Horror fans have been eating well this October as we’ve gotten some solid horror films and the return of some fan-favorite franchises. With all the hype surrounding Crystal Lake, it feels as though a renewal is right around the corner. And with a Friday the 13th coming up soon, one has to wonder if Peacock is waiting until then to make the announcement. Because it’s been made very clear: people want more Linda Cardellini as Pamela Voorhees. I was fortunate enough to talk to showrunner Brad Caleb Kane all about the show’s journey, the kills, and why Linda was his only choice for Pamela.
One element that stood out to me immediately about the Peacock show was just how violent it managed to be. I always assumed that Streamers aren’t nearly as limited in what they can allow on the screen with violence and Brad confirmed my suspicions. “You correctly assumed we could get away with anything. We never had any restrictions on us. Nobody ever told me what to do or not to. Nobody from Peacock, nobody from A24. In terms of the gore, I would say I was probably the foremost expert. In terms of heading up the creative, I was the guy who sort of knew these movies chapter and verse. I had the novelizations as a kid. I still have them, you know, my dog-eared novelizations of these books. I was the kid who collected Fangoria right off the newsstand, and so was our special effects makeup guy on the show, Dave Presto. So nobody told us what to do or what not to do. And for me, it was just a question of, ‘What have I not seen before? What pushes the limit?’
“But also, how do we do kills that are incredibly graphic and gory, but aren’t just that for the sake [of it]. Not that I have anything against exploitation gore, but the kills had to come very specifically, from my point of view, out of character and emotion. You know, they had to be motivated. So, obviously, the bloody opening episode, the very bloody last 25 minutes of that opening episode is about survival. The very bloody kill that Pamela makes at the end of episode 3, the person she kills says something pretty horrific to her. ‘Maybe if you had been a better parent, your child would still be alive.’ So, you can see her picking up that meat mallet, and just having it be a crime of passion. So, for me, the gore was important; the visceral sort of horror of it was important, but it was also equally important that the kills in the show come out of an emotional place and a character place.“
The casting of Linda Cardellini as Pam was a brilliant move, and she delivers a fantastic performance in the show. Despite Charlize Theron being rumored during a prior incarnation, it’s clear that Kane only had one choice. “I knew I wanted her from Jump Street. I knew she was my Pam and I think a big part of that was because there’s just sort of an effortless likeability to Linda. We hold all of the projects we’ve seen her in for decades in our hearts. We remember her as Lindsey Weir on Freaks and Geeks. We remember her from ER as a life-saving doctor. We remember her in these parts, you know, as Velma in Scooby-Doo, and we just naturally empathize with her. And I needed somebody who had that quality, just naturally, for Pamela Voorhees because of all the horrible stuff that she does and the fact that we have to go along on this journey with her and if not entirely empathize [with] her, at least sympathize with her. And Linda brings that quality effortlessly and doesn’t require any dialogue for that. The viewer just naturally puts that on her, so they can take the journey with her despite her doing horrible things. I needed somebody with that quality for Pam.“
I was quite happy to see the return of many classic Friday the 13th locations like Blairstown, and it seemed to mean a lot to the creative team as well, with Brad confirming: “It was very important to return to where the first movie filmed. I mean, the first movie filmed in Jersey, you know, and so I always, even though, yeah, they shot in California for subsequent movies, they shot in Atlanta, they shot in Connecticut, they shot various places. In my mind, Camp Crystal Lake [is] Blairstown, New Jersey. These movies should always take place in New Jersey. So for me, there was no question that when we were going to make the show that we returned to the OG, that we go back there, that we try, and shoot at the original camp. We did go out there, we scouted Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco to see if we could use it. They wouldn’t let us use it, so we recreated it at a place called Camp Ocawasin close by. But we did shoot in Blairstown, New Jersey, which is the town that the girl comes in at in the first movie at the very beginning. And we did a shot-for-shot recreation of that too in the show. But it was very surreal sitting there in Blairstown, New Jersey, shooting a brand new Friday the 13th project while long-time fans make pilgrimages to Blairstown, New Jersey to see the original location. So, while we were shooting the new show, fans of the original would come through the town and they would come into Video Village and they’d be wearing their Jason gear, and they’d be like, ‘Hey, what are you shooting here?’ And we’d tell them, ‘We’re shooting the new Friday the 13th TV show,’ and their minds would just be completely blown. And sometimes they wandered in while we were doing those shot-for-shot recreations, and they were like, “You’re actually having her walk through that same path and they would just delight in it. And that was the response that I wanted from people watching the show, too, so I knew we were on to something.“
