The Voorhees Family Like You've Never Seen Them Before

When it comes to favorite 80s movie monsters, I must say, I am firmly in camp (pun not intended) Jason. It isn’t just the fact that we have the same name, which, of course, is cool (it made Kane Hodder, when I met him, raise an eyebrow), and it isn’t because the movies themselves are particularly good, because, quite frankly, none of them are “good” in the strictest sense of the word. No, it’s their campiness (again, pun unintended), their outrageousness, and lack of common sense that is just plain fun: the creative if not ludicrous ways in which Jason kills people; the nonverbal body language the actors have used over the years to convey Jason’s moods and emotions; the hilarious ways he is killed, and silly ways he comes back. Like most movie monsters, Jason is the star of the movies, the character you are “rooting for,” if you could call it that, if for no other reason than that the victim characters aren’t all that interesting, if not even deserving of a good slashing.

            Crystal Lake, developed by Brad Caleb Kane and starring Linda Cardellini as Pamela Voorhees, is part prequel, part reboot, and a retconning of the famous franchise in an effort to not only revive it, but introduce some backstory and explanation into a story that was always lacking both.

            The show starts out familiarly enough: Pamela Voorhees (Linda Cardellini, who is great in the role) is a single mom in the small town of Crystal Lake, serving as a cook at the camp of the same name. Her son, a young, sweet, special needs child named Jason, attends that camp, enduring bullying and ridicule while asking himself, “Why am I like this?” This right away takes the viewer into mostly uncharted territory. While longtime fans of the franchise know that Jason was a special needs child, all we had seen of him before was him flapping his arms in the water as he drowned while the counselors that were supposed to have been watching him fornicated in a nearby cabin. Some fans might feel uncomfortable or object outright to seeing their favorite all-time slasher as a cute, innocent little kid, but it does tie into the narrative of the show - that is, how Pamela Voorhees went from single mom to Avenging Angel after the death of her baby boy.

            Like in the original, Jason drowns in the lake, laying the groundwork for the bulk of the show: Pamela Voorhees, navigating her grief, surrounded by reminders of her son’s death, gradually descends into madness and seeks revenge against her son’s tormentors. And here’s where things get interesting, a bit creative, and at times just a bit disjointed.

            As an eight-episode television show, Crystal Lake has time on its hands, and as such, we get a picture of the town itself, including Chief of Police Levon Brooks (William Catlett), a big city cop in a small town with secrets of his own; Ralph (Nick Cordlione), a town recluse who lives in the woods (and a younger version of a character that will be recognizable to fans); Dorf (Cameron Scoggins), a toolish, douchey local cop who ends up having a bit of bravery and heart after all, among others. It’s a tiny New Jersey town where nothing happens, suddenly turned upside down by the bodies that keep piling up, bodies provided by none other than Pamela herself.

            Like the recent Carrie show by Mike Flanagan, Crystal Lake is not only an adaptation; it is a postmodern reboot designed, if not to make you sympathetic to the characters, at least to understand them. We are to sympathize with Pamela Voorhees, and the more we learn about her story, we do just that, and yet, what ends up feeling somewhat disjointed at times are the good character moments of the show with Pamela, especially her budding romance with Chief Brooks and her compassion towards Grace (Gwendolyn Sundstorm), a friend of her son’s and a recent orphan (I’ll give you two guesses exactly WHO made her an orphan). And yet, this is juxtaposed with her outrageous slaughter of people around town. And when I say outrageous, I mean throwback to the original 80s films' outrageousness; there are lots of nods to 80s slasher pictures here. Pamela dispatches her victims in gory, creative, uncomfortable, laugh-out-loud funny style. Couple that with the throwback music and sound effects, and long-time fans should be happy with the murder scenes.

            As for Pamela, most viewers would agree that her victims “deserve it,” at least in a made-up cinematic sense, but some may feel odd watching her have tender moments with Chief Brooks or Grace in one scene and then plunging a lady’s head into a deep fryer the next. Then again, that is the point of postmodern horror, isn’t it? To make us feel a little uncomfortable and expose the real-world complexity of people, even people who do bad things? Not only is Pamela’s grief over Jason’s death given lots of airtime, but mother and son are given a whole backstory as to why they’re even in Crystal Lake, more details that make her sympathetic to the viewer. After so much time spent identifying with her and her plight, the moment when she finally succumbs to becoming a raving lunatic feels sudden. Whether it works or not is up to the individual viewer. For my money, it does enough. We’re not dealing with Shakespeare here, kids.

            Then there’s Jason himself. Crystal Lake goes where no Jason Voorhees story has gone before: they give Jason not only a backstory, but an explanation of why he is the way he is and how he can keep coming back from the dead. I won’t go into the specifics here, but let’s just say the explanation is interesting. Some people will like it, some won't; I, for one am still not sure how I feel about it.

            There will no doubt be fans who dislike any and every change the showrunners have made. I understand that; I can be a bit of a purist myself sometimes. I advise everyone to stay calm about it. Either you like it, or you don’t, and that’s okay. Remember: there are LOTS of different versions of Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Phantom of the Opera out there, and seeing new versions of Jason, Michael Myers, and Leatherface is just our modern version of that. I, for one, enjoyed the show. I thought they did a great job with Pamela Voorhees, the throwback gore, sound effects, and soundtrack were fun, and I even enjoyed young Jason and his emergence as the famous slasher, all of which were well done. If they make a second season, and it sounds like they will, I’ll be watching.