic for the Chicago Tribune who, in his May 8th, 1980 review, took the unprecedented step of not only revealing the identity of the film's killer to potential moviegoers, but also calling Sean Cunningham "one of the most despicable creatures ever to infest the movie business." Siskel's review went on to urge those just as outraged as he was by Friday the 13th to write letters to both Paramount Pictures and Betsy Palmer to express their contempt and disgust for them and their film. Perhaps as further incentive to get his readers on his anti-Friday bandwagon, Siskel even went so far as to publish Ms. Palmer's home address. Siskel, along with his co-critic Roger Ebert, then devoted the entire October 23, 1980 episode of the pair's weekly, nationally syndicated television program Sneak Previews to what they called the "gruesome and despicable" new genre of the "splatter" film. During the show's 24 minutes, a disgusted and disgruntled Ebert accused Friday the 13th and its ilk of "expressing a hatred of women," and decried the phenomenon of "audiences cheering the killers on." The pair concluded the program with an outright call for censorship, with a smug Siskel remarking, "After all, bullfights were outlawed, too!"
SEAN CUNNINGHAM, Director: “Horror films don't get good reviews. Horror films, like several other genres but more than any of them, speak to your subconscious. And they are meant to be manipulative—if they aren't, they don't work. And people who write critical evaluations of movies characteristically resist anything that is not cerebral. They want the information to come in through the brain—more often than not, verbally—and they want to be able to filter it, and only then maybe it feels good. But if it comes through the eyes and goes to the guts and then bubbles up to the brain, then it's dangerous.”
Part II:
CLIFF CUDNEY, Stunt Actor: “The wheelchair stunt was the greatest accomplishment for me on the film. You had to have a shot of a guy in the chair who needs to go downhill on a long flight of stairs, and outdoors. And he has to be backwards. And, of course, it was raining, too. We couldn't afford an articulated dummy or a remote-control dummy, so we used a real live dummy instead—a stuntman named Tony Farantino doubled Tom McBride and did the stunt. It took me a couple of weeks to design a custom wheelchair to go down those steps, and it was a hell of a challenge. Tony had to be able to lean back in the wheelchair with his whole upper torso and then go down the steps, but if you lean down too far, the chair would flip by itself. So the wheelchair was attached to a cable that was attached to a pulley system I developed, to run it all the way down the steps. We also had to put boards down both sides of the stairway so there was a solid platform for the wheelchair's wheels to roll on. We did it once and it was perfect, beautiful. Then Steve Miner wanted to know if it could be done a little faster. So Tony's like, "Hell, yes! No problem!" But man, Tony didn't realize—and it was my fault for not explaining it to him—that when the wheelchair got to the end of the cable there was going to be a hell of a sudden stop. And the lake was right there! So me and another guy on my crew were in the bushes down at the bottom, and here comes Tony blazing down these steps. And just as Tony got to the end of the cable, we both jumped out and body slammed him to drive him off into the bushes. Because if he had hit the end of that cable, it would have flipped him and broken his neck. It worked out great!”
Part III:
MARTIN JAY SADOFF, 3-D Supervisor: “Steve Miner called for a makeup test to be done, to see what the monster was going to look like and to make sure the 3-D worked and all that. Well, no one really wanted to do the makeup. So the late Marty Becker, who was heading the effects on the film, came and said, "Well, we don't have anything, so let's put a goalie mask on him."”
-Part 3 also saw the next evolution of Jason Voorhees in Richard Brooker's portrayal of the character, with the hunched, hulking ex-acrobat displaying a more brutish and methodical intelligence than that of the feral Jason seen in Part 2.
Part IV:
TOM SAVINI, Special Makeup Effects: “I love that Corey's character was named Tommy, 'cause his room, with all the masks and magic tricks—that's my room when I was his age. He's doing what I was doing then. Crewing up his friends, cutting their throats, chopping off limbs, and sending them home with half their hair gone or with burn makeup to freak out their parents.”
Part V:
JERRY PAVLON, Actor: “I’m an appreciative audience for Danny Steinmann because his tongue was obviously in cheek. He was sending up the genre, but without having to do what Scream does, which is to tell everybody in the grossest of terms that they're making fun of it. That really is for 9-year-olds. I think, in terms of that blend of horror and absurd comedy, Part V is still not appreciated, nor understood.”
Part VII:
JOHN CARL BUECHLER, Director: “For me, The New Blood was three separate movies. The first act was Firestarter. The second act was the standard stalk-and-slash Jason movie. The third act was "Terminator vs. Carrie."”
