The Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited (2009)
** (out of 4)
This three part documentary can be found on the Deluxe Editions of Friday THE 13TH part four, five and six. This 30-minute "documentary" is presented as one of those TV specials that take a look at real murder cases and debates what really happened. Through "experts", web hounds and family members of the victims, we hear about the murders at Crystal Lake, which started in 1979 with a mother avenging her son's death and then continued years later with the rumor that the son took vengeance for his mother's death. This could have been an interesting idea but the execution is just a major letdown. Writer-director Daniel Farrands delivers a pretty disappointing film because of how he tries to camp everything up. Just take a look at the first scene where they try and be clever by throwing out names to connect this to other movies such as HALLOWEEN, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and CHILDREN OF THE CORN. They throw out more nods to Craven and a few other horror names but in the end the film just isn't fun. Most of the "witnesses" are just idiots shouting things off, the experts are just dorks who aren't entertaining and everything is just done in such a campy and silly way that you can't take it serious. Chris R. Notarile made three short films paying homage to Jason, Freddy and Michael Myers and these here were a lot better made and should have been included on a major release over this feature.