It was quite surprising to hear Brad’s pick for the most underrated entry in the franchise, as it’s definitely a Black Sheep choice. “I would say the most underrated Friday the 13th movie would be the first 10 minutes of Jason Goes to Hell. Because the movie itself: not great. But that opening is as banger as any, you know, as anything in any of the movies.“
I, personally, could have spoken to Brad all day about Friday the 13th, as his love for the franchise is palpable. Brad even described his relationship with the franchise as family. “I grew up seeing these movies in theaters as a kid. All of them from Friday the 13th Part 3 and 3D; that was the first one I saw in theaters in the summer of 1982. I was 8 years old. And after that, I saw every one, every year it came out, in theaters, opening weekend with 1,000 people yelling at the screen. The layer of pot smoke hovering over our heads, the blue projector beam cutting through, and just everyone having this collective good time in the dark. So for me, I have a very sort of visceral feeling of these movies that’s not just, you know, fire it up on the streamer and and just kick back and watch it. It’s a very interactive sort of thing in my head, seeing these movies as a kid growing up. And they were very formative for me in terms of my decision to go into the industry and write.“
Unfortunately, this conversation happened BEFORE the release of the surprise IT: Welcome to Derry episode, “A Story of Derry” so we weren’t able to discuss that. Brad was able to get into the whirlwind of going from one horror show to another in very quick succession. “It’s a lot of whiplash, and they don’t inform each other at all. They’re very different worlds. The slasher philosophy is very different from the Stephen King-verse. So yeah, it’s a little bit of whiplash, but I’ve gotten pretty good at code-switching. There’s been quite a bit of overlap lately because I’ve been selling Crystal Lake and doing press, while breaking and writing season 2 of Welcome to Derry. So there has been a lot of switching back and forth and trying to keep everything straight in my head. It’s been okay. Most of my focus is on Derry season 2 right now and we’re ramping up as we speak.
Brad also goes into how he ended up taking over as Showrunner of Crystal Lake after Brad Fuller left the project: “I was actually coming to the end of filming season 1 of Welcome to Derry when Crystal Lake even came on my radar. So, we were really almost done and the post-production process was mostly pushed forward by Andy and Barbara Muschietti. So, I had a big sort of opening and it was all of us going ‘what is my next gig?’ And season 2 [of IT] hadn’t been greenlit yet. Nobody really knew if it was going to work in the marketplace as a TV show. Is it going to be successful? [Crystal Lake] came on my radar and I was like, ‘Oh, I grew up with these movies. They informed my whole aesthetic, my whole desire to be a writer, to be a filmmaker. I’m going to throw my hat in this ring.’ And, you know, I spent a weekend coming up with a pitch of a Friday the 13th show, a prequel that I would want to see as both, you know, having a childhood love of these things, but also as an adult fan who maybe needed a little bit more substance there now. I pitched to A24 and Peacock, and shortly after, they brought me in.“
Brad also confirmed that the show was unaffected by the Cunningham/Miller lawsuit. “It must be settled and in the past because nobody put any limitations on me. Nobody put any restrictions on me for what I could use and couldn’t use. Obviously, it’s a prequel, so we can’t use the hockey mask, but not because anybody told me not to, because it doesn’t come until part three, you know, uh in the movies and we’re doing a prequel before Pam even dies. So I don’t know what’s going on with the rights. I don’t know if they’ve all been brought together. It’s above my pay grade, so to speak. But nobody said ‘do this and don’t do that.’ Nobody.“
This was a great chat. Brad also confirmed that, if they were to get a second season, they are allowed to use whatever Jason Voorhees mask they want. Which means they are not beholden to the Jason Universe design, which I and many other fans find to be truly awful. And given the fact that the classic Jason mask was seen on set, with Brad even pointing out his love for the classic design, I think fans can rest easy. And don’t forget to check out my conversation with stars William Catlett and Devin Kessler. And keep an eye out for my conversation with Teen Jason actor Zachary Branch, coming soon.
Crystal Lake is Now Streaming on Peacock.
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