It’s now been more than a decade since Jason Voorhees was last unleashed upon the moviegoing masses.
Back in 2009, director Marcus Nispel, along with screenwriters Mark Swift and Damian Shannon, delivered a fresh reboot of Friday the 13th, the age-old horror classic in which a masked serial killer stalks Camp Crystal Lake.
All in all, it was a pretty entertaining reimagining of the legendary tale, one which even convinced the Powers That Be to move ahead with a direct sequel – that is, until said sequel lost any sense of momentum, and was sentenced to life in development hell. Weeks became months, months became years, and Platinum Dunes and Paramount’s pic was ultimately canned in 2015. But had things panned out differently, it would’ve featured the “f*cking terrifying” Pamela Voorhees.
That’s according to Swift and Shannon, who posted the following piece of intel via Twitter:
We talked about it. Ultimately that idea was left behind… because we wanted it for the sequel! Yes, here for the first time ever, can confirm that we had extended flashbacks in the unmade winter sequel with Pamela and Elias. Oh and Pamela was the f*cking terrifying one…
So, yes, it seems Friday the 13th: Part II – or Friday the 13th: Camp Blood – The Death of Jason Voorhees, to give it its official working title – would’ve been quite the ride. After all, this was shaping up to be the 13th installment in the classic horror franchise, so it’s small wonder why longtime fans were so disappointed when things screeched to a halt.
What comes next? Well, the long-brewing legal case involving franchise producer Sean S. Cunningham and the original film’s writer Victor Miller may be resolved as soon as summer 2020. Wishful thinking? Perhaps, but we are long overdue a new Friday film – not least because it will mark the 13th installment. In the words of Nick Antosca: it shouldn’t be this hard to make a Friday the 13th movie.