‘Friday the 13th’ Remake Introduces Jason’s Family, Origin Story; Horror Icon John Carpenter Criticizes Franchise as “Cheap”

‘Friday the 13th’ remake is set to introduce Jason’s family as well as his origin story. Producer Brad Fuller hinted that the villain’s origin story will be one that audiences have never seen before. Meanwhile, horror icon John Carpenter rehashed the rivalry between his ‘Halloween’ franchise and the ‘Friday the 13th’ franchise by calling the latter “cheap”.

According to MovieWeb, the upcoming reboot of the iconic slasher film series is set to feature villain Jason Voorhees' entire family. Jason was first introduced as the main antagonist in 1981’s film of the same name and appeared on subsequent releases in the franchise. He is an undead serial killer depicted as wearing a hockey mask.

Jason haunts Camp Crystal Lake and its surrounding areas and has killed hundreds of people throughout the series’ history. He was born disfigured and mentally disabled to parents Elias and Pamela. He was often bullied and eventually drowned at Camp Crystal Lake before being resurrected by means of necromancy.

Producer Brad Fuller teased that they are working on a brand new story for the serial killer. He said, "We're going to go back and we're going to meet that family. We're going to meet the family. You're gonna meet Pamela, Elias, and Jason. And you're gonna see how it all happened."

Fuller also admitted that they are starting from scratch with an origin story that has never been told before, according to IGN. He said, “Aaron's [Guzikowski] story has great characters...You kind of have to understand Jason Voorhees, so we go back and we kind of started over and work our way forward. Origin-ish, but it's an origin that no one has seen before. Obviously, Pamela's there, but it's a little bit different from what you've seen before."

No new details regarding the upcoming project have been released as of the present. It was previously going for a found footage approach but this idea has long been scrapped. The film is now rumored to have an 80’s setting.

Meanwhile, horror icon John Carpenter didn’t have good things to say about the slasher film franchise. The filmmaker is best known for his work on several classic horror films from the 1970s and 1980s including ‘Halloween’, a 1978 cult favorite featuring the iconic villain Michael Myers.

Carpenter is collaborating with Blumhouse for a planned ‘Halloween’ remake alongside Jason Blum. He appeared on the ‘Brett Easton Ellis Podcast’ where he talked about several horror film favorites. Although he praised ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, he was quick to pull down ‘Friday the 13th’.

According to Vulture, he said, "One springs from an organic idea and has a truly artist's eye working. And Friday the 13th, I feel, affects me as very cynical. It's very cynical moviemaking. It just doesn't rise above its cheapness.”

‘Friday the 13th’ premiered its first film in 1980 and earned $39.7 million in the domestic box office, against an estimated budget of $550,000. It grew into a twelve-film franchise, which earned a total of $380.6 million collectively despite generally negative reviews. Despite not being popular with critics, the franchise is considered as one of the most successful in media history and is often referenced in popular culture.