Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th is not the first book to come out on the frightful film franchise. Heck, it’s not even the first one to come out this year! But it is by far the best, most comprehensive book you will ever find on the subject. As the jacket flap says, “For the first time and in their own words, over two hundred alumni of the series – including Sean Cunningham, Wes Craven, Frank Mancuso, Ronny Yu, Kevin Bacon, Kelly Rowland, Crispin Glover, Jason Ritter, Robert Englund, Corey Feldman, Kelly Hu, Kane Hodder, Tom Savini, Adrienne King, Amy Steel, and many others – recall a quarter-century’s worth of behind-the-scenes stories, struggles, controversies and calamities.”
When Friday the 13th first came out in 1980 my friends and I watched it dozens of times. We spent many sleepless nights at slumber parties, and endured countless uneasy walks through the woods on the way home from school. We all knew how to spook each other humming the famous theme song, and when swimming we couldn’t help but think of Jason. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen all of the sequels at least once, but when all is said and done I never got deeply immersed into the whole Jason thing — the movies are good ’n gory, but they’re not my favorite in the horror genre. While I’m not a rabid fan of the film series, I must say I devoured this awe-inspiring book from cover to cover.
Author Peter M. Bracke is not simply a quote-taker and fact-gatherer, he’s a truly gifted writer who delves into every aspect of the film series from why it’s endured over three decades, to how a hockey-masked murderer has become a pop culture icon. Bracke does this mainly in his Introduction, with a few little asides sprinkled throughout the book — he judiciously gives the fans what they want by allowing the players and movers and shakers to speak for themselves throughout the majority of the pages.
Perhaps the best thing, and certainly most surprising, is the reverence in which the presentation of Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th is made. If you picked this weighty hardcover tome up and flipped through it (without really seeing the gory pictures!) you’d think it was about some landmark classic like Citizen Kane or The Wizard of Oz. It’s a serious collector’s book with a professional design motif and hundreds of full color and black and white pictures on heavy stock paper. In addition to the photos (many of which have never seen the light of day before now) there are also production notes, archival documents, and countless insider’s tidbits and trivia.
Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th is a special hardcover Limited Edition, with a strict run of 5,000 copies. The cover price is a bargain at $39.95, but presently Amazon.com has it for less than half that price — it’s bound to sell out quick.
If you are a fan of horror and you know how to read (actually the latter is not really a prerequisite, with over 500 images in the book), you cannot go wrong with Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th. It’s a must-have for the library of anyone who likes Hollywood biographies, film books, or horror (and it could double for a bludgeoning weapon, should you ever see the glint of a machete on a dark and deadly night).
Be sure and check out Horror.com’s on-camera interview with Bracke by clicking here.
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson
