Editorials
Why A Found Footage ‘Friday The 13th’ Is A Bad Idea
Last week we learned that Platinum Dunes and Paramount Pictures’ new Friday the 13th is opening in theaters on March 13, 2015. F13 is by far my favorite horror franchise, so to say I’m a huge fan would be something of an understatement. A few months ago I hosted an 8 hour marathon for free just so I could see 400 fans of the series in one place and feel their collective excitement for it. Yet, for the first time in my life I’m not looking forward to a new Jason outing. Why? Because the rumors of a potential found footage angle continue to persist. And I’ll continue to be nervous as long as they do.
Let’s get something out of the way upfront – this isn’t some purist plea coming from an idealistic blogger with a heart of gold. I’ve worked in various facets of the entertainment business for years, and I’ve seen plenty of bad ideas work themselves into reality (along with some good ones). That’s not to say I’m some kind of veteran – I’m not. Plenty of my friends know way more about the way things work in this town than I do and most of my experience has been from the bottom of the totem pole. Still, I’ve been a fly on the wall in enough situations to be immensely grateful for the sense of context it gives me when parsing through movie news on a daily basis. Strangely enough, while I’m naturally a bit cynical about the business side of things, I think all of this actually makes me more sensitive to it. More forgiving of the process. I almost never get angry about stuff being bad because it’s a godd*mn miracle anything ever gets made, let alone made well.
So I’m certainly not angry that some of the brass at Paramount seem to want a found footage take. I totally get it. The Paranormal Activity movies are huge moneymakers for them. Even better? They’re low risk (with reported budgets usually in the $3M-$5M range). That means that even when one underperforms like PA4, it’s really only underperforming relative to the other entries – not the amount of money spent on it. There’s still a profit. Even stuff like The Devil Inside, which audiences hated, was able to pull off a handsome gross courtesy of good marketing and a spectacularly front-loaded opening weekend. The 2009 Friday The 13th reboot (which I loved)*, was made for a reported $19M. It also likely had a P&A marketing budget in or above that area. Still, with a worldwide theatrical gross of $91M (and what seems like a successful release on Blu-ray and other ancillary income sources), I’m betting they made some money (New Line in this case, not Paramount). But I can understand why the new studio would want a bit lower risk this time out.
There’s even more incentive to keep the budget down when you look at the Blumhouse model. With each film maxing out at around $3M (except for Insidious 2), I can understand why a lot of producers and studios feel like they are running out of excuses to spend any more money on these things (aside from paying the filmmakers – with P&A budgets that rival more expensive films I doubt there’s much backend to be had off of some of the lower grossing stuff at this level). But the thing is, I’m not lobbying for Paramount to spend more money than they’re already likely planning on spending. They want to keep the budget low? I get it. No problem. It’s not like the rest of the franchise was particularly expensive to make (even when adjusted for inflation the budgets for most of the sequels probably only nudge up against what I imagine they have earmarked for this one).
I’m also not a found footage hater. I actually dig a lot of it. I loved Paranormal Activity 3. I loved Chronicle. And I’m certainly not shilling for Brad when I say that I think some of the stuff in V/H/S/2 made for truly exciting horror filmmaking. Thanks to The Blair Witch Project, the format has been viable in horror for at least 14 years but the recent surge in product on the studio level is giving fans fatigue in regard to its feature length theatrical prospects. I just think the format works better in the hands of indie filmmakers pushing the envelope than it does on a studio sequel level.
It’s also the exact wrong idea for Friday The 13th. There’s a lot of speculation out there regarding just how the conceit will be implemented, but I’m leaving all of that at the door because I don’t want to muddle the issue. I don’t think any of it will work. One of the charms of F13 is the formula. The familiarity. Even the worst entries in the series at the very least serve as some kind of comfort food. For all of the sex and violence in these films, there’s something sweetly upbeat and innocent about them. We want to feel like we’re at Camp Crystal Lake with these kids, and this is one franchise where indulging the nostalgia of the fan base (not only for the original installments, but for the 80’s in general) isn’t such a bad thing. We want Friday The 13th to transport us to a simpler time. That’s not to say there isn’t room for modernization and invention, the best installments have actively upended some component of the formula (switching from Mrs. Voorhees to Jason in Part 2, going right to the cops in Jason Lives, making him a zombie in general, even going to space in Jason X) but still left enough elements of it intact for it to work.
Found footage would upend that completely. I mentioned above that we want to “feel like we’re at Camp Crystal Lake with these kids.” I don’t see how that gets properly pulled off using this aesthetic. Found footage can occasionally make the audience feel like they’re “there” with the characters, particularly in suspense sequences. But, just as often (if not moreso) it can work to distance the audience – to build another wall between them and the characters. Particularly when it comes to establishing characters and documenting “fun stuff.” The kind of characters we want in a F13 film are often relatable but sometimes teeter on the edge of douchiness by virtue of their age and the fact that they’re out to party and get laid. That’s fine. We want that. Most of the prior installments have done a fine job of balancing things out so they don’t all play as offputting (except for the ones who really deserve to die). But recontextualizing them within the found footage format means that they’re now fighting against how the audience has been trained to view partying teenagers in recent years – as total assholes.
