Weekly Wail: My Friday the 13th Reboot – Chapter Four: Camp Blood Forever

Published

4 years ago

May 14, 2020

David Davis

My apologies for this taking a bit. It’s been kind of strange during this time of the Coronavirus and patterns inevitably become disrupted. I finally found time to get some writing done for Haunted MTL (which I love doing, but this has not been a very productive month for me). Hopefully, you’ve already read the three prior outlines in this Friday the 13th reboot miniseries proposal. If you have not, I suggest you stop here and check them out: Chapter One: Camp Crystal Lake, Chapter Two: The Woman in the Woods, Chapter Three: The Crystal Lake Massacre.

I will outline the final chapter here, as well as a little writing about the choices I made in this reboot.

Let’s dive into Friday the 13th, Chapter Four: Camp Blood Forever.

Friday the 13th, Chapter Four: Camp Blood Forever

The episode begins with two counselors late at night enjoying the last dying embers of a fire. They were left behind to keep an eye on the kids while the rest of the counselors were out searching for the unfortunate victims of the previous episode. They’re somewhat nervous about what is going on, but they’re talking tough to psych themselves up.

Then Alice comes stumbling out of the woods, screaming and bloodied. Alice arrives at the camp in a panic and begins rousing counselors to evacuate the kids. The two counselors are confused and call Eddie Jarvis, who is already on his way. The counselors manage to hold off Alice from disturbing the kids who are sleeping until Eddie arrives and tries to defuse the situation.

Eddie has arrived with one of the Crystal Lake deputies. The deputy asks for Alice to make a report and Alice lets them have it. She talks about the dead counselors, Sheriff Savini, Ms. Voorhees, and the approaching Jason. Eddie and the deputy aren’t sure how to react.

Back in the woods, we watch as Jason makes his way toward the camp. He is sticking close enough to the road for a deputy to see him. The deputy pulls over and loses track of the gigantic Jason, only for Jason to almost supernaturally show up behind him and smash his face into a tree. Jason watches the body drop, stares at it for a moment, and pushes forward.

The deputy at camp makes a call to the others and finds out about the death of Savini, Cunningham, and Hodder as well as the dead Ms. Voorhees and the child from Crystal Lake. He asks for everyone to regroup at camp as something is on the way, believing Alice about Jason. Most of the counselors are still missing, so Eddie, Alice, and the remaining support staff start securing the kids and get ready to put them on the bus to leave camp.

It’s too late, however, as Jason has already arrived. Alice heads to one cabin to secure the kids, narrowly missing Jason who is heading another direction, not noticing her. Jason smashes into a counselor cabin and attacks one of the counselors who tries to defend himself with a hockey stick. Jason grabs the stick, snapping it, and repeatedly stabs the counselor with the broken end.

Eddie enters the cabin trying to see what the holdup is and is pinned to a wall by Jason’s ax. Eddie’s wild death motions knock down stuff off a shelf. Jason rips Eddie from the wall and kills him by crushing his eye sockets. Jason looks at his handiwork and lifts the sweater sleeve he is wearing as mask enough to eat some of Eddie’s blood.

He spies on a hockey mask on the floor and looks at it curiously.

Meanwhile, Alice is in the girls’ cabin getting them to pack up what they can into their bags. The deputy knocks, he tells her to get them to the bus. She gathers them and heads out the door. Screaming grabs her and the deputy’s attention and they see a group of boys fleeing a cabin. The deputy heads that direction and urges the kids to follow Alice.

Alice leads the kids to the bus but the driver is already dead. She tells them to get into the mess hall and hide. She manages to secure the building and has the kids hiding under the tables. She runs off to the kitchen and grabs the biggest knife she can find.

She crouches on the floor next to a group of kids but the sounds of screaming outside of the mess hall pierce the silence. Alice peeks over a table only to see the deputy’s body come crashing through a window. She begins to move toward it, but Jason steps into the frame and he is wearing the hockey mask.

