T w e n t y S i d e d

Having detailed the seeming completion of the Halloween film series, we return to the seminal year of 1988. Halloween IV: The Return of Michael Myers would be released in October. Refocusing the story on Laurie Strode’s daughter and Michael’s niece Jamie Lloyd would come to be appreciated in the future, but at the time was considered only a marginal financial success and narrative disappointment. Only two months before A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master had been a huge success, earning nearly $50 million off a budget of about $6.5 million. As we’ve seen often in the Friday the 13th series, that 10:1 return (nearly, in this case) is almost magical. Part 4 is a direct sequel to Part 3: The Dream Warriors and continues the themes introduced there. This brings back the character “Kristen” from the previous movie, although she would hand off her “final girl” status to “Alice” (literally; she “gives” Alice her ability to bring other people into her dreams) before Kristen’s on-screen death.

The Nightmare movies weren’t self-writing, but this movie may be the closest that series ever got to being the automatic money machine. Part 3: The Dream Warriors had been a success and the producers chose to continue that story line rather than pursue a new direction suggested by Wes Craven. The “Dream Master” script idea was pitched by William Kotzwinkle. New Line Cinema liked the idea (clearly) but wanted more work done in development. They made a deal with Brian Hedgeland to re-write. Hedgeland, who was trying to get his Highway to Hell idea developed, agreed and turned in a new script two weeks later. This was further worked on by Ken and Jim Wheat. New Line started production of the movie before hiring a director, on the grounds that they essentially knew how they wanted things to go. This turned some director options off of the role and the job was eventually given to Renny Harlin, a Finnish director just getting started in the American industry. Harlin would, of course, go on to a very successful career after his work helping create the most successful Nightmare movie until Freddy Vs. Jason was produced 15 years later. Also worth noting, the massive success of this film led to the production of the Nightmare on Elm Street: Freddy’s Nightmares TV Series. It’s hard not to consider that show a fairly blatant copy of Tales From the Crypt, featuring Robert Englund’s Freddy Krueger as the Crypt Keeper. Story structure would evolve and get much more detailed than stand-alone episodes, but the series still only lasted two seasons. Friday the 13th: The Series had debuted the year before and technically ran for two months longer (still only 3 seasons vs. Freddy’s Nightmare‘s 2). Personally I like Friday the 13th: The Series, which benefits from not having anything to do with its source material.

Speaking of Friday the 13th, that franchise had premiered its latest installment in May of 1988. Having completed the Tommy Jarvis story line began in Part IV, Part VII: The New Blood is set seven years after the previous film. While the producers had turned down an attempt by New Line Cinema to do a Freddy/Jason crossover, the concept prompted a more-controllable idea of having Jason confront a telekinetic teen ala “Jason Vs. Carrie.” Without infringing on any copyrights, of course. The finished movie has its flaws, but like most Friday the 13th films doesn’t take much thought and delivers on the concept. A young Tina Shepard (consider this an establishing flashback) kills her abusive father by telekinetically collapsing the Crystal Lake dock he is standing on and causing him to drown. Fast-forward to teen Tina returning to Crystal Lake under the treatment of a psychiatrist, who is deliberately (also secretly and abusively) trying to activate Tina’s psychic powers in order to take advantage of her abilities. To that end he verbally abuses her much like her father, eventually causing Tina to run out to the same location. She wishes for her father to be able to return, inadvertantly freeing Jason Voorhees from the chains that bind him to the bottom of the lake (where he was left at the end of the previous movie.) Jason “returns” and resumes killing. The Shepards just happen to be next to a house full of horny teenagers…who could have predicted that. A killing spree ensues, ending with Tina confronting Jason back at the dock. Tina uses her telekinetic powers to “bring back” her father, who then drags Jason back to the bottom of the lake and chains him up again.