“Kane gave Jason a personality at last. The previous Jasons, to me, just seemed to be there, with no real agenda. They were almost like Michael Myers, in that he's sort of disinterested in what he's doing. He just does it mindlessly. Even in the audition, there was more rage to Kane's portrayal. There was intention. He's like a Harryhausen figure—he's got that internal drama going on. And that isn't automatic. Kane deliberates and figures that out and makes it a moment. Even under all the makeup, Kane could emote. Which I think gave Part VII an edge that the other Friday movies didn't have.”
KANE HODDER, “Jason Voorhees”: “I still have burn scars from a fire stunt I did when I was in my first year in the business. It almost killed me. But I think that the fact that I was still so young and excited, and wanted to stay in the business, it actually helped me to overcome that injury. I didn't do fire stunts for a while after that, but now I do them all the time. I have never had flashbacks back to that injury. This will sound so ridiculous, but now when I do a fire stunt it's almost calming. It is the weirdest thing. Even guys who do fire stunts always say, "Wow, you're really comfortable on fire.”
Jason X:
LISA RYDER, Actress: “Kane's a very strange dude. He's very sweet and polite and nice, but then he has this strange side of him. He's kind of method. He has "K-I-L-L" tattooed on his inner lip. And he growls at you before a take. I think it's because he's such a nice guy—he needs to distance himself from his co-actors when he's trying to kill them. He feels a responsibility to fans to perpetuate that image of himself. It's his thing. He was actually fighting for Jason's motivation!”
General Wrap-Up:
STEVE MINER, Director, Part 2 & Part 3: “Younger people tend to understand that genre films are meant as a piece of entertainment, in a nightmarish sort of way, but in a fun sense. But then there are older people, including some critics, who don't understand that concept and never will. A perfect case in point is a scene I did for Friday the 13th Part 3, this terribly silly scene where Jason takes a guy and squeezes his head together hard enough so his eyeball pops out. I can't imagine that anybody has been inspired to go out and squish somebody's head until their eyeballs pop out. I'd like someone to prove this and I'll never do a violent scene again.”
ETHAN WILEY, Song Composer, Jason X: “I think Friday the 13th came along at the right time, when the horror genre needed to be brought back to its most elemental aspects. From Vincent Price and Boris Karloff onward, horror has always had a very theatrical and fantastical side to it. But Friday the 13th and Jason, similar to Halloween and Michael Myers, stripped that all away and became about cold, stark evil with no apologies. I think they pulled people back to that primal fear of the bogeyman, of the fear of that thing in the dark that is relentless, that you can't reason with. Back in the old days, maybe you could reason with Boris Karloff or Vincent Price. But you can't reason with Jason.”
Anyway, this is really only recommended for diehard fans of the series, but if you qualify as such, definitely pick it up, because it’s an incredible deep dive into the behind-the-scenes world of the first 11 films. By which I mean Parts I-VIII, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, Jason X, and Freddy vs. Jason.
Included below are a few of my favorite excerpts. Well, maybe more than a few…:
The Original Film:
-Mancuso and Paramount thought big. They gifted Friday the 13th with a launch on more than a thousand screens across the United States—an unheard-of number for a "negative pick-up" at that time—and the kind of saturated multimedia marketing campaign previously afforded only to high-gloss, first-class studio pictures. The result was historic for an exploitation movie: Friday the 13th was not only a smash success; it helped to create a whole new paradigm in the way motion pictures are made, marketed and exhibited.
SEAN CUNNINGHAM, Director: “Tom Savini is a fucking nut. He’s wildly energetic. He’s got this Peter Pan quality about him, this desire to have fun and play around, and boundless enthusiasm.”
“At some level, we were looking for an alternative for that bloated, Kodachrome Hollywood crap that we were being fed. I think one of the reasons why the film is seductive in its own way is that the amateurishness gives it a verite kind of reality that a slick movie doesn't create. You feel like you're witnessing a real event.”
