Friday the 13th fans rejoice! Slasher-loving friends of the Voorhees Family are getting a new prequel series thanks to a team-up between streaming service Peacock and new modern horror connoisseurs, A24. While a ton isn’t yet known about the direction of the show, or even when it’s coming out (other than a vague “in 2024”), that doesn’t mean the horror lovers of the world can’t speculate to their bloody heart’s content. We have hints from the original movie’s lead actress Adrienne King–who played Final Girl, Alice–that she’ll be in the show. Beyond that, it’s shrouded in mystery like a fog over Camp Crystal Lake.
And as one of those horror lovers who gives the series a special place in their heart, there are a few things I want from the show that I’m hoping they give.
Please don’t be like Friday the 13th: The Series.
Most Friday the 13th fans have conveniently forgotten–or tried to forget–the franchise’s first stab at having a TV show. Friday the 13th: The Series ran from 1987 to 1990 and featured, you guessed it, NO Jason Voorhees. Aside from the name, there was nothing tying this Warehouse 13 meets Tales from the Crypt horror show to the original slasher films. Not a single thing.
Was the show bad? Not necessarily, which is why it has a 68% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. But we need a show that actually ties to the lore. Luckily, Peacock is calling Crystal Lake a “prequel,” so there’s a very good chance we’ll be able to tie it back to the events of the first movie.
Take a page from Halloween’s book.
Look, Friday the 13th is just about as convoluted of a slasher horror franchise as Halloween. Yet the Michael Myers classic had a new trilogy of sequels recently that, let’s face it, weren’t half bad. One of the biggest reasons for this uptick in quality is probably thanks to the writers disregarding all sequels to the franchise in writing this new series of films.
Crystal Lake should have the same fate. Let’s ignore Jason X or Jason Takes Manhattan. Let’s even ignore the potential otherworldly immortality of the reborn murderous Voorhees son. It worked for Halloween, so why not Friday the 13th?
Pick a great Mrs. Voorhees.
If it’s a prequel, Crystal Lake has to have a great Mrs. Voorhees. She needs to be the doting mom of an outcast child that could feasibly turn murderous if provoked by the thoughtless actions of some horny teens. Right now, there’s no cast announced other than Adrienne King teasing her hire. That means we get to imagine someone else in the role of a young Pamela Voorhees.
While it might be best to pick an unknown, here are a few suggestions for the original Friday the 13th slasher: Vanessa Kirby (The Crown), Samara Weaving (Ready or Not), or Adrienne King herself.
Add a slasher element even though it shouldn’t be there.
We all learn about what happened to young Jason Voorhees in the first Friday the 13th (1980). He was a young camper who was ostracized by the rest of the kids his age. As he was being bullied by the docks, some kids threw him into the lake. He might have been saved from drowning if it wasn’t for the horny camp counselors who were too busy messing around with each other to watch the kids.
But if that’s what the show is about, it isn’t exactly spooky? Though there’s seemingly no known slasher lore before Mrs. Voorhees picks up a machete in 1980, it would be a shame to have a Friday the 13th show without a little murder. However they can swing it, plot-wise, some “Who’s the killer?” goodness would be very welcome in Crystal Lake.
Add more Friday the 13th cameos. (Kevin Bacon, we’re looking at you.)
Clearly Adrienne King is coming back, but who else would you like to see in Crystal Lake? We could get any of the 10 men who have played Jason Voorhees since the movies began, including the most prolific, Kane Hodder. We could get Core Feldman, who was in The Final Chapter, or Jared Padalecki who was in the terrible 2009 reboot.
Probably the biggest get–and ironically most likely–is Kevin Bacon. The now well-known actor was one of several camp counselors to get slaughtered in the original film. And considering he recently starred in another Peacock slasher, They/Them (2022), it’s not out of the question that he’d show up in Crystal Lake.
Give it the respect it deserves–but add a little “camp.”
The total silliness that the slasher genre embodied in the 1980s isn’t exactly the vibe for modern-day horror. Even slasher franchises that have survived into the 2020s (hi, Scream), have had to adapt. For Crystal Lake to stand as a great Friday the 13th prequel, it should have some of the customary seriousness that fits with the current horror era. Still, to truly appeal to fans, new and old alike, Crystal Lake should have a splash of the campiness that makes the summer camp slasher franchise so special. Here’s to hoping that it does the franchise justice!
