‘Crystal Lake’ Season 1 Review: A Horror-Drama Prequel for Patient ‘Friday the 13th’ Fans
Once news broke that A24 and Peacock would collaborate on a Friday the 13th prequel series, titled Crystal Lake, I was instantly excited. This isn’t the first project within Sean S. Cunningham and executive producer Victor Miller‘s franchise in recent years. Currently named “Jason Universe,” the franchise got a taste of Sweet Revenge in August of last year. The 13-minute short from V/H/S/85 and Beware Boiúna filmmaker Mike P. Nelson showed potential in a return to Camp Crystal Lake.
Yet, even outside the so-called Jason Universe, it is clear that Friday the 13th has been a strong inspiration for slasher horror. Chris Nash‘s steady In a Violent Nature and Jane Schoenbrun‘s brilliant Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma are large examples.
But still, devout slasher fans have been feeling the absence of their favorite horror franchises. Executive producer Brad Caleb Kane‘s Crystal Lake is NBCUniversal’s newest television project based on horror intellectual property (IP), tapping back into what fans have been missing. The show follows in similar footsteps of Bryan Fuller‘s Hannibal, Jason DeMonaco‘s The Purge, and Don Mancini‘s Chucky. To be honest, their commitment and success in expanding the worlds of these IPs are commendable.
[Warning: Spoilers for Crystal Lake are discussed below]
The setup for Friday the 13th prequel Crystal Lake
The pilot episode, titled “Camp Crystal,” is less a pilot and more of an expansion of the franchise as a prequel. The franchise itself already has enough answers, whereas the series gives us the questions. Kane and Bryan Fuller rewrite history for Friday the 13th, and that is more of a benefit to the IP.
In Cunningham and Miller’s 1980 movie, Betsy Palmer‘s Mrs. Voorhees attacks camp counselors as soon as 1957/58. Yet, in “Camp Crystal,” Crystal Lake has its 189th Founder’s Day Celebration. The town is said to have been settled on April 27th, 1779. This means that the events of the series’ first season take place in 1967/68. The time setting is also important, considering the end of the civil rights movement. This detail is also crucial for the roles of Black protagonists.
The slasher horror-thriller side of the series can get tropey at times, but never detrimental to the narrative as a whole. I’m talking grottophilia, toweromania, “Hello? Who’s out there?”, splitting up, government involvement in conflict, etc.
The imagery of fireworks shooting into the air represents Pamela Voorhees’ (Linda Cardellini) brilliant ascent to a level of power. Simultaneously, the disposal in the woods of her first kills for a bear to devour displays the show’s direction towards a matriarchal theme.
This angle enhances Crystal Lake as a place exponentially. With that in mind, it’s easier to view it at the same level as Gotham City, Elm Street, Woodsboro, Haddonfield, and Raccoon City. The series’ kills are bloody great, thanks to special effects makeup artist Dave Presto, but not always perfect.
Themes in Crystal Lake
Disability is no joke, and ableism and classism are serious matters. Even rewatching the Friday the 13th movies is a clear reminder of that sentiment. The rhetoric used against a young Jason Voorhees (Callum Vinson) and a close friend is calculated. Then again, I don’t know how believable they are intended to be.
There’s a decent layer of racism as a theme in the series. For example, Martin Luther King’s ethos as a political figure is disrespected in a local newspaper. More so, the chief’s partner Dorf’s (Cameron Scoggins) father, Hamish (Neal Huff), prefers that a white man should oversee protecting the town and its wellfare.
The “hippy” characters during the subplot in which Camp Crystal Lake reopens exhibit a “police officers are pigs” perspective. This proves a challenge for Chief Levon “Lee” Brooks’s (William Catlett) as he investigates ongoing murder cases. Kane amends what felt so problematic or generally wrong about the movies.
In the first episode, Pamela discovers a live snake in the pantry of the camp’s kitchen. She sneaks it out of the camp with a giant pot and frees it into the woods. In the first movie, camp counselors are quick to kill the animal. This was actually a red flag for the franchise, along with initially casting solely white actors. Eventually, Pamela does kill a snake later in the season—although not in the same controversial manner wherein a live snake is killed. The reason behind this occurring in the middle of the season is due to her detiorating headspace.
