News

It's been a long, long time since horror fans have been treated to new media featuring Jason Voorhees killing young people near a lake. Even "Friday the 13th: The Game" was shut down last year. But at long last, the folks at Horror Inc. and the recently launched Jason Universe are amending the situation. While we're not getting a new feature film just yet, an official short titled "Sweet Revenge" is dropping online next week. On top of that, we now know who is playing Jason in the so-called vignette.

According to Bloody Disgusting, Guinness World Record holder and stunt man Schuyler White will portray the machete-wielding murderer behind the mask in "Sweet Revenge." Directed by Mike P. Nelson ("Wrong Turn"), the forthcoming short is 13 minutes long and, as the trailer below indicates, it will deliver some classic "Friday the 13th" thrills. That said, specific plot details are being kept...

Traditional studios are eager to increase activity on YouTube, but before that plan can go full speed ahead, the platform and its partners must confront issues that have plagued YouTube since its earliest days: IP infringement and unsafe content.

The Video Advertising Bureau (Vab), a trade group whose members include NBCUniversal, ESPN, and Sony Pictures Television, has put YouTube on blast over the large volume of infringing videos that are removed from the platform each day. A moderation report published by Vab details YouTube’s slop problem by analyzing first-party data from semiannual takedown summaries.

The Vab found more than half the removed videos YouTube cited in its transparency reports already had at least one view, though the aggregate viewership among those videos hasn’t been made clear. In the first quarter of 2025, 8.6 million videos were taken down, and 54% of those removals were due to child safety reasons.

“My biggest...

The town of Blairstown, New Jersey was used as the stand-in for the fictional town of Crystal Lake during the filming of director Sean S. Cunningham’s 1980 classic Friday the 13th – and now, the cast and crew of the Peacock TV series Crystal Lake are filming in the same town, making this the first Friday the 13th project to use Blairstown as Crystal Lake since the original movie! Pictures from the set can be seen below.

On Halloween of 2022, it was announced that original Friday the 13th screenwriter Victor Miller – fresh off winning the U.S. copyright to the 1980 film after a lawsuit that stretched on for years – was teaming up with his lawyer Marc Toberoff, franchise rights holder Rob Barsamian, production company A24, the Peacock streaming service, and showrunner Bryan Fuller (whose credits include Hannibal and Pushing Daisies) to develop Crystal Lake. Things were moving ahead at a good pace,...

Casting continues on the upcoming Friday the 13th television series “Crystal Lake,” with filming on the project underway as we speak. The series from Peacock and A24 is set to be an expanded prequel to the original slasher classic from 1980, and that’s been reflected by many of the casting announcements that have been hitting our desk in recent weeks.

Callum Vinson is playing a young Jason Voorhees in the series, with Linda Cardellini starring as Mrs. Voorhees. Cameron Scoggins is playing Dorf, also a character from the original Friday the 13th, with Nick Cordileone as “Crazy Ralph,” Danielle Kotch as Claudette, and Phoenix Parnevik as Barry, all characters from that original movie.

The fan website Friday the 13th Franchise additionally reports today that Nancy Nagrant has joined the cast as Kay Christy, a relative of Steve Christy from Friday the 13th (1980)!

Steve Christy was played by Peter Brouwer in Sean Cunningham’s slasher classic,...

Horror Inc. Vice President Robbie Barsamian teases an expansion of the Friday the 13th franchise. Founded by Sean Cunningham, who directed the original 1980 classic, the production company Horror Inc. owns the rights to the popular horror franchise created by Victor Miller and is currently at the stage of expanding the Jason universe.

A prequel titled Crystal Lake is currently in production, focusing on Jason Voorhees' childhood and the events leading up to the first Friday the 13th movie, while the company previously promised to introduce a new look for Jason as well as bring a multimedia immersive experience in the coming years.

At the San Diego Comic-Con, Barsamian, who is producing Crystal Lake, revealed that they are working on a new sequel movie and a video game, per Bloody Disgusting. He shared that both are "at the top" of their list and where "most" of their energy is going. While...

While fans are waiting for Jason Voorhees and Friday the 13th’s return, that hasn't stopped companies from celebrating the franchise since the iconic slasher series turned 45 this year. Neca has been a driving force in keeping Jason’s pop culture fame alive in the 16 years since his last bloody film. Now, with Crystal Lake on the horizon, Neca has unveiled their latest Friday the 13th figure from an unlikely place.

Revealed at San Diego Comic-Con, photos courtesy of Toyark.com, Neca’s next Jason Voorhees figure in their Ultimate seven-inch horror figure collection is from Friday the 13th: The Game. Specifically based on an original design by iconic genre makeup artist Tom Savini. He was also the original designer of the character for the 1980 film. This is an interpretation of what Jason may have looked like after Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. The figure sees Jason’s...

