Did Final Destination Kill Friday The 13th?
I finally got a chance to catch Final Destination 5 (in 3D). Fantastic film, everything the last two sequels were lacking. Though I couldn’t help thinking that the money, hype and indeed audience interest New Line Cinema continue generating for the that franchise is where Friday the 13th used to occupy. Why pump up movies about a hockey masked killer who has destroyed teenagers in almost every way imaginable when you have a series that can go on forever and ever due to, essentially, removing the physical threat of the slasher and making everything around them a possible threat.
Paramount gets a lot of flak for their embarrassment of Friday the 13th‘s success but New Line’s treatment of the franchise has only been better in the promotional stakes – their track record is four sequels, three of which were pick-ups or farm-outs (Jason Goes To Hell & Jason X via Sean S. Cunningham Films/Crystal Lake Entertainment, Friday the 13th 2024 Platinum Dunes), leaving Freddy vs Jason the only true New Line-produced Friday/Jason flick and even then it’s mostly only half of one due to sharing the spotlight with the company’s once-golden boy Freddy Krueger.
New Line continue to mull over where to go next with Friday the 13th, safe in the sheer laziness that there’s no hurry to make another one. Meanwhile, you can rest assured Final Destination 6 will be just around the corner soon enough.
This piece has been just some quick random thoughts rather than a full-fledged articulation… to that end I’d like to hear what you guys think. Have New Line allocated their horror resources towards Final Destination that Friday the 13th deserved?
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I think you’re right, the slasher thing has been exploited to the fullest and with the new supernatural craze that is in demand, I believe you are correct in saying that a franchise such as the Final Destination films can go on forever!
2 types of horror. If anyone is killing F13 it is Hatchet. Kane Hodder still has that edge. Even though they get raped at the theater, there is still a big enough fanbase that they’ll spawn sequels for awhile. Also Behind the Mask, Laid To Rest, and The Collector are great new comers. I hope Final Destination keeps going now that its getting better. If it did stand in the way of Jason, i’d be on Jason’s boat (or ship).
In my opinion films like Final Destination and Paranormal Activity will never replace a good slasher Like Friday the 13th or Halloween! I stopped watching the Final Destinations after 2, just wasn’t my thing, and I think the success of these movies is a little strange, most of the people going to see these movies aren’t genre fans at all.
I don’t think Final Destination is killing friday the 13th. Horror has changed a bit now in my personal view. Even though I enjoy the old school franchises like Friday the 13th. Theses days I look for something more namely story.
And that is something Friday the 13th is lacking just having. Jason run around killing people gets old really fast. What makes Final Destination interesting is it’s not your run of the mill slasher. It’s based in reality where the presence of death causing people to die. It isn’t a serial killer going around kill random people. Plus the FD films connect with each other making it refreshing.
I just hope Final Destination 6 and 7 (assuming they happen) connect with each other. Like how 5,1,and 2 do but one thing I don’t support is found footage. Paranormal Activity wasn’t scary and it seems like Hollywood is only running with it. Because P.A. made money now some of these found footage films are flopping.I would love to see another F13th film but not if they go with found footage.
Personally, I am not a big fan of the final destination films. I did watch part one, part three,and part four. After the fourth film, they started to suck because it was the same thing over and over. I haven’t watch the fifth one yet because of that reason. I hear it was a very good movie. I will wait til it comes on DVD, and maybe I’ll change my mind. However, I won’t be in a rush to see it.
I disagree that Hatchet is killing the F13 series. Hatchet is simply a knockoff of Friday the 13th with a different “boogeyman.” Since the big wigs don’t want to continue the F13 series than we have to settle with that film until then. Hatchet isn’t the best horror movie, but it does have similar characteristics to F13. This is why I enjoy it so much.
I do agree with this article. Final Destination can go on Forever, but like the SAW franchise, people will eventually get sick of it. If New Line continues to do Final Destination sequels than people will hate it. I enjoyed watching all the SAW films. However, after part four, I hated them. I couldn’t wait until it finished. The last film was very disappointing.
