Alam Nyo Ba?

The wait for Crystal Lake, the upcoming Friday the 13th prequel series from A24 and Peacock, is almost over. (In fact, JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray has just published a review of the first two episodes!) Following the release of the show’s official trailer, creator, writer, and showrunner Brad Caleb Kane has offered plenty of new details about what fans can expect, including the return of Jason Voorhees, a bloody approach to the kills, and a story that digs much deeper into the characters.

Kane spoke with Polygon ahead of the show’s October 15 premiere, discussing his approach to expanding the Friday the 13th mythology, the decision to set the first season in the early 1970s, the show’s thematic ambitions, and perhaps most importantly for longtime fans, just how much Jason we’ll actually see. He also spoke with Empire, offering additional details about Linda Cardellini’s Pamela Voorhees, the decision to film at locations from the original Friday the 13th, practical effects, returning characters, and the show’s relationship with the original movie.

Crystal Lake Will Show Jason Voorhees, But Not the Hockey-Masked Jason

One of the biggest questions surrounding Crystal Lake has been Jason’s role in the series. The show primarily focuses on his mother, Pamela Voorhees, played by Linda Cardellini, and takes place years before the events of the original Friday the 13th. Kane confirmed to Polygon that Jason will indeed appear in the series, although viewers shouldn’t expect to see the familiar hockey mask immediately.

“No, not Jason in the hockey mask show, but the expectations that fans might have… they’ll see more than they think they will. So no hockey mask, because we don’t go up through the events of Part Three, but that doesn’t mean we don’t go into mask territory. And that doesn’t mean we don’t see Jason, and potentially very clearly. So I’ll just leave that right there.”

That’s a major tease for Friday the 13th fans.

The series takes place in the early ’70s, roughly eight years before the 1980 original. Empire reports that Jason is an 11-year-old camper at this point, with Pamela working as a cook at Camp Crystal Lake and determined to give her son a normal summer despite his physical limitations. We already know how that summer ends. What Crystal Lake wants to explore is how Pamela gets from loving mother to the killer we meet in the original movie.

Linda Cardellini Is Making Pamela Voorhees Her Own

Linda Cardellini has the unenviable task of following Betsy Palmer’s iconic performance as Pamela Voorhees, but Kane says the goal was never to simply recreate what Palmer did in 1980. According to Empire, Cardellini was Kane’s first choice for the role and was eager to take on such an important character in horror history. Rather than imitate Palmer, she developed her own interpretation of Pamela. The production even experimented with recreating Palmer’s distinctive hairstyle before deciding it felt too much like cosplay. Kane ultimately wanted to let Cardellini find her own version of the character. That seems like the right approach.

Crystal Lake isn’t remaking Friday the 13th. It’s exploring the woman behind one of horror’s most famous killers, including the relationship between Pamela and her son. Kane told Empire that the series is fundamentally about Pamela in the aftermath of losing “the one person she considers her reason for living.” That makes Jason’s childhood important to the story. The more audiences understand how much Pamela loves her son, the more devastating his eventual death and her transformation becomes.

Crystal Lake Was Filmed at Original Friday the 13th Locations

If the trailer hasn’t already made longtime fans nostalgic, the locations should do the trick. Kane confirmed to Empire that Crystal Lake filmed in Blairstown, the New Jersey location where the original Friday the 13th was filmed. The area reportedly hasn’t changed much in the 45 years since the original movie, allowing the series to recreate some familiar imagery. Kane says the production deliberately recreated scenes from the original in ways that could slightly change the audience’s understanding of them.

So expect some serious deja vu.

Crystal Lake Is Going to Get Very, Very Bloody

While Crystal Lake is attempting to add more character development and thematic depth to the Friday the 13th mythology, Kane knows exactly what fans are coming for: the kills. Kane acknowledged to Polygon that adding deeper themes to a slasher franchise could seem like a difficult balancing act, but he insists that the series isn’t sacrificing the bloody entertainment that made Friday the 13th famous.

“In terms of grisly stuff, I did not wanna skimp on… I won’t call them cheap thrills because every kill, every cut, every hack and every slash comes from a deep emotional and psychological place as a result of the story that unfolds in the season. But we don’t skimp on the blood.”

Kane also told Empire that he wanted the deaths to be fresh, shocking, and unlike anything audiences had seen before. He wanted viewers to have those moments where they jump off the couch and can’t believe what they’re watching.

The Kills Will Mean More Because We’ll Know the Victims

The movies are famous for introducing a group of teenagers and then finding increasingly creative ways to murder them. Kane wants Crystal Lake to make audiences care about those characters before they become victims. He told Empire that the kills will hopefully be even more satisfying because of the character work that comes before the carnage.

With eight episodes, Crystal Lake has more time to let viewers actually live with the people in this town.

There’s a Very Gross Practical Blood-Bag Scene

The production is also embracing the practical effects quality of the original movies. Empire reports that the first episode contains a sequence involving an actual bag of blood and a stunt performer walking around with the blood-filled contraption attached to his head. Kane says the production wasn’t initially sure the effect could be achieved, but special effects supervisor Johann Kunz figured it out.

It took three attempts to get the sequence right and Kane was proud of the result. He was also, understandably, nauseated by it. Which is exactly the kind of weird practical effects insanity you want from a Friday the 13th show.

Brad Caleb Kane Is a Massive Friday the 13th Fan

Kane isn’t approaching Crystal Lake as an outsider trying to reinvent Friday the 13th. He has been a fan of the franchise since childhood. He told Polygon that he remembers watching the movies in packed theaters during their original runs in the early 1980s, complete with audiences yelling at the screen and reacting to every twist and kill.

“I remember watching each movie in theaters with a thousand-strong crowd in the early ’80s. I remember the flicker of the projector light cutting through a thick haze of pot smoke while people were yelling at the screen.”

That fandom also gave Kane a clear idea of what he wanted to preserve and what he wanted to expand. He explained that he hopes Crystal Lake can appeal to longtime fans while adding deeper layers of character, motivation, and backstory.

His favorite Friday the 13th movie is a tough question. Kane told Empire that Part III is his favorite because it was the first one he saw, and he experienced it in the original 3D. He considers The Final Chapter the best film in the franchise, while Jason Lives is his pick for the most purely entertaining.

