UPDATE: The next Friday the 13th movie is now heading for a Jan. 13, 2017 release date, with a script by Aaron Guzikowski that's been described as Dazed and Confused meets Jason.
A recent interview with horror movie producer Brad Fuller dropped some interesting hints about the upcoming Friday the 13th movie, including the strange role Interstellar plays in its eventual release.
Little is yet known about the upcoming Friday the 13th sequel, with the producer unsure on story direction and whether or not it would be a sequel to the 2009 Friday the 13th remake. Still, Paramount has no intention of letting a little thing like no story and no script get in the way, with a release date for the upcoming Friday the 13th movie already set for May 13, 2016. The planned Friday the 13th release date is a Friday the 13th, of course.
Friday the 13th Remake Trailer
Brad Fuller is a movie producer primarily responsible for the endless string of mid-2000’s horror movie rehashes, most of which failed spectacularly. Fuller was the producer of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hitcher, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Amityville Horror, in addition to new original horror properties such as The Purge and Ouija.
In the interview with Esquire he comes across as a genuinely well-intentioned, if misguided, horror movie midwife. While it made back far more than its budget, Fuller’s 2009 Friday the 13th (directed by Marcus Nispel, who also directed the well-intentioned Conan the Barbarian into the ground) is widely considered a flop for failing to kickstart further franchise entries. Still, Brad Fuller promises that this time will be different, citing both a new collaboration with Paranormal Activity producer Jason Blum and his dedication to getting the Friday the 13th series right:
“Some movies you do for some reasons and some you do 'cause you just love the source material. And truly this is something that we all love here," he said.
It also helps that Interstellar cleared the way for Jason’s return in further Friday the 13th installments. While originally trapped at the Warner Bros. subsidiary New Line Cinema, who didn’t seem interested in further installments of Friday the 13th, Jason and his hockey mask became a key part in the negotiation between Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. over who would get all those Christopher Nolan space bucks. Ultimately, Warner Bros. handed Friday the 13th over to Paramount in exchange for a cut of the Interstellar box office take.
“There have been titles in my past that I’ve done, movies that I’ve made, that I was not as passionate about the source material and I’ve learned my lesson from doing that," Fuller said in an interview with Esquire.
While Fuller claims he learned his lesson, the few inklings into his creative direction for Friday the 13th would seem to suggest the Friday the 13th franchise is on the same reliable path to mediocrity as ever.
More specifically, Fuller calls for deeper insight into Jason’s capacity for resurrection. Here’s the money quote:
"There's always been this supernatural aspect to these movies. It defies logic that, you see Jason get killed in every movie, including ours, the 2009 one. And then he comes back and no one's ever really investigated what that is. So that's something that I think about a little bit. Like it is supernatural, but what is he? Those are the things that we're toying with. Nothing has been decided. But those type of things: How does he always come back?”
If this intrigues you then it might be time to start looking forward to the return of Friday the 13th on May 13, 2016. Personally, it sounds like the exact wrong lesson to take from the Friday the 13th series. Not only is it a question that has had various answers throughout the franchise, but it seems oblivious to the way mythology should be built in slasher movies: while on the run.
Will belaboring Jason’s immortality make for an interesting Friday the 13th sequel? Or is Ginny deploying child psychology in Friday the 13th Part 2 and futzing with the head shrine to Pamela Voorhees all the character development we need? Is that question too obviously leading?
Update: As a commenter pointed out, and a Hollywood Reporter article confirms, Paramount only has until 2018 to exercise their Friday the 13th rights, explaining the headlong rush to a 2016 release date.
Friday the 13th Character Development Done Right
Let me know in the comments or @AndWhalen.
