The Friday the 13th franchise is decidedly and unabashedly lowbrow. Its main appeal are its creatively grisly kills, which may or may not be your cup of tea. A couple of the films stand a cut above the others, but they are largely all the same, which I suspect is what people like about them. They're not as fantastical and funny as the Nightmare on Elm Street movies or as atmospheric and moody as the Halloween films. They're real mean and potatoes.
Still, the epically long documentary -- Crystal Lake Memories -- seeks to elevate the series is our esteem. It's essentially copying the model of the incredibly watchable Never Sleep Again, which itself was a multi-hour trip down memory lane through all the Freddy Krueger movies.
Crystal Lake Memories isn't quite as engrossing because the movies its documenting aren't -- and yet it is still an entertaining enough watch (especially during these dog days of covd) and the experience of watching it got me thinking: what other prolific film franchises would I like to see get this same treatment.
Sure, these documentaries are arguably one long extended DVD feature, but who cares. When you're an obsessive film fan like I am you want all those little tidbits about scripting, casting, special effects et al. And what these docs do, which is fun, is really get the perspective of bit players and production people, so you really get a full sense of what making these movies was really like.
There are plenty of series that have been overly, exhaustively documented -- like Star Wars -- and maybe some of franchises I'm about the mention may have and I just missed it. But I'd happily devote 6 hours or more to.
Star Trek - I am by no means a Trekkie. I've seen a fair amount of the original TV series, but I mostly became familiar with it through the movies, especially the ones featuring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. The series is infamously uneven, but I think that would only make a documentary about their evolution that much more interesting. I think you can even stretch this into the Next Generation movies, as well as the J.J. Abrams era too.
Mission: Impossible - What started as a big budget (and wildly successful) big screen adaptation of a beloved TV series has evolved into something more over the course of six films. Each subsequent film has dramatically upped the ante in terms of the stunts that star Tom Cruise is really doing himself and I'd be fascinated to know about the behind the scenes machinations of putting these sequences together but also the arc of the franchise in general.
James Bond - This would be hard to do -- since we're talking 20+ movies here -- but there is no film franchise more durable and adaptable to its times than 007. Sadly, we've lose two of the most iconic Bonds in recent years -- Sean Connery and Roger Moore -- but there is plenty of archive footage and surviving players that can help fill in the gaps. The recent blu ray editions of the series actually have some fantastic mini docs covering the films from Dr. No through License to Kill which could serve as a blueprint.
Mad Max - Sure it's only four movies -- but each has such a strong, distinct flavor, have been hugely influential and could sustain a documentary of their own. George Miller is hard at work on his Furiosa prequel, but I'd love to hear him hold court on just how he developed this thoroughly unique cinematic world and conceived of the larger-than-life car, jeep and trunk stunts that are the franchise's trademarks. Especially, when it comes to Fury Road, which has been widely hailed as one of the last decade's best films.
Rocky - I've made no secret about my adoration for this series, which improbably became relevant again after 2006's Rocky Balboa and especially after Creed and Creed II. Naturally, this is Sylvester Stallone's greatest cinematic accomplishment, but it's really not his triumph alone and there's not just the films but the inspiration they delivered to so many fans, including Creed director Ryan Coogler, who got into the franchise because of his late father's appreciation for the criminally underrated Rocky II.
Halloween - I mentioned this one earlier and this is the likeliest candidate, since its already been done with Nightmare and Friday the 13th. The Halloween films are actually my favorite of all these horror movie franchises because I think they are cinematically more sound, the acting is generally a notch above (thanks to committed work from Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasance) and the series took some interesting detours (like the Michael Myers-less Halloween III) before rebooting yet again by David Gordon Green and Danny McBride with 2018's Halloween.
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