Crystal Lake Is Set During a Changing America

The early 1970s setting isn’t just an excuse to put characters in old clothes and play period music. Kane described Crystal Lake to Polygon as a “mixtape” of the cultural influences surrounding the era in which the original Friday the 13th eventually emerged. Vietnam, Watergate, economic problems, and declining trust in institutions all form part of the larger backdrop. That transformation also affects the characters.

“What you see in the season is Pam transforming. I don’t wanna say too much. What you see in the season is [a young camper named] Grace transforming. I won’t talk about who else transforms, but again, the country was transforming. The town of Crystal Lake is transforming.”

Kane admits that he may be getting a little deeper than some viewers expect from a Friday the 13th series, but he has faith in the audience.

“I hope that’s not too heady for the fans, but I think the fans are smart and they can take it!”

The Original Friday the 13th Gets Some Major Easter Eggs

Crystal Lake isn’t just interested in expanding the story. It’s also packed with callbacks for longtime fans. Familiar characters from the original movie, including Crazy Ralph, Officer Dorf, and Trudy, will return. The difference is that a television series gives the writers more time to develop them.

Kane explained that in a 90-minute movie, characters can sometimes exist primarily to provide color, comic relief, or a warning about what’s coming. With longform television, the audience can spend much more time with them. Of course, this is Friday the 13th. “Spending more time with them” doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to survive.

The series will also be packed with Easter eggs and familiar details from the movies, including Pamela’s iconic sweater. Kane says the goal is to provide the familiar goodies longtime fans want without making the show inaccessible to newcomers.

Harry Manfredini Returns to Crystal Lake

One of the coolest connections to the original movie is happening in the opening credits. Kane told Empire that he drew inspiration from Kolchak: The Night Stalker for the show’s grainy, nerve-jangling atmosphere, while also paying tribute to the original Friday the 13th title sequence. The words “Crystal Lake” will pop out of the screen and shatter the glass, with the credits using the same font as the original movie.

Even better, original Friday the 13th composer Harry Manfredini created new music for the title sequence.

Young Jason Voorhees Is Getting the Full Prosthetic Treatment

Callum Vinson plays young Jason, and Kane says the young actor is a massive horror fan who was ready for anything the production threw at him, including Jason’s prosthetics. Empire reports that the head was extremely heavy, and Vinson had to wear it in sweltering conditions. Special effects makeup artist Dave Presto eventually developed a more breathable version that could also be removed and reapplied quickly.

Crystal Lake Wants to Satisfy Decades of Friday the 13th Fans

It’s been nearly two decades since the Friday the 13th franchise last received a proper outing, and Kane knows there’s a lot of pent-up demand. Empire reports that his goal is to deliver the combination longtime fans have been waiting for: new kids at camp, sex, drugs, rock and roll, gruesome kills, familiar characters, and the thrill of not knowing exactly how the next death will unfold.

When Does Crystal Lake Premiere?

All eight episodes of Crystal Lake season 1 will premiere on Peacock on October 15, 2026. The series comes from A24, with Brad Caleb Kane serving as creator, writer, showrunner, and executive producer. Linda Cardellini stars as Pamela Voorhees, with Callum Vinson playing young Jason Voorhees. Episodes are screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, and the first episode will also receive a special screening at New York Comic Con on October 8, followed by a panel featuring Kane, Cardellini, Vinson, and other members of the cast.

Will you be watching? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The post Crystal Lake creator teases Jason Voorhees’ role and promises bloody Friday the 13th kills appeared first on JoBlo.

Cody

The What Happened to This Horror Movie episode on The Exorcism of Emily Rose was written by Jaime Vasquez:

The Exorcism of Emily Rose was released in September 2005 and made an impressive $145 million at the box office. Directed by Scott Derrickson, who would later become best known to horror fans for Sinister, the film was his big-screen directorial debut. Starring Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson, and Jennifer Carpenter as the title character, it follows an agnostic lawyer who takes on an extraordinary case in hopes of making partner at her firm.

When the film begins, Emily Rose is already dead. Her story is told through the trial of Father Moore, who has been indicted for her death and accused of negligent homicide. But while The Exorcism of Emily Rose was inspired by a real case, the movie takes plenty of creative liberties. The real story is much more complicated.

So what happened to Anneliese Michel, the young woman who inspired Emily Rose? How does her story differ from the movie? And why is her case still being discussed nearly 50 years later? Grab your crucifix and some holy water. We’re headed to 1970s Germany to find out the real story behind The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

Who Was Anneliese Michel?

Anneliese Michel was born in 1952 in Leiblfing, Bavaria, in West Germany. The second of five daughters, she grew up in a strict but loving Catholic household. Anneliese was remembered as a sickly girl even during her childhood, something that was later interpreted by some as evidence that she had been targeted by demons. Around her sixteenth birthday in 1968, Anneliese suddenly blacked out while sitting in class. She initially dismissed it as fatigue. The following night, she woke after midnight feeling an enormous pressure holding her down. She said she couldn’t move or call for help. About 15 minutes later, when the nearby church bell rang, the sensation disappeared.

The incident has an obvious parallel in The Exorcism of Emily Rose, although the movie changes several details. Emily is college-aged and experiences the episode in her dorm room. The film also repeatedly emphasizes 3 a.m., the so-called witching hour, but there is no documentation that Anneliese’s real-life episode happened at that specific time. And being woken up at 3 a.m. would be more inconvenient than scary.

Anneliese Michel’s Seizures and Illness

Anneliese experienced a similar episode about a year later and saw a doctor afterward. Tests did not reveal an obvious neurological or psychological problem. Her doctor believed the nighttime episodes could be a disorder then known as a “grand mal seizure,” now called a tonic-clonic seizure. These seizures can cause a person to lose consciousness, experience sudden muscle stiffness, and then convulse uncontrollably. Other symptoms can include unusual smells or tastes, dizziness, nausea, and sudden anxiety, several of which Anneliese reported experiencing.

Her health continued to deteriorate. She suffered from several physical illnesses, including pneumonia and tuberculosis, eventually forcing her to leave school for an extended period and spend months confined to her bed. About ten months later, the feeling of stiffness and paralysis returned. She was hospitalized for an extended stay. Other patients reportedly noticed that her hands were contorted like the paws of a cat and that her pupils were so dilated that her eyes looked almost completely black.

