If you’re like me, you left “Never Sleep Again” completely sure about your love for all things Krueger, and then wondered if Jason would ever get his turn. Thankfully, the folks at 1428 Films have indulged Jason Voorhees fan boys with an utterly extensive and incredibly detailed chronicle of the “Friday the 13th” series. At an intimidating six hours, director Daniel Farrands pays homage to the series that influenced dozens of copycats and wannabes in the eighties. Narrated by series star Corey Feldman, “Crystal Lake Memories” is another of the classic horror documentaries from 1428 that doesn’t just chronicle the rise of a pop icon, but also pays tribute to independent film.
Hollywood keeps trying to tap the video game market to concoct the next hit movie or movie series for audiences, while movie based video games are all but extinct these days. For a while they were huge, while in the late eighties and the entire decade of the nineties were filled with video games based on movies. From “Dirty Harry,” and “Lethal Weapon,” to “Robocop,” “Robocop 2,” “Robocop 3,” “Robocop vs. Terminator,” The Entire “Terminator” series, the “Die Hard” trilogy, “No Escape,” “Congo,” “Stargate,” “Independence Day,” the list can go on. There was even “Street Fighter” the game based on the movie, which was based on a game. There are still games based on movies that I never knew existed.
Let’s face it, Platinum Dunes is a remake factory that’s managed to take some of the best horror films of all time and completely butcher them. Take “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” for one example, a bastardized MTV version of a damn good dose of indie filmmaking. But surprisingly, “Friday the 13th” isn’t a bad film and Marcus Nispel completely redeems himself. In fact it’s pretty damn good. I know I’ve become the small minority of movie viewers who see the film as a great reboot, but I just clicked with “Friday the 13th” and everything it pushed on audiences including the mean vicious SOB that is Jason Voorhees.