Moreover, why throw out the production value the setting has to offer? Again, part of Friday The 13th means that we almost want to be out there with these characters until everybody starts dying. It’s nearly impossible to use the found footage conceit in a way that makes the environment alluring at all. Even with some ambition and genuine invention when it comes to pulling this off you might end up with a cool exercise, it just won’t feel like a F13 installment. Going this route also sets up an insurmountable array of opportunities to rob whomever plays Jason (I still hope it’s Mears) of their performance. Jason is an unstoppable killing machine but there’s a humor in his stillness and the dispassionate manner in which he dispatches his victims. I’m not sure how you capture that using POV – maybe here and there, but not with the consistency and visual language the fans want.
Again, I’m fine with the urge to go low budget and low risk. So believe me I’m not feigning ignorance when I ask, “is it really that hard to shoot a ‘real’ Friday The 13th film on a reduced budget?” I’m not sure what kind of numbers they have in mind, so let’s look to recent Paramount found footage history (something they didn’t acquire, but were involved in making) and use PA4 as an example. That film had a reported budget of $5M. Sure, there might be challenges associated with shooting a traditional movie for that amount of money, especially on location, but it can most certainly be done (the real mystery here is why PA4 cost so much). There’s a whole crop of young, inventive horror directors out there who are incredibly budget savvy and I imagine many of them would like a crack at making a “real” Friday The 13th.
I haven’t met a single fan of the franchise who doesn’t feel the same way. While it’s possible that whatever ends up as the found footage F13 could be a good movie under any other name, it won’t feel like an official entry to the degree the fan base needs it to. I actually think it has the potential to kill the franchise for a while (at the very least beyond Paramount’s five-year window on the rights). They might nail the opening weekend, but I don’t see a lot of fans walking away satisfied and wanting another one right away like I did in 2009. They might get new people in the door, but I don’t see them sticking around for another if the movie doesn’t work. I’m afraid if this version of Friday The 13th fails, the studio will think the franchise is stale when it might actually the found footage reaction that kills it.
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe there’s a version of this that works. But if the found footage angle happens I hope whoever’s behind it asks themselves the genre’s most oft-repeated question… “why are you filming this?”
*I’ve spoken to someone inside New Line regarding Shannon/Swift draft for the 2009 film’s sequel. They say it’s the movie the fans have been clamoring for. The ideal sequel. That it’s better than the 2009 film and would be cheap to shoot. Paramount has the rights. Maybe they should go ahead with that since they’ve already paid for it?
College kids, strippers and vampires—those were Donald P. Borchers’ only requirements when he approached Richard Wenk about writing and directing a movie for New World Pictures. As requested, Wenk cooked up Vamp (1986), a tailor-made blend of the decade’s teen movie craze as well as its horror boom.
Grim and earnest stories were still very much a part of the ’80s horror landscape, yet Vamp is something of a comedy. One difference between it and, say, Saturday the 14th, though, is the former avoids using schtick. Wenk’s movie proves that horror comedies also don’t have to subtract thrills from their recipes. Of course, it takes a minute before reaching that point; college antics and culture shocks preface this one macabre misadventure.
Vamp‘s initial setup is apt for a typical college-set, sex-driven comedy; to bribe their way into a fraternity house, two pledges (Chris Makepeace, Robert Rusler) go looking for some adult entertainment. Without wasting time on any further exposition, the characters embark on an all-in-one-night trip that quickly detours into terror.
To procure their elusive MacGuffin—a stripper willing to gyrate for some frat boys—Keith (Makepeace) and AJ (Rusler), plus a third wheel named Duncan (Gedee Watanabe), trade the safety of their remote college campus for the seediness of some unnamed city. The setting is recognizably L.A. by day, but as soon as night falls, downtown, along with the characters, slips into a kind of surreal universe. Director of photography Elliot Davis gave this early entry on his prolific résumé an unusual yet distinctive look; that Mario Bava-esque, magenta-green lighting is omnipresent, so much so that it’s almost its own character.
Chris Makepeace and Robert Rusler in Vamp
The faint comparisons to Martin Scorsese’s After Hours are merited, although not just because of Vamp’s distinguishing nighttime aesthetic. Save for the primary characters, the supporting roles in Wenk’s movie are also quite colorful and transactional in their behavior. The difference here, though, is the additional urge to ruin Keith and his friends at every turn. Some of that harm is humorous and tolerable enough, whereas the moment Vamp dishes out its first fatality, it’s abundantly clear how this movie qualifies as horror.
Vamp falls into that category of horror movie that reveals its genre with a scream rather than a series of whispers. The opening scene can function as a hint of what lies ahead—things are not at all what they appear to be—but otherwise, Wenk is more than happy to hold off on the horror. When that time does come, though, it catches the viewer off guard. In addition to the pure shock value is that sudden decision to upend the movie’s foremost feature. Or so it would seem.