Alice dives back out of sight and Jason peers into the darkened building, unable to see anything. He lifts his tremendous bulk through the frame and broke glass and begins walking around the mess in the dark. Alice gestures to the children to remain silent. Alice creeps around, hiding just out of sight as Jason wanders between the rows of tables and chairs. A child begins to whimper and Jason pauses. He looks around.

Alice quickly stands up and bolts for the window, shouting for Jason. He begins following her as she climbs out the window. She is out of the building when one of the kids accidentally scuffs a chair across the floor. Jason turns his attention back to the mess hall.

Alice realizes Jason isn’t following, so she climbs back into the window and sees that Jason has turned over one of the tables and is approaching a pair of cowering children. She screams and berserker-rushes him, jamming her knife deep into his back. He stumbles backward on top of her and she struggles to escape his weight as she screams for the children to run for a cabin and lock it. The kids unlock the mess hall door and stream out, screaming.

Alice manages to worm her way out from under Jason’s body and nearly escapes until his tremendous hand grabs her ankle and crushes it. Alice screams and kicks at his fingers. He finally lets go and a hobbled Alice limps out the door. Jason rises to his feet, snapping the knife out of his back.

Alice tumbles into the dirt in the common area and can barely walk. She doesn’t see the kids. She tries to put distance between herself and the mess hall, but it is virtually impossible. Jason stumbles out of the building and his masked face looks at her direction. He begins a slow walk toward her and pauses at a memorial pole in the common area; a wooden beam with a couple of placards. He rips it from the ground and approaches Alice.

Three cars come screeching into the camp area and six deputies draw their guns on Jason, who doesn’t seem to notice or care. He just wants Alice. They tell him to stop and drop the weapon, but he keeps walking toward the crawling woman. They open fire. Jason’s body is rocked by a hail of bullets and after a couple dozen shots he finally falls to the ground. Alice, unsure, keeps crawling as one of the deputies runs over to secure her. The others approach the apparently lifeless body of Jason Voorhees.

Jason, not dead, nor alive, really, snaps up and grabs a deputy’s leg, digging dirty, thick fingers deep into his thigh and dropping him. Jason begins to rise to his feet and any attempts by the deputies to bring him down simply results in their deaths. Alice screams as Jason approaches. The deputy next to her attempts to help her up and take her toward a car. Jason is gaining, however, so he tries to unload a clip into him. Jason simply grabs the gun and shoves it through the deputy’s skull.

Alice limps into the car and manages to drive it into Jason, who holds onto it, rather than simply bouncing off the hood. Alice screams and drives Jason and herself into one of the cabins. The crash is spectacular and Jason appears to be crushed between stone, tinder, and a car. Smoke is spilling from the car.

Alice blacks out.

She wakes up in a hospital surrounded by state police. They ask her what she remembers. She tells them the story and she asks if they found Jason, but they reveal there was no sign of him. They also reveal that the cabin she crashed into was where the children were hiding and that they are dead or missing.

About three years later we see Alice is in a mental hospital. She looks terrible and she is sitting across from an attorney who informs her that at this point all her appeals have failed. Her attorney leaves and she is taken to the activity room where she gets back to an art project… a paper mache hockey mask. She stares at it a moment and tears it in half, scowling.

Back at Crystal Lake, a young Tommy Jarvis, about 12 or 13 now, wanders around the abandoned Camp Crystal Lake. He enters the cabin where his father died. His memorializing is cut short by a van arriving at the campgrounds. He watches, hidden, in the cabin as a new group of people spill out of the van. They begin talking about what they could do with all of this land. Perhaps a resort?

Tommy slips out of the cabin as they approach and watches from around a corner. The camera pulls back in a long take as he listens to them. Further back now, the camera is in the woods. It gets darker.

The infamous Jason Voorhees riff plays.

The end.