The name Jason Voorhees used to instill fear in the hearts of campers everywhere, but after lying dormant for more than 15 years, he's not exactly everyone’s worst nightmare these days. Now, the iconic horror villain is set to return in a new Friday the 13th short film to help celebrate 45 years of body parts, machetes, and blood, but once you hear what it's about, the new film unfortunately seems like nothing more than a wild cash grab.

Per Variety, Horror Inc., owners of the franchise, will unleash a new short-form vignette later this year as part of their Jason Universe initiative to help celebrate 45 years of Friday the 13th. Titled Sweet Revenge, the short film is to be directed by Mike P. Nelson, and is said to be the "centerpiece of the franchise's bold 45th anniversary campaign." That all sounds well and good, and though Sweet Revenge promises to...

Some good news today for "Friday the 13th" fans as, for the first time in a very long time, we're getting a new film featuring Jason Voorhees. The only bad news is that it's a short film and not a feature film, but after more than 15 years without any movies in this franchise, beggars can't be choosers. I myself am one of those beggars, so I'll take what I can get.

As announced by Variety, Mike P. Nelson, of "Wrong Turn" (2021) fame, is set to direct "Sweet Revenge," a project -- one labeled a "vignette" -- featuring the famed Camp Crystal Lake killer of "Friday the 13th" fame. The short film hails from the folks at Horror Inc., who own the rights to the property, and is part of the ongoing Jason Universe, which launched last year. Though no specific plot details are available for the time being, the production is teasing,...

Well horror fans, the day has finally come. After the pure production hell and misfortune that seemed to plague Crystal Lake, also known as the Friday the 13th prequel series, its showrunner, Brad Caleb Kane, took to social media to share an extraordinary update — filming has begun. Sharing an image of a clapperboard along with the title’s code name, Mama’s Boy, Kane wrote “Production Day 1. It’s real folks.” It sure is real, and we can’t wait to see the slasher back on screen after 16 — that’s right, sixteen — years. Also included on the board was the name of the episode’s director, Michael Lennox, who previously stood at the helm of television shows like Say Nothing and Derry Girls.

This won’t be your typical Friday the 13th installment in which Jason Vorhees dons a hockey mask and chops down a hoard of unsuspecting victims. As the name suggests,...

One era of the Friday the 13th franchise officially came to an end on January 1st, when the servers for Friday the 13th: The Game – an awesome game that was hindered by the legal issues the franchise went through in recent years – were shut down at the request of the rights holders. A new era is about to begin, with Linda Cardellini having been officially cast as Pamela Voorhees in the Peacock streaming series Crystal Lake. As we sit in this space between eras, we still have the movies to watch over and over again. So let’s take a look at this Friday the 13th Movies Ranked list!

While this list is all in good fun, I have to admit that I found it to be surprisingly difficult to put together. That’s because the Friday the 13th franchise is my favorite of all franchises and I love every one of these films.

Another Friday the 13th is upon us – unfortunately, we’re just talking about the date, not the release of a new Friday the 13th movie. But while the future of Friday the 13th currently depends on what happens with the Crystal Lake TV series, we can still go back and revisit the awesome F13 movies we have received over the years… and now we have decided to go through our Friday the 13th films collection and pick the top 5 Best Endings in the Friday the 13th Franchise!

Friday The 13th Part III (1982)

This one is all about the chase. While Steve Miner’s Friday the 13th Part III was at one time expected to be the last movie in the franchise (so they made it extra special by shooting it in 3-D), the way Jason is dispatched doesn’t feel like a finishing blow. An axe to his hockey mask-protected...

Any chance of a new Friday the 13th movie going into production seems to be on the distant horizon, but there are other things going on with the Friday the 13th franchise since the copyright lawsuit between the original film’s producer / director Sean S. Cunningham and screenwriter Victor Miller ended with Miller gaining the copyright to the first movie in the United States. Miller and his lawyer Marc Toberoff have teamed up with Horror Inc., which is headed up by Robert Barsamian and holds the rights to the overall franchise, to develop the Crystal Lake TV series for A24 and the Peacock streaming service, and they launched the Jason Universe, which will involve “new Friday the 13th activations spanning a wide range of platforms from entertainment, games, immersive experiences, merchandise and more” and recently unveiled a new design for iconic slasher Jason Voorhees. We know there’s another video game in the works…...

This Friday, June 13, marks the first, last and only Friday the 13th on the 2025 calendar, which makes it an extra special Friday the 13th. To celebrate, Bloody Disgusting has joined forces with Paramount Scares and Street Food Cinema for a very special 45th anniversary live event in Los Angeles, hosted by Dead Meat and featuring an appearance by Sean Cunningham!

Our friends over at Pluto TV are celebrating in their own way tomorrow, with the free channel Pluto TV Horror airing a Friday the 13th franchise marathon all day long on June 13!

Pluto TV is your to-die-for destination for all the horror, thrills and chills you need this summer, and horror fans are invited join in for an absolutely killer Friday the 13th streaming marathon on Pluto TV Horror starting at 12pm Et on Friday, June 13, 2025. If you can’t get enough, you can also join in on the encore marathon on Sunday,...

