Linda Cardellini is no stranger to horror, but one of her most memorable experiences as a moviegoer came from watching two of the genre’s biggest icons collide on the big screen. Now, as horror fans wait to see her performance as Pamela Voorhees in Peacock’s upcoming Friday the 13th prequel series Crystal Lake, Cardellini is remembering the wild audience reaction she witnessed during a theatrical screening of Freddy vs. Jason.
Cardellini stars in Crystal Lake as Pamela Voorhees, the mother of Jason Voorhees who was originally played by Betsy Palmer in the 1980 classic Friday the 13th. The eight-episode series explores Pamela’s life before the events of the original movie and is set to premiere October 15 on Peacock.
But before Cardellini takes audiences back to the world of Camp Crystal Lake, she recalled one particularly memorable trip to the movies.
“I remember one of my most fun moviegoing experiences was I saw Freddy vs. Jason on the Universal City Walk, which is a giant movie theater, at the height of its popularity, and people were screaming at the screen and throwing things,” she told Variety at the HBO Max Emmy Nominee Celebration event in Hollywood.
Released in 2003, Freddy vs. Jason brought Freddy Krueger face-to-face with Jason Voorhees for the first and, so far, only time in a feature film. The crossover became a major theatrical event for horror fans, and Cardellini’s memory of the screening gives a good indication of just how enthusiastic the audience was for the showdown.
So, should fans expect a similar kind of crowd reaction when Crystal Lake arrives?
“This is a longer format so there’s a lot more you get to do in eight episodes,” Cardellini said. “It’s not necessarily like 90 minutes of pure horror. There’s a lot of story there. So maybe once in a while you’ll throw some things and scream.”
And while Crystal Lake isn’t simply eight hours of nonstop slasher mayhem, Cardellini confirmed that the series does get plenty bloody.
“It does get gory, yes, so much so that I wish sometimes they weren’t as practical as they were,” Cardellini said. “There’s a couple of gory moments on set that were very practical that were pretty gross. Blood everywhere at one point.”
That practical approach should come as welcome news to Friday the 13th fans who have been waiting years to see the franchise return to the screen.
One of the biggest differences between Crystal Lake and the original Friday the 13th movies is that this time Pamela Voorhees is at the center of the story. Pamela was introduced in the original 1980 film as Jason’s mother, revealed to be the killer responsible for the murders at Camp Crystal Lake. Her actions are driven by the death of her young son, who drowned at the camp in 1957. The Peacock series goes back to the period before Pamela became the killer audiences encountered in Friday the 13th. The official synopsis reads:
Crystal Lake is a prequel to the Friday the 13th franchise that explores Pamela Voorhees’ life before the events of the original film. The series follows single mother Pam Voorhees, who is struggling with grief nearly a year after her young, sickly son Jason tragically drowned in Crystal Lake. When two strangers arrive at Pam’s door investigating her past, a disturbing chain of events begins. The people of Crystal Lake are soon left wondering exactly who Pamela Voorhees really is.
Cardellini has previously discussed the challenge of taking on a character so closely associated with Palmer’s iconic performance. Rather than simply attempting to recreate Palmer’s version of Pamela, Cardellini has focused on the character’s relationship with Jason and the devotion that ultimately drives her toward murder. That makes Crystal Lake a different kind of Friday the 13th story. Instead of immediately returning to the familiar formula of teenagers arriving at a summer camp and being picked off one by one, the series has room to explore Pamela, Jason, and the events that shaped the Voorhees family.
And Cardellini is enjoying the opportunity to play the character from the other side of the knife.
“Everything that I’ve ever read that was handed to me that was in [the horror space] was for the person who was being chased, not the person who was chasing everyone,” she said. “It was really fun this time to be on the other side of the knife.”
Crystal Lake was originally ordered by Peacock in 2022, with Bryan Fuller attached as writer and showrunner. Fuller later departed the project, with Brad Caleb Kane taking over as showrunner.
Alongside Cardellini, the cast includes Callum Vinson as young Jason Voorhees, William Catlett as Police Chief Levon Brooks, Devin Kessler, Cameron Scoggins, and Gwendolyn Sundstrom.
Kane has also teased that Crystal Lake will eventually deliver plenty of the bloody horror associated with the franchise, promising that Pamela will eventually go “full Friday the 13th.” The series is also expected to contain numerous Easter eggs and connections to the original movies.
Are you looking forward to seeing Linda Cardellini play Pamela Voorhees in Crystal Lake? And what are your favorite memories of watching Friday the 13th or Freddy vs. Jason in theatres? Let us know in the comments. I saw Freddy vs. Jason 12 times during its theatrical run, so that was a very memorable time for me as well.