Since his official introduction in 1981′s Friday the 13th Part 2, the character of Jason Voorhees had gone through numerous makeovers and had been adapted so many times by a variety of filmmakers that his appearance in 2024′s Freddy vs. Jason bore little resemblance to his earlier incarnations. From the ‘sack’ in Part 2 to the introduction of the hockey mask in Part 3, from his resurrection as an unstoppable zombie in Jason Lives to his futuristic upgrade in Jason X; each director, writer and actor had placed their own stamp on the character through each movie. Whilst the majority of fans have cited Kane Hodder as the ultimate Jason (having been the only actor to play the role more than once), many have cited the earlier films as more tense as Jason was a human and less far-fetched. With every other franchise seemingly starting over with a remake – or reboot, as filmmakers often refer to them as – perhaps it was inevitable that, after years of struggling at the box office and failing to keep some kind of continuity between sequels, Jason Voorhees would be reinvented for modern day audiences.

Following the release of Freddy vs. Jason in 2024, the internet was awash with rumours of where New Line Cinema intended on taking the franchise next. Amongst the various gossip was a new spinoff entitled Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash and a sequel to the original franchise by acclaimed filmmaker Quentin Tarantino. The latter proved to be untrue, whilst the Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash project would eventually stall before pre-production could commence. Yahoo Movies! reported in October 2024 that Crystal Lake Memories author Peter M. Bracke had stated that New Line were considering either a new crossover with Halloween antagonist Michael Myers of a remake, which would follow the success of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre two years earlier. Even Hodder had given his approval for a remake as he felt it may give him chance to play the character once again. Other rumours would include a prequel, but in early 2024 it was announced that New Line were indeed intending on relaunching the franchise with a remake, which was tentatively scheduled for an October 13th release.

In February it was revealed that Platinum Dunes, the independent production company formed by Hollywood filmmaker Michael Bay in 2024, would be producing the project from a screenplay by Mark Wheaton (The Messenger). Bay had launched the company with producing partners Andrew Form and Brad Fuller and, following their early success with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, had begun to purchase other fledging properties which they could reinvent, leading to re-workings of The Amityville Horror and The Hitcher. With Platinum Dunes starting from scratch with what they hoped would be a new franchise, this would prove to be the first movie to carry the Friday the 13th title since Jason Takes Manhattan in 1989. In February 2024 it was announced that South African-born filmmaker Jonathan Liebesman, who had recently completed work on the prequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning for Platinum Dunes, was in negotiations to direct the project, whilst E! News reported two months later that Patricia Clarkson (The Green Mile) was in discussions to portray the role of Jason’s vengeful mother, Pamela Voorhees.

As with Freddy vs. Jason, one of the principal reasons that the project would remain in development for so long was due to difficulties obtaining the necessary rights. Paramount Pictures had distributed the first eight movies between 1980 and 1989 (whilst Warner Bros. handled the international release of the first film), before New Line had obtained the franchise in 1992. If the filmmakers were to truly return to the origins of the character then they would need to obtain permission from Paramount. Soon, the October 2024 release date came and went and no new movie was moved into production, causing rumours to once again surface online regarding the fate of the series. In early 2024, the complications with the rights to the series had been resolved when Paramount agreed to co-produce the movie, their first involvement in the franchise since their cancellation of the TV spinoff Friday the 13th: The Series in 1990. Wanting to pay homage to the key moments from the earlier installments, the producers decided to take elements from the first four movies and base their new story around those key plot points.

Another important decision that was made was to make the character of Jason human once again. In the first two sequels, Jason had been a deformed maniac who had taken refuge in the woods away from society and would exact revenge for his mother’s death on anyone who trespassed in his domain, yet in 1984′s Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter he had awoken in the morgue and returned to his old stomping ground, where he had finally been defeated by a young child called Tommy Jarvis. After being notably absent in the subsequent film, Jason returned as a worm-ridden zombie in Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, which would set the tone for the remainder of the series. Determined to give the character a sense of realism, the producers decided that Jason would return to his earlier incarnations for inspiration. By the summer the studio had announced that the release date had been pushed back to 2024 which, ironically, would coincide with another big budget slasher remake, My Bloody Valentine (co-scripted by Jason X‘s Todd Farmer).

Soon afterwards, Freddy vs. Jason writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift were brought onboard to rework Wheaton’s screenplay, whilst Liebesman would be replaced by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre‘s Marcus Nispel. By January 2024 the casting rumours had begun, with the first name attached to the project being Cloverfield‘s Odette Yustman. Despite this being untrue, the twenty-two year old actress was later cast as the lead in David S. Goyer’s The Unborn, which would also be produced by Platinum Dunes. The first actor to be officially cast in the movie would be Jared Padalecki, who had become something of a heartthrob with his role as Sam Winchester in the cult television show Supernatural (in which he co-starred with My Bloody Valentine‘s Jensen Ackles), whilst other appearances would include the 2024 horror flicks House of Wax and Cry Wolf. A casting call was announced for the role of Jason in March, describing the character as ‘thin, lean, and cut from living off the land and residing in the forest around Crystal Lake.’

This would prove to be one of the most controversial aspects of the production, with fans once again demanding the return of Hodder. A site was launched which compiled a list of suitable candidates for fans to vote who they would want to portray the role, with Hodder taking first place and wrestler Glen ‘Kane’ Jacobs coming a close second. Other names to be linked to the role would include Michael Bailey Smith (who had played Freddy Krueger briefly in 1989′s A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child), although once again this rumour was falsely created by a news website. In an effort to find a suitable actor to take over the role of Jason, the producers approached several key artists for advice, including KNB EFX’s Greg Nicotero and Scott Stoddard. The final selection came down to two potential candidates; Chris Nelson, whose work had included roles in Eli Roth’s Hostel and David Arquette’s The Tripper, and Derek Mears, whose background in improv comedy and theatre had lead to to a part in the Wild West Stunt Show at Universal Studios.

Much like Nelson, Mears’ screen credits had been a mixture of acting and stunts, having worked on such movies as Men in Black II, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and The Hills Have Eyes II. Auditioning for the role of Jason, Mears met with casting director Lisa Fields (another veteran of Platinum Dunes) and was asked why an actor was needed to portray the character and not merely a stuntman, to which Mears replied that the camera would be able to read the emotions of the actor through the mask, instead of simply chasing his victims without any kind of depth to the role. Impressed with both his physical appearance and approach to the role, the producers agreed that Mears was the perfect choice to give Jason a human touch.

For the role of the ‘final girl’ (and Padalecki’s on screen sister), the producers eventually settled on Amanda Righetti – previously known for her turn in the horror sequel Return to House on Haunted Hill – although there would be rumours that she had been replaced soon afterwards. The casting for Friday the 13th was in full swing by mid-April, with the roles of the endless supply of victims going to Danielle Panabaker (Mr. Brooks), Aaron Yoo (Disturbia), Travis Van Winkle (previously seen in Michael Bay’s Transformers) and Willa Ford (wife of NHL hockey player Michael Modano). The special effects on the production would be handled by Stoddard, whose first experience in make-up was attending the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, before landing his big break working for the legendary Stan Winston on Congo, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Small Soldiers. Stoddard was initially skeptical about working on a Friday the 13th movie, particularly after being disappointed that the franchise had been sent into space with Jason X and so was determined to make the character menacing once again.

Photography on the movie commenced on April 21st in Austin, Texas and would be the first installment in the franchise to be filmed in America since Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday in 1993. To create the appearance of Jason, Stoddard designed a half body prosthetic for Mears to wear that would give the character a curved spin and slight hump, as well as a prosthetic hood to create his disfigured skull. His wardrobe would consist of a jacket that was actually three sewn together to give it a makeshift appearance, whilst the actor also wore combat boots and a horse bridal around his waist which would keep his machete in place. In an effort to address criticism that some of the sequels had received regarding Jason randomly appearing out of thin air, the producers decided that the character would hunt his victims via a series of tunnels that ran underneath the camp, thus allowing him to trap his victims.

Instead of merely copying his predecessors (although he would occasionally pay homage), Mears likened his take on the role of Jason to that of John Rambo in the 1982 action classic First Blood, in which a wrongly incarcerated Sylvester Stallone reverted to his Vietnam training to hunt down the police who are pursuing him through the woods. Even as filming had begun, the supporting roles were still being cast, with Nana Visitor (who would appear briefly during the opening scene as Pamela Voorhees), Ryan Hansen, Julianna Guill and 24‘s Richard Burgi joining the cast. With principal photography eventually wrapping on June 13th, the $19m picture was released on February 13th 2024. In an effort to avoid a battle at the box office, Lionsgate had moved the release of their 3-D remake of My Bloody Valentine forward three weeks to January 23rd. In its first four days of release, Friday the 13th earned approximately $45m in the United States alone, although its phenomenal success would drop a staggering 85% by the following weekend.