-The most vocal of the film's detractors was the late Gene Siskel, then still a local critic for the Chicago Tribune who, in his May 8th, 1980 review, took the unprecedented step of not only revealing the identity of the film's killer to potential moviegoers, but also calling Sean Cunningham "one of the most despicable creatures ever to infest the movie business." Siskel's review went on to urge those just as outraged as he was by Friday the 13th to write letters to both Paramount Pictures and Betsy Palmer to express their contempt and disgust for them and their film. Perhaps as further incentive to get his readers on his anti-Friday bandwagon, Siskel even went so far as to publish Ms. Palmer's home address. Siskel, along with his co-critic Roger Ebert, then devoted the entire October 23, 1980 episode of the pair's weekly, nationally syndicated television program Sneak Previews to what they called the "gruesome and despicable" new genre of the "splatter" film. During the show's 24 minutes, a disgusted and disgruntled Ebert accused Friday the 13th and its ilk of "expressing a hatred of women," and decried the phenomenon of "audiences cheering the killers on." The pair concluded the program with an outright call for censorship, with a smug Siskel remarking, "After all, bullfights were outlawed, too!"
SEAN CUNNINGHAM, Director: “Horror films don't get good reviews. Horror films, like several other genres but more than any of them, speak to your subconscious. And they are meant to be manipulative—if they aren't, they don't work. And people who write critical evaluations of movies characteristically resist anything that is not cerebral. They want the information to come in through the brain—more often than not, verbally—and they want to be able to filter it, and only then maybe it feels good. But if it comes through the eyes and goes to the guts and then bubbles up to the brain, then it's dangerous.”
Part II:
CLIFF CUDNEY, Stunt Actor: “The wheelchair stunt was the greatest accomplishment for me on the film. You had to have a shot of a guy in the chair who needs to go downhill on a long flight of stairs, and outdoors. And he has to be backwards. And, of course, it was raining, too. We couldn't afford an articulated dummy or a remote-control dummy, so we used a real live dummy instead—a stuntman named Tony Farantino doubled Tom McBride and did the stunt. It took me a couple of weeks to design a custom wheelchair to go down those steps, and it was a hell of a challenge. Tony had to be able to lean back in the wheelchair with his whole upper torso and then go down the steps, but if you lean down too far, the chair would flip by itself. So the wheelchair was attached to a cable that was attached to a pulley system I developed, to run it all the way down the steps. We also had to put boards down both sides of the stairway so there was a solid platform for the wheelchair's wheels to roll on. We did it once and it was perfect, beautiful. Then Steve Miner wanted to know if it could be done a little faster. So Tony's like, "Hell, yes! No problem!" But man, Tony didn't realize—and it was my fault for not explaining it to him—that when the wheelchair got to the end of the cable there was going to be a hell of a sudden stop. And the lake was right there! So me and another guy on my crew were in the bushes down at the bottom, and here comes Tony blazing down these steps. And just as Tony got to the end of the cable, we both jumped out and body slammed him to drive him off into the bushes. Because if he had hit the end of that cable, it would have flipped him and broken his neck. It worked out great!”
Part III:
MARTIN JAY SADOFF, 3-D Supervisor: “Steve Miner called for a makeup test to be done, to see what the monster was going to look like and to make sure the 3-D worked and all that. Well, no one really wanted to do the makeup. So the late Marty Becker, who was heading the effects on the film, came and said, "Well, we don't have anything, so let's put a goalie mask on him."”
-Part 3 also saw the next evolution of Jason Voorhees in Richard Brooker's portrayal of the character, with the hunched, hulking ex-acrobat displaying a more brutish and methodical intelligence than that of the feral Jason seen in Part 2.
Part IV:
TOM SAVINI, Special Makeup Effects: “I love that Corey's character was named Tommy, 'cause his room, with all the masks and magic tricks—that's my room when I was his age. He's doing what I was doing then. Crewing up his friends, cutting their throats, chopping off limbs, and sending them home with half their hair gone or with burn makeup to freak out their parents.”
Part V:
JERRY PAVLON, Actor: “I’m an appreciative audience for Danny Steinmann because his tongue was obviously in cheek. He was sending up the genre, but without having to do what Scream does, which is to tell everybody in the grossest of terms that they're making fun of it. That really is for 9-year-olds. I think, in terms of that blend of horror and absurd comedy, Part V is still not appreciated, nor understood.”
Part VII:
JOHN CARL BUECHLER, Director: “For me, The New Blood was three separate movies. The first act was Firestarter. The second act was the standard stalk-and-slash Jason movie. The third act was "Terminator vs. Carrie."”
“Kane gave Jason a personality at last. The previous Jasons, to me, just seemed to be there, with no real agenda. They were almost like Michael Myers, in that he's sort of disinterested in what he's doing. He just does it mindlessly. Even in the audition, there was more rage to Kane's portrayal. There was intention. He's like a Harryhausen figure—he's got that internal drama going on. And that isn't automatic. Kane deliberates and figures that out and makes it a moment. Even under all the makeup, Kane could emote. Which I think gave Part VII an edge that the other Friday movies didn't have.”