Spotting Friday the 13th franchise’s further inconsistencies
Moreover, the second episode, “Part 2,” does little to maintain the intense pacing established in the pilot. Kane focuses more on Pamela’s mysterious past catching up with her, along with her relationship with some townsfolk. In a way, this could be argued to serve as the Friday the 13th prequel series’ filler episode.
There needs to be a stronger means for other fictional characters to challenge the protagonist’s ethos. Expanding the fictional folklore of Crystal Lake as a town here feels very unlike the woman we know to be Mrs. Voorhees from the original film. The episode is also established as taking place in 1972.
This implies a time jump, but it is still messy for the storytelling. On the other hand, I appreciate the chief’s blossoming dynamic with his younger sister, Briana (Devin Kessler), on display.
Elements of this episode and the following episode, “Part III,” could have been easily blended to convey a stronger narrative. Doing so allows viewers to get to know more about everyone and what they contribute to the community. The third episode introduces fans to what might be the very shack where an adult Jason would store his late mother’s remains.
Its inclusion doesn’t get enough of a spotlight aside from Jason discovering it with his close friend, Grace (Gwendolyn Sundstrom). The season eventually returns to it as the site where Pamela finds that Jason is alive and well. With that in mind, this is the best out of the first three episodes beyond that detail.
Settling into the Friday the 13th prequel series
“Part III” fortifies dynamics between its female characters that would last for a good portion of the season. Pamela believes she could save Grace from domestic abuse. By the end of the episode, she does so by being provoked into mortally wounding Grace’s mother, Valerie (Tonya Glanz). This is one of the more well-deserved kills in the set-up and execution. Pamela swings at Valerie’s jaw with a blunt object—a meat tenderizer. She then burns down the restaurant that Valerie works at after hours.
The episode also cements the fact that the male characters are reckless in their actions. In the long term, this latter development affects others. For instance, the chief’s investigation lures Pamela’s past into the town. Additionally, a pack of hunters gets a citizen, Enos (Daniel Stewart Sherman), shot through the neck.
Crystal Lake episode 4, “A New Beginning,” settles viewers into the season as the pieces of the town’s mystery are slowly put together. The episode and the following two are directed by Celine Held and Logan George, the filmmaking duo behind the M. Night Shyamalan-produced 2024 science-fiction drama film, Caddo Lake.
“A New Beginning” paces well enough. That’s only because teleplay writers Evan Endicott and Josh Stoddard play their cards right. The director-writer team makes another small time jump for the season with the reopening of Camp Crystal Lake.
The payoff of Crystal Lake‘s conspiracy
While episode 4 isn’t perfect, it offers a few female characters opportunities to make up for past wrongdoings. Pamela further manipulates her way into becoming Grace’s guardian, but she muddies the relationship in the process. Grace searches for closure with the loss of her mother. Claudette (Danielle Kotch) tries to make up with Grace for causing her suspension from school, leading to her mother’s death.
Held and George’s next episode, “The New Blood,” continues this narrative and character development with the arrival of campers. It’s here in the middle of the season where the series plays around a bit more creatively with archetypes and tropes. Sure, the “hippies” are people who partake in the ingestion of substances, but they also explore spiritual freedom.
The non-believers of the truth require evidence, and those who do believe are deemed unfit among society. Journalists who pry into matters outside their own risk getting into danger themselves.
Pamela learns the truth about Jason’s drowning and chooses violence. Though she doesn’t instigate it. The episode culminates in a recreation of Friday the 13th‘s prologue—Claudette and her boyfriend Barry’s (Phoenix Parnevik) murder from… Grace’s perspective. Placing the blame on a thirteen-year-old instead of on Pamela is a noteworthy narrative change. It allows fans to look at Cunningham and Miller’s movie from a different perspective.
Wrapping up Crystal Lake season 1
In Crystal Lake‘s sixth episode, “Kill Them, Mommy,” Held and George direct the aftermath of the Camp Crystal Lake murders. The prior episode’s final scenes and about the first third of this episode truly remind fans of Friday the 13th‘s excellence. At worst, the franchise is without style and aesthetics. At best, the franchise executes kills while still providing a simple story for fans to follow.