Street Food Cinema (Sfc), Los Angeles’ largest outdoor cinema series, is joining forces with Paramount Scares and Bloody Disgusting on Friday, June 13 for a very special Friday the 13th anniversary event, and we have a very special update: Director and producer Sean S. Cunningham and composer Harry Manfredini will be attending!

As previously reported, James A. Janisse and Chelsea Rebecca from Bloody FM’s mega popular horror podcast Dead Meat will be hosting the festivities. Together, they will interview Cunningham and Manfredini prior to the screening, so plan to arrive early at The Autry Museum in Griffith Park.

Camp Crystal Lake is open for one night only and tickets are selling fast. Get yours now!

Guests can also look forward to themed photo ops courtesy of Paramount Scares and the Mystic Museum, swag giveaways, spooky marketplace, interactive horror trivia, and more. A lineup of LA’s favorite food trucks will be on-site,...

The iconic slasher film, Friday the 13th, is returning to cinemas for a one-night-only special event. The original 1980 film is celebrating its 45th anniversary, and horror fans will have a chance to see one of the essential films in the slasher subgenre of horror (the one where masked killers often hunt down teenagers). The event will be held, of course, on Friday, June 13, at The Autry Museum in Los Angeles, and tickets are selling fast.

Street Food Cinema is hosting the event sponsored by Paramount Scares and Bloody Disgusting. Also present at the screening will be James A. Janisse and Chelsea Rebecca, known for the YouTube channel Dead Meat, where they present all sorts of horror content. They will be the MCs during the event, which will include more than just the screening of the iconic slasher. Attendees will also have the chance to enjoy other activities listed as "Photo Ops,...

This summer is going to be a fun time to be a horror fan as the likes of M3GAN 2.0 and I Know What You Did Last Summer will be lighting up the box office. However, June also holds the year’s only “Friday the 13th”. On top of that, 2025 marks the 45th anniversary of the Friday the 13thfranchise. While there's no new film to celebrate and A24’s Crystal Lake series for Peacock is a ways off, that doesn't mean we can't party hard for Jason Voorhees. Paramount Scares and Bloody Disgusting are throwing the ultimate Friday the 13th event this month that fans aren't going to want to miss.

The Friday the 13th anniversary event will be held at Street Food Cinema (Sfc) in Los Angeles, California. Of course, on Friday, June 13th. This is a part of LA’s largest outdoor cinema series. While there will be...

Horror fans can be a fickle bunch, especially when it comes to nostalgic franchises. We don’t want the same story regurgitated with new characters, but straying too far from the established formula risks losing what drew fans to the property in the first place.

After churning out eight Friday the 13th movies with little deviation over the course of nine years, Paramount sold the rights to Jason Voorhees to New Line Cinema. “The House that Freddy Built” teamed with original Friday the 13th director/producer Sean S. Cunningham to revive the slasher icon with 1993’s Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday — which sidelines Jason, does not show Hell, and is not the final Friday.

The film kicks off with one of the franchise’s best prologues, condensing all the slasher tropes into a single sequence that subverts expectations by culminating in Jason being blown to smithereens by a Swat team.

It’s been three years since Crystal Lake, a Friday the 13th prequel series, was first announced, and now, the call sheet is beginning to be made public. William Catlett will return to the horror genre following his turn in Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s Universal monster flick, Abigail, in the role of Levon Brooks. As of right now, we don’t know how Levon fits into the story, but we know that Catlett will appear opposite Linda Cardellini (Dead to Me), who will lead the cast as Pamela Vorhees. The series is set to follow the days of Vorhees’ life before the scream-worthy events of Sean S. Cunningham’s 1980 film, Friday the 13th, went down.

Along with Abigail, Catlett has recently appeared in feature-length titles, including Alexandre Aja’s survival horror flick Never Let Go and the A.V. Rockwell-helmed drama, A Thousand and One. On the small screen,...

William Catlett (A Thousand and One) has landed a major role opposite the previously announced Linda Cardellini in Crystal Lake, the Friday the 13th expanded prequel series from Peacock and A24, Deadline has learned.

We hear the actor will play the part of Levon Brooks, though no other details were disclosed, and the plot of the series remains under wraps. Cardellini is playing Pamela Voorhees, the mother of the Friday the 13th franchise’s masked antagonist, Jason.

The drama series hails from creator Brad Caleb Kane (It: Welcome to Derry), who will also write, showrun and exec produce. Other EPs include A24; Victor Miller, who wrote the screenplay for the franchise’s original 1980 film; Miller’s copyright attorney, Marc Toberoff; Robert M. Barsamian; Robert P. Barsamian; Stuart Manashil; and Tyson Bidner. First announced in October 2022, the project will mark one of A24’s first major IP-driven efforts amid a recent...

