Crystal Lake: Linda Cardellini Slays in a Bloated, Uneven Friday the 13th Prequel
IMDb rating: 7.8/10 (as of October 17, 2026) IMDb
Brian Tallerico considers Peacock’s prequel a botched return to camp. He grants that the opening hour makes a gutsy choice with young Jason, that Linda Cardellini commits fully even as the scripts keep rewriting Pamela, that Hamish Linklater has fun as a villain and that the practical gore is generous.
Beyond that, he sees a muddle. A conspiracy plot and out-of-town criminals pull the story far from the simple appeal of a killer in the woods, the counselors and locals barely register, and the deaths land without impact. In his view the six middle episodes are skippable, and the show is too silly to scare and too stiff to be fun. Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
Nick Caruso lands in the middle with a B-minus. For him, Cardellini is the reason to watch: she gives Pamela real grief from her first scene, so the slide from heartbroken mother to murderer feels believable, while Callum Vinson is touching as young Jason and William Catlett is solid as the sheriff in her corner.
He also enjoys the Easter eggs, the throwback title music and the bloody payoff once Pamela finally lets loose. On the other side of the ledger, the camp staff and townspeople are disposable, one flashback-heavy episode drags, the new mythology answers questions nobody asked and the pacing sags. Die-hard slasher fans will get the most out of it. Nick Caruso, TVLine
Nick Schager is the most forgiving, treating the series as a knowingly cheesy throwback that leans into its absurd premise without constantly winking at viewers. He likes the 1970s setting and soundtrack, the stock small-town types and the grisly exploitation spirit, and he credits Cardellini’s mix of sympathy and instability with holding it all together.
The catch, he says, is length. Close to eight hours of story feels padded, draining both tension and playfulness, and the scares rarely make anyone jump. The strange revelations and a sequel-teasing finale bend franchise history, though he points out the films’ continuity was never tidy to begin with. Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
The consensus: Critics are united in praising Linda Cardellini’s committed, haunted turn as Pamela Voorhees and the plentiful gore, but nearly all of them grumble about flat side characters, a sagging middle stretch and lore the franchise never needed. The verdict: a bloody, uneven treat for die-hard Friday the 13th fans that casual viewers can safely skip.
