Never Hike Alone

While the official Friday the 13th movie set for release today was cancelled this is a worthy replacement.

This is the best looking Friday the 13th fan film I've ever seen with some simply stunning outdoor cinematography and extremely well- made sets for a tiny budget fan film.

Having the movie be about one person trying to survive against Jason gives the movie a different feel to the original movies. The one on one survival aspect is what makes the movie worth watching as it isn't just a cheaply made Friday the 13th rip-off like most other Friday fan films it's something entirely different; there's more suspense and a focus on survival instead of sex and partying, a welcome change.

The special effects are great; there's a scene where Jason bleeds through the holes in his mask that made me jump forward in my seat, I can't believe they never did that in any of the 11 Friday movies with the mask.

The few kills were fairly lacklustre, save for one kill that takes place in a dream, but this isn't a body count film and I didn't expect there to be any kills at all. The action is really focused on the fight scenes with Jason which were done better than most of the official movies.

A few things that irked me: Jason's mask was totally white, no red triangles, but I assume this was done for legal reasons as I've seen the mask look different elsewhere before (eg. GTA 5 White hockey mask was updated to no longer look like Jason's mask). Jason's footsteps are very loud to the point where it gets annoying, plus a few other sound effects were pretty annoying; why would an axe make a *shiiinnng* sound when being pulled out of dirt?

Overall a fantastic movie that I would rank higher than some of the official Friday the 13th movies, plus it has a wonderful surprise for Friday fans at the end of the movie that leaves the story open for a potential sequel. This film is a must-see for any Friday the 13th fan.

Wow! I have seen a few "fan films" and they can often be fun but amateurish. This flick manages to set the bar very high for any fan films that may follow. If you're a fan of the franchise then you will love this well-made addition. It might not be perfect but it has more heart than a lot of horror movies coming out of Hollywood and deserves accolades. For Jason's sake....give this man a feature film!!

(This film was featured at the Third Annual Sin City Horror Fest.)

Say the phrase "fan film", and usually it's enough to inspire cringing and lots of eye-rolling responses, especially when they're as awful as they can possibly get. But good news! NEVER HIKE ALONE isn't one of them!

A pleasant diversion from the recent legal SNAFUS entangling the FRIDAY franchise, director Di Santi's "love letter to Jason Voorhees" stars DREW LEIGHTY as social media sensation "Kyle McLeod", whose specialty is taking on the Great Outdoors, and photographing his adventures for his fans in real time. His latest hike takes him into uncharted territory, where he decides to cut his traveling time in half, through an area clearly marked with a "NO TRESSPASSING" sign. (There's Red Flag Numero UNO.) It gets really dicey, once he realizes that the actual place he's ventured into is...the spot where a certain camp was once located, and has been attached to some pretty gruesomely legendary stories...stories which he soon discovers were all too true.

With a minimal cast (including a franchise icon whom fans will love seeing), Di Santi manages to keep the suspense taut and gets maximum scares out of the scenario that don't feel cheap or unearned. He also does triple duty here, not just by writing and directing, but also by putting his own spin on Jason, in a way that other "Jason" actors (especially Kane Hodder) would gladly stamp with their 'Seal Of Approval'. And the ending implies a possible sequel...one I personally wouldn't mind seeing one little bit. New Line could do a lot worse than to give Vincente a shot at doing whatever the next installment in the franchise is...he's certainly proven himself with a film that excels beyond what normally passes for a "fan film".

A hiker takes his camcorder to a nature reserve & embarks on a long hike but soon stumbles across Camp Crystal Lake from Friday the 13th. It may be all dilapidated but he's not alone.... This is a fan movie which could well spell trouble but in this case we get some rather excellent production values. There's much impressive camera work, making great use of the beautiful countryside, it's well acted, packs some suspense and the make -up is of a high quality. It even stars Thom Matthews reprising his role as Tommy Jarvis. The only downside for me was that for most of the film there are only two characters, the hiker and Jason, and even at only 54 minutes long it did feel like an over stretched chase sequence. But that's just a minor quibble. As a fan I'd love to see some new Friday movies but until then this will do nicely. Well done!

Not that you'd know by the cover but Never Hike Alone is a Friday 13th fan film, in fact it's hard to believe since the whole thing looks so darn professional.

It tells the story of a guy making a video for his social media site, he's travelling through the forest and comes across the remnants of an all too familiar camp. Before he knows it he's being pursued by everyones favorite hockey mask wearing psychopath.

Now again let's be clear this doesn't look like a fan film and if you didn't know better could almost be confused with being an actual entry into the franchise.

Standing at around the 50 minute mark with fantastic production quality and including the return of Tommy Jarvis (Played by franchise alumni Thom Mathews) this is very impressive.

As much as I like Jason I've tended to find the Friday 13th series quite underwhelming. For the most part I've never thought they were bad, just not as monumental as most believe themselves. This however is very respectable and I'd love to see the creators get their hands on funds to make a feature movie (Even if it is about Jason).

The cast do a solid job, it's well scored and I'd consider it essential viewing for fans of the franchise.

The Good:

Looks and sounds considerably too good to be a "Fan film"

The Bad:

Jason was far too small

Weak ending

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Recording yourself breaking the law and then uploading it onto your social media page for the world to see makes perfect sense

We need more chokeslams through tables in the movies