Friday the 13th: Jason almost went up in smoke with Cheech and Chong
By Joey Click
Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees has been through a lot in the iconic film series. But did you know the Crystal Lake killer almost met Cheech and Chong?
Friday the 13th almost went far out man….
According to Entertainment Weekly, Friday the 13th almost featured history’s two biggest stoners. After Jason Lives came crashing into theaters, director Tom McLoughlin and producer Frank Mancuso Jr. began thinking about bringing the hockey-masked monster back yet again. After failing to bring Elm Street’s Freddy to Crystal Lake, McLoughlin throws out an idea some would say is a little half baked.
Here’s what the filmmaker had to say on the latest episode of the Post Mortem podcast with Mick Garris:
"“[Frank Mancuso Jr.] wanted me to do another film after we did Jason. And I said, ‘What are you thinking? I don’t know what it could be now.’ And he said, ‘Well, what do you think about Freddy (Krueger) and Jason?’ And I go, ‘But Freddy’s at New Line and the guys at Paramount have [Jason].’ And it’s like, ‘Well, we’re going to try and see if we can work something out.’ So, I started thinking about that, going, It doesn’t make sense. I mean he lives in one realm and — you know, I take this stuff very seriously, what realm a monster’s supposed to stay in. And he came back, he goes, ‘Eh, forget it, it’s not going to work anyway.’ And I said, ‘You know what? You guys own Cheech and Chong. What if we do Cheech and Chong-meets-Jason? They’re like camp counselors or something. It’s like, ‘Hey, man, I saw Jason out there.’ ‘No, man, that’s a myth.’ But he said, ‘You know what? No.’”"
More from Friday the 13th
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- Is the Friday the 13th lawsuit over? Victor Miller reclaims domestic rights
- Is Camp Crystal Lake a real place?
- Friday the 13th Part 3 house is being rebuilt at the original filming location
- Jason and Friends: A Saturday-morning cartoon bloodbath
Well, I can honestly say I’ve never thought of this…
While the idea of bringing the iconic comedic duo, to Crystal Lake is tempting, I’m not sure the concept plays for the long haul. Sure, it’s fun, but that takes the series in full parody mode. Yeah, some of the later sequels suck, but they’re not Scary Movie level goofy that Cheech and Chong would bring. What can I say, I like my Friday the 13th to be mostly horror.
Then again, maybe it could have worked like gang busters. Done right, the movie’s a modern day Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein. But only with respect to both properties or the whole thing doesn’t work. Basically, Jason couldn’t be the butt of the joke.
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