Why Does the Return of ‘Friday the thirteenth’ Must Be… Like This?

Although previously troubled, the Peacock and A24 sequence Crystal Lake is now shifting full pace forward—Linda Cardellini will star as Jason Voorhees’ equally murderous mother, Pamela Voorhees—Friday the thirteenth followers are nonetheless longing to see Jason return to the large display screen. The rights to the franchise have been in a authorized tangle for years, with Sean S. Cunningham, who directed and produced the 1980 authentic, recently speculating that a brand new Friday the thirteenth film continues to be a far-off notion.

That’s nonetheless seemingly true, however the first large announcement from the “Jason Universe” (aside from its existence, which was revealed in Could 2024) is certainly reviving our favourite hockey-masked killer. Simply not in the best way followers are possibly hoping for.

When it was introduced, it was made clear that the “Jason Universe”—created by Horror, Inc., “the unique house owners of the Friday the thirteenth movie franchise”—is supposed to embody “a variety of platforms from leisure, video games, immersive experiences, merchandise, and extra,” with “films” notably absent from that listing. So possibly we must be happy that we’re getting a movie of types: Candy Revenge, a “short-form vignette” directed by Mike P. Nelson (the 2021 Wrong Turn reboot, the upcoming Silent Night, Deadly Night reboot).

Candy Revenge is touted as “the centerpiece of the franchise’s daring forty fifth anniversary marketing campaign,” in response to a press launch. It went into manufacturing this month, and followers will be capable to watch it will definitely on the Jason Universe YouTube channel in addition to… “a devoted microsite hosted by Offended Orchard Laborious Cider,” which is “sponsoring the vignette tied to a bigger collaboration with Horror Inc.’s Jason Universe, which is able to proceed to roll out for followers later this summer time.”

Nelson is a stable option to deal with a brand new entry within the Friday the thirteenth sequence; with Fallacious Flip, he proved greater than able to respiration new life right into a long-running horror franchise. We’re simply not loving the industrial facet, particularly when it’s packaged with quotes like this:

“Offended Orchard followers love daring, sudden leisure—particularly horror—so this partnership simply made sense,” mentioned Matt Withington, senior director of selling at Offended Orchard. “It’s an ideal approach to have fun 45 years of an iconic franchise whereas creating new experiences for our drinkers in an area that they’re already enthusiastic about. We are able to’t wait to proceed to convey the partnership to life this 12 months.”

We get it—somebody’s received to place up the bucks to fund Candy Revenge, and at the very least it’s an organization that professes to like horror and its followers. But it surely nonetheless feels a little bit off-putting, does it not? We’ll wait to see Candy Revenge earlier than we prematurely drown ourselves in Crystal Lake, however it’s a must to think about some stage of product placement goes to be part of this.

Friday the thirteenth followers, are you sharpening your machetes over this information?

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