We head to Austin, Texas for a look at Platinum Dunes latest horror remake
Here's the deal. It's a new Friday the 13th. We've seen and spoken to Jason. Live and in person. It was a lot of fun. And we can't wait to share the bulk of our set visit with you. But for now, that information is under lockdown. So, we offer an excerpt from our upcoming coverage of this exciting new chapter in the Crystal Lake saga:
Last Friday, we were invited to the set of Marcus Nispel's new Friday the 13th film, which is being produced by Brad Fuller and Andrew Form of Platinum Dunes. This is the same team that resurrected Leatherface for 2003's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and they are now looking to put just the right spin on this legendary slasher flick. From the look of the mask, to the machete, to the script, this is going to be one of the best Friday the 13ths ever committed to celluloid. And they have certainly picked the right performer to portray the vicious man-child that is Jason Voorhees. For the first time in his career, actor-turned-stuntman Derek Mears is donning that iconic hockey mask and taking to the woods for a little bit of his trademark teen chopping antics.
During our visit, we spoke with both Brad and Andrew and they seemed quite excited to share their ideas behind this new Friday the 13th with us. What we saw looked super awesome. They wanted us to know that this isn't an origin story. It isn't a flat out remake of the first Friday the 13th either. Its sort of a combination of the first four films all sewn together (sort of like Jason's Frankenstein jacket). Jason is grown, and mommy Pamela will only be appearing in flashbacks. Voorhees lives in the woods, feeding off of raccoons and using a series of underground tunnels to seemingly get ahead of his victims. He starts off the movie with a bag on his head, ala 1981's Friday the 13th Part 2. He will later trade it up for the hockey mask. The how and why this happens is explained in great, gruesome detail throughout the course of the film's plot.
The tone here will be lighter than the previous Platinum Dunes offerings. While Jason doesn't torture his victims, he does kill them in gloriously brutal fashion. There will be thirteen on-screen deaths in all. And they are each new twists on old kills seen in the previous Friday flicks. Both Andrew and Brad promised that this latest effort would end on a pretty sound note. Despite what has been said in the past, they are not trying to set it up as a franchise. Their Friday the 13th comes to a logical conclusion that does not leave Jason tied to a chain at the bottom of Crystal Lake, or see him turning into a child that is flushed into the sewer system. If there is one film they could compare it to, it would be First Blood. Because Jason comes on a lot like John Rambo, all Meta in the woods and ready to right the wrongs that have been forced upon his head.
About the "sex equals death" metaphoric scenario that is so much apart of this particular franchise's mythology? It's still here, but we won't see anyone getting knifed while they bone a pretty co-Ed. Apparently, sex and violence together in one go is something the MPAA frowns upon. So it will go something like this: Sex, death, drugs, beer, sex, death. The end. There are a lot of stoners in the movie. At this point in filming, they are all dead. I guess they couldn't pull themselves off the couch to save their skin. As Brad Fuller tells it, "We are doing everything we're not supposed to be doing here!" It's pretty obvious that they are going to break some of this particular genre's rules.
Friday the 13th will open February 13th, 2009. Stay tuned for our full on-set coverage. We saw Jason smash a guy's head through a window. You are not going to want to miss it.
Jared Padalecki, Derek Mears, Amanda Righetti, Danielle Panabaker, Travis Van Winkle, Aaron Yoo, Adam Finberg, Nick Mennell, Jonathan Sadowski, Nana Visitor, Arlen Escarpeta, Ryan Hansen, Richard Burgi, Julianna Guill
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