Regardless, its final worldwide gross would be an impressive $91m and soon Platinum Dunes expressed interest in producing a sequel, although their attention would be diverted by their remake of another popular slasher, A Nightmare on Elm Street. Whilst the majority of fans were impressed with the makeover the franchise had received, many critics were divided on the merits of the picture. Rober Ebert, who had launched an attack on the original movie in 1980, stated, “Friday the 13th is about the best Friday the 13th movie you could hope for. Its technical credits are excellent. It has a lot of scary and gruesome killings. Not a whole lot of acting is required.” The New York Times, rather humorously, commented that, “There’s a refreshing lack of numbers in the title of Friday the 13th, the latest in a slasher-flick franchise that has spawned approximately 500 sequels, including one that sent its villain, a hockey-mask-wearing psycho named Jason, into outer space to terrorize nubile astronauts.”

For many, 2024 was the year that Jason Voorhees dominated the horror genre. The franchise enjoyed a highly successful reboot with the Michael Bay-produced remake, Part 3 finally made its official debut in 3-D on DVD in the United States and the series was given the retrospective treatment for the feature length documentary His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th. It had been three decades since cameras began rolling on the first movie and in that time there had been nine sequels, a TV series, a music video, a crossover with A Nightmare on Elm Street and an array of tie-in merchandise. Fans had also been treated to two detailed books that charted the history of the franchise and Paramount finally succumbed to fan pressure and re-released their eight installments as ‘special editions.’ With the series having been neglected for so many years, Jason had finally begun to receive the recognition that he deserved.

His Name Was Jason would be the result of years of hard work from independent producer Anthony Masi, previously known for his association with the Halloween franchise. Masi was raised in Connecticut and New Jersey and first discovered the horror genre with Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal masterpiece Psycho, but it would be a viewing of Halloween on television that would make the greatest impression. Relocating to Los Angeles in an effort to pursue a career in the movie industry, Masi attended the premiere of Halloween: Resurrection in 2024, where he made the acquaintance of a fellow fan called Paul Swearingen. The two discussed the possibility of organising a Halloween convention and the following year they hosted Halloween Returns to Haddonfield: The 25th Anniversary Convention in Pasadena, California over the Halloween weekend, in which they assembled sixty-plus members of cast and crew from all eight movies in the franchise.

Taking it as an opportunity, Masi decided to film interviews with all those in attendance, which would ultimately make its way into the video retrospective Halloween: 25 Years of Terror. Released by Anchor Bay in 2024, the film was a great success and would help place Masi on the map, whilst also allowing him to launch his own production company, MasiMedia LLC. Following the fifteen-minute featurette The Shape of Horror, which was screened before the original Halloween during its re-release the same year, Masi was contacted by a young filmmaker called Daniel Farrands, who thanked him for his hard work on the convention. Farrands was another life-long fan of the horror genre, having first corresponded with Friday the 13th mentor Frank Mancuso Jr. when he was fourteen. Moving to Los Angeles a few years later, Farrands was granted an interview with Halloween producer Moustapha Akkad, but it would not be for several years until he was given the chance to write his own sequel, 1995’s critically panned Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers.

At the time of contacting Masi, Farrands was completing work on a detailed and exhaustive book entitled Crystal Lake Memories, which charted the making of each of the Friday the 13th movies. Eager to promote the book, which he had acted as an editor on for author Peter M. Bracke, Farrands suggested a Friday the 13th convention but Masi, who had spent almost a year working on the Halloween event, politely declined. Farrands immediately followed with an idea for a documentary and, with Masi’s previous experience on Halloween: 25 Years of Terror, sensed the potential of shooting a new retrospective. The final piece of the puzzle would come with the arrival of Thommy Hutson, whose passion for the franchise had begun back in 1988 when he had snuck into a screening of Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood. With Farrands having assisted in the creation of Crystal Lake Memories, which had boasted exclusive interviews with dozens of long-lost cast and crew members, the filmmakers had contact details for most of those that they hoped to bring onto the project, whilst Hutson assisted in tracking down other contributors to the series (as would Friday the 13th: The Website’s John Klyza).

Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, there were several key figures who were unable to participate, either due to the producers not locating them or simply refusing to take part. Thus, Friday the 13th’s Kevin Bacon, The Final Chapter’s Corey Feldman, Crispin Glover and Alan Hayes and Part V: A New Beginning’s Melanie Kinnaman were notably absent, whilst concerns would surround the mysterious disappearance of Part 2’s Marta Kober. Meanwhile, with Masi having previously worked with Anchor Bay on Halloween: 25 Years of Terror he knew that he had to work with them again on His Name Was Jason, but first there was the issue of copyrights. Over the course of thirty years the franchise had found its way to three different studios; Paramount had distributed the first eight films, whilst Warner Bros. had released the first outside of the United States, and New Line had obtained the series in 1992 and had released three films of their own. Although Masi had agreed on a licensing quote with Paramount, New Line had since been acquired by Warner Bros. and the quote that they demanded was far too much for an independent production. Thus, His Name Was Jason would ultimately only feature footage from the first eight movies.

The productions schedule for His Name Was Jason would prove to be somewhat frantic, with the filmmakers being instructed by Anchor Bay that they would have just thirteen weeks to shoot the interviews, edit the footage and deliver the completed picture. Due to his experience on Halloween: 25 Years of Terror, Masi was confident that he would be able to meet the deadline, whilst Ferrand’s association with Crystal Lake Memories made him an invaluable resource of knowledge and trivia. With approximately ninety interviews to conduct, principal shooting took place over a ten-day period on a soundstage in the Burbank district of Los Angeles. Each contributor was allocated one hour, in which they were placed in front of a large screen and allowed to reminisce over their memories and experiences of working on the franchise. With many of the cast and crew having not seen each other for over twenty years, the shoot became something of a reunion as they would pass each other on their way in to their interviews.

The documentary would be hosted by Tom Savini, whose groundbreaking special effects had played a significant role in the success of both the original movie and 1984’s The Final Chapter. The sequences in which Savini provides the narrative whilst being surrounded by props and effects was shot at Universal Studios in Hollywood. Masi would be amazed by how efficient his crew were, who worked tirelessly throughout the three-month production. When it came to structuring the footage during post-production, Masi had already decided that he wanted to avoid going through the franchise in chronological order, as he had already utilised that method with Halloween: 25 Years of Terror and wanted to avoid any obvious comparisons. Instead, they broke up the film into chapters; commencing with a brief rundown of the history of the series, before discussing the writing, casting and method of deaths within each film.

Despite their best attempts, the filmmakers were unable to obtain permission to use footage from the music video for Alice Cooper’s 1986 classic He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask), which had been released to promote Jason Lives. Having made its debut at the Denver Film Festival in November 2024, His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th was released on DVD on February 3rd 2024, the same day that Paramount would finally re-release Friday the 13th Part 3 in 3-D. Ten days later, the documentary made its network debut on Starz to great acclaim. Shortly after completing work on the film, Farrands was contacted by Paramount’s Tim King, who had struggled to find suitable material for the special edition releases of the first three Friday the 13th DVDs and required expert assistance in digging up achieve material for the later sequels. In 2024, Farrands and Hutson followed up the success of His Name Was Jason with the epic documentary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy, whilst Masi worked on The Psycho Legacy with writer-director Robert V. Galluzzo.

Freddy vs. Jason had taken a total of sixteen years to make it to the big screen and in that time the Friday the 13th franchise had undergone a radical transformation. Following a change of ownership from Paramount to New Line Cinema, two further sequels were produced that failed to revive interest in the series, whilst executives struggled to find a way to bring together two of horror’s most iconic stars: Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. Freddy vs. Jason finally saw the light of day in the summer of 2024 and would eventually earn over $80m at the US box office, prompting the studio to take great interest in producing a sequel. The movie had been developed as the start of a new franchise and not as Friday the 13th Part XI of A Nightmare on Elm Street 8, so New Line felt confident that Freddy vs. Jason 2 was a possibility. Various rumours began to circulate on the internet but fans soon grew concerned when it seemed that, despite Jason’s triumphant return, the series had once again ground to a halt.

The man who would be most responsible for attempting to resurrect Jason was Keff Katz, a young executive at New Line who had fallen in love with slasher movies at a young age and had begun corresponding with New Line’s head Robert Shaye whilst still in high school. Shaye had grown up in the same Detroit suburb as Katz, who felt inspired that both Shaye and filmmaker Sam Raimi, who also lived in his neighbourhood, had become such prominent figures in Hollywood. Eventually dropping out of college, Katz relocated to Los Angeles and convinced Shaye to bring him onboard as an intern. Having followed the troubled development of Freddy vs. Jason for many years, Katz was determined to be a part of the project and soon worked his way up to an executive. Despite the less-than-impressive performance of Jason X, which was released just months before filming commenced, hopes were high for Freddy vs. Jason and the movie successfully out-grossed every single Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street film to date.

