Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th (2013)
1428 Films
Price: Currently $19.72 on
Amazon (click pic above to order)
Discs:
4 Disc Set
2 50 GB Blu-ray disc
2 DVD
Video:
1080p
MPEG-4 AVC
1:78:1
Audio:
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles:
English, Spanish
Region Free
We get nearly 7 hours of cast and crew members from all 12
Friday the 13th movies sharing experiences, memories, woes, and triumphs from their time in the
Iconic Series. Troubled shoots, near-death experiences, arguments, friendships, high and lows, and a general evolution of the series are all covered here, and extensively so. Having these stories come from the people that actually made the movies make them all the more compelling and entertaining; most of these people went through some crazy things to give us the low-budget flicks that we've all come to love over the past 3 decades, and all of their stories are truly great to behold. There's really no filler to be found here at all.
Most of the memories shared with us by cast & crew are fond ones; sure, there are plenty of tales of regret and "not so great" memories that we're made privy to, but most of the series' stars seem genuinely grateful to have been a part of
Jason's world. It's sad that stars like
Kevin Bacon,
Tony Goldwyn, and
Crispin Glover didn't show up to this party to share their memories with us, but what can you do? Honestly, with all of the great people that did show up to wax nostalgic for us, they were hardly missed.
The bottom line is that as far as
Horror Documentaries go, it doesn't get better than this.
Watching this set served to strengthen our resolve in the matter of the 2009 remake; it's just not the
POS that so many "
Critics" made it out to be. It was interesting to see how the stars/producers of the remake didn't understand the backlash that their film endured either, because really, it's not the worst in the
F13th Seires by a long shot.
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| We don't get it either, Travis. |
It looks great, but then how can interviews shot in a studio really look bad, you know? Some of the older movie clips/deleted scenes are in varying states of quality, but that's not the disc's fault. Source material is what it is.
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| Even Sean S. Cunningham looks crisp and fresh here. |
It sounds great in most places, with audio levels differing between interview segments, movie clips, and
Corey Feldman's narration.
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| If you can stand 7 hours worth of Corey Feldman narration, then this one sounds just fine. |
The whole set is essentially one massive
Special Feature, so there are no "extra"
Special Features to be had here, save for the 400 minute long commentary. I guess that's pretty special in and of itself.
- Runtime: 400 minutes
- Two-Disc Blu-ray / Two-Disc DVD
- 1.78:1 widescreen / Color
- 5.1 Surround audio
- English and Spanish subtitles (main feature)
- Audio commentary with writer/director Daniel Farrands, author Peter M. Bracke and co-editor Luke Rafalowski (main feature)
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| Derek Mears has Jazz Hands. |
Whether you're a die-hard or casual fan of the
F13th universe, this
Blu-ray set is a must own. The near 7 hours of in-depth delving into the franchise is as informative as it is fun to watch, and for around $20, we can't think of a better bargain for the money.
This
Blu-ray set comes with our highest recommendation; not because it's dead solid perfect, but because like the series which it dissects, it doesn't have to be... it's fun as hell just the way it is.
There's no escaping the fact that the
Friday the 13th Series had its share of
Horror Hotties over the years, many of whom show up in this
Doc to share their memories with us. A lot of them still look great too. Maybe not
Betsy Palmer, but she's like 90-years-old...