Anneliese found great relief in prayer, which reportedly gave her a feeling of euphoria. But when her symptoms returned and she tried to pray again, she claimed to see a terrifying grimacing face in the sky. The experience lasted only a moment, but it frightened her enough that she became afraid to pray. Over the next six weeks, she reportedly continued seeing the faces.

The movie uses a similar sequence, with Emily seeing a frightening face in the sky and people’s faces becoming distorted. This is where the movie gets a little rough for me. It starts out very strong and then turns into a CGI horror fest for a minute. Practical effects, or even simply seeing the faces from a distance, would’ve been far more effective. I’m not sure if this looked good in 2005, but in 2026, it hasn’t aged especially well.

Anneliese’s Experiences Become More Disturbing

After leaving the hospital, Anneliese returned home acting differently. Her sisters later recalled that the once-happy girl they knew had become moody, withdrawn, and depressed. In October 1972, her symptoms persisted. She experienced lapses in consciousness, muscle stiffness, and phantom smells that she initially kept to herself. By the spring of 1973, she was hearing knocking sounds in her room. A doctor referred her to an ear specialist, but according to multiple accounts, other members of the household eventually heard the noises as well. They reportedly heard knocking and thumping in the closet, above the ceiling, and below the floor.

Anneliese continued seeing faces, but they had become more frightening. She said they now had horns and told her she would be damned for eternity.

Her father, Josef, dismissed these experiences as symptoms of her condition. But even he was disturbed when he found Anneliese staring hatefully at a figure of the Virgin Mary, with extremely dilated pupils and hands contorted like paws, just as other people had previously reported.

The frightening experiences continued, and Anneliese began having suicidal thoughts. At one point, she said, “I feel like I’m in a deep hole.”

The Trip to Italy

Hoping to lift her spirits, Josef suggested that Anneliese join a trip to Italy organized by a parishioner from their church. The pilgrimage included a visit to the San Damiano shrine, and it would become a pivotal moment in her case.

Before Anneliese could even enter the shrine, she reportedly felt an intense burning sensation beneath her feet. She described seeing people there grinding and gnashing their teeth like zombies. She was also unable to drink blessed water from a holy spring and began avoiding sacred objects, including images of Jesus Christ. Even pictures and medals of saints reportedly appeared to sparkle so brightly that she had to turn away.

After witnessing the girl’s reactions, the parishioner told her parents that she believed something demonic might be tormenting their daughter.

Anneliese Michel’s Life at University

While attending university in Würzburg, Anneliese met a young man named Peter at a dance, and the two quickly became a couple. Meanwhile, a new medication did little to relieve her symptoms. She sank into a deeper depression, worrying about ordinary things such as choosing a topic for her thesis and whether she could be a good girlfriend to Peter. She confided in him about what she was experiencing, while the religious practices that had once brought her comfort now seemed to make her increasingly agitated.

One incident left both her mother and Peter particularly shaken. Anneliese’s facial features became fixed in a grimace, and she remained contracted in that state for nearly half an hour. The episode disturbed Peter enough that, despite never having been particularly religious, he began to believe she might actually be demonically possessed.

Her behavior became increasingly erratic. She would scream until she became catatonic, display what witnesses described as extraordinary strength, and perform hundreds of squats a day, sometimes reportedly as many as 400.

Peter even recalled seeing her squeeze an apple in one hand until it burst apart. At other times, she reportedly crawled beneath a table and barked like a dog, behavior that allegedly continued for two days.

Her family also described her eating increasingly bizarre things, including spiders, flies, coal from the fireplace, and even the head of a bird. She was also said to have urinated on the floor and licked it up.

The Church Becomes Involved

Getting help from the Catholic Church was becoming increasingly complicated. Father Alt, who became heavily involved with the case, was given letters from Anneliese and her mother. He said he couldn’t bring himself to read them because whenever he tried, he became nauseous to the point of feeling like he might faint. During Mass that same day, he reportedly felt overwhelmed by a sudden sensation of cold air and the smell of something burning, forcing him to lean against the altar. He later experienced a restless night despite taking a sleeping pill that normally worked.

Around May 1975, Anneliese began to feel better, but the improvement didn’t last. The death of her grandmother and her sister moving away had a profound effect on her, and she became increasingly withdrawn and isolated.

Some people wondered if Peter was the reason she kept her distance from everyone, but he said she pushed him away too. She even tried to break up with him, saying she was too depressed to love him. Peter assured her that depression was common and that he wanted to stay with her regardless.

Two priests who had personally seen Anneliese, Father Herman and Father Roth, had also previously observed patients in psychiatric hospitals. They said they didn’t believe she showed the same signs they had seen in conditions such as hysteria or schizophrenia.

As more priests became convinced that her problems might have a spiritual rather than psychiatric cause, the push for an exorcism intensified.

Anneliese Michel’s Exorcism

An urgent letter was eventually sent to the Bishop of Würzburg, Bishop Stangl, arguing that immediate action was necessary. Previous requests for an exorcism had been rejected by Stangl. When he finally gave his approval, however, it was only for the minor form of the ritual, a less intensive version that didn’t require the same level of Church authorization as a major exorcism. As Anneliese’s condition continued to deteriorate, the priests pushed for permission to perform the major rite. Stangl eventually approved the more intensive exorcism.

In September 1975, an exorcism was performed. As expected, the priests initially struggled to get anywhere. When they demanded that the demon identify itself, there was no immediate answer. Learning its name was considered essential to the ritual, as addressing a demon by name is a repeated part of the rite. This was depicted in The Exorcism of Emily Rose, with Father Moore repeatedly demanding that the demon reveal its name.

Eventually, Anneliese reportedly said that six demons were inside her: Cain, the biblical figure who murdered his brother Abel; Judas Iscariot; Nero; Adolf Hitler; Lucifer; and a disgraced 16th-century priest named Father Fleischmann. The movie changes this considerably. Hitler and Fleischmann are replaced by figures from demonology, Belial and Legion, and the film takes the idea a step further by having each entity identify itself in a different language.

