Friday The 13th may return to the big screen after a 16 year absence, with reports that a new sequel is in development.
Franchises rarely die. Like the murderous revenants of long-drowned deformed children, they merely slumber, waiting for the day when they can stalk the multiplexes anew. Which is a weird simile, but an apt one, as news comes to us that ’80s slasher mainstay Friday The 13th is getting another sequel.
If it does – and there are always a lot of ifs involved in film production – it’ll be our first Friday The 13th movie since 2009, when franchise assassin Marcus Nispel (the bad Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the bad Conan The Barbarian) directed a sort of remake that repurposed elements from the first four films in the original series (remember, Jason didn’t even get his iconic hockey mask until Friday The 13th: Part III in 1982). I actually don’t mind the ’09 version – it may be Nispel’s best work, if that isn’t damning it with faint praise, and it’s certainly the easiest way to get the general gist of the series across to a virgin brain.
Director Mike P. Nelson revealed that plans were afoot while speaking to Slashfilm to spruik his latest offering, a remake of Santa slasher Silent Night, Deadly Night. Nelson has a connection to Friday The 13th, having helmed the official short film, Sweet Revenge, which dropped earlier this year.
“They are working on it,” Nelson remarked. “That I can promise you, because I’ve heard of it and because I have that direct communication with them, it’s there. So that’s really happening. And yes, they have reached out [to me about it]. As have other people. I can’t say too much, but I will say that I have given my two cents, I have given them my take, and right now it’s in their court and we’ll go from there.”
It’s worth noting that Nelson is not confirmed to be directing any upcoming expansions to Friday The 13th. Having said that, he is the most obvious candidate, isn’t he?
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