'Hellraiser' Director on Whether He'd Return to ‘Friday the 13th’ Franchise

 'Hellraiser' Director on Whether He'd Return to ‘Friday the 13th’ Franchise

"I think if you're working on IP, whether it be Hellraiser or Friday the 13th, this doesn't belong to me, it belongs to everybody.”

Horror fans are eating well this October. There are so many exciting genre films and TV shows premiering this month. This includes David Bruckner’s reboot of Hellraiser starring Jamie Clayton as the famous horror villain Pinhead. However, before Bruckner made his mark on Hellraiser, the director was attached to another iconic horror franchise, Friday the 13th, in the mid 2010s. While his vision of Camp Crystal Lake never saw the light of day, in a recent interview with ComicBook.com, Bruckner was asked if he would ever want to return for a future Friday the 13th film.

"I think for me, personally, it would be hard to find my way back into that now just because it's like the actor's approach to an audition, you have to just walk away at a certain point and put it behind you," Bruckner said. He continued on stating, “ Also, I spent a lot of time there. I worked with some wonderful writers, I think, and I've changed. Those ideas aren't interesting to me quite the same way they were with the work we did in particular, but I'm a fan of the franchise." Bruckner would finish off by saying:

"I think if you're working on IP, whether it be Hellraiser or Friday the 13th, this doesn't belong to me, it belongs to everybody. This is not the ultimate Hellraiser movie, it is one Hellraiser movie. There will be others, there will be other Friday the 13th films. They will figure it out, the IP is too valuable. The fans want it too much. So no, I'll be the first person in theater to figure out what they did. Of course, I'll think a lot about what we had, but no, and it goes the same for any of the stuff that we work on; I'm game, as long as I get to keep making stuff that I'm passionate about, I'll be as grateful as I can be."

Image via Hulu

RELATED:'Hellraiser' Director David Bruckner And Jamie Clayton Talk Pinhead, Cenobites, And Remaking The Franchise

This is a very thoughtful response from Bruckner who has had a ton of success in the genre since his involvement with Friday the 13th. This franchise hasn’t had an installment since the 2009 remake which is mainly due to Friday the 13th being in the middle of a tense legal battle. The original director Sean S. Cunningham and writer Victor Miller are currently fighting over the series’ rights. Even if that case would get resolved tomorrow, it sounds like Bruckner is at peace with his short time in this classic franchise. Like the director alluded to, a creator’s ideas change on a daily basis. Like all of us, what they thought was a good idea yesterday, could be considered a bad idea in their mind today. It’s all about what we’re passionate about at our current moment in time, and it doesn’t help that Friday the 13th as a franchise is a hard nut to crack. As a fan himself, Bruckner knows this. Jason has been killing campers for over 40 years, he’s been to New York, he went to hell, and was one of the first slasher villains to go to space. If Bruckner or any talented director was going to take on this franchise, the story needs to be right. Especially since Jason has been dead for the last 13 years.

However, while it would be great to see Bruckner’s take on Friday the 13th, the director has made a name for himself the last few years as one of the best genre filmmakers of our time. His films The Ritual and The Night House are two of the most underrated horror stories to come out in the last five years. The Night House in particular will send chills down anyone’s spine who's been in a troubled relationship. It was such an emotionally traumatizing ghost story with Rebecca Hall’s brilliant Oscar worthy performance being so haunting. Fast-forward to 2022 and horror fans are on the eve of seeing Bruckner’s highly anticipated Hellraiser. The reboot to the 1987 cult classic film has been critically acclaimed so far, and it appears that the director has wonderfully resurrected Pinhead from their direct-to-video sequel hell.

Like Bruckner said, Friday the 13th doesn’t belong to him. The franchise belongs to the fans. Whoever does end up directing the next film, they are just one piece in Jason Voorhees’ weighty legacy. Hopefully Friday the 13th’s legal drama can be cleaned up soon, so fans can see Jason on the big screen where he belongs. However, until then, you can stream Bruckner’s The Night House on HBO Max now before his Hellraiser premieres October 7 on Hulu.