Forty tapes were reportedly recorded during the exorcisms, and the ritual was performed a total of 67 times.

The Exorcism Tapes and Anneliese’s Final Months

Dr. Richard Roth, one of the physicians who treated Anneliese, later listened to the exorcism tapes. He was allegedly so disturbed by what he heard that he began praying again. That detail also makes it into the movie when the character of Dr. Cartwright appears midway through the story as a potential star witness, only to leave the film almost as quickly as he arrives.

Anneliese reportedly said things such as, “Go on, pray all day, I’m not leaving.” The demons had supposedly promised to leave her body on October 31, 1975. Father Renz, who assisted with the exorcisms, said he believed the demons left one by one. But it turned out to be a lie. Anneliese once again spoke in defiance, saying the demons refused to leave her body.

Father Alt was also experiencing strange phenomena of his own. At his house, he reportedly heard doors slamming and knocking and smelled something burning. His housekeeper and her daughter allegedly noticed the same things.

During the exorcisms, Anneliese’s behavior reportedly became increasingly extreme. She performed hundreds of genuflections in rapid succession, allegedly bit and punched herself, and appeared to speak with one voice while another voice screamed. Dr. Roth advised against continuing the exorcisms because he believed they were becoming too much for Anneliese to handle.

Anneliese nevertheless agreed with the priests that she didn’t need to be placed in a mental institution. She also reportedly maintained that she shouldn’t see a doctor. She said she had been told by the Virgin Mary in a dream that her suffering would end in July. That prophecy sadly came true.

How Did Anneliese Michel Die?

Anneliese Michel died on July 1, 1976. Dr. Keller, the physician brought in for the postmortem examination, refused to certify her death as being from natural causes. A pathologist determined that she died from starvation and dehydration. There was no obvious underlying physical cause, and her organs reportedly appeared healthy.

Anneliese had increasingly refused or struggled to eat, reportedly because the demons discouraged or forbade her from doing so. At the time of her death, she reportedly weighed only 68 pounds.

Her death immediately became a subject of intense debate. Some people believed she had never been possessed and that what happened amounted to a form of medieval treatment imposed on a seriously ill young woman. Those who believed in the possession theory were divided as well. Some felt the demons had killed her and that evil had ultimately won. Others believed Anneliese’s death had been a sacrifice and that she had sent the demons back to Hell, allowing good to triumph over evil.

The Trial of Anneliese Michel’s Parents and Priests

Father Renz, Father Alt, and Anneliese’s parents were indicted for negligent homicide. That’s another major difference from The Exorcism of Emily Rose. In the movie, Father Moore is the only person charged and put on trial.

A nun named Sister Dorothea later claimed to have received messages from Anneliese saying that she had died as a penance to benefit Germany, young people, and priests. Father Alt reportedly believed these messages. Dorothea also claimed that Anneliese wanted her body exhumed before the trial to prove that it had been supernaturally preserved.

Her parents eventually received permission to have her remains exhumed in February 1978. News of the exhumation spread, and a crowd gathered that February day. But when Anneliese’s remains were examined, her body had decomposed normally.

The following month, another crowd gathered. This time, it was for the trial. The courtroom only had room for 100 people, meaning some people had to be turned away. Josef asked if those present could kneel and pray, but the judge denied the request.

Father Alt was the first to testify. He said that if Anneliese had needed medical help, he and Father Renz would have recommended that she see a doctor. He testified that her starvation was caused by the demons’ influence over her.

What Did the Doctors Say About Anneliese Michel?

A psychiatrist, Professor Sates, was called to the stand. He believed Anneliese could have survived if she had been forced into treatment, including tranquilization, force-feeding, and electroshock therapy. His testimony makes it into The Exorcism of Emily Rose mostly intact. Since Sates had never personally examined Anneliese and was there to provide expert testimony, there wasn’t much for the filmmakers to change. In the movie, Dr. Briggs makes essentially the same argument.

Other doctors who testified believed Anneliese had died as a result of epilepsy, mental disorders, and an extreme religious environment. The specific form of epilepsy they believed she had was temporal lobe epilepsy, which can cause seizures, hallucinations, and changes in behavior.

From 1968 to 1976, Anneliese reportedly saw at least eight different doctors. Their diagnoses varied, and there was a period when it seemed as though she was simply going in circles. In a private conversation, Peter said Anneliese once asked why the doctors didn’t simply admit that they didn’t know what was wrong with her. That innocent question makes the entire case all the more sad.

What Happened to the People Responsible for Anneliese’s Exorcisms?

Father Alt and Father Renz were found guilty and received six-month prison sentences. Their sentences were ultimately suspended, with three years of probation. Anneliese’s parents were also found guilty and received the same prison sentence, but the court exempted them from punishment because it determined they had already “suffered enough” from the tragic loss of their daughter.

The movie handles the outcome differently. Father Moore is found guilty, but the jury recommends a sentence of time already served, meaning he’s free to go. Not even a little roadside community service for the Padre. More importantly, though, it makes the entire trial feel somewhat inconsequential.

In real life, the judge believed the exorcisms had aggravated Anneliese’s illness. He stated that she could have survived if she had been taken to a clinic even a week before her death.

While refusing medical treatment was Anneliese’s constitutional right, the judge believed her epilepsy had evolved into psychosis. He determined that by May 1976, two months before her death, she was no longer capable of making her own medical decisions.

How Accurate Is The Exorcism of Emily Rose?

The connections between Anneliese Michel’s real story and The Exorcism of Emily Rose are more structural than faithful. The film takes the basic elements of the case (a young woman, a mysterious illness, alleged demonic possession, an exorcism, her death, and a priest facing criminal charges) and builds a courtroom horror movie around them.

It also changes numerous details. Emily Rose is American rather than German. The movie invents Father Moore, changes the demons who allegedly possessed her, condenses the complicated medical history, and turns the real-life criminal case into a more streamlined courtroom narrative.

But the film’s central idea remains connected to Anneliese Michel’s story: a young woman suffering from a condition that neither medicine nor religion seemed able to resolve, and a group of people who became convinced that something supernatural was happening to her. And Jennifer Carpenter’s performance is one for the horror books.