Pamela rows a boat across the lake with Grace to kill all but one of the camp’s hippy volunteers. This comes especially as they have exposed Grace, a minor, to hard drugs. Spiritual ringleader, Mary Ann “Harmony” Sacrimony (Manon Gage) flees the scene in a van. However, Harmony is soon blamed for her friends’ deaths.
Alongside that, revealing that Pamela and Jason Voorhees were involved in secret military experiments is… predictable. It paints Jason as this Toxic Avenger-like figure. The conspiracy around the town is made to look akin to Stephen King‘s Firestarter or The Duffer Brothers‘ Stranger Things.
The penultimate episode, “Friday…” could be summed up in fewer scenes attached to the previous or following episode. It could be considered more of a filler than “Part 2.” Here, Pamela is experimented on by a romantic partner, Elias (Hamish Linklater), and the chemical-manufacturing company he works for, Bellflower.
Both “Friday…” and “Part 2” could have more compelling narrative developments or just be reduced altogether. Episode 7 is only partially climactic, seeing that it does have its moments, e.g., the 1950s aesthetics-specific aspect ratio. The episode showcases that Jason has been drowned in water before. Pamela falls asleep while drawing him a bath, and Elias Wittering faults her for it. Again, this isn’t exactly a useful episode.
“The Final Chapter” is an unsatisfying ending
Crystal Lake‘s first season finale, “The Final Chapter,” is quite standard for a drama-thriller narrative. However, little is present to play into the horror aspects that Friday the 13th is known for. I like the standoff elements at play during the first twenty-five of forty-four minutes.
For what it’s worth, this big chunk of the eighth episode is a waste of time. By this point, the writers’ room has nothing else to do with Grace as a character. Lee and Briana Brooks aid in hiding Pamela from Elias, who comes into town searching for her. Afterward, there is absolutely no closure on their end.
Pamela is caught by Elias and his goons from Bellflower until she escapes into the woods. A larger, survived Jason (Jonathan Tison), who has grown in size and strength due to trauma, kills his father and his men. He and Pamela reunite briefly before Ralph (Nick Cordileone)—before being known as “Crazy Ralph”—scares him into fleeing through the woods.
Character developments and performances
Callum Vinson‘s guest performance as a young Jason Voorhees is sincerely good. I’m not saying that just because he’s a child actor. He’s definitely honed his craft since Don Mancini‘s Chucky season 3. Young Jason has a hard-hitting line at the beginning of the first episode: “Mommy? Why am I like this?” It allows viewers to empathize with someone who actually deserves the empathy.
Kane and his co-writers recontextualize what Jason’s drowning means to his mother and Crystal Lake. In the Friday the 13th movies, the other kids at the camp are the direct cause of the incident. Yet, in the pilot, as the kids swim at a safe part of the lake, bullies throw a volleyball at his face.
Grace takes their ball and throws it over to the deeper part of the lake. As the kids are sent out of the water, Jason swims out to fetch the ball to prevent Grace from getting into trouble. This new development allows viewers to not just sympathize with the character. It demonstrates that there were people who cared for him, aside from his mother.
Understanding an inevitable death
Gwendolyn Sundstrom as Grace is a nice supporting role. Her subplot during this season is interesting, to say the least. The character is a noteworthy foil to Jason in their home environments and the roles that their respective mothers play.
Jason is a victim of bullying with a loving mother, who is a cook at a camp mess hall and middle/high school cafeteria. Meanwhile, Grace has an abusive mother, who works night shifts as a waitress at a restaurant. Grace is bullied in the second and third episodes but turns this psychological pain into a strength.
She learns toughness from Jason and becomes a fighter like his mother. In that respect, there is something wicked in how her backstory mirrors Chucky season 1. There, two young cousins from abusive households with fathers who are twin brothers become the character focus. Grace mirrors the Voorheeses in a strikingly similar manner.
Additionally, there is a parallel in how Grace is treated by other young women and how Pamela is treated by Valerie. “Part III” and “A New Beginning” are perfect episodes in that department. Sadly, “The New Blood” ups the difficulty in this feat. I’m curious as to what bigger role Grace is meant to serve in the Friday the 13th franchise, if any.