I could see why they don’t want to continue to release back to back sequels for F13 because we will get sick of them. So I am kind of glad they are waiting so long before they release another movie. The 2024 reboot to Friday the 13th was very good even though many of my peers think otherwise. With so many bad reviews of the film, maybe just maybe they are trying to do something much better. If their sequel will be ten times better than the 2024 version than I will continue to wait. Friday the 13th is kind of like smoking is to smokers. No matter how terrible it is, you are going to continue to do it because you can’t stop no matter how hard you try. No matter how terrible the Friday the 13th movies are, you will continue to watch them no matter how hard you try to avoid them.
Maybe its just me, but I personally think its time to put Jason (and Freddy, Michael, Pinhead, Leatherface, and Chucky, et al) to rest. At least, for the moment. Every single one of these guys has gone as far as they can go (as evidenced by the last sequels in their respective franchises). As a result, every single one of them has gotten or is getting a remake in a vein attempt to re-kickstart the series. And only two of those remakes got their sequels (lookin at you, Mikey and Leatherface).
Thinking about it, maybe these guys need to lay down in their graves for a while before crawling out to cause more havoc, as they eventually will (and we hope they do).
As for supernatural horror and found footage films, thats what todays audience seems to want after Blair Witch. PA is doing surprisingly well, given that it takes away the suspense. The term itself “found footage” is a dead giveaway that nothing good is going to become of any of these characters (that one black girl from Cloverfield nonwithstanding). If the audience knows that the footage has been “found”, then it doesnt take angenius to figure out that the ending will not be smelling of roses.
So has the supernatural sub-genre, with filmsnloke Final Destination, killed the slasher movie? Yes, but the blame does not fall on them alone. Sub-genres like torture-porn (Saw) and monster flicks (Feast trilogy) and even horror films with a sense of humor (Scream, the Feast trilogy) are responsible for the demise of the slasher as we know and love it and forced some of the better of these movies, like Laid to Rest and Hatchet, out of theaters and into the Direct-to-DVD market. And that, my friends, is an atrocity.
Eh… I don’t think the final nail’s in Jason’s coffin until cbs broadcasts “A Charlie Brown Friday the 13th”. The day you see Charlie going into the woods to find the perfect tree again and getting chased by Jason screaming “wah wah whah” will be the day the Friday franchise goes bye-bye.
Hmmm… that’d make an interesting animated fan film…
@mike new The reason why FD 4 sucked wasn’t because it was repeating the same shit over. It was because it lacked story it focused so much on making 3D work. It sacrificed story and character development that’s why it’s the weakest.
FD 5 did what made FD 1 great it had creative kills,character development,and an interesting story. I’ve seen it but I won’t spoil it for you but I definately recommend. You getting it as a rental in december mike.
But I disagree with you on comparing FD to Saw’s outcome. What caused fans to turn off from Saw was tptb took us for granted. After Saw 3 they assumed we’d see whatever they made regardless. They threw out the character development,story,and twist endings. For mindless gore after Saw 4 I said ‘fuck you twisted pictures’.
After FD 4′s fuck up New Line told us FD 5 would be a make up to us. They said they would go back to the basics of the original,and i’m satisfied with what I got. The difference between FD and Saw is with FD it can keep going. As long as they keep the story fresh and interesting. But with Saw there’s a set time frame they can only go with. Before fans start going ‘ok now they’re just dragging it on just for profit’.
I’ve seen both Hatchet films and I hate them both with a passion. Not because of you pointing out their friday the 13th knock off factor. But the gore and my opinion is the same with Collector,and Laid to Rest. I enjoy creative kills but when they cross the line. Of trying to look life like to the point where I want to vomit. Then that’s when I put my foot down I watch horror films to escape reality.
So for eighty or ninety minutes I don’t want to be reminded of reality.Gore like in the FD franchise,F13th,80′s/90′s horror I enjoy. Because it’s obvious to tell it’s fake so why try to push it further? Which is why I don’t think horror films need to be what. Hatchet 2 tried to pull because not everyone enjoys films like Hatchet. I’m fine with the whole releasing two different versions. A tame version that was in theaters and an uncut version namely for dvd/blu-ray. Give people a choice on what they want to see or buy.
Final Destination didn’t kill Friday the 13Th, fans did.