Reasoning

So why did I go with the route I went? As I mentioned in my first post in this series, I do love Friday the 13th, but it is a nonsensical series. It was never really planned out and the fact that Jason doesn’t become a thing until the second movie just strikes me as bonkers. I feel that the series was ultimately successful in spite of itself because it delivered boobs, gore, and a great, imposing killer from the 3rd film on.

So, when I thought about how I would want to reboot the series, I had a couple of things I wanted to make sure I did:

Have Pamela and Jason in the same story
Bring in the hockey mask
Establish Jason as supernatural right away
Give Jason a reason to kill beyond simple vengeance or territoriality
Actually kill some damn kids

Ultimately, I think I was successful in these regards, but your mileage may vary. I’d love to know what you thought of this series. My proposal is a mini-series for cable television, 4 episodes at around an hour and a half to two hours each. Would this be something you would watch? Does it respect the established series enough?

Eventually I would like to take this outline that was spread across four posts, pull them together, and edit them. I recognize there are elements I can probably establish earlier on and set up for later. That’s the challenge of writing these things piece by piece.

Anyway, have at me, folks. Let me know your thoughts and if you’d like for me to reboot any other horror classics.

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David Davis

David Davis is a writer, cartoonist, and educator in Southern California with an M.A. in literature and writing studies.

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Joe Bob Briggs Creepy Christmas spooktacular: The Last Drive-In Special Charity phenomena

Published

5 months ago

December 7, 2023

Jim Phoenix

Famed horror host, Pulitzer Prize nominated, and Cracker Barrel aficionado Joe Bob Briggs is back in action, ready to bring some macabre merriment to your holiday season with Joe Bob’s Creepy Christmas. It also gives us horror fans something to take into the new year, be that something Darcy’s panties (sorry, box, I tried) or just the intangible good feels of hanging with friends and supporting a lot of good causes.

The Return of Joe Bob Briggs’s Christmas Special

The Joe Bob Briggs’s Christmas event is akin to a Jerry Lewis telethon for Gen X, with a twist of ‘the last drive-in with Joe Bob Briggs’. This ‘Briggs’ auction of sorts is a nostalgic nod to the past, especially for those who remember the telethons. The dread, however, has shifted from the … well… whatever Jerry was supposed to do (see Sam Kinison’s bit on this for more info) to that of evil goodies.

Without a doubt, this Joe Bob Briggs special is the event we eagerly anticipate each year. It’s a tradition, and a worthy one at that. We hope to see everyone on the interwebs, joining the ‘creepy links’ and engaging in the conversation (We’ll be on Threads and Twitter….tag us as you wish!) ‘live’ the only way anyone should ever watch a tv show (oh, and I guess on demand, but ya weirdos will never know the sting of the Iron Mutant Award!). ‘Live’ is the only way anyone should ever watch a TV show, especially ‘the last drive-in with Joe Bob Briggs’ (as it’s far too hard to watch tv whilst dead).

Joe Bob’s Creepy Christmas The ‘Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs and Darcy the Mail Girl’ special will hit the airwaves live on Shudder TV and AMC+ TV on Friday, December 15th at 9 p.m. ET. Fans of ‘the last drive-in with Joe Bob Briggs’ can also catch the special on-demand starting Sunday, December 17th.

A Creepy Christmas with a Cause

In its fourth year, the holiday tradition of The Last Drive-In goes beyond mere entertainment. It aims to use the platform to raise funds for four vital causes. The charity auction will feature unique props and exclusive merchandise from The Last Drive-In and memorabilia from Briggs’ illustrious 35-year career…including some of his unspoken work as John Bloom. I say Unspoken, because if anyone remembers the first Christmas Special, the autographed copy of Eccentric Orbits was featured (sincerely, a good book–check it out if you haven’t. Jim gives it 4.5/5)

The supported charities for Joe Bob’s Creepy Christmas will include:

The Mystery of the Joe Bob Briggs’s Creepy Christmas Special

The anticipation for Joe Bob’s Creepy Christmas is high, with fans wildly speculating what films will be featured. Personally, nothing can beat the #1 top horror Christmas film of all time, the Easter classic: Passion of the Christ (if a snuff film about a guy who doesn’t fit in getting whipped and nailed up doesn’t scream horror story, I don’t know what does. Also: See Sam Kinison’s concept on crosses and resurrection). However, a Christmas movie I really want to see up on this is Hogzilla and Kiss Save Santa Clause! BOOMMM!! Christmas Won!