The Exorcist and the Anneliese Michel Connection

Interestingly, Anneliese’s story sometimes bears more resemblance to William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist, which became a cultural phenomenon around the same time her case was unfolding. That makes some of the similarities between the two stories even eerier.

But beyond the details, the movies, and the endless debate over whether Anneliese was actually possessed, there was a young woman who suffered for years before her death. Her case raises questions that are still relevant today, questions about life, death, faith, medicine, and the afterlife. What actually caused her long illness? Could everything she experienced be scientifically explained? Or was there something happening to her that remains beyond our understanding?

Nearly 50 years after Anneliese Michel’s death, those questions remain. And perhaps that’s why her story continues to fascinate, disturb, and divide people to this day. And that is the real story behind The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

A couple of previous episodes of this show can be seen below. For more, check out the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel—and don’t forget to subscribe!

The post What Happened to Anneliese Michel? The Real Story Behind The Exorcism of Emily Rose appeared first on JoBlo.

PLOT: On Halloween night, 1978, no one is safe from Michael Myers. Become the Boogeyman or fight back against the face of evil itself in Halloween.

REVIEW: I should probably get this out of the way right from the start: I’m an easy mark for anything Halloween. I’m also an easy mark for asymmetrical multiplayer games.  I find myself playing them more often than your standard long-form single-player game these days.

I was introduced to the franchise through Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. Since then, Michael Myers has been one of my favorite horror icons. So when IllFonic and Gun Interactive announced Halloween: The Game, an asymmetrical multiplayer game built around John Carpenter’s 1978 classic, I was already on board. 

Thankfully, after spending time roaming Haddonfield both as Michael and as one of the civilians trying to stay alive, I’m having a great time with it.

That surprised me a little because some of the early reactions were pretty negative to mixed. You can read our earlier review here.  But I played with the Day One Patch installed, which addressed several problems players had been reporting before launch, including matchmaking issues, NPC pathfinding, crash fixes, achievement tracking, scoring, stamina balancing, and making escape locations easier for civilians to discover.

Whatever state the game may have been in during Early Access, that simply hasn’t been my experience.

Matchmaking has actually been one of the biggest surprises. I can jump into a lobby and get a game going almost immediately. Of course, the massive launch probably helps. More than 500,000 players jumped in across PC and consoles within hours of release, while its Steam debut was the biggest yet for an asymmetrical horror game. For a game like this, especially at launch, that matters a lot. There’s nothing that kills the mood faster than sitting around waiting forever for a match to start.  Once it does, Halloween will understand exactly what people want out of a game like this.

IllFonic and Gun Interactive are clearly fans of the horror genre. I still miss the days of Friday the 13th: The Game, and I continue to play The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, so this style of horror game is already very much my thing. But Halloween doesn’t just feel like another asymmetrical game with Michael Myers dropped into it.

It actually feels like Halloween.

The atmosphere is probably its greatest strength. The suburban streets, houses, lighting, sound design, and music all work together to make Haddonfield feel like the place we remember from Carpenter’s movie. Story Mode takes that even further with a grainy visual texture that helps give everything the look and feel of the original 1978 film.

This is what sets it apart from the likes of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.  Story Mode is essentially an extended tutorial for playing as Michael, but I think its short length works in its favor. I normally prefer longer games, but at a little over two hours, give or take, this feels like the right amount of time. It teaches you how Michael works, lets you enjoy the atmosphere, gives you some scenarios inspired by the film, and then gets out of the way.

The multiplayer is obviously where the game is meant to live.

Playing as Michael is just fun. Instead of reducing him to nothing more than a big guy with a knife, the developers found ways to translate what makes Michael scary into actual gameplay. His ability to disappear and reappear around Haddonfield becomes part of how you stalk players, while the heavy breathing, music, and sound design go a long way toward making you feel like you’re actually playing as The Shape.

There are also plenty of environmental kills scattered around the map, which gives Michael more variety than simply stabbing everyone over and over again.

The civilian side is more involved than just running away, too. You’re searching houses and businesses for weapons, keys, and supplies, helping residents, contacting police, finding escape routes, and trying to work with the other players while Michael is somewhere nearby.

It’s the unpredictability where a lot of the fun comes from. Sometimes everyone works together perfectly. Sometimes everything goes to hell within minutes. Even a terrifying encounter with Michael suddenly becomes hilarious because another player does something completely stupid. That’s what makes these kinds of multiplayer horror games so entertaining.

There are definitely areas that could use improvement. The game does a much better job teaching you how to play Michael than it does explaining the civilian side.  I must admit, I was pretty lost at first.

I also wish some of the main characters had better likenesses to the original actors. Laurie Strode is the biggest example. She looks more like Vera Farmiga than Jamie Lee Curtis.  Considering how much attention was clearly paid to recreating the atmosphere of the original movie, that can be a little distracting.  The voice actors, however, do a great job with their characters and help sell the world even when the likenesses don’t always hit the mark.

There are some rough edges, and I don’t think anyone should go into Halloween: The Game expecting a huge single-player experience. This is first and foremost an asymmetrical multiplayer game. If you’ve never liked that style of gameplay, Michael Myers probably isn’t suddenly going to change your mind. But if you already enjoy these kinds of games, this one feels like it was made for horror fans.

My experience has simply been much more positive than some of those early reviews suggested. I’m getting into matches quickly. I had a lot of fun with Story Mode, Haddonfield looks and sounds like Haddonfield, and playing as Michael actually makes you feel like Michael Myers.

Most importantly, when one match ends, I usually want to jump straight into another.

If you’re a horror fan, a Halloween fan, or someone who still misses loading into Friday the 13th with a group of strangers and watching everything immediately fall apart, Halloween: The Game is going to be right up your alley.

There’s always room for improvement, but the Day One Patch was already a good start. Hopefully, future updates continue to build on what’s here because I could easily see myself returning to Haddonfield for a long time.

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The wait is almost over, campers. The official trailer for Crystal Lake, Peacock and A24’s Friday the 13th prequel series, has arrived, giving horror fans their best look yet at Linda Cardellini as Pamela Voorhees and the terrifying events that will ultimately lead to the birth of one of the genre’s most infamous killers.

Created by Brad Caleb Kane, Crystal Lake takes viewers back to the world of Friday the 13th to tell the story of Pamela Voorhees before the events of the original 1980 movie. Cardellini stars as Pamela, with Callum Vinson playing her young son, Jason Voorhees.

