“I’m very proud that my passion (and obsession) with all things Friday the 13th, which started when I was 12 years old, has finally come full circle,” said writer/director Daniel Ferrands. “What started out as a pipe dream ten years ago when I first teamed up with Peter Bracke on his incredible book has taken on a whole new life with our companion documentary. I hope fans will be as thrilled as we are with this epic look back on the Friday the 13th series.”
For the last few years, Friday fans such as myself have had His Name Is Jason, a well done, albeit brief documentary about the series. We thought it was pretty sweet, even flaunting it a bit, until our friend A Nightmare On Elm Street showed up with the spectacularly ass-beating on all levels retrospective Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy. An over 4 hour long retrospective, it covered every single aspect about each film and the God-awful Freddy’s Nightmares. All of a sudden, Friday fans feel a bit slighted.
Well, now the same brilliant minds who made learning about Freddy’s Dead an absolute enthralling endeavor are giving the entire Friday The 13th saga the same treatment with the Crystal Lake Memories documentary. It’s fantastic news, because I think I speak for most horror fans when I say that the best parts of being a fan is the learning & discussion of our favorite franchises.
“I am thrilled that the show has come together so beautifully,” said producer Thommy Hutson. “After a year of production, so many amazing, new interviews, and locating incredible materials, Crystal Lake Memories will absolutely be the embodiment of ‘definitive’ when it comes to telling the story of the Friday franchise, not to mention bringing Peter Bracke’s amazing book to life. We couldn’t be more excited to unleash this incredible history of Camp Crystal Lake, Jason, and all that has gone with them over the last 30 plus years.”
According to the documentary’s website, the release date is set for August 27th, with pre-sale landing on July 8th. There won’t be any DVD releases, instead there will only be a region-free blu-ray. I can’t imagine this will upset very many people, unless you just upgraded to DVD last year and this seems too sudden.