As we eagerly wait for December 15th, we wonder what surprises our favorite horror host, Joe Bob Briggs, has in store this time. Will there be exclusive ‘merch’ that Jim will buy and then accidentally put in a Toys for Tots box in the mall?

Join the Fun, Join the Cause, Join the Joe Bob Briggs Christmas event!

Are you ready to dive into the world of Joe Bob’s Creepy Christmas? Do you dare to watch along and help raise money for a good cause? If so, join us at HauntedMTL on Threads (_HauntedMTL_) and maybe Twitter (@HauntedMTL) as we experience the thrill and chills that only Joe Bob Briggs and Darcy can deliver.

Remember, this is not just about indulging in some good old horror fun with ‘Joe Bob’s’ double feature. It’s about giving back and making a difference. So, let’s gear up to have a creepy Christmas with ‘Joe Bob Briggs’, filled with ‘christmas horror films’, ‘christmas demons’, ‘christmas slasher films’, ‘ho-ho-horror’, ‘yuletide horror’ and insightful ‘horror commentary’.Joe Bob’s Creepy Christmas and make this holiday season memorable for all the right reasons! I’m sure Fright Rags will have another stellar set this year, too. They are perfect for the horror fan in your life (even if that fan is you!). I can’t wait to see what they have in store (no pun).

SPECIAL — IF YOU WANT Freeeeeeeee (as supplies last) Fright Rags Joe Bob Briggs merch for this year, just tweet/thread at us during the event and Jim will pick the one that makes him chuckle the most (you will need to give us your address and size in DMs)

No subscription to watch Joe Bob Briggs’s Creepy Christmas yet? No problem! Check the link below:

AMC Networks’ Shudder is a premium streaming video service, super-serving members with the best selection in genre entertainment, covering horror, thrillers and the supernatural. Shudder’s expanding library of film, TV series, and originals is available on most streaming devices in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. For a 7-day, risk-free trial, visit Joe Bob at www.shudder.com.

Breaking News

#ChadGetsTheAxe Coming Out September 1st

Published

8 months ago

August 31, 2023

J.M. Brannyk

Look, I’m a simple guy. Sure, I like my Small Town Monsters and my silly-billy movies about cats eating people.

But sometimes there comes a film that’s smartly written, full of humor and social commentary, plus great acting. Oh, and scares that actually scare the shit out of me.

Almost a year to the date, I got to watch such a film called #CHADGETSTHEAXE that I saw as a screener for FilmQuest Fest in October, 2022. And I was blown away by the talents of director/co-writer Travis Bible and co-writer/producer Kemerton Hargrove; starring Spencer Harrison Levin (Black Jesus), Michael Bonini (New Amsterdam), Taneisha Figueroa (Duck World), Cameron Vitosh (Walker), Brandon Doyle (Murder Made Me Famous), and Shun Hagins (Snitch).

Mini-Review, I swear it’s short:

And, I know, I know, I know. ‘But Brannyyyyk, isn’t livestreaming horror movies just a flash in the pan? Hasn’t it been done beforeeee?’ For one, stop saying it like that, it’s weird. For two, not like this. The care and attention that went into #CHADGETSTHEAXE is wickedly clever with such tongue-in-cheek humor of influencers, humanity, and the toxic culture of fandom. It’s the shining example of live-streaming movies because it’s so f-ing smart.

Case in point, the characters are living up to their personas. However, even when the personas are ragged and driven to the edge of life and death, we never see them as people, fully dimensional people, because we never see them break away from their devices. There’s never a shot that shows us ‘hey, this is a film, now let’s see them as the real character they are’. The actors are really carrying dual roles as the personas and the real people underneath; as they are struggling to keep up appearances in front of the millions of viewers.

