The Friday the 13th franchise is among the most iconic horror series in modern cinema. Building off the slasher formula perfected in the film's first entry, the series evolved over the years, turning Jason Voorhees from a plot device into a cultural touchstone and taking the character in both grittier and more ridiculous directions.
There's even a prequel series on the way, which could bring new depth and gravity to the silent murderer. However, the series might be better suited going the opposite direction, stepping away from the grittier elements of the franchise and focusing on the absurdity that long became a defining aspect of the character. A darkly comedic take on Friday the 13th might be the ideal way to reinvent Jason Voorhees.
Friday the 13th Is Camp... Literally
Jason's role in the first Friday the 13th is to serve as motivation for the film's true villain (his mother, Pamela) and to provide the film's final jump-scare. Even after he was introduced in the second film of the series, Jason rarely received any real motivation or character depth. He was more of a force of nature than a character, a monstrous murderer who could tear apart pretty much anyone given the opportunity. As the Friday the 13th films progressed and Jason returned from increasingly absurd levels of damage, the films became more willing to embrace those weird aspects and have fun with Jason.
Jason Takes Manhattan, for instance, had the character terrify some cartoonish street punks in New York's Times Square. Meanwhile, Jason X transplanted the killer to a campy, sci-fi setting that transformed him into a cyborg. Freddy vs. Jason also has multiple comedic beats centered around Jason killing characters, including one memorable beat where a raving teenager flees the killer in a serpentine pattern while an almost bored Jason walks after him in a straight line. None of this has ever taken away from the inherent danger of Jason, who has one of the horror genre's largest kill counts. However, it leans into all the most memorable elements of the character, and it threads the line between horror and comedy in an engaging way.
Jason Voorhees Is Comedy Gold
This wouldn't be the first time Jason has been played for laughs. Adult Swim's Robot Chicken's poked fun at Jason multiple times over the years. Here, Jason is determined to kill anyone who crosses his path, but in this series, he was giddy about his acts. He's childish in a surprisingly effective way, playing on the character's history to create someone who stands out and drives comedy on his own.
The horror and comedy genres have always been linked, with plenty of amazing films exploring the line between the macabre and the hilarious. A Friday the 13th comedy that doesn't hold back on the gore and slasher tropes could deliver just this, it could take cues from a number of previous genre-hybrids. It could be a broad splatter comedy, ala Peter Jackson's Braindead or the Zombieland franchise. It could also explore the meta-elements of such a reboot and be a commentary on the franchise, evoking films like Scream or The Cabin in the Woods. It could even juggle both while fulfilling the conventions of a Friday the 13th film, similar to how Shaun of the Dead poked fun at zombie tropes while being a good zombie movie. A Friday the 13th comedy might provide the lumbering franchise with some fresh blood, and it could reinvent the icon for a new generation.