Never Hike In the Snow - Friday the 13th Fan Film review

 I have got to say that this one caught me off guard. I was expecting the same old fan film bullshit - Jason tied to his machete, the same hocus-pocus "appear here and appear there", "Jason does not do this or that" that Kane Hodder FORCED into the franchise.

Don't Hike In the Snow is a sort of sequel-follow up to the YouTube hit fan film "Don't Hike Alone". And a very well done follow-up, I might day. Far better than NHA.

The opening scene is brilliantly shot. I have to admit that I rolled my eyes when I saw Jason and his trusty bullshit machete. But, FUCKING A, Jason used a bow & arrow and axe in the first kill. The axe is actually the weapon that he has used most throughout the entire franchise. 

The story takes ex-deputy sheriff Rick Cologne (Vinny Guastaferro) and puts him as Sheriff of the territory and main game-caller for the investigation of the deaths in the area. With a history with Jason Voorhees he follows in the same "Jason doesn't exist" bullshit as his former Sheriff Rick Garris.

The film also uses the character of Tommy Jarvis, reprised by Thom Mathews (Return of the Living Dead 1,2 and Friday the 13th Part VI) as Tommy Jarvis and does a freaking great job. Not missing a beat from his role as Tommy from 1986. 

The story line is solid, and the acting is production-company-quality. Running at 32 minutes, its quote short but entertaining as hell. A must see for any franchise fans. I have always said that the future of the franchise lies in these fan films, and this film is evident. Far better than Platinum Dunes, New Line and Paramount could ever create this far in the game.

And you guys know - this film has to be good to pull me out of 5+ years of hibernation.

I miss all of you guys.

Ernerst Goes To Camp Crystal Lake

I love all of these fan creations for the franchise that seem to never stop - even after three decades. Needless to say, the franchise is as popular as it ever was, still going strong. The only problem is that we can't seem to get a new movie!

Well, here's something that may hold you over created by Candy Claw! Check out the fan-edit trailer here, too.

From a Fan Film I shot in 2005-2008

Jenn Wierzba trying to reason with Jason Voorhees played by "Big Red" Nick Lawrence in the fan film The Woods.

Jason in Da Burbs (2010 Fan Film)

I got into my old broken hard drive and salvaged this fan film that I shot in 2010. it is not the "final" edit, where there was a different kill scene. Maybe if I can get into my other hard drive I can post that one. I deleted all of my raw footage to make room for MP3s, so this is it.

The clothes hanging was an intentional Part III nod.

Fan Film Review: Friday the 13th: Extraction

Friday the 13th: Extraction is a neat little fan film released in (what I can tell) 2012 directed by Samuel Farmer of Chance In Hell Productions . The plot centers around a private military defense company who sends a party to Crystal Lake to capture Jason Voorhees in what they believe is to finally put a stop to the killing.

Long lost trailer to the ill-fated fan film: The Woods

I posted some screen shots, BTS videos and some roughly edited footage about 6-8 months ago of this fan film project a handful of friends and I were a part of. When I posted it I searched endlessly for this trailer that we made for it, but never found it. So, while I was cleaning out my external hard drive look at what I found! I added our silly "Shitron Video" logo at the beginning as well as a red band R rating disclaimer, but here it is.

Friday The 13th: Revenge

So many people have asked for this, and here it is. It's not really available anywhere else and was only available for a certain time. Director Josh Brown is in the middle or re-editing it, but I am not sure if/when that will be available.

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 Return Of Fan Film Friday: Jason Vs. Leatherface

Jason vs Leatherface

Okay, I really gotta hand it to the film makers with this one- the editing was pretty good and the movie was all-around put together well. However, right off the bat a handful of things stood out to me like a sore thumb; why is The New Blood Jason carrying Freddy's head? Did Jason go on the Jared diet-- he's presumably lost about 55 pounds and Jason has a really nice house and he shuts the door after entering. Sadly, I was not down with the Jason costume as it looked really cheap and chinsey.

I guess it was cool how he c incorporated film footage of Mrs Voorhees and Leatherface III into the movie, it was sort of clever and a nice change of other fan films who used a faux Mrs Voorhees. I dunno though, I just really dislike these crossover stories. They always play out to be more cheesy/silly than interesting. Once it got to the actual acting, the sound was just horrible. I am sure it was due to MySpace's compression., but it made it that much harder to watch.

The Storm fan film is released!

FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE STORM from Timberwolf Entertainment on Vimeo.

The Storm fan film review!

Generally these short fan films offer up a certain formula; introduce Jason, introduce victims, kill them. It's pretty rare that we have character development or even a viable plot other than putting the victims in situations where they can die fast and with the least amount of special effects.

The Storm is a simple film, however it is a well-done simple film. The plot introduces two females enjoying a midday swim. One of the girls notices that her friend just upped and left and heads back home in frustration where she is then joined by her sister and an annoying guy-friend as well as her stern cop father. Her father leaves her alone and when a thunderstorm hits the lights go out and Jason strikes killing them all- some in very familiar fashion- one by one.

The great thing about this fan film is that it was forced to follow that formula by default-- being a short, but don't let that deter you. The Storm did a lot of things that other short fan films did not, or simply could not. First off, the thing that sticks out the most is the beautiful HD cinematography. Right off the bat you know that this film was made by professionals and not just fans with a DV camera. Steady shots, close ups with an actual depth of field that we generally get with 35mm cameras. All of that aside, this movie had me constantly saying 'whoa'! The director Joe Patnaud really rolled the dice with this short film and we see that within the first minute we see a flash of T&A.