Plus, don’t get me started on the characters within the livestream feed, along with running jokes and clues to the haunted house.

Anyway, I don’t want to give too much away as I’m going to be covering it on Streamin’ Demons soon. But I wanted to also tease about the fact that I’m going to be interviewing some VIPs from the movie for What’s Kraken? So, shhh, only tell your closest friends because it’s going to be incredible.

It has the characters taking selfies in front of an axe killer

Join the Hype Train:

Adapted from an award-winning short with the same title, #ChadGetsTheAxe follows four social media influencers as they live-stream their trip to Devil’s Manor, former home to a Satanic Cult. Things don’t go well. And as the violence ramps up… so do the views.

The film premiered at FilmQuest in October 2022 and Internationally at FrightFest Glasgow in March 2023 where it was well received by critics. #ChadGetsTheAxe was produced by Travis Bible, Eric Gibson, Kemerton Hargrove, and Frances O’Hanlon, while Dream Big Group serves as executive producers.

The Horror Collective is the genre label of Entertainment Squad — a production and distribution company founded by veteran producer Shaked Berenson (TURBO KID, TALES OF HALLOWEEN). The label’s latest releases include the Daytime Emmy nominated Limited Series DOOMSDAY, the killer-pants Shudder Original SLAXX, and the critically acclaimed horror-comedy SUMMONING SYLVIA.

Website: https://thehorrorcollective.com/

I’m hoping it gets DVD distribution one day because I’m old and I need DVDs for when the zombie apocalypse happens.

Breaking News

June Title for Arrow Streaming

Published

11 months ago

June 1, 2023

J.M. Brannyk

Welcome to June! There’s so much on the hopper for Arrow that I just have to give you, my friends, the hot goss.

Just a picture of the stuff I'm talking about after the picture.

June 2nd: Paul Joyce Documentaries

June 2nd kicks off the month with ARROW’s latest curation of Paul Joyce documentaries, this time looking at legendary filmmaker John Cassavetes, straight from the mouth of his friend and collaborator co-star Peter Falk (Columbo) in Out of the Shadows: The Films of John Cassavetes.

After a six year directing hiatus, Monte Hellman sat down with Paul Joyce and just talked for an hour while Joyce filmed. The result is Plunging on Alone: Monte Hellman’s Life In a Day.

June 2nd: the wild world of Ero Guro

What is Ero Guro? Well, the Japanese sub-genre of horror and pink films Ero Guro combines the erotic (ero) and the grotesque (guro) to deviant, decadent and unforgettable effect. ARROW’s Ero Guro collection features the unholy trinity of core Ero Guro films, Teruo Ishii’s Shogun’s Joy of Torture and Horrors of Malformed Men and Yasuzo Masumura’s Blind Beast, plus plenty more exciting, explicit and enticingly depraved delights to delve into.

Titles Include: Shogun’s Joy of Torture, Blind Beast, Irezumi.

June 6th: Warriors Two (US/CA)

After making his directorial debut with the intense The Iron-Fisted Monk and firmly solidifying his worth at Golden Harvest, Sammo Hung would be given more creative control behind the camera. Now able to inject more of his own personality, Hung would bring to life the more upbeat (yet only slightly less violent) Wing Chun cult classic: Warriors Two!

Predating the Ip Man tetralogy by three decades – as well as Hung’s own The Prodigal Son (starring Yuen Biao as the younger incarnation of Leung Tsan) by a few years – Warriors Two is one of the earliest films to authentically portray the teachings of Wing Chun while also delivering the kind of kinetic and pulse-pounding fights synonymous with the name Sammo Hung!

