Now that it’s finally October again, horror cinema can flaunt its bloody body count all over TV and theaters. And while this is usually the best time to watch some scary movies, it’s also a good time for horror-minded filmmakers to get busy on projects for a possible Halloween release next year. And one of those possible projects is the resurrection of Friday the 13th, and ShockTillYouDrop reports that rumors of taking the franchise into found footage territories have reemerged after going dormant for some months. We didn’t report on it at the time, and let me tell you that this many months later, the news doesn’t sound any more pleasant. And I have an unapologetic fondness for both found footage and the Friday the 13th series.
Of course, this still isn’t set it stone or anything, but the fact that producers are still considering it is noteworthy. It’s possible the recent Blu-ray release has got everyone buzzing with ideas again. Only a handful of the films really did something different with the basic plotline, so it might only be hanging around as the lone alternative to “kids woods camp machete boo scream” as a synopsis.
A few months back, Warner Bros. returned the rights to the horror franchise back home at Paramount Pictures for a stake in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. But they revert back to Warner Bros. in 2015, so Paramount and Michael Bay’s production company Platinum Dunes should land a good idea soon. And since these films usually have no problem making their low budgets back, maybe they should land two good ideas and make both films at the same time, like Avatar and The Hobbit. While they’re at it, they should get James Cameron and Peter Jackson to direct.
Making this a first-person POV thriller would definitely be the freshest and most radical idea for a Jason film since putting him in space. But that was pretty over-the-top. This would definitely be the way to go if the producers want to keep things really cheap, but if they’re actually interested in what Friday the 13th fans want to see, they’ll leave this idea in the cabin. Nobody’s favorite part of a Jason flick will ever involve someone running away with the camera shaking like it has hypothermia. Jason lives as an icon through his inventive and violent kills, and found footage is notorious for limiting the amount of money shots viewers can see. Though they’re also criticized for unrealistically having the character hold on to the camera in dangerous situations, and having someone watch Jason kill someone from a decent angle in this format would be the epitome of ludicrous.
So if they keep the found footage idea, I’m sure there will be something of a backlash, so I sure hope they switch-ch-ch-ch. Check out some of Jason’s greatest kills in the video below.