The series follows Pam nearly a year after Jason’s tragic drowning in Crystal Lake. Still consumed by grief, she finds her life thrown into further turmoil when two strangers arrive at her door investigating her past. Their arrival sets off a disturbing chain of events and raises an ominous question among the residents of Crystal Lake: just who is Pam Voorhees?

The character of Pamela Voorhees was made iconic by Betsy Palmer in the original Friday the 13th. Rather than simply recreating Palmer’s performance, Cardellini is taking the opportunity to explore Pamela as a grieving mother and show the experiences that transform her into a killer.

And while the series is interested in Pamela’s emotional journey, Crystal Lake isn’t going to shy away from the bloody horror that fans expect from the Friday the 13th franchise. Cardellini has previously teased that the series gets “gory” and “gross,” with the production making extensive use of practical effects.

This isn’t simply a remake of Friday the 13th with a different cast. Crystal Lake is using the original movie as a starting point while building out the characters, history, and dark secrets surrounding the infamous camp.

When Does Crystal Lake Premiere?

All eight episodes of Crystal Lake will premiere on Peacock on October 15, 2026.

The series has also been selected for the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival, and the first episode will also receive an exclusive screening at New York Comic Con on October 8, followed by a panel featuring Kane, Cardellini, Vinson, William Catlett, Devin Kessler, Cameron Scoggins, and Gwendolyn Sundstrom.

The series is produced by A24, with Kane serving as creator, writer, showrunner, and executive producer. The executive producers also include Marc Toberoff, Robert M. Barsamian, Robert P. Barsamian, Stuart Manashil, Tyson Bidner, Michael Lennox, Roy Lee, and the late Victor Miller.

For Friday the 13th fans, Crystal Lake represents a long-awaited return to one of horror’s most recognizable settings. This time, though, the story isn’t about a masked killer stalking teenagers around a summer camp. It’s about the woman who started it all. And if this trailer is any indication, Pamela Voorhees is going to have one hell of a story to tell.

Will you be watching Crystal Lake? Take a look at the trailer, then let us know by leaving a comment below.

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PLOT: Three grieving siblings reunite to scatter their late father’s ashes on the river he loved, but when their boat breaks down, they find themselves stalked by two remorseless, masked killers.

REVIEW: Let’s get one thing out of the way first: River is a slasher film and doesn’t do anything completely unexpected with the genre. It’s a meat-and-potatoes horror/survival flick, owing massive debts to Friday the 13th, Halloween, The Strangers, and John Boorman’s classic Deliverance. Yet, just because it isn’t a fresh take on the genre doesn’t mean that it’s not entertaining. Director Joshua Giuliano has made a superior programmer that should find an appreciative horror audience once it hits theaters from IFC prior to its Shudder debut (release date TBA). It’s well-made, evocatively shot, gory, and features a strong cast.

Genre stalwart Jane Levy returns to horror for the first time in many years—her first since establishing herself as a rising scream queen in Fede Álvarez’s Evil Dead remake and their follow-up, Don’t Breathe. Now in her thirties, she brings a certain gravitas to the movie, delivering a strong performance that’s well above average for the genre. She’s not playing a character archetype, but rather a real, flesh-and-blood person. As the favorite daughter of her late dad, she took over his blue-collar business and now resents her older sister (Jessica Rothe—also strong), who has returned home after a long estrangement. Unlike her siblings, who include their fragile younger brother (Max Mattern), the older sister can only focus on their father’s shortcomings rather than the more admirable qualities his younger children remember. The fractured dynamic between the three is convincing, especially once the terror starts.

While the film is a slow burn, once the siblings notice they are being watched from the shore by a shirtless, hulking masked man—who we later find out has a female partner—we know they’re in trouble. It turns out they are far from the first victims, and they get a first-hand look at the grisly fate that awaits them, turning the story into a ferocious battle for survival. Perhaps more action-driven than strictly horror—particularly in the final act, which plays out like a survival thriller—the gore is heavy-duty, featuring decapitations, immolations, and gruesome wounds. What makes it especially entertaining, though, is the siblings’ devotion to one another, with no one acting purely out of self-interest. They have their differences, but they are willing to risk their lives for each other, with even the timid younger brother getting a few moments where he rises to the occasion.

The three leads are great, even if River ends up being largely Levy’s show. She plays a tough, believable heroine with plenty of gusto alongside a vulnerable core. The killers are intentionally kept mysterious, with Giuliano sprinkling in a few elements that could pave the way for a modest franchise if River performs well. Beyond the cast, the film is gorgeously shot in 2.35:1 on location in West Virginia. The score is sparse, and the scares are never cheap. Again, it’s not the most original horror film out there, but for a solid, meat-and-potatoes slasher, you can’t go wrong with River.

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Cody

Hollywood loves a crossover, and so do I. From Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man to King Kong vs. Godzilla, Freddy vs. Jason, and Alien vs. Predator, audiences have been watching characters from completely different franchises collide on the big screen for decades. But for every crossover that actually made it into theaters, there are plenty that never made it past the development stage.

Some of these movies had scripts and filmmakers attached. Others were pitches that made it surprisingly far before studios pulled the plug. And some are so completely bizarre that it’s hard to believe anyone in Hollywood actually considered making them.

What if Chucky had gone up against the kid from Problem Child? What if Jay and Silent Bob had opened the Lament Configuration? What if Michael Myers had faced Pinhead? These aren’t fan-made movie concepts. They were real crossover ideas that were, at various points, discussed or developed by the people who could have actually made them happen. These projects did exist at very different stages of development, though. Some had scripts and filmmakers attached, while others were treatments or pitches that never got that far.

Here are 11 crazy movie crossovers that almost happened… and, in most cases, I wish they had.

Problem Child vs. Chucky

Junior from Problem Child and Chucky from Child’s Play could have shared the screen decades ago. Problem Child writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski recently revealed that they actually pitched Universal on a crossover between the two franchises in the 1990s. The idea was to bring Junior face-to-face with the murderous Good Guy doll, but Universal passed on it.