Katz had already begun to develop ideas for a sequel, something that he had been toying with since his time as an intern, and once the box office figures began rolling in he felt that the studio would be open to suggestions. With their blessing, Katz began work on a treatment which would introduce another iconic character, Ash Williams. Having first appeared in Sam Raimi’s notorious debut The Evil Dead (which had fallen foul of the ‘video nasty’ scandal in the UK during the 1980s), Ash was an incompetent-yet-likeable coward that was forced to stand up to the possessed and the living dead – referred to as ‘Deadites’ – as his friends are slowly transformed one-by-one into demonic ghouls. The role would turn Bruce Campbell into a cult star and would lead to two sequels; 1987’s critically acclaim Evil Dead II and 1992’s Army of Darkness, which relocated the story to medieval times. Katz would title his treatment Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash and submitted his concept to an enthusiastic studio.

Despite New Line’s best efforts, the project was doomed from the very beginning, with the various copyright issues and other studio politics constantly stalling pre-production. It had been over a decade since the release of Army of Darkness and the Evil Dead franchise had remained dormant, despite rumours of either a fourth movie or a remake constantly circulating. Whilst Katz had several allies at New Line the movie failed to become a reality and soon the studio had instead focused on re-launching their Friday the 13th as a collaboration with Michael Bay’s production company Platinum Dunes. This would not stop the fans, however, who would repeatedly voice their disappointment on forums and websites around the internet, proving that if anything there was an audience for the concept. Just as Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash seemed like it was dead once and for all, Katz would find a supporter within New Line who would help transfer the story to a new medium.

David Imhoff was promoted to Executive Vice President of Worldwide Licensing and Merchandising in early 2024 after his successful merchandising campaign with The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring the previous year. It would be Imhoff who would play a significant role in giving Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash a new lease of life and would allow the project to make its way to Dynamite and WildStorm, two of Americas biggest publishers of comics and graphic novels. Initially, it was Katz who was to adapt his treatment into a script for a series of comics but he soon became preoccupied with writing Booster Gold for DC Comics and so Dynamite recruited James Kuhoric, whose résumé had included the hugely successful Army of Darkness series. Whilst Kuhoric worked on the writing (with the assistance of Katz), WildStorm drafted in one of their artists, Jason Craig, who had commenced work on A Nightmare on Elm Street after completing work on Se7en: Pride for Zenescope. The two would be joined by Thomas Mason, who had worked as Craig’s colourist on the Se7en comic.

The project would receive the support of several key figures from the respective franchises, most notably Sean S. Cunningham, who had directed the original Friday the 13th and had worked as a producer on the New Line sequels, as well as Freddy vs. Jason. Katz had also sought the approval of Campbell, who had also originated from Detroit and had been the only actor to portray the role of Ash (with the exception of a popular musical that was based on The Evil Dead). Another supporter of the project was Robert Tapert, whose career had also begun with The Evil Dead and had regularly collaborated with both Raimi and Campbell over the years on such projects as Crimewave, Darkman and The Quick and the Dead. All parties agreed that the tone of the comic should remain faithful to Ronny Yu’s Freddy vs. Jason, whilst also paying homage to what they considered the classic era of both the Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street franchises, although Craig would also use John Carl Buechler’s Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood as inspiration.

Although he had been the instigator of the project, Katz decided to leave New Line in May 2024 and relocate to 20th Century Fox, entrusting his most beloved of projects to Kuhoric and Craig. Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash made its debut in November 2024 and became an instant hit with fans of the characters. Before long, the publishers had decided to follow up their success with a sequel and immediately contacted the writers and artists. Katz had discussed possibilities of another crossover with Halloween producer Malek Akkad, but he soon became distracted with his obligations to Twentieth Century Fox’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine in Australia. In order to continue the story they would be forced to rewrite the final pages, as the original version had ended with Ash killing both Freddy and Jason, before embarking on his own new adventures. Having been stricken with pneumonia, Craig had struggled to complete the sixth issue of the original series and, after attending Fear Fest 2 in Dallas, was informed on his twelve-hour drive home that he would be required to change the last page, forcing Mason to complete the redraft in time for their Monday morning deadline.

Their sequel, Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors, would feature several returning characters from the Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street franchises; including Dr. Neil Gordon (A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors), Jacob Johnson (A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: A New Beginning), Tommy Jarvis (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, A New Beginning and Jason Lives) and Tina Shepard (Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood). Although wanting to do an eight-twelve issue run, The Nightmare Warriors was released as a six-part miniseries between August and December 2024, once again to great acclaim, with Fangoria declaring it as ‘highly entertaining.’ Although the prospect of fans getting to see a Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash movie is very unlikely, the comic series and its sequel proved to be an entertaining substitute that met the expectations of the fans.

Jason X had continued a commercial decline for the Friday the 13th franchise that had begun in 1985 with A New Beginning and had divided the opinions of the fans; some of whom enjoyed the space location and comic tone, whilst others were disappointed by the lack of a summer camp setting. The priority for the series since New Line Cinema had purchased the rights from Paramount a decade earlier had been to produce their long-awaited crossover Freddy vs. Jason, which was to see its antagonist, Jason Voorhees, going head-to-head with A Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger. In many ways, this recalled a trend that had started in the 1940s with Universal Pictures, who had attempted a similar method with both Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man and House of Dracula. When Paramount Pictures had first expressed interest in the project as early as 1987 the Friday the 13th movies had begun to show signs of struggling at the box office, whilst New Line’s Elm Street franchise was at its commercial peak, yet since obtaining the rights to Friday the 13th in 1992 New Line had worked hard to make the concept a reality.

The final shot of 1993’s Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday had shown Jason’s infamous hockey mask lying in the sand, when suddenly Freddy’s hand burst through the ground and dragged it below. This premature promise had excited fans into believing that Freddy vs. Jason was soon to come but they would have to wait another decade for it to be released. In the months following the release of Jason Goes to Hell, New Line’s Michael De Luca had actively pursued the prospect of featuring both Freddy and Jason together in a movie, but the main problem had been that they were unable to work up a satisfactory premise. Following an unsuccessful pitch from Demon Knight writers Cyrus Voris and Ethan Reiff, Sean S. Cunningham – who had directed the original Friday the 13th in 1980 – had turned to his regular collaborator Lewis Abernathy, who had scripted both DeepStar Six and House IV, neither of which had performed well commercially.

Unimpressed with Abernathy’s concept proposal, De Luca would spend several years entertaining countless writers who would either focus too much on prior characters from either respective series or would disregard the mythologies all together. Having eventually passed on screenplays by Star Trek: The Next Generation writers Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore and special effects artist Rob Bottin, De Luca turned to a young writer called David Schow, who had performed uncredited rewrites on A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child and had scripted Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III. By Christmas 1999, just a Jason X had commenced pre-production, New Line had hired Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, who had come to the attention of the studio with their script Danger Girl. But over the next two years New Line would undergo significant changes, with De Luca leaving the company and Freddy vs. Jason seemingly no longer a priority. In a surprise move, however, it would be New Line boss Robert Shaye who would resurrect the project shortly after and finally launching Freddy vs. Jason into production.

Cunningham had remained in contact with A Nightmare on Elm Street creator (and his Last House on the Left director) Wes Craven throughout development, who had been preoccupied with his successful Scream trilogy and had offered advice and support to the project. Although the studio had finally agreed upon a script there was still the question of who would direct. Over the years there had been an array of filmmakers who had pitched their visions to both Paramount and New Line, with Friday the 13th veterans Tom McLoughlin and John Carl Buechler being amongst the first. During its time with New Line, the studio had met with directors such as Guillermo del Toro (Cronos, Mimic) and Stephen Norringon (Blade), before eventually settling on Ronny Yu. Having first gained acclaim in his native Hong Kong, Yu had made his Hollywood debut with the 1998 postmodern horror flick Bride of Chucky, which had reinvented the fledging Child’s Play series for the Scream market. Unaware of either the Friday the 13th or A Nightmare on Elm Street movies, Yu’s lack of knowledge was enough to convince the studio that he would be capable of giving the project a fresh approach.

Following speculation on who would be handling the special effects – with fans once again demanding the return of Tom Savini – the task of creating both Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees fell to Bill Terezakis. Having landed his first break working on Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan in 1989, Terezakis would build a reputation through his effects on Deep Rising, Cats & Dogs and the cult James Cameron show Dark Angel, whilst his Vancouver workshop WCT Productions would handle FX on Final Destination 2 and House of the Dead. Freddy vs. Jason would be budgeted at $35m, more than twice that of Jason X and significantly more than the earlier Friday the 13th movies, whilst – unlike many of the previous installments – it would be an in-house production as opposed to a negative pickup. Hype had been building around the project for over a decade and in that time the genre had changed, with the post-Scream slasher boom coming to an end following countless derivative clones and sequels.

With the exception of the occasional stand-in or stuntman, Robert Englund had been the only actor to portray the character of Freddy Krueger since the release of A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984. Through seven movies, a TV spinoff and various music videos, Freddy had become a pop culture icon and Englund himself had enjoyed tremendous success. Unknown to the actor at the time, however, Freddy vs. Jason would prove to be his swan song, as the franchise would later be resurrected with the obligatory remake. The most controversial aspect of casting would be that of Jason Voorhees. Kane Hodder was first cast in the role for 1988’s Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood and had quickly become a fan favourite, taking the role to a new level with his passion and dedication for the character. Jason X had been his fourth time behind the infamous hockey mask but New Line, in an effort to launch Freddy vs. Jason as a new stand-alone franchise, would choose to recast the role. Canadian stuntman Ken Kirzinger had made a brief appearance in Jason Takes Manhattan as a cook who is thrown over the bar of a diner and had since worked on a variety of projects that had included Look Who’s Talking and The X Files. Despite a backlash from fans, Kirzinger would be cast opposite Englund for the physically demanding role.