KANE HODDER, “Jason Voorhees”: “I still have burn scars from a fire stunt I did when I was in my first year in the business. It almost killed me. But I think that the fact that I was still so young and excited, and wanted to stay in the business, it actually helped me to overcome that injury. I didn't do fire stunts for a while after that, but now I do them all the time. I have never had flashbacks back to that injury. This will sound so ridiculous, but now when I do a fire stunt it's almost calming. It is the weirdest thing. Even guys who do fire stunts always say, "Wow, you're really comfortable on fire.”
Jason X:
LISA RYDER, Actress: “Kane's a very strange dude. He's very sweet and polite and nice, but then he has this strange side of him. He's kind of method. He has "K-I-L-L" tattooed on his inner lip. And he growls at you before a take. I think it's because he's such a nice guy—he needs to distance himself from his co-actors when he's trying to kill them. He feels a responsibility to fans to perpetuate that image of himself. It's his thing. He was actually fighting for Jason's motivation!”
General Wrap-Up:
STEVE MINER, Director, Part 2 & Part 3: “Younger people tend to understand that genre films are meant as a piece of entertainment, in a nightmarish sort of way, but in a fun sense. But then there are older people, including some critics, who don't understand that concept and never will. A perfect case in point is a scene I did for Friday the 13th Part 3, this terribly silly scene where Jason takes a guy and squeezes his head together hard enough so his eyeball pops out. I can't imagine that anybody has been inspired to go out and squish somebody's head until their eyeballs pop out. I'd like someone to prove this and I'll never do a violent scene again.”
ETHAN WILEY, Song Composer, Jason X: “I think Friday the 13th came along at the right time, when the horror genre needed to be brought back to its most elemental aspects. From Vincent Price and Boris Karloff onward, horror has always had a very theatrical and fantastical side to it. But Friday the 13th and Jason, similar to Halloween and Michael Myers, stripped that all away and became about cold, stark evil with no apologies. I think they pulled people back to that primal fear of the bogeyman, of the fear of that thing in the dark that is relentless, that you can't reason with. Back in the old days, maybe you could reason with Boris Karloff or Vincent Price. But you can't reason with Jason.”
March 30, 2021
This is a really incredible read, especially if you are a fan of the Friday the 13th movies. This goes behind the scenes, informing the read of the good, the bad, and the ugly of how each film was made. The book is a huge coffee table sized tome that has a plethora of never-before-seen photos, and literally hundreds of interviews with the cast and crew. It was a delight to read and after each chapter (one per movie), I would re-watch the film to gain an even greater appreciation of the best horror franchise in cinema history.
The two big take-aways that were disappointing to read were the constant cuts the MPAA made each film make. That hurt my heart reading about how the artist filmmakers had to water down their versions over and over and over. The 1980s were a different time and I imagine how amazing it would be today if they were made with much less oversight by the MPAA. The only other disappointment was that some of the cast never seemed to appreciate they were a part of history and had some negative feelings of the films, like they were embarrassed by it. But Karma comes full circle, because many of those complainers never succeeded in their careers. Amazing book and highly recommended.
The two big take-aways that were disappointing to read were the constant cuts the MPAA made each film make. That hurt my heart reading about how the artist filmmakers had to water down their versions over and over and over. The 1980s were a different time and I imagine how amazing it would be today if they were made with much less oversight by the MPAA. The only other disappointment was that some of the cast never seemed to appreciate they were a part of history and had some negative feelings of the films, like they were embarrassed by it. But Karma comes full circle, because many of those complainers never succeeded in their careers. Amazing book and highly recommended.
June 6, 2012
I thought this book was flibbin' fantastic! I've been a huge fan of the first two movies and had seen all of them up until part VIII. I thought the book was great in that it talked to not only the actors, but writers, directors, writers, anyone involved per se. And it gives a lot of behind the scene stuff, where it talks of what went on between the people involved. If you enjoy movies of any kind, or are actually involved in movies give this book a read.
February 16, 2010
My buddy and I worked at the camp where the original Friday the 13th (you know, the one with Kevin Bacon) was filmed. Needless to say, we are huge fans of Friday the 13th and Jason. Not only was this book a very comprehensive study on all the Friday films from the original to Freddy vs. Jason, (thank god it was written before that crap that came out recently calling itself a Friday reboot. Sorry Mr. Nispel, you had your moments, but overall, the movie was a poor excuse for a Friday the 13th film.) but it is also a great companion for horror conventions. My friend and I have gone to numerous conventions with this book and it is now proudly autographed by numerous Jasons, victims, the great Mrs. Betsy Palmer, and even Freddy Krueger himself.
