Fans of ‘Friday the 13th‘ have more great news to rejoice about this year! Not only was Jason Voorhees just featured in ‘Mortal Kombat X‘ but now the hockey masked slasher won’t have to be stuck in a found footage film when he returns. That’s right! The massive outcry of negativity over the news last year that the next ‘Friday the 13th’ would be a found footage film has had the studio change their minds. Producer Brad Fuller recently opened up a little about what we can expect from the film by director David Bruckner (‘V/H/S’) and writer Nick Antosca (‘Hannibal’,’The Forest’) and so far it all sounds like good news.
While caving into viewer pressure might not always be a good thing, I’m pretty sure fans of the franchise who hope that they can still spark some new life into it are happy to hear this change of direction.
Fuller specifically cites fan reactions when it comes to the changes when he says that:
“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.”
Found footage can work for horror films but for a classic slasher like this one, it just never made sense to me. I’m glad the direction has changed but what new course has been set for Jason’s return?
“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.”
A new take on the old classic sounds good on paper and I hope that what they’ve got in mind can deliver. With a back catalog of 11 films and being tied to Crystal Lake though there is only so much that can be added which hasn’t been done already.
Are you glad to hear that the next ‘Friday the 13th’ won’t be a found footage film? Are you excited that we’re getting a 12th film in the franchise? What ideas might they incorperate into the film that haven’t been done so far? Share your thoughts below!
Jason will return in the next installment of ‘Friday the 13th’ on May 13, 2016
Sources: Slash Film, Coming Soon.
