Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th

By Peter M. Bracke

'Friday the 13th' introduced moviegoers to a new kind of cinematic terror - shocking, visceral, and graphic. Spawning ten sequels, the series has become the most successful horror franchise.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1845763432
• ISBN13: 9781845763435
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Titan Books (UK)
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 4.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 9.7" x 12.3"

Customer Reviews

In depth behind the scenes

Bracke's presentation of Crystal Lake Memories is a beautiful book with loads of pictures and massive amounts of interviews. The book is broken up into a chapter for each movie and the interviews are from producers, screenwriters, make-up artists, directors, actors, musical scorers, and many others. The interviews are broken up into 1-3 paragraph formats on topics that largely deal with behind-the-scenes events, casting problems, personality clashes, and production problems. I learned quite a bit from this book and it was quite enjoyable to read. The pictures are fantastic and some of the problem people are not whom I expected. The issues with terrible stories and direction are covered and were pretty humorous after all these years of trying to figure out why some of them were so bad. This is a great book for fans of the series, but it's largely about production problems they cast & crews had to deal with. Still recommended highly.

The complete history of all things Voorhees

Peter Bracke has put together the most detailed and exhaustive book about Friday the 13th that could possibly be written. Bracke, and those he interviews, do not look at the legacay of the maligned and long running slasher series with rose tinted glasses. Many of the people who worked on the films did not like, nor seem to enjoy, doing so. The always quick and dirty shoots would, more often than not, be plagued by problems both technical and personal. Everybody clamors to take credit for the "good stuff" in the movie and, except in rare cases of professional candor, are quick to place the blame for a paticular failure at the feet of others. It is an eye opening read that takes the mythical romance out of film production and reveals it for what it is - a lot of blood, sweat, and tears creating something very few people appreciate, much less enjoy. Whether you are a fan of Friday the 13th or not, Crystal Lake Memories is an essential read for anyone interested in a candid look at lo budget film making. Highest recommendation.

A Magnificent Purchase For Fans

Buying this book was some of the best money I've ever spent. Yes, I'm a fan of the insipidly stupid, formulaic and spectatorial Friday the 13th series and I don't care. This book is essentially the Bible of all things Friday the 13th, and should be considered the standard by which compendium books are written and packaged. The book is printed on a beautifully thick quality paper, with a gorgeous dust jacket, 2 introductions and each chapter discusses each film chronologically. THE GOOD: You would think a book like this would be a puff piece of slim length. WRONG! 300+ PAGES in length with over 600 photographs, a whopping 85% or more of which are in full color! Each photo includes captions indicating context and backstory, and most of these have never been seen before in any publication. Best of all, many of these photos include various foreign posters and footage of deleted scenes that aren't available anywhere as of yet. Also, the interviews tell everything in the most minute detail, including the disastrous editing fiascos on part 7 and the questions of cast abuse on part 4. THE BAD: The format of the book is entirely interview excerpts, so this can get a bit repetetive. No call sheets or script excerpts. THE WORST: No CD including Harry Manfredini's music or DVD containing deleted footage of note. But, maybe that's asking for a cherry on a 13lb. triple-decker chocolate sundae. THE BEST: The book basically makes up for the dismal special features of the Friday the 13th DVD boxed set, which icluded a poorly constructed gathering of deleted scenes (editing bay edits) with NO digital remastering! Also included are interviews from cast members who have been reticent to discuss their involvement in the past. In conclusion, if you're a fan of Friday the 13th, this book is everything you could ever hope for. If you're not, it'll be just way too much information about something you don't really like.

A fantastic read!

This is quite simply.....a beautiful book and a very necessary read for Friday The 13th fans! I have not been able to put it down since I aqquired it. I really appreciate the way this book was written: from the point of view of the actors, directors, writers, & collaborators of the film franchise. It also has wonderful pictures and is just highly insightful.... More than reccommended! A must have for any fan! I'm very grateful to have this encyclopedia of the Friday The 13th series in my collection!

AN ACHIEVEMENT!

This is the kind of book about the "Friday the 13th" series I hoping to read when I was a kid growing up with these films. I became a serious fan around the time I saw "Part III in 3-D (1982)." And I curiously read everything I could get my hands on about the people and stories behind the franchise. Back then all we really had were the articles in Fangoria Magazine. And I remember Famous Monsters ran a few, including an article on "Part III." I would have killed to get my hands on something like "Crystal Lake Memories," which presents the histories and behind the scenes stories of these movies with a great deal of enthusiasm. It contains information from over 200 interviews. And there are more than 600 photos (most in color) in this 320 page book, which every entry in the slasher series from the 1980 original up to and including "Freddy Vs. Jason (2003)." What's most impressive are the interviews from the casts and crews. So many interesting things came out of them. In the original film, there's a country song playing in coffee shop at the top of the show. Composer Harry Manfredini said he whipped that up, and revealed its significance. Some of the kill scenes cut from "Part II" were kind of intense. Make up man Carl Fullerton showed some of the footage to KNB's Greg Nicotero, who was shocked by the uncut scene where the couple get speared in bed. And it wasn't because of the blood effects. Some photos of an alternate ending for "Part III" were unearthed and published here. Intriguing. I wonder how that sequence would have played on a big screen (and in 3-D). The story of how "Mrs. Jarvis (Joan Freeman)" was supposed to have died in "The Final Chapter" is included. The reveal was also supposed to be part of a dream sequence, which kind of reminded me of the end of Joseph Zito's film "The Prowler." The section on "A New Beginning" discusses Director Danny Steinman's obsession with on screen nudity. "Part V" had the most. And there's even a photo illustrating some of that here. And John Shepherd, who played "Tommy" in that film goes on to explain why he didn't do "Jason Lives." Get ready for some shocks when you read about the behind the scenes relationships -- from personality clashes to gay affairs -- during the filming of "The New Blood." There's a cool photo of the "Jason" make up for "Part VIII," and you'll see why one key player said it's not so cool. The magic of what made Kane Hodder such a great "Jason" is revealed in interviews for "Jason Goes to Hell." It involves method acting and Metallica. Jim Issac, director of "Jason X," talks about the kind of music he wanted for the film. And it wasn't really the Manfredini score. Of course the hellish road through the process of bringing "Freddy Vs. Jason" the screen is here, and so are some of the criticisms of the film from writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift. The book concludes with some random reflections on the series from cast and crew. Ted White, who played "Jason" in "The