June 5, 2012
Yes, I read a whole long book about the entire Friday the 13th film series and lived to tell the tale. The author is very sincere and very, very thorough. Quite interesting in particular to read the many interviews of those involved in the making of the movies, from actors to musicians to producers to stunt men - their reactions run the gamut from embarrassment to pride, bemusement to pure indifference. What can I say, I quite enjoyed this and the movies themselves remain a guilty pleasure.
January 5, 2014
Utterly incredible HEAVYWEIGHT tome!
Absolutely essential!
Interviews with everyone and some of the best images from the series you will ever see!
Seriously! I'm not even that big a fan of the series but this was AMAZING!!!
It's a beautiful book!
Absolutely essential!
Interviews with everyone and some of the best images from the series you will ever see!
Seriously! I'm not even that big a fan of the series but this was AMAZING!!!
It's a beautiful book!
April 29, 2017
Huge coffee table book. Unbelievable stories and behind the scenes on F13!!! This is a bit of cinema history.
December 11, 2024
If you’re a fan of horror, movies, or the 1980s, "Crystal Lake Memories" is a must-read. This book offers one of the most comprehensive looks at the Friday the 13th series, and it’s hands down one of the best movie books I’ve ever read. It dives deep into the world of masked killer Jason Voorhees, exploring not just the movies themselves but the massive cultural wave they created.
One of the standout features is the in-depth interviews with the actors, directors, and creators who brought Friday the 13th to life. These interviews give an insider's perspective on the making of the series and reveal just why it struck such a chord with audiences back then. It's fascinating to read about the series' impact as a cultural phenomenon during the '80s and to understand the secret sauce behind its enduring success.
But this book isn’t just a tribute to a successful movie franchise; it’s an elaborate history lesson on the movie-making industry. It sheds light on what it takes to get a film on the screen, from budget constraints to creative decisions. For aspiring moviemakers, especially those interested in '80s films, this book is like a goldmine of information and inspiration.
The only downside I found is its length. The book is quite long, and while it remains engaging for the most part, you do start feeling its weight towards the end. However, considering the breadth and depth of the content, the extensive length is understandable, and it doesn’t detract from the overall experience too much.
"Crystal Lake Memories" is not only an exploration of Friday the 13th but also a significant homage to the era it thrived in. If you want to understand the historical and cultural context of one of the horror genre's most iconic series, or if you’re just a movie buff looking to peek behind the curtain, this book is your go-to. Whether you're a fan of slasher flicks or an aspiring filmmaker seeking a rich understanding of the industry, this is an insightful and thoroughly entertaining read.
One of the standout features is the in-depth interviews with the actors, directors, and creators who brought Friday the 13th to life. These interviews give an insider's perspective on the making of the series and reveal just why it struck such a chord with audiences back then. It's fascinating to read about the series' impact as a cultural phenomenon during the '80s and to understand the secret sauce behind its enduring success.
But this book isn’t just a tribute to a successful movie franchise; it’s an elaborate history lesson on the movie-making industry. It sheds light on what it takes to get a film on the screen, from budget constraints to creative decisions. For aspiring moviemakers, especially those interested in '80s films, this book is like a goldmine of information and inspiration.
The only downside I found is its length. The book is quite long, and while it remains engaging for the most part, you do start feeling its weight towards the end. However, considering the breadth and depth of the content, the extensive length is understandable, and it doesn’t detract from the overall experience too much.
"Crystal Lake Memories" is not only an exploration of Friday the 13th but also a significant homage to the era it thrived in. If you want to understand the historical and cultural context of one of the horror genre's most iconic series, or if you’re just a movie buff looking to peek behind the curtain, this book is your go-to. Whether you're a fan of slasher flicks or an aspiring filmmaker seeking a rich understanding of the industry, this is an insightful and thoroughly entertaining read.
June 4, 2025
I feel like so many anecdotes from actors and stunt performers were missing in favour of producers talking about money and “what the fans want” when it didn’t feel as if any of the producers actually were fans.
Everything about this franchise is just reactionary and money based. To read a book that claims a creative force and passion was really frustrating when everything just comes back around to money.