The concept was envisioned as an Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein-style horror comedy, which makes the pairing pretty obvious: Junior is a pint-sized agent of chaos, while Chucky is a pint-sized serial killer. Both franchises were also Universal properties, making this one of those bizarre crossover ideas that really could have happened. Instead, Problem Child vs. Chucky remained a pitch, and the world was denied what could have been one seriously weird comedy. Meanwhile, Child’s Play franchise creator Don Mancini has let it be known that the crossover he wants to see is Chucky vs. Freddy.

Jay and Silent Bob Meet Pinhead

After Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Dimension Films chairman Bob Weinstein wanted Kevin Smith to turn Jay and Silent Bob into an Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein-style comedy duo who crossed paths with the studio’s various horror properties. Dimension had Hellraiser, Halloween, and Children of the Corn, and Weinstein suggested a movie where Jay and Bob met those modern-day monsters. Smith said they “mulled over” Jay and Silent Bob Meet Michael Myers for about five minutes, but his favorite idea was Jay and Silent Bob Meet Pinhead.

Smith imagined Jay and Bob finding the Lament Configuration and discovering that their version of Hell involved being sent to rehab. He thought the idea was funny, but ultimately couldn’t “get his head around” making the movie. Dimension, however, seemed genuinely interested enough for Smith to consider how it might work. When he told his friend Ben Affleck about the idea, Affleck initially laughed before thinking about it and predicting, “That movie would make $100 million.” Instead, the most we ever got was a Jay and Silent Bob cameo in Scream 3.

Michael Myers vs. Pinhead

Following the success of Freddy vs. Jason, Dimension Films looked to its own horror library and came up with another unlikely matchup: Michael Myers vs. Pinhead. The proposed Halloween/Hellraiser crossover was reportedly called Helloween, and Pinhead actor Doug Bradley confirmed in 2003 that Dimension was planning the movie, while filmmakers were brought in to pitch it.

Things got especially interesting when Dimension approached Clive Barker and John Carpenter about working on the film. Barker agreed to write it if Carpenter would direct, while Carpenter agreed to direct if Barker would write. For a brief moment, the prospect of having the creators of Hellraiser and Halloween team up on a Michael Myers vs. Pinhead movie was very real. Unfortunately, Helloween eventually stalled. Halloween producer Moustapha Akkad strongly opposed Michael Myers appearing in another horror franchise, and the Weinsteins reportedly eventually lost interest as well. Barker later complained that the studio treated Myers too preciously, like Hamlet. Considering who was involved, this is one crossover that could have been something truly special.

21 Jump Street / Men in Black

Sony actually got surprisingly far with a 21 Jump Street/Men in Black crossover. Known as MIB 23, the movie had a script that directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller described as “very funny and very crazy,” with Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum’s characters getting caught up in the world of the Men in Black while on a medical school adventure and eventually teaming up to stop an alien takeover.

Lord and Miller even revealed one of the script’s strangest ideas: the black suits would work like martial arts belts, meaning Hill and Tatum would initially be stuck wearing powder-blue Men in Black suits. James Bobin was attached to direct, and the project came close to happening before Sony ultimately gave up. Producer Walter Parkes admitted in 2019 that it was an “impossible match-up.” Considering the 21 Jump Street movies’ comedic style, though, MIB 23 sounds like exactly the kind of ridiculous idea that might have worked.

Cheech & Chong Meet Jason

After making Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, director Tom McLoughlin pitched Paramount executive Frank Mancuso Jr. on an unusual idea for the next sequel: Cheech & Chong Meet Jason. Since Paramount was behind both franchises, the crossover was actually possible, with McLoughlin imagining Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong as camp counselors (or possibly just two forest-dwelling stoners) who secretly ran a weed farm in the woods while encountering Jason Voorhees.

McLoughlin admitted the idea was “half-kidding and half-serious,” but he and Mancuso quickly realized the problem: a Cheech & Chong movie would probably be more comedy than horror, potentially angering Friday the 13th fans. Paramount instead moved forward with Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, leaving this wonderfully strange crossover behind. And so, what could have been one of the best movies of the 1980s was just tossed aside. Having Cheech and Chong as camp counselors in a Friday the 13th movie would have been amazing.

King Kong vs. Frankenstein

Before King Kong vs. Godzilla, Willis O’Brien, the stop-motion effects artist who brought the original Kong to life, tried to get another Kong monster mash made. His idea was King Kong vs. Frankenstein, later called King Kong vs. The Ginko, which would have pitted Kong against a Frankenstein-created creature made from animal body parts. O’Brien envisioned the monsters eventually battling through San Francisco and onto the Golden Gate Bridge.

Producer John Beck took O’Brien’s concept and developed it into a screenplay called King Kong vs. Prometheus, but couldn’t find a studio willing to finance it. Then he approached Japan’s Toho Studios, which was looking for a major movie to celebrate its 30th anniversary. Toho liked the idea of bringing Kong back, but wanted to put him against their own giant monster instead. O’Brien’s Frankenstein concept was discarded, and the project ultimately became 1962’s King Kong vs. Godzilla.

Godzilla vs. Gamera

Godzilla and Gamera are two of Japan’s most famous giant monsters, but they belong to different companies. Godzilla is owned by Toho, while Gamera originated with Daiei, which was later acquired by Kadokawa. That hasn’t stopped people on both sides from trying to bring the two titans together. During production of Gamera: Guardian of the Universe in 1995, Daiei executive producer Yasuyoshi Tokuma expressed interest in a Godzilla/Gamera crossover and approached Toho about the possibility. The idea didn’t come together, but it resurfaced after Kadokawa acquired Daiei’s properties. In 2002, Kadokawa president Kazuo Kuroi announced plans for a Godzilla vs. Gamera movie and again approached Toho, only for Toho to turn the proposal down.

So this wasn’t just a case of fans wondering what would happen if the two monsters fought. The companies that controlled Godzilla and Gamera actually discussed making it happen more than once. Even Shusuke Kaneko, director of the Heisei Gamera trilogy, has called a Godzilla/Gamera movie his dream project. Unfortunately, the rights holders never managed to agree on a deal, leaving one of Japan’s most obvious monster mashups permanently stuck in development hell.

