It's been seventeen long years, but Camp Crystal Lake is FINALLY back open!! In Crystal Lake, Pamela Vorhees (Linda Cardellini) attempts to recover from the trauma of losing her beloved son, Jason (11-year-old Jason is played by Callum Vinson), in a tragic drowning incident nine months earlier. When Camp Crystal Lake is revealed to be re-opening for the summer season, Pamela begins to spiral. Meanwhile, Sheriff Levon Brooks (William Catlett) and Officer Dorfman (Cameron Scoggins) attempt to solve the mystery of two dead bodies they find in the woods. Their investigation leads them to the truth behind the origins of Pamela and Jason.
Crystal Lake is a comfortably familiar yet bold new take on the Friday the 13th franchise. It's spearheaded by Brad Caleb Kane, who also helped write four episodes. The other writers include Evan Endicott (two episodes), Josh Stoddard (two episodes), Karl Taro Greenfeld (one episode), Laura Marks (one episode), and Jen Silverman (one episode). As for the directors, they include Logan George (co-directed three episodes), Celine Held (co-directed three episodes), Michael Lennox (two episodes), and Quyen Tran (two episodes).
Crystal Lake is set in 1971 to 1972, a good eight or nine years before the first Friday the 13th film (Yes, this does directly contradict the canon year of Jason’s drowning, 1957, but I’m ok with the change). From the costumes by Cristina Spiridakis to the general attitudes and sensibilities of the characters to the multiple 70s cultural references, the show looks and feels authentic to the time period. The show was filmed in Jersey City, West Milford, Clifton, and Blairstown. Some parts were even filmed at Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, the original location of Camp Crystal Lake in the first Friday the 13th movie. The town of Crystal Lake looks exactly like the town in the first two to three Friday the 13th films. Everything looks accurate to how it was in the beloved film franchise.
Familiar characters make a return including Trudy (Bernadette Quigley), Claudette (Danielle Kotch), Barry (Phoenix Parnevik), Officer Dorfman/Dorf (Cameron Scoggins), Steve Christy (Dan Thompson), John Christy (Brian J. Carter), Kay Christy (Nancy Nagrant), and Crazy Ralph (Nick Cordileone). Zachary Branch plays a very cool surprise character. Nick Cordileone is absolutely perfect as Ralph. He looks and acts the part, and every time he is on screen is an absolute joy. Long live the GOAT!! Dorf is a mostly ineffectual and dumb deputy who has an interesting friendship with the sheriff. He shines most during the last episode.
Linda Cardellini is fantastic and gripping as Pamela Vorhees. She doesn't get quite as many murderous or unhinged scenes as you might expect, but she sparkles every second she is on screen. Surprisingly, the stand-out of the cast might be William Catlett as Sheriff Levon Brooks. Brooks gets a good backstory and has numerous funny one-liners. His character arc is very engaging and interesting and he’s an all-around lovable character.
Gwendolyn Sundstrom plays Grace, Jason’s best friend. She gets a good deal of meat to chew on and an interesting and unexpected character arc. Drew Scheid (aka Oscar from Halloween 2018) plays a minor role as Shutterbug, a camera-loving member of a hippie group. He plays his role very well and is not annoying like he was in Halloween 2018. Hamish Linklater plays Elias Wittering, a threatening and mysterious man from Pamela's past. As per usual, he does a fantastic job and his character is multi-layered.
Crystal Lake is trying to act as a prequel to the first Friday the 13th film and an origin story for the characters of Pamela and Jason Vorhees. The origin aspect likely has some fans worried, and for good reason. Normally, it's best to leave things unexplained instead of trying to shoe-horn in an explanation. Luckily, the exploration of Jason's origins actually work. I agree that the origin and explanation are unneeded, but the answers they cook up actually make sense and fit with what we know about Jason and have witnessed him do. I'd actually accept the explanation here as canon (Not saying I consider the answers to be canon, but if I were asked to accept them as such, I would).
Those walking in to Crystal Lake expecting bloodshed and murder won't get much of what they are looking for. There are some deaths and mutilations, but these are few and far between. When they occur, they are of quality and are satisfying, but that's not what Crystal Lake is most interested in. This is a drama and a mystery first and foremost (Shouldn't be surprising since this is an A24 production). Those hoping for some Jason action...well, I'm not going to spoil anything. All I'll say is you'll have to tune in to find out.
Crystal Lake likely isn't what most are expecting or want. After close to two decades of absence, people want Jason. This series is focused squarely on Pamela Vorhees, which might perturb some. There is some satisfying, impressive, and well-done bloodshed sprinkled sparingly throughout, but the majority of this series is following Pamela's dark spiral, exploring her character, and uncovering her past. In case you forgot, most of the first Friday the 13th was just camp shenanigans, so the minimal deaths really didn't bother me.
The drama, mystery, and story for Crystal Lake are all very well done. This series won't be to everyone's tastes, but what it does, it does incredibly well. While it's not a perfect series, it's still mostly great. It all adds up to an immensely entertaining, fun, engrossing, and occasionally bloody good time at camp. Hopefully if this series does well we can get more of Jason doing his thing in the future.
4 STARS
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