Pam Voorhees is the Mother of Slashers in ‘Crystal Lake’ [Review]
Camp Crystal Lake is reopening this week when the long-awaited, highly anticipated Friday the 13th prequel series Crystal Lake, produced by A24, premieres on Peacock, exploring a side of Jason Voorhees that audiences have never seen before, and elevating Pam Voorhees as the true mother of slashers.
The series absolutely succeeds in recreating the overall aesthetic of the original 1980 Friday the 13th film, though it’s set eight years earlier, and it delivers the gory, inventive kills that franchise fans are hungry for, while Linda Cardellini gives an award-worthy performance that embraces, redefines, and unleashes the rage of Pam Voorhees far beyond anything ever shown in any of the films since that first one.
Callum Vinson is also outstanding as young Jason Voorhees, a heartbreaking reminder that this is and has always been one of the most sympathetic slashers.
The show takes some huge swings that not all hardcore Jason fans are going to love, but it works for me, especially considering the painstaking efforts to effectively set the table for the events we know will happen in the 1980 film (and beyond). It’s all done with obvious love and respect for the source material, with tons of Easter eggs and callbacks, and moer legacy characters than you may be expecting, even if some of the subplots involving some of the new characters are left frustratingly unresolved.
Here’s the show’s official synopsis: “A prequel to the Friday the 13th franchise, the series follows single mother Pam Voorhees, who has been unable to shake her grief after her young, sickly son Jason tragically drowned in the town lake almost a year before. When two strangers arrive at Pam’s door digging into her past, a disturbing chain of events is set into motion, leaving the townspeople of Crystal Lake wondering: just who is Pam Voorhees?”
Set in 1970s prior to the events of the 1980 original Friday the 13th movie, Crystal Lake begins with the circumstances around young Jason’s drowning, and from there follows his mother Pam’s descent into madness.
Crystal Lake stars Linda Cardellini (Scooby-Doo) as Jason’s mother Pamela Voorhees. Series regulars also include William Catlett (Abigail) as a new character named Levon Brooks, Cameron Scoggins (Nashville) as Dorf, the police officer portrayed by Ron Millkie in the original Friday the 13th, Phoenix Parnevik and Danielle Kotch as Barry and Claudette from the original film’s opening scene, as well as Devin Kessler (Godfather of Harlem) as Briana Brooks, and Gwendolyn Sundstrom as Grace, Nick Cordileone, Joy Suprano, Christopher Denham, Nancy Nagrant, Drew Scheid (Halloween 2018), and Callum Vinson (Chucky) as young Jason Voorhees.
Brad Caleb Cane (It: Welcome to Derry) serves as writer, showrunner, and executive producer.
Crystal Lake premieres on October 15 on Peacock, with all eight episodes dropping that day.
Watch our spoiler-free review below.
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