You’ll Meet Jason’s Dad In The New FRIDAY THE 13th

This week Brad Fuller of Platinum Dunes offered the latest update on their latest reboot of Friday the 13th. Much like the last reboot (which I liked) it's gonna be an origin story. “You kind of have to understand Jason Voorhees, so we go back and we kind of started over and work our way forward," Fuller told The Reel Word. I kind of disagree - you don't have to understand Jason - but that's how Hollywood works today. 

Fuller went on to say that the new movie would be sort of like an origin. “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.”

I can tell you what's different: sources close to the production have told me that Aaron Guzikowski's script for the reboot includes Jason's dad, Elias.

This isn't as out of left field as you might think. Elias Voorhees has almost been in Friday the 13th movies before. The original ending of Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives had Elias visiting Jason's (empty) grave. He's obliquely referenced in Jason Goes To Hell, which introduces Jason's half-sister (she has to be Elias' daughter because Pamela called Jason her only child. Not that continuity means that much in these films...). And he was depicted in a comic book called Friday the 13th: Pamela's Tale, which was sort of an origin story for Pamela Voorhees in which she chopped him to pieces because he was abusive.

Of course there's no reason the new script will follow that comic book story. Whatever direction it goes, I'm intrigued. As a longtime fan of the series the unseen Elias Voorhees has always captured my imagination, and after so many decades of killers with mommy issues I'll be glad to see Jason reimagined as having some beef with his dad, perhaps.