Fan film Friday: The Rebirth

Jason: The Rebirth from Mike Boas on Vimeo.

Back in around 2003 Mike Boas released "The Rebirth" on the internet and became one of the more interesting fan films out there. It tells the animated tale of Jason after he witnesses Alice beheading his mother connecting Parts I and II together. Now, I don't subscribe to the this story at all, as I see the end of Part I as a dream. At any rate, it's very nicely done and very nicely animated. It won several awards from 2003 - 2005 and rightfully so. Give it a watch and see for yourself.

Fan Film Friday: Michael vs. Jason, Showdown Of The Killers

This being one of the oldest fan films out there (1994, I believe), and one of the better, I won'
t really rip into it much. It's basically about a bunch of friends hanging out and drinking one night when two iconic killers come to disrupt their good time. It's directed by Steven Pershing and by Steel Spirit Pictures and has a very professional look to it. The editing and acting were all beyond typical fan film quality and is a very entertaining 7 minutes.

Return Of The Ghostbusters.

Go here to see this extraordinary fan film-- quite possibly the best fan film ever. This is Braxton Film's take on a new generation of Ghostbusters following the happenings in Freddy Vs. The Ghostbusters and I guarantee if you are a Ghosbusters fan this will blow you away. It has some of the best CG I have ever seen in an indie film, let alone a fan film.

Fan Film Friday: The Forest

After watching this piece of shit, I realized that I watched something very similar before. Shockingly this movie and the one it was similar to was made by the same person-- interesting. I guess remaking your own fan film over and over again is the cool thing to do? Not.

Instead of Jason being buried in leaves in the original, he walks up on the unknowing kid and plays around with him and finally impales him. That's it; that's the movie.

Fan Film Friday: The Best Damn Sequel Period.

For the people who are not familiar with Braxtan Films, here's a rundown: they have made the best fan films from day one and continue to this day. Some of their more popular fan films are Friday The 13th: Again!, Freddy Vs The Ghostbusters and Return Of The Ghostbusters. This film-- The Best Damn Sequel Period is certainly not their best, but for first time viewers it really serves a lot of amusement. It's really hard to even comment negatively or positively on it because it is what it is... just a short, funny fan film.

Fan Film Friday: The Legend Of The Woods

Okay now, you know me-- I tell you like it is when it comes to fan films. This review won't be any different and rest assured I will spare no tears on this pile of dung. Yeah, yeah, I know-- this movie was made by kids, but House Of The Dead was made by a very experienced director... and some people will understand where I am going with this.

This movie starts off with some chode walking backwards in the woods and what do ya know... he walks into Jason... well what supposed to be Jason. The Jason we have in this opus of crap is wearing a red flannel jacket with what seems to be a Styrofoam plate fashioned into a hockey mask. But, let's not forget the awesome chain chilling on Jason's shoulders-- you know, so we know that this is the same Jason from Friday The 13th Part 7. So, he dies and then we cut to some kid and an ex-gangster from the gheto black kid reminiscing about how the town used to be cool... or something.

Fan Film Friday: The Woods

The next shoot was another full day where we shot some key scenes with Jenn and her death, as well as some other scenes with Shawn. All went off without a hitch-- Jenn was a great actor! This really got me excited for things to come. So, we took a few weeks off and I shot a short with both Jenn and Amber called "Help Me" and I was very surprised how great of an actor both Jenn and Amber were.

Fan Film Friday: Jason In Da Burbz

Okay, so I won't write a quasi-review for this since I helped make it. I will sort of throw some insight regarding the making of the film. My friend Nick Lawrence is moving to the South and he wanted to film one more short before he left. So, we basically decided to do a sill (and stupid) little Friday The 13th fan film. The movie was improvised, in fact we had no clue what it was going to be about until we was almost finished filming it. I have about 10 minutes 
of footage that I cut out of the film because the movie just dragged on and on. So, we were going to film my death in the movie the next day and we completely forgot about it. So, instead of keeping me alive I just spliced in a few seconds of my dying in another Friday The 13th fan film called "The Woods" that I was in in 2004/2005. I was about 50 pounds heavier, but really, a few people told me that they did not notice until I let them know so I am sort of content with it.

The Storm final poster & news!

I have been plugging this fan film relentlessly, I know, but I loved Cold Heart Of Crystal Lake so much and really am excited for this film. I guess myself being credited as "producer" is also sort of cool in a geeky way, but be sure to check this film out when it is released. It was shot in HD and from the screen caps I posted last week, the movie looks beautiful!

From Timberwolf Productions Myspace:

While we have had a rough version of this poster up before, this is the final full res version of the "Friday The 13th: The Storm" teaser poster from director Joe Patnaud's latest short.

The production, which was shot over the weekend of Friday February 13th is currently in post production and will debut online in May or June.

Meanwhile Tim Whitfield has a few meetings set up for next week to decide the next step on Timberwolf's 10th anniversary. After the wave of DVD and online releases between now and this summer of all our older and current productions, Tim and crew will prepare for the next step.

We are keeping a lid on most of it for now, but get really for new bigger productions, some cool 80s style horror films, and even some online comedy! It is our goal to get back to producing content more often like we did back in New England, and we will even be hooking back up with some of our production partners and talent from back east, as well as bringing in new friends as we have projects produced in California, Arizona, and New England.

Timberwolf turns 10! It's gonna be one hell of a year!