Peter M. Bracke - Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th

Text copyright (c) Peter M. Bracke 2005 & 2012

"FRIDAY THE 13TH" and all related characters, namesand indicia are trademarks and copyrights of New Line Productions, Inc. 2005& 2012. All Rights Reserved.

"FREDDY VS. JASON" and all related characters, namesand indicia are trademarks and copyrights of New Line Productions, Inc. 2005& 2012. All Rights Reserved.

FRIDAY THE 13TH (c) 1980 Paramount Pictures Corporation.All rights reserved.
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2 (c) 1981 Paramount PicturesCorporation. All rights reserved.
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3 (c) 1982 Paramount Pictures Corporation. All rights reserved.
FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER (c) 1984 Paramount Pictures Corporation. All rights reserved.
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART V: A NEW BEGINNING (c) 1985 Paramount Pictures Corporation. All rights reserved.
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI: JASON LIVES (c) 1986 Paramount Pictures Corporation. All rights reserved.
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD (c) 1988 Paramount Pictures Corporation. All rights reserved.
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN (c) 1989 Paramount Pictures Corporation. All rights reserved.
FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE SERIES (c) Paramount Pictures Corporation. All rights reserved.

Every effort has been made to source and contact copyright holders. If any omissions do occur, the publishers will be happy to give full credit in subsequent reprints and editions.

Editorial
EditorDaniel P. Farrands
Editorial AssistanceGareth Dimelow and Chase McCown
Crystal Lake Entertainment ConsultantGeoff Garrett

Design
Cover Deign & Title TreatmentMark Matsuno forMatsuno Design Group
Art Direction and LayoutPeter M. Bracke
Design ConsultantJoel Vendette for Vendetta Designs
Stills RestorationJohn McCloy for Matsuno Design Group

The publisher would like to thank all at Crystal Lake Entertainment, New Line Cinema and Paramount Pictures for their invaluable support and involvement in the production of this book, in particular Sean S. Cunningham, Lourdes Arocho, David Imhoff, Larry McCallister and Martin Blythe

Library of Congress Control Number: 2005924310
ISBN: 0-9765433-2-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-9765433-2-9

Published by Sparkplug Press
First Sparkplug edition October 2005
First Titan edition October 2006
First Sparkplug electronic edition February 2012

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No part of this publication may be reproduced, storedin a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without theprior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that inwhich it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on thesubsequent purchaser.

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As this book goes topress, it's hard to believe that it has been over 25 years since I made theoriginal Friday the 13th. It's even harder to imagine that a book hasbeen written to define and memorialize the original film and the subsequentinstallments. Over the past few years, I have gotten to know Peter Bracke, theauthor, as he has carefully and painstakingly assembled his extensive researchand conducted his interviews. At this point, I'm sure that Peter's the world's mostinformed expert on the subject. Now, I think it's hilarious that when I have aquestion about events concerning any one of the movies, I always call Peter toask him what really happened. Peter knows.

Backin the summer of 1979, things were tight. I had just finished Manny'sOrphans, the second of two independently financed family films but it hadyet to be distributed. I was worried about how I was going keep everythinggoing until some money came in. I was married, with two beautiful children, andwas working out of a home office in Westport, Connecticut where I had produced LastHouse on the Left with my friend Wes Craven. I needed to come up with a newidea that I could sell.

Sowhy not make a scary movie? I had not revisited the horror genre since LastHouse on the Left but I had this movie title banging around in the back ofmy head that I thought would be terrific: Friday the 13th. I had no ideawhat the movie would be, but with that title I thought, at least, I'd be off toa good start.

That's when I went to Steve Miner, my friend, producer, editor and collaborator with ahalf-baked idea about taking out an ad in Variety announcing the production ofa movie called Friday the 13th. We both knew it was crazy since wedidn't have a script, no production funds and we weren't sure we could even getthe rights to use the title. I said to Steve, "First, let's see if we can usethe title and we'll work the rest out from there. If the ad runs and nobodysues us, I say we have the rights."

Iscraped together just enough money to run a full-page ad in the July 4thweekend edition of Variety announcing the production of: "Friday the13thThe Most Terrifying Film Ever Made!" I ran the ad expecting to receiveletters from lawyers telling me that I couldn't make the movie because I didn'thave the rights, blah, blah, blah. But to my amazement, nobody objected! Andhere's the thing we didn't anticipate. People loved the ad and wanted to seethe movie. I got distribution queries from all over the world, plus I gotseveral offers from people willing to loan me money or to invest in the movie.

Virtually overnightwe were in pre-production.

Thenext weeks were a frantic obsessive scramble as we tried to figure out how toactually make "The Most Terrifying Film Ever Made." We decided on a budget of$500,000more money than I had ever raised beforeand then tried to puttogether a script. Instrumental in all this was my friend Victor Miller, awriter who had collaborated with me on the two earlier kids movies. We'd meetevery morning to discuss the story, and then Victor would go off to sketch outscenes while Steve and I wrestled with the logistics of casting and production.And every day we'd ask ourselves the same questions: what's really scary, andhow can we shoot it on our budget?

Sometime duringpre-production we interviewed Tom Savini, who had driven up from Pittsburg withhis pet Chinchilla and a car full of clothes and makeup tools. Tom had beentrained by Dick Smith, the master makeup effects wizard, and had worked withGeorge Romero on Dawn of the Dead. We all hit it off perfectly and Tomdidn't go home until we finished the movie. Some of my fondest memories fromthat time were of Victor, Steve, Tom and I trying to plan storyboards for stuffthat had never been done before. Surely someone on the outside might have foundit bizarre to see us trying to figure out the best way to chop off somebody'shead or the most effective way to drive an arrow through a camper's throat. Butwe were energized with laughter and adrenaline and the naughty hope of puttingon a kind of crazy magic show. We kept pushing forward, one foot in front ofthe next, until we found ourselves at a Boy Scout Camp in Blairstown, NewJersey, getting ready to shoot the movie at a place we renamed Crystal Lake.

Making movies isdifficult under the best conditions. But when you have no money, it's evenharder. Looking back I realize how lucky I was to have been put together withsuch a dedicated, caring, passionate group of people. Steve Miner, VictorMiller, Tom Savini. Barry Abrams, my cinematographer and our tireless crew ofcommando filmmakers. In post Bill Freda, my skillful editor, and my musicalmentor and maestro, Harry Manfredini, the genius who created the signaturemusical sounds of