Friday the 13th fans gather up and the wheels on the prequel series Crystal Lake are rolling swiftly. Another installment in the franchise has had a long road in development hell due to rights issues but good fortune shines on fans as they will soon be able to see Jason and his mother’s story on their screens. After giving fans the wonderful yet horrific news of the beginning of the production on the long-awaited series, new showrunner Brad Caleb Kane, is back with another peak into the series.

Kane took to social media to share a new image of sets being constructed for filming. The image shows “Pam Living Rm” written on wood, indicating this room belongs to Pam aka Jason’s mother, Pamela Voorhees. Though the image doesn’t give anything away, the showrunner captioned the image, “Building a mystery,” which got fans excited.

What do We Know...

It's been a long time coming, but fans of thehorrorgenre can finally start gearing up for the official return of the beloved franchiseFriday the 13th.Instead of a revival with a feature film, the iconic slasher universe—mostly centered around masked killer Jason Vorhees—will return in a new format. A TV prequel titledCrystal Lake, produced by A24 for Peacock, and showrunner Brad Caleb Kane has now begun to tease fans with a new set photo.

Thus, Friday the 13th franchise will return to the small screen. Yes, we meant to say "return," as there was a Friday the 13th TV series in the late '80s, but it didn't feature Jason or any characters from the film series. Crystal Lake will depict the events before 1980s Friday the 13th. In the original movie, Pamela Vorhees went on a rampage and killed the campers because she believed they were just...

Stars: Kane Hodder, Lexa Doig, Jeff Geddis, David Cronenberg, Markus Parilo, Jonathan Potts, Lisa Ryder, Dov Tiefenbach, Chuck Campbell, Melyssa Ade, Kristi Angus | Written by Todd Farmer | Directed by James Isaac

The year is 2455, humanity has left an overly polluted Earth for a new planet they’ve christened Earth II. A crew of scientists on an expedition to Earth I discover a research facility near Camp Crystal Lake where Jason Voorhees’ body has been cryogenically frozen. They decide to bring him back on their spaceship, but in so doing seal their doom! As they depart once again for the furthest stars, the masked maniac awakens, ready to kill again!

In 1993, Jason went to Hell in the Final Friday film. But even though the title says ‘The Final Friday’, it was not to be the end. Almost a decade later, Jason Voorhees would find himself even further out of this world...

Today – May 9, 2025 – marks the 45th anniversary of the release of one of the most popular horror movies ever made, Friday the 13th. The movie that launched my favorite franchise, and one that I feel is underrated, as it’s a great film that often gets overshadowed by its sequels. Last year, the Friday the 13th franchise rights holders at Horror Inc. announced that they were launching the Jason Universe, which would encompass “new Friday the 13th activations that will span a wide range of platforms from entertainment, games, immersive experiences, merchandise and more to be announced @JasonUniverse13 on social media or by visiting the official Jason Universe website.” Now, to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the original film, Jason Universe has unveiled their new logo in a video that can be seen at the bottom of this article.

As fans know, the Friday the 13th franchise was recently bogged down...

It’s a big day for Friday the 13th fans!

Today marks the 45th anniversary of writer Victor Miller and director Sean S. Cunningham‘s 1980 slasher hit arriving in theaters. Horror Inc. is celebrating accordingly with a new Jason Universe logo honoring the franchise’s legacy, which we can exclusively unveil.

The 45th anniversary Jason Universe logo makes its debut below along with a new motion logo video featuring a new Jason mask and original audio composed exclusively for this video by Harry Manfredini, composer of the majority of the Friday the 13th movies and Friday the 13th: The Game.

Alongside the new Jason Voorhees mask, the logo text sports an appropriate “machete metal” finish.

What is Jason Universe? The short answer is that it’s a multi-platform expansion, first announced a year ago as the “new era from the original owners of the Friday the 13th franchise.” With signs...

Midnight Pulp has revealed the new films that are joining the cult streaming service in May.

Horror highlights include: Mario Bava‘s gothic chiller Kill, Baby… Kill!; acclaimed psychological nightmare Repulsion; Ken Russell‘s Gothic, a retelling of the drug-fueled night that inspired Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein; and The Coffee Table, about which Stephen King said, “My guess is you have never, not once in your whole life, seen a movie as black as this one.”

There’s also ’60s sci-fi horror Queen of Blood with Dennis Hopper; Bigfoot hidden gem Creature from Black Lake; horror anthology Trapped Ashes featuring segments by Joe Dante (Gremlins) and Sean S. Cunningham (Friday the 13th); supernatural horror To the Devil a Daughter with Christopher Lee; Larry Cohen’s genre-defying God Told Me To; and the irresistibly titled Kaiju Glam Metal Shark Attack.

Here’s the full line-up:

May 2: Return of Street Fighter,...

Fandor has revealed the new films that are joining the artfully entertaining streaming service in May.

This month includes Dario Argento‘s influential directorial debut The Bird with the Crystal Plumage along with a several other stylish giallo murder-mysteries, like Footprints, Night of the Scorpion, Libido, and Sonno Profondo, plus the documentary All the Colors of Giallo.

