The Friday series has never been a personal favorite of mine but as I said in my Fear Street post, I have a great deal of respect for Horror and that extends to this series. The fact that it's still seen as one of the Horror Icon Franchises with many films still paying homage or parodying it speaks volumes how well the series has held up despite it's many short comings (and the fact that the series is a ripoff of other films but somehow manages to work by ripping off several films at once).
Just like Hocus Pocus and Van Helsing (no I did not intend to have a theme for this month it just kinda happened) this series works because it knows what it is and isn't afraid to be just itself. So, seeing that it is Friday XIII in October one day before a New Moon here in the states I figured I just have a bit of fun and go over a few ideas I had for my own Friday film.
First up I would keep Jason exactly the way he is. While Jason is one of the more symptomatic movie monsters at the end of the day he is a evil bastard as many of the people he kills haven't done anything to him and he clearly a sadist with a very twisted sense of humor. There's really no need to make him anything else then the monster who kills without cause.
As for everything else I would want to play around with some of the series' established tropes. For example several films at the start of the film have some old guy who's a drunk who tries to warn the heroes about Jason but no one ever takes him seriously. There are always some jackasses who are there just to get killed by Jason, you have the standard Final Girl, a hot guy who fights off Jason and the lovable dorks who have no chance with the Final Girl and are also there just to die.
There's nothing wrong with any of this but if I was hired to write this film and seeing that the next film will be the 13th's film in the series even if it's another reboot I would want to rework some of these things to give fans something new yet familiar.
Let's start with the old drunk. In contrast to every other time this character shows up he actually befriends the dead people walking via having a drink with them. I would want to draw from Jaws in this instance by having it first being everyone just goofing around and having fun as they all get drunk. This leads to all the characters talking about their closet brushes with death and that leads to the Old Drunk talking about Jason. He talks about his closet brush with death when he and 12 of his friends came to Camp Crystal Lake and ran into Jason Voorhees and how all of his friends died and only he made it out alive he moved away as far as he could but comes back once a year to see if he will run into him again.
Like the scene from Jaws with Quint the scene is played completely straight as the drunk talk about this scene with everyone remaining silent, clearly unnerved yet enraptured by the story, uncertain if they believe him yet now their scared about what they will find when they get to Camp Crystal Lake.
This would be a means to catch everyone up on Jason's backstory, who he is and what he does and what to to except when the characters arrive.
The final girl would be something of a former villain herself. The idea I had here was inspired by the 7th film in the series New Blood which is basically Carrie vs. Jason. Not sure if this character would also have powers but I came to like the idea of the final girl not being an innocent person who is a paragon who will live solely by being a pure and good person but someone who's made mistakes in her past and is trying to make up for them.
On that note there are the dorks of the group as with the other films they're likeable nerds and geeks who have no chance with the Final Girl and you get to know them and like them... Only for it to be revealed that they are either related to or close friends of people the final girl killed in the past. So they end up trying to get revenge for what she did to those they cared about. It wouldn't be a complete 180 as they don't suddenly become axe crazy assholes who always planned to kill this person. They were genuine in wanting to befriend her only to learn that she hurt or killed people they cared about and they want her to pay.
As for the jerks and the love interest well the jerks would be those jackasses everyone knows. They act all cool but they're just annoying and pushy. And then Jason shows up and they all do what they can to save everyone who's there at the cost of their own life. Much like with the dorks this isn't a complete change of character we just see that while these people are jerks they are willing to do the right thing, knowing it won't end well for them.
Then there's the alpha bitch of the film and again taking inspiration from the 7th film she would be based on Melissa from that film. The one who is the romantic rival for the generic guy who comes off as brash and rude who's as hot compared to the hero... Naturally she's the real love interest who has no interest in the generic guy and shows no shame in her interest in the hero. She acts the way she does because that's just who she is, she is a Jerk With a Heart of Gold who helps the hero come out of her shell in her own way.
One scene I had in my head is her and the final girl talking and the final girl saying that she won't try to get in the way of her interest of the generic guy only for her to do a wall pin of love and say "Whoever said I was interested in him?"
And for the generic guy, he dies first, or among the first as their usually the last to die if they die at all.
This isn't be trying to "Improve" the series but just turning the tropes of the series on their heads while stay true to what this series is really about, creative, gory, kills. And somethings would remain the same like Jason never killing kids as it would be out of character for him. Jason has zero lines, the dark comedy and the last minute jump scare. These changes would be more of a way to shake things up a bit to give long time fans something new while staying true to what makes this series so popular.
Again this series knows that it is and that would remain intact. This isn't trying to fix something that isn't broken it's just a new twist on old ideas.
This is the film I would make if I was told to make a Friday film and to make it as I saw fit. Thoughts?
*SE Gamer Style by phpBB Styles
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Limited