In the opening scene of 1996’s meta-horror classic , Drew Barrymore’s Casey is asked to name the killer in Friday the 13th from 1980. Completely sure of herself, she answers “Jason!” But it’s a trick question – Jason’s mother, Pamela Voorhees (played by Betsy Palmer), was actually the first film’s killer, a piece of trivia easily forgotten in the 12-strong film franchise where, from the second film onwards, her machete-wielding, hockey-mask-wearing son takes centre stage.
But horror fan Brad Caleb Kane () didn’t forget – and now he’s created an eight-part prequel series called , about Pam (Linda Cardellini) and her backstory in the 1970s.
When we meet her in the series she’s a single mother and cook at Camp Crystal Lake, which her sickly son Jason (Callum Vinson) attends. One day, he drowns due to negligence from the camp counsellors, but his body is never found, sending the grief-stricken Pam down a path of denial and revenge. But was she already a monster?
“Linda has an effortless likeability, and that is a very rare quality in any actor, much less any person,” Kane tells . “You need that to go on this journey with her, and be able to empathise, or at least sympathise, with some of the horrible things she does.”
To film the series, the crew went back to where the original movie was shot: New Jersey. Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco in Hardwick was the setting for Camp Crystal Lake in the original film, but doesn’t allow filming now, so the new location is Camp Ocawasin. “The lake is certainly bigger, and we were able to get more of a vastness,” Kane says. “We wanted the lake to feel like there’s an inlet where his body could have been swept out, so it would be harder to find him in the shallower ends.”
So, does that mean the white hockey mask of Jason Voorhees might also make an appearance in the series? Kane doesn’t play coy. “I don’t think you can do a Friday the 13th anything, even a Pam Voorhees prequel, without giving the fans some aspect of the Jason they want and expect...”