This Article Originally Ran On Blumhouse.com
Welcome to A Very Spooky… where we take a look at and review a classic TV series that is not known for horror but would, on occasion, dip its toes into the waters of terror…
This week, we’ll be looking at Psych season 3 episode 15, “Tuesday the 17th”.
I want to be clear from the start, I am a fan of Psych. I own a talking Gus bobblehead. It came with a talking Shawn bobblehead, which my buddy Alex has, because he is the only other person I have met in person who likes the show.
Psych, if you’ve never seen it, is an old people show for “younger” people. Shawn and Gus, friends since childhood, solve murders that are never gross and usually fun. Shawn, mentally abused (in a fund way?) by his father when he was growing up, has become hyper aware and has something close to a photographic memory - he uses these skills to pretend that he is a psychic, claiming that his supernatural skills are how he solves cases. Each case is sure to include chances to stick in 80s pop culture references, goofy fake names for Gus and, on occasion, digs at The Mentalist, a show with the a very similar concept that showed up on CBS a year after Psych began.
The cases on the show are almost never overly interesting - it is the back and forth of Shawn and Gus that, for me, made the show work so well. James Roday (Shawn) and Dule Hill (Gus) had great chemistry together, and you can tell that they had a blast working on the show for eight seasons.
Sure enough, across those eight seasons, Psych would touch on the horror genre from time to time - there’s an episode with a werewolf, at least two episodes dealing with ghosts, and a serial killer who pops up across multiple seasons - and today we’ll be taking look at one of my favorite ones, the one that plays on slasher movies.
In “Tuesday the 17th”, Shawn and Gus are hired by an old friend, Jason Cunningham, to help him find a missing person. Shawn, Gus, and Jason all went to the same summer camp - Camp Tikihama, and recently Jason has bought the camp grounds looking to restore it and reopen the camp. It was while he and his friends were working on the campgrounds that one of them vanished. Jason, not wanting to start the return of Camp Tikihama with articles about a missing person, hopes that Shawn and Gus can find the missing counselor before they need to call in the police.
Sure enough, there’s a backstory to why Camp Tikihama closed in the first place - in 1989, a camp counselor was electrocuted in the pool, leading to the camp shutting down. Sure enough, when Shawn and Gus arrive, they meet the group of young, good looking counselors, and the one chubby goofy guy for comic relief. You can see where this is going…
Counselors start dropping like flies - there’s a killer in the woods, taking them out one by one, and only Shawn and Gus can stop it. I really think you peeps should watch the episode, so I’m not going to spoil any of the twists in it. Safe to say, I really like this one.
The best part of it, from the eyes of a slasher fan, is just how much attention is paid to the history of the slasher genre. Clearly Jason Cunningham is named after Jason Voorhees and Sean Cunningham. The other counselors are also named after slasher/horror icons. You have Annie, named after Annie Brackett from Halloween, Sissy after Sissy Spacek, Clive after Clive Barker, Billy after Billy Loomis from Scream. The episode also takes a Psych staple, flashing to the various clues Shawn has picked up on throughout the episode as he puts them all together and solves the mystery, and places in the flashbulb sound effect from the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre trailer. The killer is dressed like pre-hockey mask Jason, and part of the story deals with a Rick Astley paper mache doll being lost in the lake - no counselors went in to save it. The usual opening credits for Psych are replaced with ones more like the opening credits from the first Friday the 13th, with the shattering glass.
This next bit of slasher homage is a bit of a spoiler for the episode, so if you haven’t seen it and plan to watch, skip the next line, OK?
When Shawn solves the mystery he stops running from the killer and proclaims, “This isn’t Friday the 13th, it’s April Fool’s Day!” The actal reveal of the killer and their motives are VERY similar to the plot of Friday the 13th: A New Beginning.
Aside from the homages, the episode plays on the beats of a slasher movie really well. The closed camp setting allows for low light and an uncomfortable feeling, and an added storm creates a danger to everyone, along with an excuse as to why they can’t call the police (cell phone lines are down) - the show normally takes place in the more sunny and colorful Santa Barbara. The killer looks great, too.
Add in some solid jokes and Dule Hill and James Roday’s ability to pull off great simultaneous high-pitched screams, and you have an honestly well done horror comedy.
Other fun bits of note - this episode (which you can find on Amazon Prime) first aired on the same day that the Friday the 13th remake started its theatrical run in the US. James Roday co-wrote and directed the episode. He also co-wrote the werewolf movie Skinwalkers. Corbin Bernsen, who plays Shawn’s dad on the show, had his own horror franchise with The Dentist. Does two movies count as a franchise?