If afraid of major spoilage, those new to Vamp would be wise to stop reading here. There’s just no skirting around the fact that the central fellowship in this buddy movie hits a serious snag when AJ is killed. That development causes the story to become more of a “long, bad night” journey for Keith and his romantic interest. So while Wenk scores points for subverting expectations, there is also a touch of sadness in his decision. Because if Vamp does anything well, it’s making the characters likable.
Something that comes easily to Vamp—and other teen horror movies from this same era—is its ability to invent young characters worth caring about, or at the very least, are interesting and not so immediately off-putting. More impressive is how Wenk did all this without actually fleshing out those characters. Still and all, Keith and his kind are a grade above cookie-cutter, and in some cases, aren’t completely devoid of growth.
Grace Jones in Vamp
Vamp appeals with an assorted cast of characters. No two are the same, nor are they operating on the same wavelength. The cinematically extroverted AJ, whose actor conveyed charm and vulnerability in near equal amounts, comes alive when he’s at his most undead. Makepeace then makes the chronically cautious Keith a sympathetic fellow, even as he’s more and more affected by the night’s bizarre events. Meanwhile, Duncan is indeed the designated loser of the whole bunch, but Watanabe still manages to humanize him. As a bonus, the role didn’t require him to pull a Long Duk Dong.
As for Dedee Pfeiffer, she is plain adorable as the mysterious After Dark server nicknamed “Amaretto”. She spends all night fixing her dress strap while at the same time trying to get Keith to remember how he knows her. As their offbeat romance grows, it becomes another highlight of this movie. Whether or not Pfeiffer’s character is really a vampire also creates some welcome tension in the story.
Like a lot of its contemporaries, Vamp went on to become a bit of a cult classic. That current status is determined by several factors, but without a doubt, the casting of Grace Jones is the most considerable. The image of her writhing on that unique-looking chair, a Keith Haring original, springs to mind whenever this movie is brought up.
Chris Makepeace, Billy Drago and Paunita Nichols in Vamp
Prior to that first display of unequivocal horror, local vampire queen Katrina (Jones) took to the stage and delivered a strip show like no other. One would expect nothing less from that renowned model and performance artist. By now reports of Jones’ tardiness on set are no secret, yet it’s also hard to deny her commitment to the part of Katrina. It was, in fact, Jones who took charge of her character’s appearance—on top of Haring painting her body and that now-iconic chair, she had Andy Warhol handle her costuming. And not too many actors could seize a room’s attention without saying a single line of dialogue.
In 2022, Vamp received a retrospective novelization from Encyclopocalypse. This literary union of preexisting source material—Wenk’s original screenplay—and new ideas from author Christian Francis amounts to a more comprehensive visit to the After Dark Club. The basic story there is no different than what’s shown on screen; however, Francis gets creative with the characters’ origins and designs, and he enhances a number of key scenes.
The novelization expands on the urban and social decay of the main setting, and supplies a background for the After Dark Club. Sandy Baron’s character, Katrina’s emcee and familiar, is given ample motivation for sticking around; up until the fiery end, he is loyal to his friend and former business partner “Squeak”, who looks like he was “fed through a combine harvester, and left as nothing more than a heap of mangled remains”. Then there is Billy Drago’s character Snow, the leader of a street gang called The Dragons. His reason for menacing Keith and AJ is more altruistic than in the movie; he and his peers act tough to scare off any potential food for the vampires.
Lisa Lyon in Vamp
If not for all the backstories, Francis’ Vamp would be a hell of a lot shorter. Instead, this tie-in read dives into how AJ met Keith—the orphaned Anthony Joseph hailed from a broken home back in Brooklyn—and how their friendship flourished over the years. Keith’s archership is no longer just an assumed part of his entire being; it’s a confidence-building extracurricular for a boy who got picked on before coming into the protection of the new kid in town. These supplemental, in-depth looks at the protagonists, plus their close connection, are maybe unnecessary. The movie already did a fair and concise job of addressing their platonic intimacy without the need for flashbacks and insights, specifically in that scene where AJ lays it all out as he sacrifices himself.
Where the novelization gets off course is its approach to the minor characters. Intermittently backstorying the likes of Katrina’s indentured servants, Seko (Leila Hee Olsen) and Vlad (Brad Logan), ends up disturbing the flow of the writing. Was it absolutely essential that readers know Vlad was the Grand Duke of the House of Romanov, or how Snow’s accomplice Maven (Paunita Nichols) became so dentally challenged? No, not really. However, one’s mileage with these random biographies may vary.
The novelization is a more substantial experience, but for a movie like Vamp, less is more. And as plentiful as they are, it never simply coasts on its campy charms, either. The character work sits comfortably in that realm between cursory and meticulous, the script is sharper than first realized, and Greg Cannom’s vampire makeup is straightforward yet effective. Most of all, the movie didn’t squander its out-of-the-box concept. Richard Wenk made his vision of a “comic nightmare in which just about anything that can go wrong does” come true, and it is very enjoyable.
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