Crystal Lake Review: Psychological Horror Meets Retro Slasher Fun in Bloody Friday the 13th Prequel Series
TIFF two-episode premiere: Linda Cardellini plays original villain Pamela Voorhees in this reimagining from Brad Caleb Kane (It: Welcome to Derry)
by Alex Kaan 17 September 2026
A24
It’s been 17 long years since Jason Voorhees last slashed up a group of unlucky horny teens. That would be the reboot Friday the 13th, a franchise nadir that was crude even for a famously risqué series’ standards, but even that film — and a web of complications with the rights — couldn’t keep the famously unkillable villain down. Centred on the original film’s villain, Jason’s mother, Pamela (Linda Cardellini), the A24 prequel series has finally emerged from development hell, but you’ll have to wait a bit longer if you want another ingeniously dumb celebration of sex and death. Because showrunner Brad Caleb Kane, making another long-form period prequel to a successful horror franchise after his work as a writer and EP on It: Welcome to Derry, is bringing stakes and character development to an IP famously lacking in those departments.
Reviving its parent franchise through a character-driven psychological horror framework, Crystal Lake is a thrilling return to camp that fleshes out the Friday the 13th universe without skimping on the gross-out gore. Transposed from 1957 to 1971, the origin story (a little disfigured boy drowns in the lake while two negligent counsellors have sex) remains the same, but for the first time, in a striking extended cold open, the moment is presented as a visceral tragedy, not a throwaway campfire story. As Ghostface famously tells Drew Barrymore’s Casey Becker in her ill-fated trivia game, many forget that Pamela was the first Friday the 13th villain, and the new series is keyed in to her perspective as a dangerous protagonist, making her screams as she swims to try and save her flailing son all the more gut-wrenching.
A24
After a tribute to the classic title sequence sure to delight fans, the action picks up nine months later at the beginning of summer 1972. Furious at the news that Camp Crystal Lake is reopening despite Jason’s (Callum Vinson) death, Pam is still wracked with grief, delaying any sort of healing process because she can’t shake the feeling that her son — whose body has yet to be found — is still alive. While the town pities her from a distance, the noble local police chief, Levon (Will Catlett), makes a tangible effort to reintegrate her into society, an act that his teasing journalist sister, Briana (Devin Kessler), attributes to him having a crush on her. But any chance Pam has of a healthy recovery is dashed when a pair of strangers turn up at her door with questions about her mysterious past, sending her into a violent spiral.
Reimagining one of horror’s most iconic villains, Linda Cardellini is superb as original Friday the 13th antagonist Pamela Voorhees. Her raw performance makes the character a sympathetic grieving mother first and foremost, but there’s just enough unhinged energy to tease the carnage to follow. Catlett makes for another standout performer as the stoic officer whose affection for Pam is sure to be tested in future episodes, while Callum Vinson impresses as little Jason, and the flashbacks to Pam and Jason’s domestic life and heartbreakingly tender mother-son bond are a highlight.
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Crystal Lake switches up the formula by giving Friday the 13th heavy emotional stakes (Jason has never been this humanised) and beginning as a 70s paranoid thriller riff, but that doesn’t stop it from having plenty of nostalgic homages that tap into the franchise’s playful, self-referential history. From the return of “Crazy Ralph” (Nick Cordileone) to direct recreations of some of the series’ most iconic images, these little tributes feel less like egregious fan service and more like a logical continuation of the series’ postmodern framework.
Gory, irreverent, and surprisingly emotional, Crystal Lake is an engrossing revival that deftly walks the line between reinvention and loving homage.
The first two episodes of Crystal Lake premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. All eight episodes are streaming on Peacock in the US from October 15th, and on Sky in the UK this October.