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Why the ‘Friday the 13’ Franchise is at a Standstill

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Friday the 13

Horror seems to be everywhere.  Successes like IT, Get Out, Happy Death Day, Etc. have taught us that this underrated genre is not to be overlooked. Remakes especially are resurging. Take Halloween, The Grudge and even Suspiria for example. Classic horror icons are being reborn, but whatever happened to the beloved Jason Voorhees? Seems like the masked killer is in bit of a law-binding standstill.

In the 80’s, Jason was unstoppable. Spawning over 12 installments in 29 years, the hockey-masked killer went from the bottom of Crystal Lake to space and back. It would seem likely that we would finally get an answer to our long awaited Friday the 13 reboot.

The last time we visited Camp Crystal Lake was when Paramount decided to kill the series indefinitely. Speculation from a source close to both Platinum Dunes owner Michael Bay and the lawsuit between Friday the 13 series creators Sean S. Cunningham and Victor Miller spoke on the reasons behind the cancellation. As it turns out, some of those rumors were true.

According to Collider, Platinum Dunes Producer Brad Fuller and Andrew Form were busy promoting their film, A Quiet Place.

“We never got a clear answer from Paramount as to why that movie got shut down,” said Fuller while speaking to Rooster Teeth. “I think at the end of the day that administration, which is no longer there, didn’t see horror as a viable part of what they were doing. In addition, they were coming off Rings and that did not help. For studio heads that are not fans of horror there is not a tremendous amount of glory in it other than the financial. Many of these studios want to make big movies with big movie stars and that administration could never get excited about it. I think the rights now have reverted back to New Line.”

Now that the ball is in New Line’s Court, will a move be made soon? It seems unlikely until the lawsuit is settled. For those who are not familiar with the case, here is a quick summary:

Back in 2016 Victor Miller, the original screenwriter of Friday the 13, seeked to recoup his beloved creation as his own. According to The Hollywood Reporter, this is possible thanks to a provision in copyright law that allows authors to terminate a grant of rights and reclaim full ownership. There are loopholes and loose ends that have made this case tricky. Thus spawning this dragged out battle for the characters and storyline.

Fuller spoke to JoBlo about the odds against this favor, “Fans think it’s so simple, that if we want to make the movie we can go make it, and that’s just not the case. There are rights issues; originally, Warner Bros. owned the rights, then Paramount had them for a couple of years, and now I think the rights are reverting back to Warner Bros. At the same time, there is this on-going lawsuit with Victor Miller. If there is a lawsuit hanging over the rights, it’s problematic, you can’t really make the movie until that gets settled. And now the movie is at New Line, and we’ve made a lot of movies with those guys, but that’s not our home studio anymore.”

Nonetheless, Fuller and Form would still like to make a new Friday the 13 film. “If [New Line] want to make that movie with us, we will drop what we’re doing to make that movie.”

Seeing that we have not seen a new Friday the 13 film since 2009, it is looking more likely that this wish for a reboot will not be granted anytime soon.

Blumhouse did comment on their interest in adopting Jason into their wicked household. In an interview with CinePOP, Jason Blum was asked if there were any franchises he would love to reimagine. “Besides Halloween? You know, I really wanted to do Friday the 13. I would love to do that movie. Maybe someday we’ll get to do that one.”

With Blumhouse’s heavyweight champions under his powerhouse, it would be interesting to see what could be done with the series. For now, we wait in the quiet waters of hope until a disfigured beauty reaches out.

 

Would you be interested in seeing a new entry in the Friday the 13th franchise? Tell us in the comments! For more behind-the-scenes info on the series, check out this upcoming documentary on Jason Goes to Hell

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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