Zack Snyder’s 2004 Dawn of the Dead seemed to open the floodgates to many more horror remakes over the next several years. And why not? The film was quite successful, and popularized the concept of “re-imagining” horror classics for modern audiences instead of just shot-for-shot remakes. However, as more horror remakes came out, things began to feel a bit stale. Some were fairly good, such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, while others — such as A Nightmare on Elm Street — were very poorly received. In 2009, Platinum Dunes took a gamble on remaking Friday the 13th, hoping to revive the franchise. The film had its fans, but not enough to warrant a sequel.
The sequel, it turns out, was actually pretty fleshed out, and writing team Damian Shannon and Mark Swift — who wrote the 2009 remake as well as Freddy vs. Jason — just shared the title of the unused script on their joint Twitter page.
It's #Friday13th week! Will try to post new fun stuff. Here's cover to our unmade sequel w/ never before published title. RT if you like! pic.twitter.com/G4GSeqkGrP
— Shannon & Swift (@shannonandswift) October 9, 2017
The writers also revealed on Twitter that the film would have taken place in winter, and would feature a brand-new cast. While it certainly would have been cool to see a Friday the 13th film set during winter (have we had one?), it’s strange that they would kill off Jason so soon. Perhaps this would be the birth of supernatural-zombie-Jason?
While we may never get to see this idea on screen, don’t lose hope. With the Halloween reboot making some inspired choices to recapture the feeling of the original, it may not be long before we see Friday the 13th done in a similar vein. Here’s hoping.
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Originally published October 11, 2017. Updated December 18, 2019.
