So, another 'Friday The 13th' film is looming towards us. The newest film (13th in the franchise) is set to be released February 2017 and like before with the remake before it, as well as greats like 'Rob Zombie's Halloween' it sounds as if it will suffer from thinking too hard about it. This new sequel will be written by the creators of the excellent 'Prisoners' which I highly recommend checking out, however for 'Friday The 13th' this high level screenwriter may not be the best choice.
This is a large issue with these old franchises we've all come to love as horror fans, and that is producers, directors etc. think we need to know every last detail about the backgrounds of these films. Rob Zombie felt we needed to know Michael Myers became the way he was because of white trash family members and essentially took everything menacing out of the character. Michael's mystery was what made him effective and the same idea of basics works for Jason Voorhees as well. He drowned in a lake as a child, his mother took revenge, she died and he rose from the dead to avenge his mother and kill anyone who walks into his territory. That's all you ever need to know to be invested in these movies.
When writers overthink a project, we end up with prequel films such as the one being discussed here. They believe that audience members are so simple, so idiotic, and so memory deficient that they think they have to spoon feed us everything and its even more insulting somehow when you're spoon feeding a slasher film plot to people. Yes, I love the horror genre. It's my favorite film genre, with slashers being a particular favorite of mine. There is nothing to think hard about in these type of films, so why does Hollywood think we need to? Over-blowing everything: budget, story, special effects and somehow coming off even more lazy than some of the worst 1980's slasher flicks (Trust me, I've seen plenty).
The moral of the story dear kiddies is we don't need to see anything complex with these 'Friday' films. We DO NOT want another backstory for Jason or Mrs. Voorhees, we DO NOT want a cerebral and completely out there idea. We want Jason chasing people in the woods and killing them, that's all. That is all these films are and it's all we need: popcorn entertainment. Those who know me know I will still see the film, but please keep it simple folks.
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