The killer apprentice
Danielle Kotch, as Claudette turns the very first of two Friday the 13th kills into a human being with a misunderstanding. Her relationship with her boyfriend, Barry, is an obstacle to what she can offer Crystal Lake. The two teenage camp counselors make love in the camp’s boathouse, leading to Jason’s drowning.
Grace overhears talk in school of peer Steve Christy’s (Dan Thompson) party and crashes it. Claudette sends her away to prevent a boy from taking advantage of her. Grace removes her clogs and runs away to her and Jason’s shack, while a clog is thrown into the back of Barry’s car.
Claudette confronts Grace about this, and a miscommunication is had between the two girls. A physical fight in the girls’ restroom involving hand soap, biting of fingers, two slaps, a slammed head to a wall, and Claudette being thrown to the ground leads to Grace’s suspension from school.
This suspension results in Grace’s further abuse at home and Pamela intervening. That leads to Grace being without parents. Claudette’s failures as a character don’t make her a bad person. It just paints her as a pivotal figure in Crystal Lake‘s game of chesss.
The adults of Crystal Lake
Nick Cordileone‘s role as Ralph is perhaps the most tolerable supporting adult role out of the main cast. The character has something to prove by comparison. As a veteran of two wars, having post-traumatic stress is more reasonable than merely being called crazy.
Ralph has great moments in the season, but not enough of them. The actor has solid line-readings in episode 5, where the character is suspected for the murders in town. In the next episode, the actor delivers a good performance when Ralph calls out his fellow citizens for their ignorance.
William Catlett‘s role as Levon “Lee” Brooks is a step up from his time on Radio Silence‘s horror-comedy film, Abigail. The actor has more screen presence, and his character’s backstory as a widower and police chief has potential.
There is interesting political messaging in a dedicated policeman archetype trying to work on the side of the law. Officer Dorf operates on a different end of the spectrum. I like the strife between the two men, as it paves the way for Chief Brooks to stand his ground at times.
I’m sorry, Mrs. Voorhees
Linda Cardellini portrays a side of Pamela Voorhees that is her and the series’ own take on the character. The performance is nothing like Betsy Palmer‘s in Friday the 13th. At first, the direction and the writing do have the actor in an awkward position.
However, once “Part III” comes around, she proves that the role is meant for her in this generation. She snaps from the get-go, i.e., the town’s founder celebration. Pamela isn’t too conscious of her thoughts or actions from that point onward.
As a female slasher, I love what the actor contributes to the role. She cements her promise during the murders of Valerie and of Claudette. Her love for Jason should know no bounds, but her soft spot for Grace takes his place. Overall, the role is feasible because the casting of Linda Cardellini is its own experiment. Plus, Pamela’s hair styling slays in areas.
Crystal Lake season 1 rating and final thoughts
Even as the series progresses, Brad Caleb Kane and his team of directors and screenwriters understand that course correction is necessary. After some bad sequels, an intriguing crossover with Wes Craven‘s A Nightmare on Elm Street, and a fine reboot, Crystal Lake is where it needs to be.
There is solid camera work from directors of photography Maceo Bishop and Chris Teague and cuts and transitions from editors Daniel Gethic, Shelby Siegel, Ryan Allen, and Babs Laco in the narrative being depicted.
Production designer Lester Cohen, art director Larry Brown, and assistant art directors Annie Fleischman and Rumiko Ishii‘s set pieces give fans an idea of what Crystal Lake is supposed to look like. The Friday the 13th movies seldom achieved this feat.
The verdant backdrop and striking cinematography as a hitchhiker heads to Camp Crystal Lake is one of numerous unique images. To add, I love that music composer Giosuè Greco‘s score takes the franchise back to basics.
It’s true that Crystal Lake falls into the “Surf Dracula” theory of modern storytelling. The weaker episodes perhaps have Pamela Voorhees outside of her element, with the stronger ones being where she is most herself. Ultimately, the series benefits just a tad more as a Friday the 13th prequel than merely a standard thriller.
Crystal Lake season 1 is now streaming on Peacock.
