Taking such an approach to an iconic horror movie has proven fertile ground before. Look no further than A&E’s Bates Motel from the 2010s, which had no right being as good as it was. However, we’d point out that the horror film Bates Motel was reinterpreting—Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960)—left a lot more buried psychological landmines and dramatic treasure to excavate. By virtue of its own twist about the killer in Mrs. Voorhees, Friday the 13th feels faintly like a riff on Psycho (although by way of a much more overt Halloween knockoff), but in practice it was an exploitative slasher at the beginning of that glorious gory wave in the ‘80s. So it is a question if there is as much dramatic heft there, there.
Still, the idea of going back to the beginning of Friday the 13th lore is interesting, not least of all because… it’s so bizarre that it almost begs to be unpacked and twisted. Think about it: In nearly every Ft13 flick, some dumb horny kids, who are definitely not from the area, come to town to work at the summer camp by the lake. Kids from far away are also shipped in, and none of these people, nor their parents, seem aware that just last year, or maybe two summers back, a guy in a hockey mask (or his mother) slaughtered a dozen teens at that very lake. At that very camp!!!
And it keeps happening again. And again. And again. The town is clearly aware of this, with harbingers of doom warning kids in each film that they’re knock, knock, knocking on Heaven’s door, and everyone knows the “legend” of Jason, but for the locals it’s a known reality there’s a nut in a mask cruising for a slewing up in there in those hills.
What if there’s a reason for that? What if the whole town has reasons to condone or even support this ritualistic slaughter? And what if this goes back to some nonsense Mama Voorhees is up to?
Look, I admit Twin Peaks’ing of Crystal Lake could be way off—or a way out there idea. But if you’re going to make a TV show about this stuff, like the Voorhees, you gotta make some big swings.
