As the Friday the 13th movie series wore on, Jason Voorhees found himself in some rather bizarre situations ranging from Manhattan to outer space. Still, nothing we’ve seen from the franchise would be quite as crazy as these five nearly-made sequels, which were all abandoned prior to production – for better or for worse.
1Ginny vs. Jason (in an asylum)
Because horror fans flocked to see the first two Friday the 13th movies, Paramount wanted to keep the story going in another sequel. An initial concept would have picked up after the events of the first movie by focusing on final girl Ginny Field, now recovering from the Part II assault in a psychiatric hospital. Intent on murdering the “one that got away,” Jason tracks her down to the asylum and breaks in, killing hospital staff and patients in his pursuit of Ginny. Ultimately, however, these plans were shelved when Amy Steel opted not to reprise the role for Part III.
Of course, the most obvious problem with this pitch is how similar it feels to Halloween II, which was released just a year earlier. In that movie, Michael Myers tracks down survivor Laurie Strode a local hospital, where he murders many members of the staff. While the original Friday the 13th was inspired in many ways by Halloween, producing a sequel with a story so reminiscent of Halloween II just seems a bit too on the nose. It was more important at this point for the franchise to form an identity of its own.
Additionally, Jason Voorhees would very much feel out of place outside of Crystal Lake, especially this early in the Friday the 13th series. The iconic lake and its surrounding camping areas were just as important to the story as Jason himself. Setting the plot in a hospital might have also meant the iconic hockey mask wouldn’t have been introduced as well. As fantastic as Amy Steel was in the role of Ginny Field, it was fortunate for the series for Part III to take the story in another direction.
Related Article: Why Chris Higgins is the Ultimate Friday the 13th Final Girl