In keeping with the tradition of both franchises, Freddy vs. Jason would feature a teenage heroine, who has some kind of past link to one of the killers. Twenty-three year old New Jersey native Monica Keena had enjoyed minor roles in several successful movies earlier in her career; including While You Were Sleeping with Sandra Bullock and the horror flick The Devil’s Advocate, which starred Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves. For the role of Will Rollins, Keena’s on screen love interest, Yu had originally cast Brad Renfro, a former child actor who shot to fame following his impressive performance in Joel Schumacher’s 1994 drama The Client when was just only ten years old. Renfro continued to gain acclaim for his appearances in Sleepers and Apt Pupil, but soon his career began to suffer due to a much-publicised drug addiction. Proving unreliable during the first week of shooting, Renfro was eventually fired from Freddy vs. Jason and continued in a downward spiral until he was found dead from a drug overdose in January 2024, although his death would be overshadowed by that of Heath Ledger one week later.

Yu and his casting agents began to frantically search for a suitable replacement, giving brief consideration to Ian Sommerholder, who would later become known for his role as Boone Carlyle in the hit TV show Lost. Despite reservations after his first audition, the producers finally settled on Jason Ritter who, ironically, already had a loose connection to Yu; his father, the late John Ritter, had appeared in Bride of Chucky several years earlier. With the supporting cast including Destiny’s Child star Kelly Rowland, Katharine (Ginger Snaps) Isabelle and Christopher George Marquette (who would later appear in the comedy The Girl Next Door), principal photography commenced in Vancouver and various regions of British Columbia on September 9th 2024. The fifty-three day shoot finally came to an end on November 22nd and then the film was rushed into post-production, to be overseen by editor Mark Stevens, who was most known for his work with Schumacher on two Batman sequels, 8MM, Flawless, Tigerland and Phone Booth.

To the surprise of the fans, Harry Manfredini would not return to compose the score, with New Line wanting to avoid too many comparisons to the previous Friday the 13th movies. Aside from Jason Takes Manhattan, Manfredini’s name had been listed on all of the Friday the 13th films, although his input on each had varied greatly. Whilst the score would be composed by Graeme Revell, the soundtrack would also feature songs by a variety of metal acts, such as ll Niño, Spineshank, Type O Negative and Machine Head, as well as DJ Junkie XL. Freddy vs. Jason was released in North American on August 15th 2024 and became a phenomenal success, making over $36m on its first three days, eventually earning in excess of $80m, far surpassing any of the Friday the 13th or A Nightmare on Elm Street movies. After a sixteen-year wait, fans had finally seen both iconic killers facing off in a movie but what direction the franchise would take from there remained unclear.

Despite gaining a cult following on VHS after its mediocre performance at the box office in 1993, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday had only proven what Paramount had feared when they had sold off the franchise to New Line Cinema; that the popularity that Friday the 13th and its iconic antagonist, Jason Voorhees, had had enjoyed throughout the 1980s had come to an end. Whilst A Nightmare on Elm Street creator Wes Craven had attempted to inject some originality into his own series with 1994′s New Nightmare, the slasher boom was a thing of the past. But over the Christmas holidays in 1996 something unexpected happened; the genre would receive a postmodern makeover with Craven’s stylish thriller Scream, which would become a phenomenal success and, much like Friday the 13th sixteen years earlier, would spawn a slew of imitators. With the long-awaited crossover Freddy vs. Jason languishing in development hell, talk eventually turned to creating a new sequel and bringing Jason back from the dead.

Over a decade earlier, as Jason was terrorising New York City, Friday the 13th creator Sean S. Cunningham had begun to struggle with his second franchise, House. Following two relatively popular movies, Cunningham had intended to launch a new series with The Horror Show, which had focused on demented serial killer Max Jenke returning from beyond the grave to haunt the cop who arrested him. Echoing Craven’s Shocker, released the same year, the movie’s director, David Blyth, would be fired midway through the shoot and replaced by first-time filmmaker James Isaac, whose previous association with Cunningham had been as a visual effects coordinator on 1987′s House II: The Second Story (which, amusingly, would later be referenced in Scream 2). The Horror Show would fail to meet Cunningham’s expectations and would be rebranded as House III in certain territories, whilst a disappointed Isaac would return to the world of effects with David Cronenberg’s disturbing fantasy Naked Lunch.

Having completed work in Toronto on Cronenberg’s thriller eZistenZ (a loose reworking of his 1982 classic Videodrome), Isaac returned to Los Angeles in early 1999 and contacted Cunningham, who at that time was struggling to bring Freddy vs. Jason to fruition. It would be Isaac who would suggest a new Friday the 13th sequel as it had been ten years since the release of The Horror Show and he had still not directed a second feature. Whilst concerned that a new movie could affect Freddy vs. Jason, Cunningham reluctantly agreed, providing it worked as a stand-alone story and was not based around a summer camp. With the Friday the 13th franchise having laid dormant for almost six years – the longest that time had past without a sequel since the original movie was released two decades earlier – Cunningham wanted to generate some interest in his character in anticipation for Freddy vs. Jason and so turned to a young writer called Todd Farmer, who had made the acquaintance of Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday‘s Dean Lorey several years earlier and had found his way into Cunningham’s inner circle.

Along with Cunningham’s son, Noel, who would take over duties as producer, he began discussions with both Isaac and Farmer on a practical way to bring Jason back. After briefly considering relocating him to the Antarctic, Farmer suggested sending Jason into space. This scenario would often prove to be the nail in the coffin for a franchise, with Critters IV, Hellraiser: Bloodline and Leprechaun 4: In Space all failing to impress fans of each respective series. But the concept held potential and Cunningham took their pitch to New Line’s Michael De Luca, who had been a supporter of Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday and an ally for Cunningham. Although insistent that it not be just another Friday the 13th movie, De Luca was also enthusiastic about the story and so gave his approval. As with the earlier films, Friday the 13th Part X (or Jason X, as it would become known) would be a negative pickup, meaning that the movie would be produced independently and then delivered to New Line for distribution.

Farmer began to develop the space premise into a screenplay, using both Ridley Scott’s science fiction classic Alien and James Cameron’s action-packed sequel Aliens as a template by including a tough heroine, an isolated location and a small army of soldiers. Determined to make amends for what he felt had been a disappointing debut with The Horror Show, Isaac requested a significantly larger budget with which to do the concept justice. Along with Noel Cunningham, Isaac embarked on the long and difficult process of pre-production, using Toronto as his base of operations due to the low production costs. Turning to his fellow FX artists for assistance, the special effects for Jason X would be supervised by fellow Cronenberg veteran Stephan Dupuis (Scanners, eXistenZ), whilst the film’s spacecraft would be created by the Toronto-based workshop Toybox. Jason X would also prove to be the first Friday the 13th movie to boast a significant amount of digital effects, although there would still be an array of prosthetic gore to please the fans.

Casting for Jason X commenced shortly before Christmas 1999, which would include several Canadian actors for practical reasons. Both Lexa Doig and Lisa Ryder, who would portray ‘final girl’ Rowan and android Kay-Em 14, respectively, would go on to co-star together in the hit sci-fi show Andromeda. Chuck Russell would also appear in the 2024 slasher sequel Urban Legends: Final Cut and would later play a character called Chuck in Stargate: Atlantis. Other principal roles would be portrayed by Melyssa Ade, Peter Mensah and Melody Johnson, whilst the adult role of class teacher would go to Jonathan Potts, whose prior credits included such shows as The Twilight Zone, Swamp Thing and F/X: The Series. Taking the role of Jason for the fourth and final time was veteran stuntman Kane Hodder, who had also pursued acting roles with appearances in Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings, Scanner Cop II and Wishmaster.

Filming would take place in Toronto in early 2024, eventually wrapping in April. During the process of pre-production, Farmer had witnessed his script stripped down and as a consequence had lost its darker elements, instead reduced to comedy. Jason X would be notably more action-orientated than its predecessors, with both Doig and Ryder adopting Ripley-like roles in keeping with Farmer’s homage to Aliens. In a nod to the original Alien, Farmer would name one of the characters Dallas (as played by Tom Skerritt in the 1979 movie), which would allow him to make an appearance and be killed on screen by Jason, much to the writer’s delight. An aspect that would ultimately divide the opinion of the fans was the introduction of what would be dubbed Uber Jason; a cyborg killing machine that was a result of Jason receiving a futuristic upgrade. Despite the image of Uber Jason being featured heavily in the film’s promotion, the new character would not be introduced until the final act.