I always considered this book a coffee table book and I wasn’t sure if people ever actually read those kind of books but I decided I needed to whilst I was rewatching the series. At times it did feel like it was meant to just be a coffee table book as some of the interviews text appears above photos and even script pages sometimes which made the text really hard to read.
All in all I enjoyed all the pictures that weren’t covered in text and I enjoyed the anecdotes of the make up crew, actors and stunt performers but that’s so little of what makes up this book. Hardly “the complete history”. I look forward to watching the documentary film of the same name again now to compare as I’m sure there were anecdotes and trivia I’ve heard that weren’t in this book. I still love the franchise and it’s still a very impressive book with some real gems in there but I’m just thoroughly disappointed by the whole thing now that it’s done.
Surprisingly and I don’t know if it’s because the book came out close to it’s release but the best chapter for me, other than the last chapter, was the Freddy vs Jason chapter. Because as much as there was the usual chat about producers and funding, there was far more anecdotes from cast and crew that it made it genuinely interesting. I wish the rest of the chapters were just as interesting as that one. The last chapter was also really nice. Giving everyone an opportunity to reflect on the legacy of the franchise and their input. That was real sweet. I got no time for a lot of these producers now though.
Everything about this franchise is just reactionary and money based. To read a book that claims a creative force and passion was really frustrating when everything just comes back around to money.
I always considered this book a coffee table book and I wasn’t sure if people ever actually read those kind of books but I decided I needed to whilst I was rewatching the series. At times it did feel like it was meant to just be a coffee table book as some of the interviews text appears above photos and even script pages sometimes which made the text really hard to read.
All in all I enjoyed all the pictures that weren’t covered in text and I enjoyed the anecdotes of the make up crew, actors and stunt performers but that’s so little of what makes up this book. Hardly “the complete history”. I look forward to watching the documentary film of the same name again now to compare as I’m sure there were anecdotes and trivia I’ve heard that weren’t in this book. I still love the franchise and it’s still a very impressive book with some real gems in there but I’m just thoroughly disappointed by the whole thing now that it’s done.
Surprisingly and I don’t know if it’s because the book came out close to it’s release but the best chapter for me, other than the last chapter, was the Freddy vs Jason chapter. Because as much as there was the usual chat about producers and funding, there was far more anecdotes from cast and crew that it made it genuinely interesting. I wish the rest of the chapters were just as interesting as that one. The last chapter was also really nice. Giving everyone an opportunity to reflect on the legacy of the franchise and their input. That was real sweet. I got no time for a lot of these producers now though.
October 6, 2019
I never thought I would read a 1200+ page book about the Friday the 13th series, but here I am. It was very interesting and insightful with many of the people involved giving what appeared to be their honest recollections of the experience.
However, while learning allot about the series, you also discover how little many of the people at the top felt about them. They had little desire to make good films, just churn over a little profit and move on to the next one.
Many of those in the day to day production did put honest work into their films and tried to make something decent. However, between the producers and MPAA, they would always fight an uphill battle to do so.
However, while learning allot about the series, you also discover how little many of the people at the top felt about them. They had little desire to make good films, just churn over a little profit and move on to the next one.
Many of those in the day to day production did put honest work into their films and tried to make something decent. However, between the producers and MPAA, they would always fight an uphill battle to do so.
February 20, 2022
a must for fans
…and if you’re not a fan, how are you even seeing this? Anyway, lots of juicy bits and told in a way (chronologically) that makes sense and has a cumulative effect. I loved hearing the actors, writers, directors, and producers talk about their experiences with these iconic films which were formative for me and therefore seared onto my consciousness. If only it had included updates about the 2008/9 Friday reboot, but alas. I will never get tired of Jason. Thank you for this.
…and if you’re not a fan, how are you even seeing this? Anyway, lots of juicy bits and told in a way (chronologically) that makes sense and has a cumulative effect. I loved hearing the actors, writers, directors, and producers talk about their experiences with these iconic films which were formative for me and therefore seared onto my consciousness. If only it had included updates about the 2008/9 Friday reboot, but alas. I will never get tired of Jason. Thank you for this.
February 8, 2020
Fascinating history
Friday the 13th is one of those franchises that you either love or hate, sometimes both and for the same reasons. This book gives some insight on the production of each movie from the writers, directors, composers, producers, studio executives, and actors that made the series possible.
Friday the 13th is one of those franchises that you either love or hate, sometimes both and for the same reasons. This book gives some insight on the production of each movie from the writers, directors, composers, producers, studio executives, and actors that made the series possible.
