another friday the 13th film?
 

Read this letter and tell me what you think.

An Open Letter to New Line Cinema, Platinum Dunes and Friday the 13th Fans

Jason junkies, cinema snobs and everyone in between, welcome to our corner of Friday the 13th fandom! For those of you living at the bottom of a lake, a month ago Variety reported that New Line enlisted Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes to develop a remake of Friday the 13th, remixing elements of the first four films. This is your friendly, neighborhood webmaster Blake Washer, and for the last thirty days I’ve been listening to the reaction of fans, talking to friends and turning over my thoughts on this development. The one question I’ve inexorably returned to is “Why?”

In 1992, Jason jumped ship - and I don’t mean the boat in Jason Takes Manhattan. Sean Cunningham came back into the picture and brought Our Man Voorhees with him to New Line Cinema, home of fellow slasher icon Freddy Krueger. Though they had to wait another ten years, the pairing paid off. Freddy vs. Jason was the most successful film of both franchises and number one at the box office in the US for two weeks. Now just three years after, the Friday the 13th series is being restarted. Remade. Reimagined. Why?

Freddy vs. Jason wasn’t New Line’s only 2003 horror hit. The Platinum Dunes-produced Texas Chainsaw Massacre inexpensively resurrected Leatherface and his kin to great success. The genesis of the Friday the 13th remake is obvious. The difference is, Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a dead franchise and never much of a series to begin with. Each of the sequels featured dramatically different takes on Leatherface and his family (including the last, a reboot attempt itself). So while many fans weren’t sold on the need for a remake, it wasn’t preventing something else from getting off the ground. Same situation with Platinum Dunes’s (non-New Line) second rehash, The Amityville Horror.

If the remake leaves Jason’s character largely unchanged, what’s the point of doing a remake at all? It would be just as easy and far more attractive to fans to do a proper sequel and fill in necessary backstory through flashbacks. Audiences would love a dark, definitive Friday the 13th sequel. If the reason for starting over is a dramatic change to the Voorhees saga (producer Brad Fuller says, “we will make it a distinctively different story”), what about the worldwide recognition of who and what Jason is? What about the audience that made Freddy vs. Jason a hit three years ago? The series has a definite mythos and deconstructing Jason unravels that legend as well as the licensing opportunities tied to it (books, comics, toys, etc.) It’s hard to see the purpose of rewriting twenty-five years of history.

So who am I to be second-guessing The House That Freddy Built? I don’t hide my admiration for New Line Cinema, and I’m not trying to give anyone a hard time. I’m not calling for a petition, or a boycott. I just want people, producers and fans, to understand where I’m coming from. I’ve been at this for nine years. So to spend all this time and effort carving out a place for Friday fans but keeping quiet when I see the one thing that could finally kill Jason coming to pass... well, I’d feel a bit of a fool not speaking up.

The question is “Why?” Why fix what isn’t broken? I don’t expect a satisfactory answer, but I have to ask.

Blake Washer
March 14, 2006

i've met people that hate the friday the 13th series, and in my opinion the first three are the best. regardless though, i love this series. the first one was made in 1980, that was like, 26 years ago. another example, halloween, barely made 30 years ago!

my problem is, is that why are we remaking movies for the newer audience. i was born in 1990 and i still found these movies, not to mention older movies. and it's sad because there are kids my age who don't even know that When a Stranger Calls is a remake, it makes me so mad and frustrated.

but i have a solution.........

JUST RE-RELEASE THE MOVIE!

ill agree with you i was born in 91 and ive seen all of the old horror movies (give or take a few) but if they want to make more money from friday the 13th and jason then let them do it it gives me somethin to watch even if its cheesy wich i hope its not

if they want to make more money on the series that's not the way to go about it. like i said, it's only 26 years old, they should atleast wait until it's 100 or til i'm 6 feet under to remake it.

the same goes for Halloween.

I was born in '89, and I prefer movies made between 1930 and 1970 the best.

Anyway, bring on another F13 movie, as long as it isn't a remake.

P.S. The third and sixth movies are the best.

i'm sick of theses to rich kids remakeing all their faveorite classic horrors. piss off else where with your money and leave what is sacred to so many people alone.

it is a remake though. the article said the movie was going to mix elements of the first 4 films.

Please stop saying when you were born!!!! It's making me feel really, really old!!!!:D

On a more serious note, it pleases me to see younger viewers taking the time to watch and enjoy the originals that inspired the recent wave of remakes. Just to make y'all feel better (or worse), it's not just the younger generation that's unaware of the originals. I know people my own age who have no idea that recent versions of When a Stranger Calls, The Hills Have Eyes, and (take a deep breath for this one) TCM were remakes. It's enough to make you want to beat their heads against a wall.

As for a remake of Friday the 13th, I would feel a lot better about the whole thing if Michael Bay's name weren't attached to it. I know that's tacky, but "I calls 'em as I sees 'em."

On a side note, isn't his company also remaking The Hitcher? I thought I read/heard that somewhere. The only thing that piqued my curiosity was the casting of Sean Bean as the Rutger Hauer psycho. Despite my misgivings, that could prove to be very, very interesting.

that's pitiful when older people aren't aware that a movie is a remake.
i don't know, it seems like i'm the only one who cares about this stuff where i live. i feel so alone.........but i'm not the only one here, so it balances out i guess.

I couldn't have said it better. This thread is making being born in the 70's sound really, really old...