Other highlights include: Mario Bava‘s Gothic chiller Kill, Baby… Kill!; Ken Russell‘s Gothic, a retelling of the drug-fueled night that inspired Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein; ’60s sci-fi horror Queen of Blood with Dennis Hopper; and horror anthology Trapped Ashes featuring segments by Joe Dante (Gremlins) and Sean S. Cunningham (Friday the 13th).

Here’s the full line-up:

May 2: The Tree, The Mayor and the Mediatheque, 1982, Quackser Fortune Has A Cousin In The Bronx, Lie With Me, Labyrinth of Cinema, All the Colors of Giallo, Sonno Profondo, Trapped Ashes

May 9: Footprints,...

Nearly a decade after helming Friday the 13th, director Sean S. Cunningham plunged into aquatic horror with DeepStar Six.

The 1989 film is coming to 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on June 17 from Kino Lorber. It’s been newly restored in 4K from the original camera negative with Dolby Vision/Hdr.

Disc 1 – 4K Uhd:

4K restoration from the Original Camera Negative by StudioCanal DolbyVision/Hdr Presentation of the Film Audio Commentary by Horror Fix’s James G. Chandler and Ash Hamilton (new) Audio Commentary with Director Sean S. Cunningham and Visual Effects Supervisor James Isaac Audio Commentary with Screenwriters Lewis Abernathy and Geof Miller Isolated Score Selections and Audio Interview with Composer Harry Manfredini 5.1 Surround and Lossless 2.0 Audio

Disc 2 – Blu-ray:

4K restoration from the Original Camera Negative by StudioCanal Audio Commentary by Horror Fix’s James G. Chandler and Ash Hamilton (new) Audio Commentary with Director Sean S. Cunningham and Visual Effects...

Kevin Bacon, the star of films like Stir of Echoes, Mystic River, and A Few Good Men, had one of his first roles in the classic horror flick Friday the 13th. Bacon recently addressed his short appearance in the 1980 movie that spawned a franchise, and it seems that he is, after all, proud of one of his earliest movies. However, there's one thing that he doesn't love about his legacy in the slasher franchise. We'll give you a hint: You may want to think twice before asking the actor for an autograph using Friday the 13th material.

Bacon recently appeared in an interview with Variety, where he had to guess his lines from his films. Bacon guessed most of them, but when it came to Friday the 13th, he had some doubts about the dialogue. "It's gonna tear down that valley like a son of a gun," the card read,...

Horror meets hyperspace in Jason X, the long-misunderstood 2001 entry in the Friday the 13th franchise, which is returning in a newly restored 4K Ultra HD edition on 19 May. Often dismissed on its original release for its outrageous setting and campy tone, Jason X has since found its audience as a gory cult gem with a fondness for creative kills, gleeful absurdity, and one of the most bonkers franchise pivots in horror history.

Directed by veteran special effects artist Jim Isaac, who previously worked on Gremlins and eXistenZ, Jason X transports the hockey-masked killer far beyond Crystal Lake and into deep space. It’s the year 2455 and Earth has been rendered uninhabitable. A crew of students and scientists investigating the now-desolate planet stumbles upon the frozen remains of Jason Voorhees in a ruined facility near the former site of the infamous summer camp. Naturally, they bring the corpse aboard their spaceship,...

Last Updated on April 12, 2025

Sean S. Cunningham will always be primarily remembered for directing the original Friday the 13th, but he has taken the helm of some other movies that are worth checking out, like 1985’s The New Kids and the deep sea horror film DeepStar Six. The 1989 movie will now be getting a new 4K Blu-ray release, according to Blu-ray.com. Kino Lorber is behind this physical media distribution. The movie stars Taurean Blacque, Nancy Everhard, Greg Evigan, Miguel Ferrer, and Nia Peeples. DeepStar Six is set to hit retailers on June 17.

The description reads,

Not All Aliens Come From Space! Far below the surface of the unforgiving sea, the daring crew of DeepStar Six are explorers in a forbidding world of impenetrable darkness and unimaginable pressure. They have invaded the icy fathoms into which no human has ever ventured. Their mission is to establish a top secret Navy base on the ocean floor.

Peacock’s upcoming Friday the 13th prequel series Crystal Lake has taken a major step forward, with Emmy-nominated actor Linda Cardellini confirmed to play one of horror’s most iconic maternal figures: Pamela Voorhees. The series, developed by A24 and helmed by Brad Caleb Kane, is shrouded in secrecy, though casting Cardellini suggests a significant exploration of Jason Voorhees’ twisted origin story through the eyes of the woman who started it all.

First appearing in Sean S. Cunningham’s 1980 Friday the 13th, Pamela Voorhees carved her place into horror history by committing a bloody string of murders in retaliation for her son Jason’s apparent drowning at Camp Crystal Lake. In a bold twist that challenged expectations at the time, the original film revealed her—not Jason—as the killer. The image of a grief-stricken mother driven to homicidal madness has since become a defining element of the franchise’s enduring mythos.