May 31, 2023
I can't imagine wanting to know anything about the making of these movies that is not featured in this excellent book. Highly recommend the documentary version as well.
November 9, 2021
Best book EVER.
April 12, 2016
First off, I did not know this was a coffee table book when I purchased it on my Kindle. BIG mistake. I missed out on hundreds of (most likely) really cool pictures. Instead, I just had hundreds and hundreds of pages of people bitching and moaning. Some people who were interviewed (the whole book is oral history, fyi) were pretty cool and very excited that they were able to be a part of something as cool, long-lasting, and culturally significant as Friday the 13th, but many of those interviewed, especially those from the earlier film in the franchise, were so full of themselves and couldn't stop talking about how they were so "above" doing horror and were constantly shitting on their movie, the writers, the directors, the producers, their cast-mates, and the franchise as a whole. Nobody forced these assholes to make these movies and I'm positive that they cashed the checks that they earned, so it all just grew very tiresome.
Still, there was a lot of good information and insight into each film and it has made me VERY excited to go back and watch them all again. The book was a little too long and nothing was left out, but I think it probably works very well as a coffee table book. Recommended for horror film fans - JUST DON'T GET THE KINDLE VERSION!
Still, there was a lot of good information and insight into each film and it has made me VERY excited to go back and watch them all again. The book was a little too long and nothing was left out, but I think it probably works very well as a coffee table book. Recommended for horror film fans - JUST DON'T GET THE KINDLE VERSION!
October 2, 2015
I can't believe how good this book is. I don't even care about Friday the 13th and I was absorbed by the interviews and behind-the-scenes facts.
It's absolutely worth your time if you have any interest in the subject matter, in non-fiction, or just a good book. I can't express my amazement at what a great read this was enough.
The whole thing pulls no punches, shares all the stories both good and bad, and really sucks you into the world of low budget filmmaking.
My only two knocks - the Kindle version is riddled with spelling mistakes and it's just so insanely big. I don't think it was overlong - you get detailed writing on eleven movies and a TV show which is crazy effort - but it was a much larger undertaking than I was expecting. I pretty much read every free second for a week to finish it, but so worth the effort.
It's absolutely worth your time if you have any interest in the subject matter, in non-fiction, or just a good book. I can't express my amazement at what a great read this was enough.
The whole thing pulls no punches, shares all the stories both good and bad, and really sucks you into the world of low budget filmmaking.
My only two knocks - the Kindle version is riddled with spelling mistakes and it's just so insanely big. I don't think it was overlong - you get detailed writing on eleven movies and a TV show which is crazy effort - but it was a much larger undertaking than I was expecting. I pretty much read every free second for a week to finish it, but so worth the effort.
January 13, 2015
Good: Incredibly thorough and honestly I think that Bracke has a real talent as an interviewer. He managed to say a lot just using people's responses juxtaposed against each other.
Bad: So long. So, so long. Too long.
Weird: I understand why he didn't cover the remake but I was disappointed anyway because I still don't understand why they bothered saying that it was a remake. Nothing about it couldn't have just been the 12th entry in the series.
Final: You know by the title if you'll like this or not. I think it's a particularly fine piece of film journalism but if you don't like horror movies and especially if you don't like Friday the 13th movies then there's no reason for you to read it.
Bad: So long. So, so long. Too long.
Weird: I understand why he didn't cover the remake but I was disappointed anyway because I still don't understand why they bothered saying that it was a remake. Nothing about it couldn't have just been the 12th entry in the series.
Final: You know by the title if you'll like this or not. I think it's a particularly fine piece of film journalism but if you don't like horror movies and especially if you don't like Friday the 13th movies then there's no reason for you to read it.
January 16, 2008
Obviously for fans of the movie series only. But if you are, you will not find a more comprehensive, more informative, and more fun read about everyone's favorite undead, hockey-mask-wearing, naked-teenager-killing, Crystal Lake resident. The twisted history of the series, where the numerous writers and directors intended on taking it and where it ended up are illuminated with interviews from nearly every cast member, writer, director and studio executive involved in the life cycle of the series. If you love the movies like I do, there's no excuse not to read it.
October 26, 2020
Ridiculously comprehensive behind-the-scenes look at the long-running slasher movie series. It's based around interviews and the participants don't mince their words. It's everything a Jason fan could want.
October 4, 2015
This, I must own. It answers just about everything you'd want to know about the series. It's a huge hardback overflowing with vivid images and of course too, too much TMI. I loved it so much I felt acute withdrawal when I had to return it.
