Fan film Friday: Mother's Day

Way back in the day (about 2 years ago) reviews for this film flooded the Friday The 13th and fan film world alike. I can't lie- I was one of the dorks anxiously awaiting this film from day one being a huge fan of Eric Morse's four tie in books.

This film, I have to say is film is one of the most professionally made Friday The 13th fan films (with Legends, The Storm, Revenge, etc) and one of the very few full length fan film ventures out there. That's not where the greatness ends- this film may have a feel of a Sub Rosa Studios slasher film, but the shots, acting and directing are all superb.




The story follows the book give or take some things-- a hunter digs up Jason's mask and gets possessed by his ghost after he dons it. The movie then quickly establishes a group of latter teens heading out to the camp area for a weekend. Of course, in typical Friday The 13th form they meet an older guy who warns them of the "death curse" of the area and they laugh and continue on.

For those who have not read the Eric Morse book Mother's Day, it's sort of a quasi- A New Beginning tale (well, all of the books are really) if an impostor (so to speak) who dons Jason's mask and proceeds to do his killing. Of course, after we meet the teens and establish that it's Mother's Day we get them all together (which takes about 20 minutes). On their way to the camp we get the back story of the Friday The 13th franchise with some humor (and of course some doubts). This is where the movie really starts to pick up and feel like a Friday The 13th (fan) film. Unfortunatley we also get to see that some of the characters are poorly (satirically) acted. Don't worry, it doesn't effect the film negatively.

I have to say that the camp shots are very Friday The 13th (as in the 1980 film) and from this point on the movie has a really drab feel/look which really puts you in the film. Sadly, later on we get a nice campfire-- a better place where the story of Jason would have fit in my opinion. Most of this movie, or at least the movie's action takes place at night. For the most part the film is lit well and looks really good. Some shots suffer from the darkness, but again, for a fan film it's pretty right on.

One if the best things about this film, and fan films, is that since they are non profit they can use pretty much any song, score or soundtrack. This film is full of great songs that again makes the movie seem very professional and legit. Add that with the great editing and sound (the sound ending is virtually flawless) with professional dolly shots, real stunts and a constant flow in the cinematography and you have one great fan film.

Lastly, for you gore fans-- the gore is also well done. I would not go as far as saying that the movie is bloody as hell, but the kills are very convincing and the "Jason" guy is very well played and very Jason-esque. It may as well been Jason doing the killing because it's right on. Check this out, I think you fan film and Friday fans will love it.

Check out the Myspace page for the film and here's a high resolution YouTube video.