How New Line Cinema Destroyed the Friday the 13th Franchise

This writer first would like to start off this piece by stating that the title of this article does not reflect how this website feels in entirety about how the studio handled the film franchise after it was purchased from Paramount Pictures. However, we bring all relevant news, information and discussions to the fans and feel that a new video titled How New Line Cinema Destroyed the Friday the 13th Franchise is a fascinating look at the evolution of Jason Voorhees and the Friday The 13th films once New Line Cinema took over distribution.

Professional Archivist and Horror enthusiast Paul Zamarelli has put together a great 37 minute mini documentary on his thoughts on why New Line Cinema killed the Friday The 13th film franchise. He offers a lot of valid points on why so many fans have grown to hate the films released by New Line Cinema and then by Warner Bros. The most relevant point made in the video, in this writer's opinion, is that New Line chose to create stand alone films that offered no connection to the previous Paramount entries. This course of action seems to have created a disconnect between long time fans that does give the appearance that New Line does not care at all about the franchise and the people that supported it for over three decades.

No matter how many people argue that Friday the 13th films have no continuity, they in fact did so in the Paramount years as true sequels with each film picking up after the previous installment. The same cannot be said for the New Line films. Jason Goes To Hell did have a chance to do so and dropped the ball in that respect. In that films defense, however, there could have also been legal situations with trying to reference Jason Takes Manhattan and that story line.

With that all being said, please watch the video below and form your own opinions on Paul's thoughts and maybe his video can expand upon your feelings towards the New Line Friday The 13th films. Also, make sure to visit his website, www.vhscollector.com, to find those rare and hard to find VHS classic films of yesteryear! Big thanks to "slasherfan" for posting about this video in our Forum.