Batman Meets Godzilla

Godzilla has fought just about every giant monster imaginable (aside from Gamera), but one of the strangest opponents ever seriously considered for the King of the Monsters was Batman. Screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa, who had written several Godzilla movies, was looking to replicate the international success of King Kong vs. Godzilla when he came up with the idea of putting Godzilla up against one of America’s most popular superheroes. He submitted a treatment to Toho in November 1965, just two months before the Batman TV series starring Adam West premiered.

Sekizawa’s story featured a villain using high-tech devices to control both the weather and Godzilla, forcing Batman, Robin, and Batgirl to battle the monster with an arsenal of gadgets and vehicles, including the Batmobile. The treatment never developed beyond that stage, but a few years later there was another attempt. In 1968, Batman producer William Dozier considered a movie called Batman Meets Godzilla, which would send Commissioner Gordon and his daughter Barbara to Tokyo, where Godzilla’s arrival would force Batman and Robin to travel to Japan. Another treatment was written, but that project also went nowhere. What’s fascinating is that both sides apparently had their own Godzilla/Batman movie in mind, although it’s unclear whether Toho and Dozier were ever actually in contact about the two concepts. Either way, the Dark Knight came surprisingly close to facing Godzilla on the big screen… twice.

Leprechaun vs. Candyman

After the success of Freddy vs. Jason in 2003, Hollywood started looking for more horror icons that could be thrown together for another crossover. One of the strangest ideas was Leprechaun vs. Candyman, which actually made it far enough for a rough draft of the screenplay to be written and presented to Tony Todd. Todd, who played the titular Candyman, immediately rejected the idea. Todd had enormous respect for the Candyman character and felt that putting Candyman into a comedy-horror crossover with the Leprechaun franchise would undermine what made the character special.

The two series did have one important thing in common: Lionsgate was involved with both, meaning the studio didn’t have the same kind of rights problem that killed many other crossover ideas. But Todd wasn’t convinced that was a good enough reason to make the movie. It’s easy to imagine how the tonal clash could have been a problem. Warwick Davis’s Leprechaun tended to be very comedic, while Todd’s Candyman was conceived as a more tragic and genuinely frightening figure.

Rocky Meets The Karate Kid

It sounds like the kind of crossover someone would invent as a joke, but Rocky Balboa and Daniel LaRusso almost shared a movie universe. A Rocky/Karate Kid crossover was reportedly being developed as recently as 2012, with John G. Avildsen, the director of the original Rocky and Karate Kid movies, approached to direct. The story wouldn’t actually have centered on Rocky and Daniel, though. Instead, it would have followed Rocky’s son, Rocky Balboa Jr., and Daniel’s daughter, who meet and open a dojo together before discovering that their fathers are long-lost relatives.

The odd family connection wasn’t the only problem. The concept reportedly had little interest from Sylvester Stallone and Ralph Macchio, and without the two iconic characters at the center of the story, there wasn’t much reason for audiences to get excited about the crossover. The project ultimately went nowhere, and that’s probably for the best. Instead of forcing Rocky and Daniel into the same family tree, both franchises went on to successful new chapters with Creed and Cobra Kai.

Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash

I saved this one for last because the fact that this movie didn’t happen is the greatest cinematic disappointment of my life. After the box office success of Freddy vs. Jason in 2003, New Line Cinema began working on a sequel that would have added chainsaw-wielding hero Ash Williams (played by Bruce Campbell) of the Evil Dead franchise to the battle between Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. New Line was working with Evil Dead creator Sam Raimi to bring Ash into the franchise, and there was even a treatment for the movie.

According to Bloody Disgusting, the project had a verbal agreement in place and was expected to be officially announced at the end of October 2004. Then The Grudge, produced by Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures, opened to big box office numbers of its own. Raimi subsequently announced that he would produce a reboot of The Evil Dead, reportedly backing away from the Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash deal in the process. With Raimi no longer moving forward with the crossover and instead looking forward to a reboot that would take nine years to be made and released, the movie was dead. The fact that a complete treatment exists gives us a pretty good idea of what we missed. Freddy, Jason, and Ash really could have been the next great horror crossover after Freddy vs. Jason. Instead, fans eventually got a comic book in 2007, which adapted the concept into a six-issue series. It’s one of those rare unmade movies where we can actually read the story that almost made it to the screen. Still, even twenty years later, I remain heartbroken that I didn’t get to see Bruce Campbell share the screen with Freddy and Jason.

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Plenty of films successfully blend horror and comedy, but during test screenings for the new Resident Evil movie, writer/director Zach Cregger learned that he had leaned too hard into the funny and needed to make some cuts. But it turns out that it was all for the best.

Resident Evil Test Screenings

“I learned that people really liked the movie, but they thought it was too funny,” Cregger told THR after being asked if he learned anything from test screenings. “So over the course of my testing, I stripped out as much of the jokes as possible. I then found that not only did the audience enjoy the movie more, but I also liked the movie a lot more. A little bit of humor goes a long way in a horror movie, and there’s not a single joke I took out of this movie that I miss.“

No More Franchises

After scoring original-concept hits with Barbarian and Weapons, some fans were surprised when Cregger signed on to tackle Resident Evil. But don’t expect this to mark the beginning of a franchise-hopping phase for the filmmaker, as he’s made it clear that Resident Evil is a one-and-done exception.

“I have never been approached by another franchise,” Cregger said. “Maybe I have, but it would never get to me because I have been very clear that I’m not doing that. I’m doing this, and that’s it for me.“

Resident Evil Receives Glowing Early Reactions

The film stars Austin Abrams as Bryan, “a medical courier who finds himself caught in the middle of a biohazard outbreak. What begins as a routine night quickly turns into a desperate fight for survival as he encounters the horrors unleashed by the outbreak.“

The film has received some very enthusiastic early reactions, or at least, the first thirty minutes have. Our own JimmyO was among a handful of critics to view the footage, and it’s safe to say he loved it.

“Just caught the first 30 minutes of Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil—and it’s absolutely fantastic. Moody, creepy, atmospheric, and genuinely funny,” he said. “Austin Abrams is incredible—funny, grounded, and makes you root for him instantly. His performance handles both the terror and the laughs with total perfection. Incredible casting choice.“ He added that this could finally be the movie that proves you can make a truly great horror video game movie.

Resident Evil will hit theaters on September 18.

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