While I love Friday the 13Th, Final Destination has a lot more options to work with. I have not seen the new one, but I saw the last four. My main regret about the franchise in that after two, they lost direct continuity. Direct continuity is one of the reasons I love Friday the 13Th. (I read they were thinking of going back to continuity with 5, but sense I didn’t see it yet I’m not sure how that turned out.)
But, Final Destination can happen basically anywhere and to anyone. It’s Death itself. Whereas Friday the 13Th is regulated to a camp ground and the people that cross Jason’s path if he leaves the wilderness to go after someone that trespassed in the wilderness.
Both Paramount and Newline tried hard to take the Franchise out of Crystal Lake and in different directions. All attempts were met with vehement condemnation by most fans. Jason’s takes Manhattan was screamed at. Jason Goes to Hell tried to give an Evil Dead twist to Friday the 13Th and was talked down. Freddy VS Jason was yelled at for taking Jason to Elm Street for most of the film.
Here is what fans want. They want the same hockey masked killer stabbing people in a campground for fifty or more sequels.
Fans don’t want Jason out of Crystal Lake. Fans don’t want Jason body jumping. Fans don’t want anyone else in a Friday the 13Th movie in a hockey mask stabbing people. (Part V.)
Fans want Jason. Jason was both the success and the stagnation of the franchise; to spite studio’s best efforts to ditch, move, or change Jason as much as possible.
While I’m also happy to have countless Friday the 13Ths; as I love them all… I sometimes fear that the general public is long bored with Jason.
As far as I can tell, Jason has been living because he is nostalgia and that he is legend now. But what he does is no longer new.
As a studio, they have to decide if they will run forever on nostalgia or if they will try something new. Either way, at this point, they’ll piss off half the fan base wanting the other.
Final Destination doesn’t have to deal with that.
“most of the people going to see these movies aren’t genre fans at all.”
That’s right, and that’s why it’s successful. There are not enough horror genre fans to make a film hugely ‘successful’ for anyone outside of independents like Newline started out as.
You have to appeal to a mass audience, like Friday the 13Th and Freddy used to do. But, as time went on, most people wanted something new. Only genre fans stayed by them.
For instance, after Part 1 Sean wanted to turn Friday the 13Th into an anthology series. In many ways, that’s what Final Destination is. It keeps the idea of direct continuity, which I like. But, outside of that, Final Destination has a truly faceless villain, a formula, and a name.
I don’t feel the Friday the 13Th franchise is dead, but it’s nowhere near what it could have been. Fans hurt Friday the 13Th by not letting go of Jason.
Jason’s original story, design, and purpose died in the Final Chapter. Paramount took the approach of having someone else be like Jason for their first non-Jason film. This was, I think, to help ease the transition off of Jason by still giving the fans someone Jason-like. They could then work the franchise back to anthology. But, fans pissed and moaned so much that they ran right back to Jason and brought him back from the dead for the fans. But then the fans complained because they didn’t like Zombie Jason.
What is amazing to me is that the Franchise has been almost all about fan service, and many of its fans are not grateful for that.
Sense they felt hand-cuffed to Jason, Sean tried to (to paraphrase as I don’t think that this is a quote) ‘get that damned hockey mask off of him’ in Jason Goes to Hell.
Here again, we have a studio desperately trying to get away from Jason. They figured if fans wouldn’t let them kill Jason, and fans wouldn’t let him leave the camp, maybe fans would let them change how Jason operates. Nope, crying and screaming like babies was the result. Even though they did the Evil Dead twist, that the genre horror fan director felt fans would appreciate and get behind; they turned on the film and hated it ever sense.
Fans don’t want creativity from Friday the 13Th. They want repetition.
They are taking the franchise down because they won’t let it evolve naturally. Friday 2024 is the best you’re ever going to get (I think) of a modern Friday the 13Th trying to cater to the fans. Oh, and for giving the fans what they wanted, they still got fans bitching. Surprise, surprise.
‘It’s too new. It’s too sleek. It’s too Hollywood. It’s too modern.’
Well, there is not enough Friday the 13Th fans to make Friday the 13Th profitable in the eyes of the studios. They need to appeal to a modern general audience. Also, the sleek and modern is what turned Friday the 13Th fans off to they film; but it’s what kept it alive at all to the general audience.
General people don’t want to see Jason, in a camp ground, stabbing people. It’s boring. They’ve seen it seven times before. If they want to see it again, they’ll buy the DVD box set.