During the making of Jason X there had been some significant developments at New Line; the studio were prepping the release of the first installment in their big budget trilogy The Lord of the Rings and De Luca, who had first approved of a new Friday the 13th movie, had since left the studio. When Cunningham and Isaac submitted Jason X to the executives their response was less than enthusiastic, resulting in the film remaining unreleased in the United States for two years, eventually making its North American debut on April 26th 2024. Due to the lack of studio support and the negative criticism that had dogged the movie on the internet, which had never been a concern for the franchise before, the film failed to find an audience and would eventually gross just $12.6m at the US box office. With an overall budget of $14m, making it the third most expensive film in the series (although, at the time of production, it was over twice the budget of any previous Friday the 13th), Jason X was considered a financial disappointment, despite the occasional positive review. Unknown to either the fans of Cunningham at that time, Jason X would prove to be the final film in the original series, as two years later Freddy vs. Jason would finally make its way to the big screen.

The lukewarm reception that Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan had received at the box office in 1989 had been the final nail in the coffin for Paramount who, after almost a decade of success, had laid the character of Jason Voorhees to rest and would eventually cancel their small screen spinoff the following year. New Line Cinema’s once-profitable A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, which had in part been responsible for the decline of interest in Friday the 13th, had also ground to a halt the same year as Jason Takes Manhattan, as had the popular Halloween series. The heyday of the slasher cycle had long since passed and fans had grown weary of the formula, instead turning their attention to more sophisticated thrillers such as The Silence of the Lambs. 1990 saw both Psycho IV: The Beginning and Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III follow suit and studios were finally convinced that the slasher had lost all popularity.

As a last desperate attempt to revive their Elm Street franchise, New Line Cinema released Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare which, much like Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter seven years earlier, was intended to bring some closure to the series. Directed by Rachel Talalay, who had worked in a production capacity on the earlier installments, the movie was noted for boasting a 3-D finale that saw Freddy Krueger defeated by his previously unheard of daughter, Maggie. The script was conceived by Michael De Luca, who had risen through the ranks of New Line in just a few short years to become Head of Production. An avid horror fan, De Luca expressed interest in obtaining the rights to the Friday the 13th series from Paramount and, by 1992, had contacted Sean S. Cunningham, who had directed the first movie twelve years earlier and had since struggled to find similar success with his House franchise. Despite having distanced himself from the slasher genre, Cunningham decided to return to the world of Friday the 13th to take control of the series that he had helped to create.

Paramount had bled the franchise dry but now New Line had taken over Cunningham felt that the time was right to finish what he had started. The finale to Jason Takes Manhattan had been somewhat anticlimactic and fans had been left disappointed with the fate of Jason, thus prompting Cunningham to disregard the events of the previous six movies and create a story independent of the sequels. The concept for what would become Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday was first conceived by Adam Marcus, who as a child had spent time on the set of the original Friday the 13th and had become close friends with Cunningham’s son, Noel. Marcus had studied at NYU Film School and had landed a position working for Cunningham in Los Angeles, where he was able to pitch his story for the ninth Friday the 13th. Whilst the eighth movie had seen Jason revert inexplicably to the young boy who had drowned in Crystal Lake decades earlier, neither Cunningham nor Marcus had any interest in explaining how he had once again become an indestructible zombie.

Despite finally owning the rights to both A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th, New Line were unable to commit to a concept for their highly anticipated crossover, Freddy vs. Jason, that they felt would live up to the expectations of the fans and so Cunningham instead decided to create a new sequel, although he had no intention of simply producing Friday the 13th Part IX. The task of resurrecting Jason fell to Jay Huguely, another close friend of Cunningham’s who had gained minor acclaim for his work on the hit show Magnum P.I. during the 1980s. But the script that he would submit to New Line would fail to meet the approval of Cunningham, Marcus and De Luca and so Marcus contacted his former NYU classmate Dean Lorey. Having first come to the attention of Cunningham with his script Johnny Zombie (later re-titled My Boyfriend’s Back and released in 1993), Lorey was brought onboard to rewrite Huguely’s screenplay.

Marcus had suggested a story that saw Jason body-hopping from one victim to another by way of a parasite that he spews into the mouth as he searches for a way to be reborn. The basic concept bore a close resemblance to The Hidden, an underrated science fiction action movie released by New Line in 1987 and directed by Jack Sholder, previously known for his work on Alone in the Dark and A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. Lorey rewrote the script for what would become Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday over one weekend and, whilst keeping Marcus’ basic outline, felt that a Friday the 13th script without Jason would disappoint the fans and so included scenes both at the beginning and the end of the script where Jason would make an appearance. Both Marcus and Lorey would agree that, unlike the previous sequels, the existence of Jason was acknowledged not only by the local community but the entire country to the point that even the nation’s most popular reality TV show, American Casefile, had dedicated an entire episode to his capture.

Having already worked on sequels to Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, KNB EFX were brought onboard to take care of the elaborate special effects, which would not only feature the traditional gruesome murder set pieces (including, in the unrated cut, a young woman sliced in half whilst straddling her partner and a police station massacre that rivaled The Terminator) but also the parasite that jumps between hosts, the decomposition of the bodies as Jason leaves his hosts and the visual effects required for the final showdown. Whilst Kane Hodder would return to the role once again, several other actors would portray Jason throughout the movie, albeit in different forms. Hodder, in a subtle in-joke, would also cameo as a security guard who refers to Jason as ‘nothing but a big old pussy.’ Lorey would also land a small role as an assistant coroner, although he had not written the part with himself in mind. Due to nerves, he was unable to remember his dialogue during filming and so ad-libbed several comic lines, including referencing taking a mango-sized crap on Jason’s mask.

What would set Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday apart from its predecessors would be the casting, which would avoid the typical teen victims and instead focus on older characters. For the heroic lead role, the producers decided to cast John D. LeMay, who had also starred in the first two season’s of Paramount’s Friday the 13th: The Series. The other principal roles would go to Steven Williams (21 Jump Street and later The X Files, in which he would portray one of Agent Mulder’s mysterious informants), Erin Gray (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century), Billy Green Bush (The Hitcher, Critters, the latter also distributed by New Line) and Richard Gant (Rocky V). In the supporting role of Officer Randy Parker, Marcus would cast his younger brother, Kipp, also an alumni of NYU. The remaining supporting cast would include Steven Culp (later seen in season 2 of 24), TV regular Leslie Jordan and Julie Michaels (Point Break), whilst the role of the ‘final girl’ would go to Kari Keegan, who had previously appeared in a minor role in the 1988 Keanu Reeves flick The Prince of Pennsylvania.

Principal photography would take place in Los Angeles in the summer of 1992 on a budget of approximately $7m, which made it the most expensive Friday the 13th movie at that time (later surpassed by Freddy vs. Jason). Although Marcus had avoided the traditional summer camp location, test screenings would convince him to shoot a sequence in which three young campers are slaughtered whilst out in the woods, believing the area to be safe now that Jason is dead. This scene would prove to be the film’s most brutal and graphic and would be heavily censored by the MPAA, who had proven to be a thorn in the side of the franchise over the last decade. Released on August 13th 1993, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday would become the least successful entry in the franchise until Jason X nine years later and would receive a backlash from fans, who were frustrated by the lack of screen time for Jason and the confusing plot.

By the end of the 1980s the slasher film had all but run its course. Whilst franchises such as Halloween, Silent Night, Deadly Night, Sleepaway Camp and A Nightmare on Elm Street had struggled to keep the interest of their fans, other lesser efforts like Offerings, Intruder and The Horror Show (aka House III) had failed to reignite the cycle. The horror genre itself was losing popularity; no longer was sleaze and gore a box office draw, instead cinemagoers were spending money on psychological thrillers like Fatal Attraction, The Stepfather and, a couple of years later, The Silence of the Lambs. It had been almost a decade since Jason Voorhees had first entered popular culture and for several years Friday the 13th dominated the genre, but recycled ideas, overzealous censors and poor box office returns would cause the slasher’s most beloved franchise to run aground.

Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood had done little to prove to Paramount that the series was still a success and soon the studio began to give serious thought to killing off Jason once and for all. They had tried this once before with 1984′s Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter but, at that time, the franchise was still making money. But now, five years later, the generation that had flocked to see the first movie had grown up and the kids of 1989 had little interest in horror clichés and such a one-dimensional character. Even as The New Blood earned a modest amount at the box office (although far less than its predecessors), the producers began to discuss potential ideas for the next sequel, with both director John Carl Buechler and actress Lar Park Lincoln pitching concepts that would carry on the story of Part VII‘s disturbed heroine, Tina. Eventually it was decided that the series had run its course and the eighth movie would be the last.

In late 1987, Friday the 13th: The Series made its debut on American television and, despite its suggestive title, had no relation to the movie franchise. The show would, however, feature contributions from several directors who had already carved a name for themselves within the horror genre: these would include slasher veterans Tom McLoughlin (Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives) and Armand Mastroianni (He Knows You’re Alone). One director who would get his big break through the show would be Rob Hedden, a young enthusiast who had previously worked as a writer for Paramount on MacGyver and had been offered the chance to pen an episode of Friday the 13th: The Series. On the condition that he could also direct, Hedden was eventually brought onto the show and was given the opportunity to helm two episodes, The Electrocutioner and 13 O’Clock, which would appear in the first and second season, respectively. Whilst filming the latter, Hedden was visited by Frank Mancuso Sr., the head of Paramount whose son, Frank Mancuso Jr., had nurtured the Friday the 13th movies since the first sequel and was looking for a filmmaker to both write and direct the eighth installment.

