An excerpt from my script review for Guzikowski’s Friday the 13th which will be available 03/14/17:

1.) Marketability of the Idea

As some of you know, from time to time we take a look at projects that either got stuck in “Development Hell” or canceled entirely.

We call it “What Could Have Been”.

Today though, I’m going to throw out that this script belongs in its own category called “What Still May Be”.

Does this project work in its current form? No, and enough people must have agreed in order for it to be canceled.

However, the opening is extremely interesting, seeing a young Jason at Camp Crystal Lake.

I went into this project knowing nothing about it or the franchise, aside from seeing the Jason movie set in Space, which was silly, and I think it was supposed to be.

A young Jason, interacting with his strange mother, Pamela Voorhees?

Not silly, and I was fascinated.

(UPDATE – I watched the original film via Amazon Instant video Monday night, when I was supposed to be finishing this review.)

Speaking from a marketing standpoint, this story should be retooled as an origin story.

To me, I saw potential to make a “smart” horror movie based on an existing franchise and do for Jason what Batman Begins did for the Dark Knight*.

*(Sorry I didn’t want to say “Batman” or “franchise” twice.)

You could still include the elements that make it a Friday the 13th movie, but give us hints of realism, and even make us emotionally invested in the characters, who eventually become villains.

(I’ll elaborate on this in the plot section.)

Here’s why I suggest not completely throwing this script/project away…the Friday the 13th franchise makes money!

Are audiences tired of seeing the same shit recast and rehashed? Maybe, so give them some of the same while mixing in a completely new backstory.

Friday the 13th Box Office Stats

(So. Much. Money.)

Want more helpful screenwriting tips and movie/script reviews? Follow this link to our Discussion Forum.

And be sure to check out our Notes Service, where I give my detailed thoughts and suggestions on your script.

2 COMMENTS

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here