We're Officially 4 Months Away From The Best Friday The 13th Replacement Movie

The Friday the 13th franchise finally returned this month with the debut of Crystal Lake, but the prequel series from A24 and Peacock isn’t the only new camp slasher that will delight fans of Jason Voorhees.

The last Friday the 13th movie hit theaters a whopping 17 years ago, when director Marcus Nispel and producer Michael Bay teamed up to deliver an underrated remake in 2009. Despite multiple attempts to keep Jason on the big screen in the years since, rights issues have prevented the hockey mask-wearing killer from making his long-awaited return.

Crystal Lake features Jason Voorhees in a limited capacity, but the eight-episode series is largely an origin story about Pamela Voorhees in the years leading up to the original 1980 film, meaning fans are still left waiting for a full-fledged Jason Voorhees movie.

While not officially a Jason Voorhees movie, a new film that recently impressed with its secret world premiere has officially claimed a public release date this February and will finally, after an agonizing nearly two decade wait, bring a Friday the 13th movie (albeit not officially) to the big screen.

In A Violent Nature: Part 2 Is Essentially An Elevated Friday The 13th Movie

At last month’s Fantastic Fest, In A Violent Nature: Part 2 made its world premiere as a secret screening. When it was released in 2024, the first In A Violent Nature put a clever spin on the over-saturated slasher genre by telling a story that unfolded from the perspective of the killer, rather than their unsuspected victims. Director Chris Nash approached his film with a minimalist style, unsettling with its voyeuristic point-of-view and its number of brutal kills, including the grotesque pretzel kill.

In A Violent Nature: Part 2 retains the minimalist style, long takes, absence of score, and disconcerting calmness of its predecessor, although it departs from the original in a key way. The sequel from directors Chris Nash and Nate Wilson abandons the killer’s perspective and, instead, operates as a more traditional slasher. This means camp counselors and a reclusive young boy named Alex are the lead characters, not Johnny the slasher.

The bold departure from the most inventive element of its predecessor may render In A Violent Nature: Part 2 a more conventional slasher, but it also aligns the sequel more closely to the Friday the 13th franchise. With near identical plots, settings, and characters, the primary difference between In A Violent Nature: Part 2 and the average Friday the 13th film is how elevated, minimalist, and well-crafted it is. While the Friday the 13th films are fun due to their shlocky, so-bad-it’s-good nature, In A Violent Nature: Part 2 takes itself (and its craft) far more seriously, in turn resulting in a refreshing film that nicely fills the nearly 20 year void without a Friday the 13th movie.

In A Violent Nature: Part 2 Fills The Void of Jason Voorhees

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