The only thing they can do it make it more gory like SAW. But F13 fans don’t want more gore (what much of the F13 franchise was about) they call it ‘torture porn.’ Which is hypocritical, because when Friday the 13Th came out it was the ‘torture porn’ of its day and received the same criticisms from the older generation also. It’s like the bad boy that married the nice girl against her parents’ wishes now calling their daughter’s boyfriend a bad boy and banning her from seeing him. Funny how fans came full circle on that one…
So, this is what Friday the 13Th can never do again.
1: Go outside Crystal Lake
2: Be more gory than what was ‘R’ in the 80s and is ‘PG13′ now.
3: Change Jason in any way.
4: Leave Jason behind.
5: Be sleek, modern, use CGI, or in any way use any improvements, tools, techniques, or customs with the film that have been created sense 1984.
6: Have another versus film.
7: Ever reference Jason’s Mother (The Last two films did (the only story the character ever had) and were criticized for making Jason ‘too emotional’ ‘a mama’s boy’ or a ‘cry baby.’ All things Jason has always been. Without the emotional level of Jason’s story, he’s no different than the story-less Michael Myers of Halloween.
All fans want is Jason, in a hockey mask, in a campground, stabbing people, filmed with the same technologies and techniques used in the 80s.
And that is why Friday the 13Th is doomed to repetition.
They say that Friday the 13Th will live as long as it is profitable. But Friday the 13Th was sold by Paramount because it failed to be hugely so. And Newline’s only major success in its eyes was Freddy VS Jason. And that mostly because putting the characters together was something new and something fans had waited for more than a decade to see.
Sorry, for so many posts, I cant go back and edit to make my original post longer like in the forums and I keep thinking of more things. In fact, I might combine these into a article and post it in the forum later. (How Jason killed Friday the 13Th, or something like that.)
But here is another thought. I have a high quality Jason mask. I bought it from the guy that says he’s making Part 3 masks from their original mold.
I thought it would be cool to wear it to a fun-house that I work at that is dressed up like an insane asylum. I figured I would either scare people or at least get a cheer for them seeing Jason.
And I got both. I went back into the back room and changed the mask off. I told people because the mask was too iconic and recognizable; but to be honest that’s part of why I put it on because I thought people would enjoy the icon.
No, the real reason was because along with the cheers and the scares… a large number of people looked at me and said ‘Oh, Jason…’ and walked away. They would also mock me in a condescending way. Saying ‘Jason’ at me as if it was a chant three year old would say in glee to chase the boogie man away. As if Jason didn’t not scare them, or make them happy. Instead, as if he was a game; something to mock or be bored with.
I saw that to a decent sized number of people Jason was antiquated. Someone so familiar that it was now safe to either mock, ignore, or look at with disappointed. I got faces of ‘is cleche Jason the best this place can do?’ with a, ‘Oh… Jason…” like they would say.
Nostalgia and legend is wearing off. And people are bored with, and even mocking a character that is too familiar. That is because fans would not allow Jason to evolve into something modern naturally; or just let Friday the 13Th leave Jason behind.
@Daniel-I will take your world for it. I will definitely see it in December. Like I said, my opinions may change about the FD Franchise. I Just hope New Line doesn’t continue to release them constantly because people will get burnt out from them. It’s a proven fact. The flip side though is FD 5 made a lot of money so horror fans are telling New Line they aren’t tired of it as of yet.
I enjoy the Hatchet movies only because of the Victor Crowley character. I don’t care too much of the plot of the movies or the other characters in the film. This is why I wait for it to come to dvd because I feel it’s a waste of money to pay eight or nine bucks a ticket to see it. I hope they continue to make more sequels to come. I think Adam Green is a young, talented actor. As you can see, he doesn’t do the movies for the money, but the love of the genre. He is definitely an inspiration to people who want to get into the horror business one day. I still hope there is one for years to come.
I agree with you that specific horror movies do cross the line. Sometimes they try to be to real and it can make you angry and depressed. Films like the remakes of The last house on the left and Straw Dogs were way to real. I disagree if people consider that entertainment. Also the Saw Movies and Hostel movies get way out of hand. I do the same. I like to watch horror movies to get away with the reality and other stress that I have to deal on a day to day basis. When I watch a good, ninety minute horror movie, it relaxes me like you don’t believe.