Although Hedden had worked on the TV show he had little knowledge of the movie franchise and so immediately watched the previous seven films to familiarise himself with the formula and mythology. Soon after he found himself in Mancuso Jr.’s office pitching his concept and it became apparent that the producers were concerned that New Line’s A Nightmare on Elm Street had begun to steal their thunder (1988′s A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master had grossed over $49m, whilst The New Blood had managed just $19m) and would demand something a little different from their new director. Hedden decided to introduce a new supernatural element to the story, in which Jason would appear to the heroine like a ghost, whilst also moving the action from Crystal Lake to New York City. Mancuso Jr. immediately sensed the potential of Jason embarking on a killing spree around the Big Apple and Hedden began to suggest possible locations: Madison Square Gardens, Broadway, Times Square, Brooklyn Bridge and even the Statue of Liberty. But before long Paramount grew concerned that the concept could inflate the budget and decided to cut back on many of Hedden’s ideas.

Initially, New York was to be introduced at the end of the first act, but Hedden was then instructed to base the first half of his script on a cruise ship, and finally – when the overall budget was calculated at $4m – he was told he would only get one week to shoot in New York. To save cost, the producers decided that Vancouver in British Columbia would make an ideal substitute and so Mancuso Jr. contacted Randolph Cheveldave, whom he had worked with a few years earlier on the slasher comedy April Fool’s Day. Cheveldave had worked for Mancuso Jr. as a production manager and the two had become friends and, with Mancuso Jr. tied up with the thriller Internal Affairs, he offered Cheveldave the chance to produce Friday the 13th Part VIII. Hedden, who at that time was relatively inexperienced and unable to debate with a major studio, was forced to deal with the changes suggested by the producers and rewrote his script accordingly. The final draft saw a graduating high school class embarking on a cruise onboard the SS Lazarus from Crystal Lake to New York but are picked off one-by-one by Jason, before a handful of survivors escape into the city.

Although the previous four Friday the 13th movies had featured the obligatory blonde heroine, Hedden was determined to cast against type for the role of his ‘final girl,’ Rennie. Amongst the young hopefuls to read for the part were Dedee Pfeiffer (The Horror Show), whose older sister, Michelle, had enjoyed minor success with Grease 2, Scarface and Tequila Sunrise, and Elizabeth Berkley, whose subsequent career would include the hit show Saved by the Bell and the notorious flop Showgirls. Jensen Daggett, who would eventually win the role, had come from an acting background and had pursued theatre in high school, before relocating to Hollywood at the age of eighteen. For her audition, Daggett was required to perform a ‘scream test’ in order to prove that she could deliver the goods during the film’s more tense moments. Hedden would be pressured by the studio to have his lead strip for the movie but Daggett refused and, unable to even convince her to appear topless in a scene, eventually stopped asking.

At this point, no actor had wanted to or had been given the chance to play the character of Jason more than once. Jason Lives‘ C.J. Graham had initially been considered to return for The New Blood but the director, Buechler, had insisted on casting actor/stuntman Kane Hodder, whom he had previously worked with on the flick Prison. Hedden was offered the chance to recast the role and the producers had considered a Canadian stuntman for budgetary reasons, but Hedden had been impressed by Hodder’s turn as Jason and fought to have him return to the role. The supporting cast would be primarily made up of fresh young talent who would enjoy various degrees of success in their subsequent careers: these would include Kelly Hu (The Scorpion King), Martin Cummins (Dark Angel), Scott Reeves (The Young and the Restless) and Gordon Currie (Beverly Hills, 90210). Scott Reeves, who would play the male lead, had not been the first choice for the role of the heroic Sean but had been brought in early in the shoot after the actor originally cast was replaced.

Just prior to principal photography, the boat that the production were to use for the majority of the shoot was taken away due to scheduling conflicts and the producers were forced to find a replacement as soon as possible. Filming took place early in 1989 in Britannia, a small town thirty kilometers north of Vancouver for approximately seven weeks, before relocating to New York City for one week. Daggett was not the only actress that the studio wanted to feature naked in the movie, something that they felt their core audience demanded. Sharlene Martin, who would play the obligatory bitch Tamara, is killed by Jason whilst showering and the producers were eager for some T&A. Martin, far removed from her obnoxious character, was uncomfortable about peeling off her clothes but Hedden, who wanted his cast to be at ease during the shoot, stripped off and stepped into the shower to show her how easy it was. Unknown to Hedden, director of photography Bryan England had left the camera rolling and when the producers saw the next set of diallies they were shocked to see their director standing naked.

To recreate New York in Vancouver, Hedden and his crew worked overtime by transforming abandoned tunnels under the city into a subway, laying down tracks and building a fake subway car. For the climax, in which the sewers are flushed out with toxic waste, the production moved to the gymnasium of an old school, in which they constructed large tanks that held 5,000 gallons of water that could be released easily. There was one sequence that could not be shot in Vancouver: Rennie and Sean trying to escape from Jason by running through Times Square. But when Hodder stepped out into the street he was greeted by thousands of die hard fans who were shocked to see their hero loose in New York. Mancuso Jr. had allocated the production a further $25,000 to film for seven days in New York and the hype that surrounded Jason’s surprise appearance helped to generate a buzz around the movie. One aspect of the film that fans were less than impressed with was the ending, in which Jason drowns in the toxic waste and reverts back to a scared young boy, something that even Hodder felt was an anticlimax.

The editing would be handled by Steve Mirkovich, who had previously collaborated with John Carpenter on Big Trouble in Little China and Prince of Darkness. Mirkovich’s son, Timothy Burr, had been brought on the set for several weeks in Vancouver when the actor hired to play Jason as a boy was unable to cope with the various underwater scenes. Resident composer Harry Manfredini had been replaced by Fred Mollin, whom he had shared credit with on The New Blood and had scored the TV series. The original cut of Jason Takes Manhattan came in at just over two hours, forcing Hedden to remove much of the dialogue and character scenes, instead focusing on the action and suspense. The movie was released by Paramount on July 28th 1989 and would earn just $14.3m at the US box office, whilst critics were quick to point out that, despite the film’s title, very little of the movie actually takes place in New York, with the Washington Post stating: “The on-screen body count is 19 and Jason Vorhees doesn’t even get to New York until the last 20 minutes of Friday the 13th: Part VIII – Jason Takes Manhattan.”

Although Jason Lives had fared better with both fans and critics than its predecessor, the success of the Friday the 13th franchise had started to show signs of stalling. Paramount had attempted to gain permission from New Line Cinema to cross over the series with their own product, A Nightmare on Elm Street, for what would eventually become Freddy vs. Jason. The studio had discussed concepts with a variety of filmmakers, including Jason Lives‘ Tom McLoughlin but, whilst Friday the 13th had begun to struggle at the box office, 1987′s A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors had become a phenomenal success, and soon it became apparent that they would be unable to compromise with New Line. Whilst Paramount had enjoyed minor acclaim with their small screen spinoff, Friday the 13th: The Series, they began to entertain ideas for what would be their eighth installment.

Frank Mancuso Jr., who had nurtured the franchise throughout most of its sequels, was hard at work with his own production company, Hometown, and no longer had interest in Jason Voorhees, thus allowing Paramount’s Senior VP Barbara Sachs to oversee the production. Amongst the writers to audition for the task of bringing back Jason in a way that would compete with Elm Street was Daryl Haney who, after a string of failed pitches, suggested that the heroine have some kind of telekinetic ability. Sachs was immediately struck by the proposal and dubbed the concept Jason vs. Carrie, in reference to Brian De Palma’s classic adaptation of Stephen King’s novel. Flying back from Los Angeles to New York the following day, Haney was contacted by Sachs and informed that he was hired, thus starting several weeks of phone discussions between the two as they attempted to formulate a plot.

Demanding something bigger than fans had seen before, Sachs would lay out a synopsis which saw a yuppie businessman arriving at Crystal Lake with the intention of building luxury condos, much to the distress of the local residents who feared that Jason would return. A playful poke at capitalism – something common amongst filmmakers during the 1980s with such satires as Trading Places, Wall Street and RoboCop – Jason would not actually appear in the story until midway through. Despite his lack of interest in the project, Mancuso Jr. was horrified by how much the script had diverted from the traditional formula and advised Haney to view Joseph Zito’s 1984 sequel Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, which many considered the best installment. Unlike the previous Friday the 13th movies, the task of directing Part VII would be entrusted to an experienced special effects artist, an aspect that would prove useful during production.