On Halloween of 2022, it was announced that Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller would be developing a Friday the 13th series called Crystal Lake for A24 and the Peacock streaming service… but things have turned out to be more complicated than expected. First, the lengthy writers strike slowed down the progress of the show, then Fuller got the boot and was replaced. It remains to be seen when Crystal Lake will be going into production, but we thought this would be a good time for us to share Everything We Know About Crystal Lake!

First Showrunner

As mentioned, Bryan Fuller was steering this ship when it was first announced, and it nearly started filming with him (and his frequent collaborator Jim Danger Gray) at the helm. Production was set to begin on July 22, 2024, with filming to last for seven to eight months. Charlize Theron was being considered for the role of Pamela Voorhees,...

Who is the killer in Sean Cunningham's iconic 1980 slasher Friday The 13th? It's a question that's proven the undoing of many a pub quiz team over the last 45 years, but the answer, as we expect anyone reading this will know, is not Jason Voorhees: it is, of course, his deranged mother Pamela Voorhees (originally played by Betsy Palmer). And, courtesy of Deadline, we now know who'll be playing Jason's vengeful ma in Peacock and A24's upcoming, long-gestating franchise prequel series Crystal Lake — Dead To Me and Scooby-Doo star Linda Cardellini. Jinkies!

In Cunningham's original 70s set movie, we learn that Mrs. Voorhees has been turning the counsellors at Camp Crystal Lake into claret-pouring cadavers to avenge the death of her son Jason, who drowned in the lake as a young boy back in the late '50s. It's only in the subsequent *checks notes* nine sequels that...

Friday the 13th's upcoming prequel series, which is appropriately called Crystal Lake, has been in the works for years now. Peacock originally ordered the project back in 2022 when Bryan Fuller was still attached as its creator, but Brad Caleb Kane took hold of the baton in August 2024 and replaced Fuller as the creator, showrunner, and writer. Today, casting the role of the younger version of the hockey-masked murderer’s mother is the first major piece of news to break in quite some time, and it’s now official that the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s own Linda Cardellini will portray the killer part of Pamela Voorhees.

Cardellini goes from playing the wife (Laura Barton) of Hawkeye, a.k.a. Clint Barton, in the MCU to portraying the peculiar parent of Camp Blood’s serial-killing mama’s boy, Jason Voorhees. Currently, there aren’t any plot details to reveal about the project,...

Linda Cardellini is re-entering her villain era. The Dead to Me star has officially landed the leading role in Peacock’s highly-anticipated Crystal Lake — which will serve as a prequel series to the iconic slasher flick Friday the 13th. Leaning into her mommy dearest vibes, the actress will be appearing as Pamela Voorhees, who fans will know as the true killer behind the film that kicked off the franchise all the way back in 1980. A grieving mother, Pamela, wreaked murderous havoc at Camp Crystal Lake in the original Sean S. Cunningham-helmed film, claiming revenge on the teen counselors who she deemed responsible for her son’s death by drowning. Future installments of the beloved franchise put her son, Jason Vorhees, behind a hockey mask and tossed a machete in his hands to get his own vengeance, but the original movie was all about a very mad mama. Now, her...

Peacock and A24’s Friday the 13th prequel series has found its lead actress.

Linda Cardellini will star in Crystal Lake, a drama set before the events that kicked off the slasher franchise. She’ll play Pamela Voorhees, the mother of the unkillable killer Jason Voorhees (and the person responsible for the murders in the original 1980 film). Plot details are being kept quiet for now.

Crystal Lake has been in the works for some time. Peacock ordered the series in 2022, with Bryan Fuller initially attached as writer and showrunner. Fuller eventually left the project, confirming his exit in May 2024 and saying that A24 “decided to go a different way with the material.”

Brad Caleb Kane (Max’s It: Welcome to Derry) joined the series in August and is credited as creator, writer and showrunner, suggesting that the material Fuller and other writers worked on won’t be used. “Nothing defined...

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday and Jason X will be released on 4K Ultra HD on May 20 from Arrow Video.

Both the theatrical and unrated cuts of Jason Goes to Hell have been restored in 4K with Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible). Original lossless stereo and DTS-hd 5.1 surround audio options are included for both.

The 1993 ninth installment in the Friday the 13th franchise is directed by Adam Marcus from a script by Dean Lorey and Jay Huguely.

Disc 1 – Theatrical Cut:

• Introduction to the film by director Adam Marcus

• Faces of Death, a new interview with special makeup effects creator Robert Kurtzman

• Undercover Angel, a new interview with actor Julie Michaels

• Mixing it Up, a new interview with composer Harry Manfredini

• The Gates of Hell, an archival interview with director Adam Marcus

• Jason vs. Terminator, director Adam Marcus on growing up with the Cunninghams

• Über-Jason, an archival interview with Kane Hodder...

