Blumhouse’s Halloween was that all too rare example of a horror reboot that fared well with fans and critics alike, raising the question of whether the studio intends to resurrect any other popular slasher properties. And while Jason Blum himself has previously expressed an interest in making another Scream movie, producer Ryan Turek is more set on bringing back Friday the 13th.
For much of this past year, the Jason Voorhees-led franchise has been the subject of a messy legal dispute, but should the conflict clear up, Turek has made it clear in an interview with ComicBook.com that he’d jump at the chance to take on the series.
“Without question, at the top of my list would be Friday the 13th,” Turek said. “Friday the 13th would be the franchise that I would love to work on next. Jason Blum shares that same passion. That is something that is unfortunately complicated. I mean, there’s all sorts of stuff going on not [just] with the video game, but legal stuff. But, if it came our way, I mean I would be on cloud nine. It would be absolutely incredible to do. I feel a little bit smoother, because, I think there are only a few promises you’d need to make when it comes to Friday the 13th. That’s, you know, you gotta deliver on a summer camp. You gotta deliver on counselors. You gotta deliver on Jason Voorhees.”
Evidently, Turek doesn’t have a Jason X-style departure in mind, nor is he hoping to take things back to the days when Jason’s mother was the lead killer of the series. In any case, though Turek sees only a few basic elements that need to be maintained for a Friday the 13th movie, he argues that Halloween has more of a mythology to it that affected the way Blumhouse approached the property.
“I mean like I think that there’s a lot more mythology,” Turek said. “I think what’s so rabid about the Halloween franchise. There’s a rabid fan base behind it is because the mythology is so strong. Even though the mythology weaves in and out of different things, there are a lot more characters to grasp on to and root for, whether it’s little Jamie Lloyd, or Laurie Strode, or, and so on.”
Turek went on to compare this mythology to the Jason-centric Friday franchise, saying:
“With Friday the 13th, obviously Jason Voorhees is the main thing. I’ve written about this when I had my own website. I think Friday the 13th [from] 2009 is the best slasher mix tape we could ever get, when it comes to the Friday franchise. There’s a lot of opportunities to explore. If we ever had the chance it would probably be similar to Halloween. Get someone who can really disrupt it a little bit and have some fun.”
As it stands, it could still be a long wait before we see anyone take on the Friday the 13th property, though Turek isn’t the only one who’s interested in bringing back Jason. Last October, for instance, it was reported that LeBron James and his SpringHill Entertainment company were in talks with Vertigo Entertainment to reboot the series, and while it remains to be seen whether anything will come of those discussions, we can at least expect another Halloween movie to arrive in due time.