MOVIE NEWS – The producers of 2009’s Friday the 13th say its sequel was only four weeks from filming when the studio abruptly shut it down. The hard-R follow-up would have taken Jason back to Camp Crystal Lake and used a frozen winter setting to give the series a striking new look.

The franchise has now gone seventeen years without another theatrical installment, its longest absence to date. At San Diego Comic-Con, producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form explained that they had been preparing a direct continuation of the 2009 reboot, with production scheduled to begin near Atlanta.

The movie was originally dated for August 13, 2010, but disappeared from the release calendar in December 2009. Fuller and Form still cannot provide a clear explanation for the studio’s decision, particularly because locations, planning and the production schedule were already close to complete.

Blood on snow, a victim beneath the ice and one more Crystal Lake massacre

Damian Shannon and Mark Swift’s screenplay was designed to recapture the harsher atmosphere of the earliest films. The project has often been associated with the title Camp Blood: The Death of Jason Voorhees, although that name was never officially confirmed.

The winter environment would have transformed the kills: breath would hang in the cold air, blood would stand out against white snow, and one murder reportedly involved an icicle. Another grisly sequence placed Whitney’s body under the frozen lake while teenagers unknowingly played hockey directly above her, with Jason still hunting his victims using his machete.

A later legal battle between Sean S. Cunningham and Victor Miller further complicated the franchise’s return to theaters. Jason’s world is nevertheless moving again: Peacock’s eight-episode prequel series Crystal Lake, starring Linda Cardellini as Pamela Voorhees, is scheduled to premiere on October 15.

Source: MovieWeb