In Sean Cunningham's 1980 slasher "Friday the 13th," Jason Voorhees is little more than the subject of a notorious ghost story. Camp counselors at Camp Crystal Lake, New Jersey, loved to scare young campers by telling them the very true story of the developmentally disadvantaged who wandered off and drowned in the lake decades earlier. It seems that the counselors who were tasked with caring for Jason were too busy copulating to notice he was in danger. Years later, however, counselors are suddenly being systematically murdered by an unseen assailant. Is it Jason returned from the grave, murdering counselors as revenge?

In the first "Friday," it was revealed that Pamela Voorhees (Betsy Palmer), Jason's mother, had snapped and was killing counselors in honor of her dead son. In "Friday the 13th Part 2," however, it was revealed that Jason had been alive all along, and had grown to adulthood living in the woods,...

An interesting new rumor from insider Jeff Sneider suggests that actress Linda Cardellini might be in final talks to play Pamela Voorhees in the upcoming Friday the 13th prequel series Crystal Lake.

According to the report from TheInSneider, Cardellini is close to closing a deal to play the mother of the iconic slasher villain Jason Voorhees. As Friday the 13th viewers know, it was Pamela who put the entire plot of the story into motion as she was the real antagonist of the original 1980 film. The character was originated by Betsy Palmer, who passed away in May 2015.

Cardellini is best known for playing Velma in the live-action Scooby-Doo films along with her voice-acting work and her role as Laura Barton in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She also starred in the Emmy-nominated Netflix series Dead to Me and the more recent No Good Deed. Some of her other notable acting jobs include Freaks and Geeks,...

At the end of the 1980s, there was something in the water in Hollywood. Audiences experienced a tsunami of sci-fi horror films that were hard to tell apart from Alien, save for their aquatic setting: Leviathan, The Abyss, DeepStar Six, The Rift, and Lords of the Deep all arrived between 1989 and early 1990. It may look like a simple case of competition, but working out which film came first — and why they all came at once — is no easy task.

Unsurprisingly, James Cameron's Oscar-winner The Abyss came out on top at the box office and with the critics, but it wasn't necessarily due to its originality. These five features have oddly repetitive plots involving miners and military missions, science experiments and submarines, and monsters and aliens. While some filmmakers copped to competing with the others, many claimed ignorance of the underwater arms race — but the trend may have started with a best-selling book.

Today’s unfortunately the day to say goodbye for fans of Gun Interactive’s Friday The 13th: The Game. As we learned last year, Gun Interactive’s license for the asymmetrical multiplayer game expired last year, and tonight, the Friday The 13th: The Game‘s servers are being sunset. Meaning, today’s your final chance to play the game online.

There’s still no word on if players will be able to play the game’s multiplayer mode offline.

This obviously adds salt to the wound for fans, as the years-long dispute between director Sean Cunningham and Friday the 13th (1980) writer Victor Miller prevented Gun Interactive from adding any more content to Friday The 13th: The Game, most notably Uber Jason from Jason X. Fans had tried the do-it-yourself approach with a fan mod, but that was hit with a cease and desist from Horror Inc. not long after it was revealed.

Friday the 13th is one of the most famous horror franchises of all time. Millions of fans are familiar with the story of Jason Voorhees, a hockey mask wearing murderer with a machete. When Jason was 11 years old, he accidentally drowned at Camp Crystal Lake when the counselors weren't paying attention. He swears his revenge as a result, and in each movie, he ups the ante with creative, brutal kills, often of partying teenagers.

Not counting the original where his mother Pamela Voorhees was the killer, Jason has been the main antagonist throughout the Friday the 13th series. There are 12 movies in the franchise to date, but interestingly, fans have overlooked a glaring detail about most of the entries. Only one-third of the films actually take place on Friday the 13th. The movies that are set on the right date include the 1980 original, Part 6: Jason Lives, Part 7: The New Blood,...

The upcoming Friday the 13th prequel series, Crystal Lake, is still in the works, and after some time, we’re starting to get some updates. Brad Caleb Kane, who took over as showrunner for the project in August 2024, recently shared a message with fans.

On December 13, which happened to be Friday the 13th, Kane posted a photo on Instagram featuring Jason Voorhees alongside Betsy Palmer, who played his mother, Pamela Voorhees, in the original 1980 film.

In his caption, Kane mentioned that while he couldn’t offer too much information, the story had been broken, scripts were being worked on, and the goal was to deliver a tense, bloody, and satisfying ride for fans. He teased more updates in the new year.

Kane’s involvement in the project comes after Bryan Fuller’s departure in May 2024. Fuller, who was initially in charge, left due to creative differences. Before leaving, he shared...

Crystal Lake, the hotly-anticipated (at least among horror fans) Friday the 13th prequel series in development at Peacock, has received an update. Four months after joining the project as its new creator/showrunner, Brad Caleb Kane recently shared how much progress has been made on the retooled Crystal Lake.

