Friday the 13th: Part 13 by Aaron Guzikowski (2016) [Script Review]
Been reading a few horror scripts lately to get into the right mindset as I write my own.
First up is (one of) the scripts for the Friday the 13th movie that's been in development hell for almost a decade. Aaron Guzikowski's version is not the found footage one, or the one that was supposed to take place in winter. Instead, it's much more of an homage flick to Parts 1-4 and takes place in the 80s. Considering how big Stranger Things and IT blew up, the commercial potential here is pretty big so it's odd they didn't stick with it. Probably some rights issue - like it always is with this fucking franchise...
Anyways, it's a pretty decent trip. I like it more than the '09 movie, though that had it's moments too.
The basic plot is such:
Elias Voorhees, father of Jason and husband to Pamela, works as a park ranger in the area surrounding Crystal Lake. Pamela works in the kitchen. A deformed, "medical mask"-wearing Jason attends swim class. Pamela and Elias are estranged, as Elias started going crazy over the course of Pamela's pregnancy and became resolved he had to kill Jason before he was born. He didn't get quite that far but it's implied that whatever he did is what caused Jason's deformity.
I dug this part of the script. The idea that the whole family is bad is a running theme in the original movies, with "Jason" telling Pamela to kill in the first movie, and then Pamela's head basically compelling him to do the same thing. In fact,
Part 6 was supposed to end with the introduction of Elias, but they didn't want to write themselves into a corner with him so it was scrapped (plus the only other character in that scene ends up being killed earlier by Jason in the final film anyways.)
The script follows the three-act structure almost too cleanly. The first 20-30 pages feature Elias as the killer, complete with burlap sack mask (another nod I dug.) He kills two fairly well-written teens in the opening scene, in a location that recurs throughout and plays into the bombastic finale: a fire watch tower overlooking Crystal Lake. He then goes on to kill three more teens before the story skips ahead three years.
Most of the story centers on Annie and her bratty younger sister Mary. Annie's friends were Elias' original victims, so three years later she's still kinda dealing with that. Elias wasn't caught as he made it look like one of the teens killed the others.
The cannon fodder here actually stands out in the series. Annie is possibly the most realistic and relatable protagonist in Friday 13th to date. She acts logically, is virtuous without having a stick up her ass, and we feel her struggles - she's set up to be an Olympic-level swimmer, but post-timeskip it's revealed that she became a suicidal junkie after the US pulled out of the Russian Olympics and she lost her chance (though how realistic that is, I'm not sure.)
There's a couple story convolusions that feel clunky, but that's something of a series staple too. Three years ago, Mary was supposed to give Jason swimming lessons but didn't show. So instead, Annie's friends convince her to take Jason with them to Big Rock Island. One of the friends' gimmicks is that he records almost everything with a Super 8 camera, and when Jason drowns shortly after they arrive on the island he records it.
I should note that this part of the script gets wicked dark. All the kids involved struggle with the guilt of not rescuing Jason in time, and when Annie tells her mother she instructs them to cover it up. Pamela then meets up with Annie later that night and there's a scene where an extremely torn-up and guilty Annie has to assuage the fears of a confused and worried mother. It's not tear-jerking but it did strike a few pangs. The actors would have to be excellent to pull it off well, though.
Three years later, guess who finds that footage? Pamela Voorhees of course. The second act is entirely Pamela's rampage and it's so good. What makes it work is that pre-timeskip and even post-timeskip-but-pre-seeing-the-footage, she acts like a completely normal mom. Getting to know her before she snaps makes her spree so much more effective, and it's something the original movie should have done as well IMO.
Through a series of events, Pamela and the kids she's trying to kill end up back on Big Rock Isle, giving the still-alive and now three-years older Jason a front-row seat to seeing his mom get decapitated (of course.) This causes him to break out of his exile and take up the family business of killing teenagers in the third act. (I should mention that Jason is obviously afraid of swimming, and only returns to the mainland because Pamela brought a boat with her.)
I dug the pacing here. The movie starts to fumble in the last ten pages or so, feeling more and more drawn out, but the final shot would have been cool to see in theaters. However, pages 45-95 (out of 97) are pretty much non-stop terror, dread, and action. There is some sentimental fluff between the sisters (learning to work together to not die, etc.), but it doesn't take up near as much time as some of the BS that's clogged other F13 movies. It's a very efficient script.
Would I have liked to see this get made? I mean compared to nothing, of course. And while it feels pretty rehash-y, there's some (minor) winking at the audience - a younger teen named Tommy (no last name given, hmm...
) is introduced and then killed off-screen clearly setting up for a potential sequel return as The Tommy Jarvis™. He even does Crispin Glover's insane death metal dance at one point. Seriously, that's in the script and I love it.
This is a very soft "4" for me. The one major problem is something the Halloween remake faced: there really isn't much value in humanizing the series' killer(s) - it's very easy to root for Pamela and Jason, both victims of spousal/parental abuse and indifferent teenagers. I'd like to see another draft go a bit further with some of the self-awareness, but overall it would have been a nice nostalgic trip and likely would have ended in the top 5 of the series (not too hard, but still.)
4 / 5
