By Stephen Pytak 

     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 significane.
     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, 
but 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 Final Chapter (1984),"
talked about how he was working on John 
Carpenter's "Starman," and kids would come up to
him for autographs because he was "Jason."
     This book, by the way, tries to maintain 
objectivity by filling its chapters with quote after 
quote. I thought this approach was quite good.
Another reason I liked that was because when I
read it, I kind of felt like I was eavesdropping 
on a conversation.
     I read this book from cover to cover. And some day
I'll pick it up again. Like everybody involved with
these films, including the millions of fans, I have my
own Crystal Lake memories. And this incredible
addition to my home library will always help me
bring them to the surface.