If you’re a fan of the Friday the 13th franchise, you should definitely check out this new doc by Paul Zamerelli entitled How New Line Cinema Destroyed the Friday the 13th Franchise.
Directed and edited by Paul Zamarelli, this new fan-made film is chock-full of interviews, insights and opinions that you may or may not agree with. However, you can’t say that Zamarelli doesn’t make a few good points. The doc delves into the darker aspects of the franchise instead of celebrating its hoakiness or more ridiculous chapters. Most of his points are directed at the franchise’s ninth installment, Jason Goes To Hell. Take a look at the full doc below:
The franchise was pretty much cooked by the eighth installment, Jason Takes Manhattan, and Zamarelli argues that up until that point the films acted like chapters of a book. A book that Paramount totally disbanded that by the ninth installment. He presents the idea of reading a novel eight chapters in and then the author totally switching tones by chapter nine, throwing out any rules or familiar characters. Paramount sold the rights of Friday the 13th to New Line Cinema and we got Jason Goes To Hell, and the doc illustrates how much that film’s director Adam Marcus totally ignores all the mythos of what came before. The video also shares shocking interview quotes from franchise creator Sean Cunningham who allegedly never saw the sequels, and only made new ones to get into bed with New Line.
We also can’t forget about that gem of a film, Jason X, which is jam-packed with such an over-the-top energy that it did seem like an improvement over Jason Goes To Hell (a so-bad-it’s-good kinda movie), but Zamarelli argues that the character essentially dies in space much like the Leprechaun and Pinhead characters did when they entered space during their franchises.
Finally, he discusses both Freddy vs. Jason and the reboot of the film, aptly titled Friday the 13th. Zamarelli was not a fan of either, describing much of the violence of Freddy vs. Jason as cartoony while describing the “wretched Platinum Dunes remake” Friday the 13th as the final blow in the death of Jason Voorhees.
Zamarelli is certainly a fan, he is often enraged with how the characters were warped and disbanded, and cherishes all the previous films in the Friday the 13th franchise (chapters 1 – 8). You might not agree with everything he says, but the doc is very in-depth (as far as fan-made docs go) and is definitely a treat for any Friday the 13th or horror fan.
Images: New Line Cinema, Paramount Pictures, YouTube
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