June 16th: Eli Roth Selects (UK/IRE/US/CA)

Splatter icon Eli Roth takes a stroll through the archives with Eli Roth Selects (UK/IRE/US/CA). “I absolutely love Arrow and have been a collector of their editions for years, and Arrow Player is the most streamed channel in my house. I’ve seen a lot of Select lists, and while I agree with them, I wanted to highlight some that people might have otherwise overlooked.”

Titles Include: Basket Case, Contamination, Madhouse.

June 19th: Toru Murakawa’s Game Trilogy (UK/IRE/US/CA)

Made at the end of the 1970s, Toru Murakawa’s Game Trilogy launched actor Yûsaku Matsuda as the Toei tough guy for a new generation. Matsuda was the definitive screen icon of 1980s until his career was tragically cut short by cancer at the age of 40, following his Hollywood debut in Ridley Scott’s Black Rain.

The Most Dangerous Game (UK/IRE/US/CA): In this career-defining triptych, Matsuda is Shohei Narumi, an ice cool hitman of few words, a steely trigger finger, and a heart of stone, hired in The Most Dangerous Game by a company bidding for a lucrative government air defence contract to take out the competition.

The Killing Game (UK/IRE/US/CA): Narumi finds himself caught in the midst of violent yakuza gang warfare, while his own brutal past catches up with him in the form of two beautiful women still bearing the emotional scars of his past assignments.

The Execution Game (UK/IRE/US/CA): Narumi falls for a mysterious saloon bar chanteuse who may or may not be part of the same, shadowy underworld organization as the rival hitmen he is employed to rub out. (I’m assuming the tough-guy way and not the sexy way)

June 23rd: SHAAAARKS!!!

Yessss, Cruel Jaws is coming to Arrow!

ARROW heads to the beach for some terror with shark attacks.

Cruel Jaws (US/CA): A huge shark terrorizes a beach in Florida, and the locals try everything to kill it.

Deep Blood (US/CA): Several young men have to stop an ancient native American evil in the form of a killer shark which is attacking a small beach community.

June 23rd: Sci-fi Stunners (UK/IRE/US/CA)

For the penultimate Season, ARROW boldly goes to the stars on June 23, seeking out new life and new cinema.

Sci-fi Stunners (UK/IRE/US/CA): There are other worlds than these. Come and explore them in this collection of cybernetic, planet-probing, time-travelling, cosmos-trotting, aliens-zapping, virtual and far-too-real adventures in Sci-fi Stunners – ARROW’s home world for the coolest Cult science-fiction films in the galaxy.

Titles Include: No Escape, Donnie Darko, Crimes of the Future.

Last but not least

Cosa Nostra Collection (UK/IRE/US/CA):

The most American of directors according to celebrated critic Paolo Mereghetti, Damiano Damiani (A Bullet for the General) nevertheless surveyed his own country’s mafia history unlike anyone before him, to critical and box office success.

Full of twists and a fascinating meta-commentary on cinema, Damiani points the camera at himself and the genre as he investigates the social impact of mafia violence, a fitting end to this survey of Damiani’s Cosa Nostra.

Titles Include: Day of the Owl, The Case is Closed, Forget It, How To Kill a Judge.

About ARROW:

From Arrow Films, a recognized world-leader in curation and creation, ARROW is a premium platform giving audiences an unparalleled viewing experience across multiple devices, so fans can explore the films and TV shows that the Arrow brand is famous for.

Specially curated by members of the ARROW team, ARROW is home to premium film and TV entertainment, exclusive new premieres, cutting edge cinema, international classics and cult favorites – such as the works of Lars Von Trier, Brian De Palma, Dario Argento, David Cronenberg and Park Chan-wook, and brand-new short films from both new and established filmmakers.

In the coming months, ARROW will be adding Oscar-winning hits, European classics, Asian cinema masterworks, rediscovered Westerns, offbeat gems and much more as part of ARROW’s international strategy to support and celebrate the medium of film.

For more information on ARROW and its titles, please contact: justin@justincookpr.com or visit https://www.arrow-player.com.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ArrowVideoUK

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arrowPlayer

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Arrow_Player

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