In a post on Instagram on Dec. 13 (to celebrate Friday the 13th), Kane shared a photo of Jason Vorhees with actor Betsy Palmer, who played the character's mother, Pamela Vorhees, in the original Friday the 13th movie. "Happy Friday the 13th (to those who celebrate!) wish I could give a more substantial update but mum’s the word," the caption read. "Suffice it to say the story’s been broken, scripts have been and are being written and the goal is to give the fans (including myself) a tense, scary, bloody and satisfying ride that’s well worth the wait." Kane...

Director/producer Sean S. Cunningham has admitted that his 1980 slasher film "Friday the 13th" was a deliberate effort to imitate the style and success of John Carpenter's "Halloween," which had come out only two years prior. Cunningham tried to copt Carpenter's "killer's eye perspective" camera angles, and it's no coincidence that both films take place on dates famous for horror, bad luck, and death. Cunningham's gambit was successful, though, and his $550,000 movie ended up making nearly $60 million at the box office. It also spawned 11 sequels, many of which came to define the horror trends of the '80s. Although none of the "Friday the 13th" movies are particularly beloved by critics, they are a gestalt-defining phenomenon.

Holiday-themed horror films began popping up regularly in theaters. The years after "Friday the 13th" saw the release of "April Fool's Day," "New Year's Evil," "Prom Night," and "Silent Night, Deadly Night."

But...

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

In the realm of legendary slasher franchises, there are few that can challenge "Friday the 13th" for the crown. Not only did Paramount Pictures make these murder-fests an annual tradition for most of the '80s because they were so damn successful, but the franchise has evolved a great deal relative to its somewhat humble beginnings. While the series is deeply associated with the machete-wielding Jason Voorhees these days, let's not forget he wasn't even the killer in the 1980 original. That honor goes to Betsy Palmer's Pamela Voorhees, who was killing in her son's name.

It's a unique beast amongst long-running horror franchises. It's also been quite a while since Jason graced the silver screen. 2009's "Friday the 13th" remake was a big hit, but it was also the last movie in the series — for now, anyway. Much of...

In the early-to-mid eighties, Jason Voorhees dominated the horror box office. The masked slasher went from jump scare at the end of a movie to a pop culture icon in impressive fashion; enraging conservative parents while delighting teenagers who loved seeing him stalk and kill other teenagers on the big screen. Of the first four films, three of them made over $30 million at the U.S. box office, an impressive feat for the time. However, starting around 1985, with the much-criticized Friday the 13th: A New Beginning the series’ grosses started dwindling. Yes, they were still making money for studio Paramount thanks to their low budgets, but the air was seemingly coming out of the franchise the longer it went along. The low point, in several ways, was the release of Jason Takes Manhattan, a movie where the fans finally had to admit Jason’s machete blade had become quite dull.

Quick Links Jason Voorhees Was Supposed to Be Dead in Friday the 13th Jason Wears a Burlap Sack in Friday the 13th Part 2 A Friday the 13th Part III Crew Member Provided Jason's Hockey Mask

Throughout the planning and filming of the 1980 slasher film Friday the 13th, none of the films cast and crew, led by director and producer Sean S. Cunningham, envisioned that it would become a box-office success, much less launch an enduring franchise featuring Jason Voorhees, who was initially presumed to be dead by the films creators. Of course, the main antagonist in Friday the 13th is Jasons deranged mother, Pamela Voorhees, aka Mrs. Voorhees, a grief-stricken, vengeful psychopath who attempts to murder the entire staff of Camp Crystal Lake over Jasons supposed 1957 drowning death which she blamed on inattentive camp counselors. To the makers of Friday the 13th, Jason was a victim, not a villain.

However,...

There are a surprising number of horror movies that beat the odds by outdoing themselves at the box office. Some horror films are guaranteed to be huge successes so much so that even the remakes of these horror films become successful. The Conjuring had a $20 million budget and a large promotional campaign leading up to its release, while The Texas Chain Saw Massacre had a low budget, but promoting it as a true story anticipated higher box office expectations.

There are also horror movies that were expected to fail abysmally and did, such as The Hills Have Eyes Part II, which closed production early because of the lack of funds. When the film was released, it was only for a short time in select theaters. However, the horror movies that outperformed the box office expectations are perhaps the most satisfying. These films are often low-budget movies that strike gold at the box office,...

Where is Friday The 13th's Camp Crystal Lake supposed to be located within the movie franchise? The makers of Friday The 13th were eager to replicate the success of John Carpenter's then-recent Halloween, which became the highest-grossing independent movie at that time. Friday The 13th took Halloween's basic blueprint of teenagers being stalked by a killer in an isolated locale and ramped up the gore and sexuality. Jason would return in various entries in the years that passed. The original Friday The 13th and many of its sequels take place at Camp Crystal Lake.

The movie revealed that a young Jason was bullied and teased by other children at the camp, who later pushed him into the water. Crystal Lake camp counselors failed to notice, and he drowned, and his mother Pamela vowed to prevent the camp from reopening, leading to her rampage in the 1980 movie. Despite Friday The 13th...