Hey, everyone. “Moriarty” here.

I would call this an exclusive, except it appears that the fine folks over at Bloody-Disgusting have confirmed the same information, so let’s just call this “exciting news I can personally vouch is correct,” and leave it at that.

I know we’re supposed to get furious over every single remake that’s announced these days, but I actually think FRIDAY THE 13th is a film that’s ripe for reinvention. The first one is a clever-but-cheap slasher mystery that works primarily because of the energy of Savini’s make-up effects and the backstory of Jason Voorhees, which is more of a red herring than anything.

The second film, though... the movie where they introduced retarded redneck mutant Jason... that’s the one I think is probably the scariest in the entire series. And it’s also probably the most “character” that Jason shows in the entire 47 part film series so far. I think if you look back at the first four or five films and try to put together a new movie that takes those films as inspiration and puts together a new, cohesive mythology, you might actually reinvent Jason as a movie monster and do so quite effectively. Having spoken a bit with Shannon & Swift, the writers who were responsible for this particular reboot, I think they’re on the right track, and I’m actually curious to see what they’ve come up with.

And now, they’ve got the right Jason for the job.

I might be a bit biased here, but I think Derek Mears is dead right for the part. Derek’s an actor and a stuntman, and he’s also one of us... a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE geek who really loves the monsters he plays. In my second-season MASTERS OF HORROR episode, Derek played the Demon Father, the giant devil beast that shows up and wreaks havoc on the abortion clinic. Working with him was a blast, and part of what I enjoyed most was just talking horror with Derek.

I have every expectation that no matter how the film is as a whole, Derek’s going to give us an iconic Jason interpretation, and I look forward to seeing his work.

Here’s the Bloody-Disgusting link for their take on this news!

Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles