Oz Perkins, son ofPsychostar Anthony Perkins, has established his own identity in the horror genre by directing titles likeThe Blackcoat’s DaughterandI Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House. His newest movie,Gretel & Hansel, marks his latest addition to the genre, and it seems pretty clear Perkins is now a genre mainstay. Looking ahead to his next horror movie, Perkins suggests his dream project is being the guy who brings Jason Voorhees back to theaters by directing the thirteenthFriday the 13thmovie.
In a new interview with Bloody Disgusting’s Boo Crew Podcast,Oz Perkinsrecognizes that the rights to theFriday the 13thseries are “a real mess,” and taking on the next movie isn’t going to be easy for anyone. Still, if only the opportunity were to have somehow presented itself to him, Perkins admits he would love to be the person who brought back Jason in the same way David Gordon Green brought back Michael Myers with 2018’sHalloweenreboot. From the podcast:
“There was a time when I was kind of… I made the rounds… the only “guy” I wanted to be was… I would’ve happily been the guy to doFriday the 13thagain… I would do that. I’d be thrilled to do that. That’s probably the one for me. I didn’t want to doHalloween, for instance. I felt like that had been done. Jason is my guy. Also, it’s the thirteenth one. Just call it ‘13’ or something.”
TheGretel and Hanseldirector appears to be referring to Paramount’s axedFriday the 13threboot which was originally supposed to hit theaters in 2017. Using a screenplay by Aaron Guzikowski, production on the project was weeks away from beginning when another horror reboot,Rings, made its way into theaters. For better or for worse,Ringswound up flopping at the box office, scaring Paramount into pulling the plug on revivingFriday the 13th. Before the project was shelved, however, Perkins had read the script, and the filmmaker now says its premise to take the franchise back to its roots is along the same lines of his own plans for the series.
“The screenplay that I read was written by the guy who wrotePrisoners, and it was good. It was sort of a remake of the original, and that’s what I’d want to do… Kinda remake the original, with the mom, and the camp, and all the stuff. And put it in the period. Yeah. Maybe.”
In the original movie,Jason’s mother Pamela is revealed to be the killerin a twist ending, murdering the camp’s counselors to keep it from reopening after Jason had drowned there as a boy many years earlier. Beginning with the first sequel, Jason has since been the killer in almost all of the subsequentFriday the 13thmovies. The one exception to this would be the criminally-underrated fifth installment where Jason is revealed to be a copycat killer in disguise, though Jason is still present in the movie via dream sequences and hallucinations. After dicing up teenagers across many movies, Jason’s killing sprees have also led him to Manhattan, outer space, Elm Street, and even Hell.
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Liveshelmer Tommy McLoughlin has also expressed his desireto make the thirteenth installment of the horror series. CalledJason Never Dies, McLoughlin’s concept would feature an all-female cast and be set in the winter, putting Jason in the snow for the first time. His story would pick up in the present day with Jason Voorhees setting out on another killing spree in Crystal Lake, slaughtering a group of innocent young women who aren’t familiar with the story of the undead murderer. That’s really all the story necessary to bringFriday the 13thfans back to theaters as horror fans have been waiting for years to see the hockey mask back on the big screen once again.
In any case, whether the opportunity goes to Perkins, McLoughlin, or another horror filmmaker, the nextFriday the 13thmovie director isn’t going to be working on any planned sequels anytime soon. A legal battle over the rights to the series has kept the movie franchise on ice pending a final decision by the court, though a ruling is expected to be laid down this summer. Jason might never die, but he’s certainly been lying dormant, so hopefully we’ll know what’s coming next by the end of the year. Perkins' quotes shown above come to us from Bloody Disgusting and you can listen to Perkins' full interview onThe Boo Crew podcast.
