Good news: the new Friday the 13th won’t be found footage! The idea was floated a while back, but fans rejected it in a huge way. Ditto for the idea of a movie without Jason in it. That has been attempted twice before in the series – and was a terrible idea both times.
Apparently the people who make these things do listen to the fans, as producer Brad Fuller explained:
Listen, there was an outpouring of negative sentiment when it was revealed that Friday the 13th might have been a found footage movie. That was very clear to us that there was not a groundswell of support for that. That had tremendous amount of impact on us and only substantiated our concern about doing it as a found footage movie. Ultimately, the fact that the movie’s been delayed for a long time might be a good thing, because now the movie’s not going to be found footage.
Well, that’s good news. The problem, though, is what to do next. Here’s what Fuller said about future plans:
We’re in the latter phases of that starting over and hopefully we’re getting a script in the next month or two, and we’ll go back to Crystal Lake….At the end of the day, those movies are so fantastic because Jason Voorhees is such a dynamic presence and people love to see him do what he does well. We hope to put Jason in a situation where he’s able to do that again, and it doesn’t feel like you’re seeing the same thing over and over.
So, basically, they have no idea. All they have is a great franchise and nowhere to go with it. Jason has been all over his home lake, to Manhattan, even to space. The problem is that he is the pinnacle of the slasher genre, which in turn does not lend itself to much diversity. Most slashers are about body count or at the very least a few grotesque deaths, a movement that reached its zenith in such trash classics as Don’t Go In The Woods.
Films like Scream and Saw helped re-contextualize the slasher a bit, yet those molds don’t fit Jason at all. In short, unless it involves people screaming and running in the woods, it’s not Friday the 13th.
But there may be a hint in how the previous movie failed: it took the audience for granted and made no real attempt at selling Jason as a dangerous bad guy. It just kind assumed we knew. Well, I know Godzilla is a giant lizard that stomps cities, but I still like to be courted towards that view. This is why, despite its many flaws, the new Godzilla worked.
Either way, the makers of the next Friday the 13th need ideas. Maybe it’s a good time to rework that script you’ve been sitting on?
Last Updated: May 19, 2015
Admiral Chief
May 19, 2015 at 13:55
Good