@Jacob Wolff-I agree with you in regards to the found footage. Blair Witch did open up that door, but it started to trend after the PA series. Found Footage can become very popular for horror, but it can also die really fast because it will get out of hand. Kind of like how all the remakes are. Look at the box office results for Apollo 18. It did make a profit since it only took 5 million dollars to make, but many people didn’t like it nor didn’t want to see it. I was one of them.
I do agree that some of the old horror movies should be put to rest because most of their remakes don’t seem to jive with people now days and I hope these production companies will realize that. The most recent one was the Hellraiser franchise. The Weinstein company had to make a low budget one so they can keep the rights to work on their supposed “real remake.” Give me a break. When that happens, people will bitch and complain about the remake. Just like F13 remake. People bitched about it. Now they are bitching because they can’t get a sequel. So you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
@f13: You summed it up perfectly. The fans killed the franchise because all their negativity. If they want to continue to have more sequels than they need to shut their mouths, spend their money, and force themselves to like it. This will get them more sequels, but I don’t see that happening.
I think putting Jason in a mini series similar to the walking dead might revive his character a bit. Also using his character for cross over films or going anime can definitely help him. New Line is too stubborn to do that so they are going to throw him on the shelf like a used piece of meat until they can figure out how to make money again.
To be Brutally honest, I feel that the horror genre is killing itself along with F13 and many other great, classic movies. The only way to revive horror again is if the modern day horror villains will get horror back to the right direction. Using characters like Leslie Vernon, The Mask Maker, The Collector, Chrome Skull, The lip sticked face demon from insidious, The doll from dead silence, Victor Crowley etc… might be able to do it. Horror films can’t keep recycling itself every few years with lousy remakes. If this continues to happen, I can see the genre disappearing in the next five years.
It’s not that fans shouldn’t be critical, but that they should be open minded. The fans latched onto Jason, in a camp ground, stabbing people.
This creators an atmosphere where studios either need to choose to please the general public or please the fans. And the fans are almost always going to take second seat to money. It was fan service, trying to please the fans, that killed Friday the 13Th.
My underline point is that the general public is bored with Jason the way he is and that the fans aren’t ready to let Jason change or let Jason go.
I agree with what your saying f13th but sometimes change can be good. I can only speak for myself but when I saw Jason takes Manhattan I was seriously pissed. Not because Jason was out of crystal lake,but because the title wasn’t true.
As i’ve said in the past Jason takes candy from a baby.Would be more true and entertaining than Manhattan. Jason was only in Manhattan for what fifteen minutes tops. Most of the film took place on the ship. I’ve heard of some of the original ideas for the film and they would’ve kicked ass.
Jason going ape shit through a shopping mall,madison square garden,etc. I believe the statue of liberty was the original idea for the finale.
But I do disagree with you on the no to a verses film. If they produced the right story and had Jackie from Nightmare.And Derek from Friday the 13th in it as their characters. Threw in equal story elements from both franchises.
Included equal locations and kills (Springwood/Crystal Lake and gave both Freddy and Jason equal kill counts). And throw in some returning survivors and a 120 minute run time for good measure. I am positive the cross over film would work and blow the last one. Out of the water look at Avengers that film is including all it’s original cast members from the solo films the only question is: will it be good?
If the Friday movies want to be bigger than the FD’s or P.A movies, they indeed should have a more interesting story, and let the kills be something the public is screaming for. Last Friday movie was a little bit of a dissapointment to me, just because there was to little story about Pamela and Jason. Right now I’m writing my own ( true) prequel to the very first Friday the 13th, inwich Pamela meets Elias and later on getting pregnant with Jason…I know it’s not possible to get the studios to get more interested in fan-stories, but loving the franchise almost 22 years, I would be the first in line for a better backstory about Jason and Pamela.
True, the Final Destination movies have more of a realistic sense, but a movie doesn’t have to be real or endless in killing possabilities, to remain succesfull..
@Sybren Van der Schoot: That’s a good idea. Good luck with that. I am sure someone will recognize it one day. I also like to write stories as well. It is in a movie script form. I am writing one right now called a few guys killing a couple of zombies.