Jason Voorhees is back, and he hasn't lost his knack for dispatching innocent victims in some inventively gruesome ways.
A new Friday the 13th short titled Sweet Revenge is now available to watch online, with Voorhees now played by actor and stuntman Schuyler White, who previously portrayed the character in director Mike P. Nelson’s (Silent Night, Deadly Night) vignette.
Though a new actor might well take over as Jason when - well, make that if - Friday the 13th eventually returns to the big screen, Sweet Revenge does mark the first official Jason Voorhees film project since the Platinum Dunes reboot hit theaters 16 years ago.
Not too surprisingly, the short begins with a group of friends making their way to Crystal Lake, and we don't have to wait too long for the bloody carnage to begin. Sweet Revenge features a few impressive kills, and there's an intriguing final girl twist. Some Friday fans have taken issue with Jason's redesigned mask and "scrawny" physique, but the film seems to have been positively received for the most part.
"I have an idea of where I’d love for the story to go after this," director Mike P. Nelson tells Variety. "It’s not really in my hands, whether or not it’s where Horror Inc. and Jason Universe end up going with it. But if I was given the opportunity … Holy crap, dude. I would snatch it up in a heartbeat. One of the fun things I often play with is we’ve seen Jason on this revenge spree for so long now. What does it look like when he runs into somebody like him? Not Freddy Krueger, not a girl with psychic powers, but like somebody like him who’s come back. What does that look like and what kind of shenanigans and what kind of story unfolds because of that, between the both of them?"
Check it out below and let us know what you think.
Showrunner Brad Caleb Kane (Welcome to Derry) recently announced that production had commenced on prequel series Crystal Lake, which is set to star Linda Cardellini (Freaks and Geeks, Scooby-Doo) as Jason's mother. This take on Pamela Voorhees is described as "a mother who had given up a singing career to raise a special needs child and takes a dark turn when she loses her son."
Fans have been waiting for something to be done with the Friday franchise for many years now, but the news that Crystal Lake would be a prequel series dampened excitement somewhat - as did a caveat that the show couldn't even feature an adult Jason or his signature hockey mask.
Fortunately, we would later learn that this part of the initial report was inaccurate.
Speaking to Fangoria in a 2023 interview, original showrunner Brad Fuller confirmed that they can basically utilize anything available to them "under the Friday the 13th umbrella."
“A24 and Marc Toberoff, who is Victor Miller’s lawyer, have beautifully and excruciatingly assembled all of the Friday the 13th rights. As a streaming series, we have the rights to do everything underneath the Friday the 13th umbrella.” Fuller confirmed.
“The movie rights are a completely different thing. They are tied up at New Line and are super, super messy and probably won’t be untangled anytime soon, but as far as us chickens in the television industry, uh, roost, we have access to anything and everything that Friday the 13th has done up until this point.”