We discussed Michael Myer’s status at the end of Part 4, especially as modified by subsequent revelations. Jason, of course, has already been established as literally *undead* and effectively unkillable. Freddy Krueger moved past being a psychological affect in the second and third Nightmare movies, but much like Michael Myers; “somehow” he just keeps coming back for the next movie. The thing is, as nice as some kind of story fidelity is in the Friday the 13th movies, the production of Nightmare 4 proves that these franchise slashers just operate on certain assumptions. That Michael or Freddy will be the villain in the next movie is just assumed…watchers don’t particularly care *how* this is accomplished. The viewers are invested more in the spectacle first; a cohesive story with effective character beats is icing on the cake. Nightmare 4 and Friday the 13th VII both made back around 6-7 times their budget; much better than Halloween 4. However The New Blood was not received by critics or fans nearly as well as Nightmare 4: The Dream Master was. This is generally perceived as an overall lack of interest in the franchise compared to other movies trying to innovate; in fact Nightmare 4 has been favorably (and unfavorably) visually compared to MTV presentations of the late 1980’s.

Much like Halloween IV, the financial success of both films would prompt sequels to be released in 1989. Three scripts were turned in for Friday the 13th Part 8, including two different takes by cast members from Part 7. All three were rejected by Paramount who gave the film to staff writer Rob Hedden. Hedden wanted to take Jason out of the Crystal Lake setting, and proposed one script set on a cruise ship that was a cross between Das Boot and Alien, and another script about Jason murdering his way across New York City (you see where this is going.) Paramount approved BOTH scripts, then told Hedden he had about $5 million to work with, and New York was too expensive. But they liked the idea, if he could figure it out. So Rob Hedden combined the two scripts. And filmed mostly in Vancouver with only a few shots from New York City. And a *significant* portion of the movie is set on a cruise ship. The film made $14 million on the $5-ish million budget, meaning once again it was financially successful. But, if you’ve seen the movie, you know people didn’t care much for Friday the 13th: Jason Takes Manhattan. It is mostly considered the butt of jokes these days. I have to admit, I actually like Part 7: The New Blood; more than the general audience does. But Jason Takes Manhattan I find…boring.

Simultaneously New Line decided to try something clever and meaningful with A Nightmare on Elm Street 5. Soon after 4: The Dream Master‘s success, screenwriter Leslie Bohem pitched the idea that would largely be adapted for the next movie: The Dream Child. While New Line was uncomfortable with some of the imagery Bohem proposed, her motivation made sense: the kids who had watched the first A Nightmare on Elm Street were of the appropriate age to start families and have kids. So, having the protagonist (Alice from the previous movie) have to deal with Freddy Krueger trying to “come back” through her own baby in her tum tum made sense. Or, at least it would have a decade prior. You can make an argument this concept was out-of-step with the current trend in horror-slashers. Director Stephen Hopkins found the production frustrating due to changing script demands. While the fundamental idea remained unchanged, Bohem’s original script; the producers felt, had a weak ending (at the least…you can find various comments on other possibilities in different places.) Hopkins himself wanted the finished product to “look” Gothic, which you can certainly see. Some additional scenes were added by other writers, which appears to dovetail with deleted scenes and cuts demanded by the MPAA (for excessive gore.) Stephen Hopkins would relate his finished film was decent enough, but was so hacked up by the MPAA and New Line that he can’t watch it. Audiences showed up for the release but the film quickly fell off. Critics generally felt it was pedestrian and “tired.” Fans apparently did not appreciate the attempt to explore horror pregnancy (Halloween V sort of explored the same concept in its own 1989 release, which failed. Not a popular subject at the time.)

So, as of 1990; the A Nightmare on Elm Street series had one of its worst performances following one of its biggest hits, but was still technically profitable thanks to low budgets. The Friday the 13th franchise had just released Jason Takes Manhattan, a critically panned and unappreciated film, that possibly lost money when you considered the enormous marketing campaign Paramount implemented. Halloween, as previously noted, went into a long period of development hell after 1989’s Halloween V: The Revenge of Michael Myers. A Nightmare on Elm Street would return in late 1991 over a year later, but with a film conceived of and written to be the LAST A Nightmare on Elm Street movie. Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare would, of course, be a success prompting a re-think by New Line Cinema. In 1993, four years after the release of Jason Takes Manhattan and possibly motivated by Nightmare 6, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday would debut. However, this film was NOT released by Paramount. Following the disappointment of Jason Takes Manhattan, Paramount had finally sold the rights to Friday the 13th to New Line Cinema. In service of an old idea, Jason Goes to Hell is not much more than setup for future plans. Or at least, that’s *one* way to look at it.

These attempts to “kill off” franchise slasher villains are probably best served by looking at what they preceded, coming soon!

Paige Francis He/him