Oz Perkins, son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins, has established his own identity in the horror genre by directing titles like The Blackcoat’s Daughter and I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House. His newest movie, Gretel & Hansel, marks his latest addition to the genre, and it seems pretty clear Perkins is now a genre mainstay. Looking ahead to his next horror movie, Perkins suggests his dream project is being the guy who brings Jason Voorhees back to theaters by directing the thirteenth Friday the 13th movie.
In a new interview with Bloody Disgusting’s Boo Crew Podcast, Oz Perkins recognizes that the rights to the Friday the 13th series are “a real mess,” and taking on the next movie isn’t going to be easy for anyone. Still, if only the opportunity were to have somehow presented itself to him, Perkins admits he would love to be the person who brought back Jason in the same way David Gordon Green brought back Michael Myers with 2018’s Halloween reboot. From the podcast:
“There was a time when I was kind of… I made the rounds… the only “guy” I wanted to be was… I would’ve happily been the guy to do Friday the 13th again… I would do that. I’d be thrilled to do that. That’s probably the one for me. I didn’t want to do Halloween, for instance. I felt like that had been done. Jason is my guy. Also, it’s the thirteenth one. Just call it ’13’ or something.”
The Gretel and Hansel director appears to be referring to Paramount’s axed Friday the 13th reboot which was originally supposed to hit theaters in 2017. Using a screenplay by Aaron Guzikowski, production on the project was weeks away from beginning when another horror reboot, Rings, made its way into theaters. For better or for worse, Rings wound up flopping at the box office, scaring Paramount into pulling the plug on reviving Friday the 13th. Before the project was shelved, however, Perkins had read the script, and the filmmaker now says its premise to take the franchise back to its roots is along the same lines of his own plans for the series.
“The screenplay that I read was written by the guy who wrote Prisoners, and it was good. It was sort of a remake of the original, and that’s what I’d want to do… Kinda remake the original, with the mom, and the camp, and all the stuff. And put it in the period. Yeah. Maybe.”
In the original movie, Jason’s mother Pamela is revealed to be the killer in a twist ending, murdering the camp’s counselors to keep it from reopening after Jason had drowned there as a boy many years earlier. Beginning with the first sequel, Jason has since been the killer in almost all of the subsequent Friday the 13th movies. The one exception to this would be the criminally-underrated fifth installment where Jason is revealed to be a copycat killer in disguise, though Jason is still present in the movie via dream sequences and hallucinations. After dicing up teenagers across many movies, Jason’s killing sprees have also led him to Manhattan, outer space, Elm Street, and even Hell.
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives helmer Tommy McLoughlin has also expressed his desire to make the thirteenth installment of the horror series. Called Jason Never Dies, McLoughlin’s concept would feature an all-female cast and be set in the winter, putting Jason in the snow for the first time. His story would pick up in the present day with Jason Voorhees setting out on another killing spree in Crystal Lake, slaughtering a group of innocent young women who aren’t familiar with the story of the undead murderer. That’s really all the story necessary to bring Friday the 13th fans back to theaters as horror fans have been waiting for years to see the hockey mask back on the big screen once again.
In any case, whether the opportunity goes to Perkins, McLoughlin, or another horror filmmaker, the next Friday the 13th movie director isn’t going to be working on any planned sequels anytime soon. A legal battle over the rights to the series has kept the movie franchise on ice pending a final decision by the court, though a ruling is expected to be laid down this summer. Jason might never die, but he’s certainly been lying dormant, so hopefully we’ll know what’s coming next by the end of the year. Perkins’ quotes shown above come to us from Bloody Disgusting and you can listen to Perkins’ full interview on The Boo Crew podcast.
