The new FRIDAY THE 13TH is actually happening. After years of development hell (it's already been eight years since the release of Platinum Dunes' FRIDAY THE 13TH reboot), the movie that is currently being referred to as FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 13 is finally making its way toward production and is scheduled to film in the Conyers, Georgia area from March 19th to May 4th. A script is in place, written by PRISONERS' Aaron Guzikowski, and Breck Eisner (THE CRAZIES remake, THE LAST WITCH HUNTER) is the director who is going to bring the story – which is said to feature a "unique retelling of the origin" of iconic slasher Jason Voorhees – to the screen.
An important element of any FRIDAY THE 13TH film are the special effects, FX giants like Tom Savini and KNB have provided the bloodshed for F13s in the past, and the folks over at Fridaythe13thFranchise have managed to find out who will be doing effects work on PART 13. This company is a big one, too. It's Legacy Effects, which was formed by artists who had been supervising projects at Stan Winston's company before the FX legend passed away in 2008. Legacy's credits include SHUTTER ISLAND, GODZILLA 2014, JURASSIC WORLD, and many a superhero movie, like X-MEN: APOCALYPSE, CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, SUICIDE SQUAD, and Platinum Dunes' TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES.
While the casting calls we've seen so far have focused on the origin section of Guzikowski's story (the filmmakers are looking for a Young Jason and an actor to play Jason's father Elias), FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 13 will indeed feature an adult Jason killing camp counselors, and he will be wearing his trademark hockey mask. Legacy has been tasked with crafting the mask, and Eisner and Platinum Dunes are wanting it to closely resemble the mask worn in a specific previous entry in the series.
Some may not think the mask is such a big deal, Jason's mask is Jason's mask, and there hasn't been a struggle to get it right movie to movie like there has been with Michael Myers' mask. Aside from JASON X, there has never been much of an attempt made at changing the design. Regardless, there is enough nuance to the hockey mask in each film that fans can still pick apart its appearance, judging it based on shape / width / the way it fits on the actor's face, coloration, the chevrons, etc.
My favorite hockey mask of the series is seen in FRIDAY THE 13TH PART III, when Jason first acquires it. It's newer, cleaner, with intact, bright red chevrons. The filmmakers are wanting the mask in FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 13 to look like the one in PART III, and I am very happy to hear that.
It won't be very long before we get to see what the mask Legacy makes look like, as Paramount Pictures has scheduled the film for an October 13, 2017 release.