To hear Hollywood tell it, then yes, we DO need another Friday the 13th reboot. The last attempt to jumpstart the once mighty slasher franchise, Marcus Nispel’s simply-titled Friday the 13th, was a modest hit four years ago but didn’t make enough money to justify more entries in a new series. And let’s not forget that there were several attempts within the series proper to switch villains, change Jason Voorhees’ origin or even send him to space. Reboots, or at least “failed” reboots, are all part of the Friday the 13th legacy, so we’re a little concerned for director David Bruckner, who may now be in the thankless position of setting these movies right again.
Friday the 13th would be the first feature film from director David Bruckner, whom The Wrap reports is in negotiations to helm Paramount and Platinum Dunes’ second reboot in five years. But he’s no stranger to the horror genre: he’s contributed segments in two hit indie horror anthologies: The Signal (2007) and the found-footage compilation V/H/S (2012). Bruckner’s V/H/S contribution, “Amateur Night,” found several young men bringing girls back to their motel room to film them having drunken sex before events took a turn towards the horrific. That’s exactly the kind of youthful comeuppance the Friday the 13th franchise is famous for.
David Bruckner’s V/H/S/ experience seems to lend added weight to the rumor that the next Friday the 13th movie will be in the found footage horror genre, which many purists are worried about, but Jason Voorhees has never steered away from a good gimmick before. He’s died and come back multiple times, falsely claimed that not one but two of his movies were the “final” installment, went 3D decades before it was fashionable and even duked it out with Freddy Krueger in a shameless but surprisingly entertaining marketing ploy.
Besides, it has to be better than Halloween: Resurrection, right? Right? Ugh… we’ll find out either way when the next Friday the 13th reboot hits theaters on Friday, March 13, 2015.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