May 12, 2010
this book is CRAZY sooo many deaths and disturbing parts,
Want to read
May 13, 2010i wanna read this book i really enjoy the hororrs and screams...
December 10, 2014
Awesome. If you like these movies, read this book. Don't ask to borrow my copy.
December 29, 2020
When the very first "Friday the 13th" came out in theaters, I was 6, so clearly I was too young. Because my world was Star Wars and Saturday morning cartoons, I was not aware of the movie or the following sequels. I didn't see my first "Friday the 13th" movie until "Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood" was released on VHS. I remember loving it and re-watching it numerous times with my sisters. After that, I never watched another "Friday" film until a few years ago and then I watched the entire series. I was struck by how cheesy and goofy these films are. Still enjoyed watching them, but they were not what I was thinking they were going to be.
With that in mind, I decided to read this book. I walked away with an appreciation for these films not because they are masterful works of cinematic art, but because they were all made by people with passion, talent, and a desire to just entertain people. Many knew what they were making was never going to win the major awards or even respect by those in power in Hollywood, but that didn't matter to them. What they have earned is the love from audiences and fans worldwide who have championed Jason Vorhees and all the movies even when they got completely ludicrous and out there. A group of dedicated and scrappy individuals created a film series that will be long remembered after people have forgotten which movies won Academy Awards for Best Picture.
I enjoyed reading about the origins of the film starting with Sean Cunningham putting this little independent slasher film together; the casting of the films with young, fresh actors and actresses including Kevin Bacon who is included in the interviews (Yay!); the realization that certain aspects always had to be included in each film (nudity and sex); the creation of many of the special effects (the kills); the continuous fight with the MPAA over ratings; the numerous LGBTQ+ talent involved with these films: and the many conflicts throughout the entire run of movies.
Even if you aren't a huge "Friday the 13th" fan or even a fan of slasher/horror films, there is something to be gleaned from this book. Movies are made by people who love what they do and set out to produce the best movies for the fans. That's something to appreciate.
With that in mind, I decided to read this book. I walked away with an appreciation for these films not because they are masterful works of cinematic art, but because they were all made by people with passion, talent, and a desire to just entertain people. Many knew what they were making was never going to win the major awards or even respect by those in power in Hollywood, but that didn't matter to them. What they have earned is the love from audiences and fans worldwide who have championed Jason Vorhees and all the movies even when they got completely ludicrous and out there. A group of dedicated and scrappy individuals created a film series that will be long remembered after people have forgotten which movies won Academy Awards for Best Picture.
I enjoyed reading about the origins of the film starting with Sean Cunningham putting this little independent slasher film together; the casting of the films with young, fresh actors and actresses including Kevin Bacon who is included in the interviews (Yay!); the realization that certain aspects always had to be included in each film (nudity and sex); the creation of many of the special effects (the kills); the continuous fight with the MPAA over ratings; the numerous LGBTQ+ talent involved with these films: and the many conflicts throughout the entire run of movies.
Even if you aren't a huge "Friday the 13th" fan or even a fan of slasher/horror films, there is something to be gleaned from this book. Movies are made by people who love what they do and set out to produce the best movies for the fans. That's something to appreciate.
February 16, 2024
There is no way i am going to give a book like this one less than 5 out of 5 stars. Tremendous work has been done. Such a beautiful book. Not the most comfortabel book to read.. i mean it's BIG.
I love this franchise. I have my favourite movies and some i didn't like at all. No matter if loved the movie or not, it's always interesting to read about behind the scenes stuff, even if some moments can make you sad. For example a chapter about "A New Beginning" made me bit sad. I knew about cocaine stuff a bit but there was much more going on. It was rough working with that director. Made me sad also reading that actor who played Roy was alone between takes, nobody wanted to interact.
But next chapter about "Jason Lives" made me feel more happy. Great director and people had a good time. Have enjoyed this movie but I think I will enjoy it more now.
This book is very well put together. Kudos.
I love this franchise. I have my favourite movies and some i didn't like at all. No matter if loved the movie or not, it's always interesting to read about behind the scenes stuff, even if some moments can make you sad. For example a chapter about "A New Beginning" made me bit sad. I knew about cocaine stuff a bit but there was much more going on. It was rough working with that director. Made me sad also reading that actor who played Roy was alone between takes, nobody wanted to interact.
But next chapter about "Jason Lives" made me feel more happy. Great director and people had a good time. Have enjoyed this movie but I think I will enjoy it more now.
This book is very well put together. Kudos.
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