The review embargo has lifted for A24's Crystal Lake, which will debut its entire 8-episode season this Thursday on Peacock.
Friday the 13th fans should be pleased to hear that the critical response has been largely positive, although some reviews definitely lean more negative. One critic calls the series "the worst piece of media I've ever seen" (think he's exaggerating?)
Star Linda Cardellini receives universal praise, but it sounds like the show's take on Jason Voorhees (or more specifically, his backstory) is going to be divisive.
Crystal Lake is now Certified Fresh with a very respectable 82% on Rotten Tomatoes.
This gives the series the highest score of the entire F13 franchise, which, to be fair, isn't exactly a major accomplishment (even the original movie didn't manage to reach 50%).
Have a read through the posts below, and let us know if you plan on checking out Crystal Lake in the comments.
After spending over 15 years lying dormant at the bottom of a lake because of complicated rights issues tied to the character, the news broke last year that Jason Voorhees was finally set to return to terrorise a new group of teenage camp counsellors.
This take on Pamela Voorhees is described as "a mother who had given up a singing career to raise a special needs child and takes a dark turn when she loses her son."
The cast also includes Nick Cordileone (Warrior), Joy Suprano (Fleishman is in Trouble), Danielle Kotch (Director’s Cut), and Phoenix Parnevik (Bel-Air) as future Voorhees victims Ralph, Rita, Claudette, and Barry.
"In many ways, it's a psychological thriller," Kane said in a recent interview. "It's a paranoid '70s thriller. It has all of the DNA of a slasher without quite being a slasher. There are rivers of blood in the show. There are very, I think, ingenious kill sequences and deaths and murders, but it's all done in service of character and theme and place and time"
"[Friday the 13th] out of the paranoid '70s thriller era. It came out of the mistrust-of-institutions era. It came out of the women's lib era, the National Organization for Women era, this consciousness-raising awakening era in America. I wanted to go and play with all of those themes," he added. "[Cardellini is] gonna shock and surprise a lot of people."