Having developed a passion for make-up from an early age, John Carl Buechler had begun experimenting with clay and latex and soon became a regular letter writer to acclaimed FX artist Rick Baker, whom he would land an apprenticeship with, before gaining his break at Roger Corman’s New World Pictures, where he would be involved in such schlock classics as Forbidden World and Deathstalker. From there he moved onto Charles Band’s Empire, which would lead to his first official directing credit with 1984′s The Dungeonmaster, shooting the segment Demons of the Dead. But it would be his low budget fantasy Troll, which he had first tried to finance whilst still at New World, that would bring Buechler to the attention of Mancuso, Jr. By this point, the Friday the 13th franchise had begun to compete with A Nightmare on Elm Street, which was far more revered and professional, and so the telekinetic subplot would add a supernatural element.

There was immediate tension between Haney and Buechler, with the latter reworking the script to remove many of the tired slasher clichés and adding several action sequences, whilst also refining the central character, Tina. Determined to avoid the basic slice-and-dice formula of its predecessors, Buechler wanted to explore Jason’s supernatural elements and how he had finally found his match. Haney, who had been unimpressed by Troll when Sachs had screened the film for him, felt that Buechler would not be able to do his script justice and soon entered a dispute over his salary when he felt that he was not receiving the payment he was owed. The rewrites on Birthday Bash, as it would be tentatively known, were credited to Manuel Fidello, many of whom believed was an alias for an unknown writer. It is worth noting that Manuel Fidello was also the name of Spencer Tracy’s character in Victor Fleming’s 1937 classic Captains Courageous.

Once again the casting sessions would consist of an endless supply of young, good-looking actors eager to be mutilated or disrobe. Kerry Noonan, who had already been dispatched in Jason Lives, was invited in to audition for the role of Tina, without the casting agents realising that she had appeared in a previous Friday movie. In fact, none of the young cast who attended the auditions were aware that Birthday Bash was a Friday the 13th film, although with the script’s antagonist sporting a hockey mask some began to suspect the truth. The part of Tina would eventually go to twenty-six year old Lar Park Lincoln, whose prior experience in the horror genre had been the tongue-in-cheek flick House II: The Second Story (produced by Friday the 13th‘s Sean S. Cunningham). Kevin Spirtas, who would ultimately be cast in the heroic role of Nick, had first cut his teeth on Broadway at the age of eighteen, where he performed in such productions as A Chorus Line and Meet Me in St. Louis. As he left his teens he began to pursue roles in low budget movies under the name Kevin Blair, landing his first break in Wes Craven’s critically mauled The Hills Have Eyes Part II.

Making a brief appearance as Michael, whose birthday the fake title was in reference to, was William Butler, who had moved to Los Angeles at the age of seventeen and, through his friend John Vulich (who had worked on The Final Chapter), had been hired by Buechler to work at his special effects workshop Mechanical and Make-Up Imageries, where he would learn the basics of prop and creature design on cult movies such as From Beyond and Cellar Dweller. Discovering that Buechler had been hired to direct the latest Friday the 13th, Butler pleaded for an audition. Susan Blu, who would be cast as Tina’s well meaning-yet-incompetent mother, Amanda, was previously known for her work as a voiceover artist, with her most successful role being the robot car Arcee in the 1986 animated hit Transformers: The Movie. At the suggestion of casting agent Anthony Barnao, Blu reluctantly read for the role, despite having little on screen experience.

Whilst C.J. Graham had given a memorable performance as Jason in Part VI, Buechler was determined to cast stuntman Kane Hodder, whom he had recently worked with on a horror movie called Prison. Mancuso Jr. was at first reluctant to cast Hodder, whom he felt was too small for the role, and so to convince him Buechler shot screen test footage of Hodder in full make-up, which would include extra padding to bulk the up character and allow for segments of flesh to be cut out of his torso and spine. Finally satisfied that he would be more than capable of taking on the role, Hodder was cast and would portray Jason for the next three movies. So passionate was his approach to the role that Hodder would redefine the character and would become a favourite amongst fans, causing a backlash when he was replaced by fellow stuntman Ken Kirzinger for 2024′s Freddy vs. Jason. Ironically, Kirzinger had appeared briefly in Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan fourteen years earlier, where he was tossed into a mirror by Jason. Although Graham had worked briefly with fire on the previous film, Hodder and Buechler would subject Jason to an array of explosions, pyrotechnics and other dangerous stunts during the movie’s action-packed climax.

Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood was completed on a budget of $2.8m, approximately $200,000 less than Jason Lives, and was released theatrically in the United States on May 13th 1988, making it the third of the franchise to be released on a Friday the 13th. Released on approximately 1,800 screens, the movie took $19,170,001 at the US box office, falling just short of its predecessor. Clearly disgusted in his review of the film the day after release, Richard Harrington of The Washington Post said; “Those reviews of Friday the 13th movies that come out on Saturday the 14th could never be as mindless and brutal as the films themselves… So why should we expect Part VIII (More New Blood) next year? Well, Paramount has already made $172 million on six sick films and should easily reach the $200 million plateau with this edition.” Variety added; “He meets his match with the girl who cooks up her own storm with a willful stare. Although their duel offers original effects-laden thrills and stunts, it’s too little and too late.”

With the latest installment, 1986′s Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, earning almost $2m less than its predecessor at the US box office, despite fairing better with both fans and critics, Paramount were unsure on how to proceed with their long-running franchise. All attempts to move their highly anticipated Nightmare on Elm Street crossover Freddy vs. Jason into production had failed and nervous executives were desperate to save their fledging product. Paramount began to express interest in moving two of their most successful commodities into the world of television syndication, namely Star Trek – which had first begun as a TV show in the 1960s, before being launched as a successful movie franchise in 1979 – and Friday the 13th. Both titles alone would be familiar to the public and would generate a certain level of interest, although the latter also ran the risk of attracting controversy.

It had been over six years since the studio had first purchased Sean S. Cunningham’s low budget thriller Friday the 13th and since then the series that it had spawned had earned in excess of $170m, yet the negative criticism that Paramount had received from both moral watchdogs and film critics had been a constant thorn in their side. Frank Mancuso Jr. had begun to distance himself from the Friday the 13th franchise as early as 1984, following the success of the supposedly last installment The Final Chapter. He had continued to oversee the production of the next two sequels but had remained distant, allowing the filmmakers a certain amount of creative freedom whilst he focused on his own projects. But some time after the release of Jason Lives, Mancuso Jr. was contacted by Paramount Television’s Mel Harris, who expressed interest in transporting the Friday the 13th brand to the small screen.

Harris had first joined the studio in 1977 and was promoted to Vice President of Program Marketing, as well as president of Paramount Video in the mid-1980s. He would become a pioneer in television syndication and would be responsible for allowing Gene Roddenberry to resurrect his TV career with Star Trek: The Next Generation, which would ultimately run for a total of seven years. Harris requested that Mancuso Jr. be in charge of adapting Friday the 13th into a television series but advised that it should have no direct relation to the movie franchise and should not feature any references to Jason Voorhees or Camp Crystal Lake. Mancuso Jr. was hesitant about producing a television show called Friday the 13th that did not feature Jason, as he feared that the fan base would be disappointed and that the ratings would suffer. Harris did advise the young producer, however, that he had creative freedom to conceive whatever kind of show he wanted, thus allowing Mancuso Jr. the opportunity to create a series of bizarre stories loosely connected by a continuing narrative.

Mancuso Jr. would be introduced to a budding young writer called Larry B. Williams, who had previously worked on the family-friendly science fiction romp SpaceCamp. There was only the title, Friday the 13th, and Mancuso Jr. had neither a concept nor a clear idea of what kind of show he wanted to produce. Brainstorming with Williams, a story began to take form which revolved around an antique store in New Orleans called Curious Gifts, whose owner was struggling to make a profit and reluctantly sold his soul to the Devil in return for success. Echoing the tale of Faust, as well as the urban legend of blues guitarist Robert Johnson, the man began to receive great wealth from his deal with the Devil, although his eventual defiance would cost him his life. The store would then be taken over by his niece and her cousin, who begin to sell off many of the cursed items before being warned by a mysterious stranger of the evil that they had unleashed upon the world.

Despite an enthusiasm for the story, Mancuso Jr. was still reluctant to refer to the show as Friday the 13th and instead approached the studio with the suggestion of calling it The 13th Hour, but Harris and his producers insisted that the Friday the 13th connection remain for marketing purposes. Mancuso Jr. even tried to use the results gathered from a focus group survey, which stated that the majority of viewers would be put off by a show entitled Friday the 13th, to convince his superiors but once again he was unsuccessful. With a basic concept in place, Williams wrote a short pilot that they intended to screen to the studio in order to show what they intended to do, which Mancuso Jr. would direct. With the pilot in hand, Friday the 13th was pre-sold along with Star Trek: The Next Generation at NATPE, a body which allows companies to create or distribute their products. Mancuso Jr. then began to conceive various different story lines that Williams and a series of guest writers could adapt into screenplays. Amongst those who would contribute scripts were Rob Hedden, who would later become known to fans of the franchise as the director of 1989′s Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan.

The principal roles for Friday the 13th: The Series were Micki Foster and Ryan Dallion, both of whom take over Curious Gifts when Micki’s uncle, Lewis Vendredi, suddenly passes away. Born and raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota, James LeMay later studied at the Illinois State University in Chicago, before going onto an internship at the Geffen Theatre. His agent had prompted the young actor to relocate to Los Angeles in order to find more substantial roles and soon he was landing parts in commercials and television shows such as Facts of Life and The Twilight Zone. After losing out on the 1985 horror comedy Once Bitten to a pre-fame Jim Carrey, LeMay auditioned for the role of Ryan in Friday the 13th: The Series. His co-star, Louise Robey, was born in Montreal, Quebec and was two years older than LeMay. The daughter of stage actress, Robey had pursued a singing career in Paris, where she would also enjoy modest success as a model. Following minor roles in the Tom Hanks comedy The Money Pit and the Arnold Schwarzenegger thriller Raw Deal, Robey was cast as Micki.

Another significant character was that of Jack Marshak, a friend of Micki’s uncle who had come to warn the two of the curse that surrounded the items they were selling. Taking the role of Jack was Chris Wiggins, who was born in Blackpool, England but had relocated to Canada in 1952 to work for a newspaper, before turning his attention to theatre. Making the transition to television in the late 1950s, Wiggins would work predominantly on the small screen throughout his career, which would also include the animated Star Wars spinoff Droids. In the role of Lewis was R. G. Armstrong, a veteran of countless television westerns from the 1950s and 1960s, including Have Gun–Will Travel and Maverick, whilst also making appearances in The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Fugitive. With each episode focusing on a different story, Friday the 13th: The Series would feature a diverse supporting cast of unknown actors, such as Sarah Polley (who would later star in the 2024 remake of Dawn of the Dead), Carolyn Dunn and Barclay Hope (both would appear in Paramount’s small screen spinoff of War of the Worlds the following year) and Scott Paulin (who had previously appeared in Paul Schrader’s 1982 remake of Cat People).

Filming on Friday the 13th: The Series took place in Toronto, Canada, which had become a popular location for American filmmakers due to the low production costs. As well as a varied supporting cast, the series would also see several noted filmmakers contributing episodes, ranging from the acclaimed David Cronenberg (Videodrome, The Fly) to the obcure William Fruet (Spasms, Killer Party). Due to a short schedule for each episode and a degree of freedom, many of the filmmakers relished the challenges inherent with working on a fantasy show, with Paramount remaining at arm’s length providing each episode was delivered under budget. The pilot episode of Friday the 13th: The Series, entitled The Inheritance, made its debut on September 28th 1987, the same day as Paramount’s other highly anticipated show, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and by the end of the season it ranked second in the syndicated television ratings.

Whilst many fans of Friday the 13th were both confused and disappointed at the lack of connection between the show and the movie franchise, the critics were surprisingly positive when reviewing the season and before long executives at Paramount were eager for more episodes. A second season was rushed into production and was aired throughout the latter half of 1988 and into the following year. During this time, New Line would express interest in following suit and devised their own spinoff from A Nightmare on Elm Street, entitled Freddy’s Nightmares. Unlike Friday the 13th: The Series, their show would relate to the previous films and would feature the same antagonist, Freddy Krueger. By the end of the second season, LeMay had decided that he no longer wanted to remain with the show and made his exit with the two-parter The Prophecies, which would open the third season.

Coincidentally, LeMay’s final appearance would be directed by Tom McLoughlin, whose previous connection to the franchise was helming Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives. LeMay would eventually be replaced by Steve Monarque, a New Jersey-born actor who had first started out his career with a small role in John Hughes’ early brat pack comedy Sixteen Candles. Having first appeared in the season 2 episode Wedding Bell Blues, Monarque would reprise his role as former delinquent Johnny Ventura. Due in part to negative feedback from its association with the movie franchise, Friday the 13th: The Series would eventually be cancelled after seventy-two episodes, making its swan song on May 26th 1990. By this time, Paramount had lost interest in producing any more Friday the 13th movies and would later sell the rights to New Line Cinema.

With 1985’s Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning not only disappointing critics but alienating the fans, Paramount soon realised that they had to bring Jason Voorhees back in a new and exciting way. New Line Cinema had given the studio a major rival with their inventive and stylish A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and so the producers decided that the only way to survive was to embrace other mediums such as merchandise and music videos. In an effort to convince fans that their favourite serial killer would be making a triumphant return, series producer Frank Mancuso Jr. enlisted the assistance of another star whose glory days seemed far behind him. Alice Cooper had been one of the most controversial entertainers of the 1970s with his brand of outrageous stage theatrics (including Grand Guignol-style executions) but due to an excessive lifestyle of alcoholism his career had come to a standstill, resulting in a slew of obscure albums that failed to achieve the acclaim of his earlier work.

Despite a consistent output of interesting and varied material (including the highly underrated 1980 album Flush the Fashion), fans had begun to look elsewhere for their thrills, with a new generation of heavy metal bands embracing similar theatrics (such W.A.S.P. and Twisted Sister). By 1986, Cooper had sobered up and was determined to save his flagging career. After forming a creative partnership with imposing guitarist Kane Roberts and producers Beau Hill and Michael Wagener, he began work on what he hoped would be his comeback record. Once again returning to the outrageous image he had utilised throughout the ’70s (including his trademark eyeliner), Cooper would co-write ten tracks for what would become Constrictor, eventually making its debut on September 22nd 1986. Six weeks earlier, Paramount would release their sixth entry in the Friday the 13th franchise, Jason Lives, which they had also intended to use as a comeback following the financial disappointment of A New Beginning.

Sensing the commercial prospect of being involved in a high profile slasher film, Cooper would contribute three songs for the movie; two from his latest LP and one exclusive track, Hard Rock Summer. With tie-in merchandise becoming big business in the wake of Star Wars, many studios had capitalised on their products with ranges of toys, clothes and even lunchboxes. And with MTV now such a major force in America, it was perhaps inevitable that the slasher would eventually break out into music videos as well. Despite Jason Lives‘ Tom McLoughlin expressing enthusiasm at directing the promo, the studio instead opted to hire Jeffrey Abelson, who later shoot another video for a hit movie, the Guns N’ Roses track You Could Be Mine, which was released to coincide with James Cameron’s 1991 blockbuster Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

The video opened with a teenage boy, Jason, pleading with his father (whose face remains unseen) to lend him his car, claiming that he had achieved the grades they had previously agreed on. But the father, noticing that his report card also featured D’s and F’s, refuses the request and suggests that he and his girlfriend walk to the cinema. The doors of the theatre open and the audience begins to pile in, an assortment of goths and punk rockers, many copying the image of Alice Cooper (and one of them carrying the infamous hockey mask). The movie being screened is the latest Friday the 13th flick and Jason finally arrives as the film begins, making his way with his date across the row to an empty seat. Many of the clips shown from Jason Lives play out in chronological order, with the opening sequence showing Tommy Jarvis and fellow institute resident Allen Hawes making their way into a cemetary to find a headstone that reads ‘Jason Voorhees.’ Tommy decides to dig up the grave but suddenly Jason swings towards the camera on a rope, ripping through the cinema screen and tearing off his mask to reveal Alice Cooper.

Jason and his date cower in fear as Alice looms over them whilst singing about ‘The man behind the mask.’ Sitting down on his throne, Alice then begins to warn the viewer about the dangers of skinny dipping late at night, whilst his audience watch petrified. Meanwhile, a montage of clips from the feature film continue, which include shots of the paintball massacre (which featured stuntman Dan Bradley in the role of Jason, who was eventually replaced by C.J. Graham) and the double impalement of lovers Steven and Annette. After attempting to resist Alice’s seduction, Jason and his girlfriend charge the stage and try to escape but as they make their way to the exit a bulking figure in a hockey mask appears and captures them. Alice pulls a lever, forcing a cage down and trapping them, but after taunting them suddenly breaks the lock, allowing them to escape.

But, as the crowd leaves the cinema after the show, Alice is pulled back through the movie screen by Jason Voorhees. Back in his father’s office, young Jason admits that he didn’t understand what he had seen whilst watching the movie. Suddenly, his father spins around on his chair to reveal Alice Cooper. The marketing department certainly felt inspired whilst planning Jason’s big comeback for Friday the 13th Part VI, as the collaboration of both Jason Voorhees and Alice Cooper was ingenious. Both had shocked and disgusted audiences, angered critics and made an impact on popular culture, before suddenly losing their magic and being reduced to mere has-beens. He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask) captured the true spirit of the franchise with both its tongue-in-cheek lyrics and horror-style music.

The video itself shared many similarities with the cult Italian flick Dèmoni (aka Demons), released the previous year, which depicted an audience at a late night screening of a horror movie being terrorised by the events on screen. The promo clip received heavy airplay throughout the late ’80s on such rock shows as Headbangers Ball and The Power Hour and resulted in Cooper landing a small but memorable role in John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness in 1987, before once again reaching the top of the charts with his album Trash two years later (which would boast, among others, the smash hit single Poison). The song and video for He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask would not only play a small part in resurrecting the Friday the 13th franchise but would also once again help the slasher film penetrate the mainstream.