NEVER HIKE ALONE (2017)

NEVER HIKE ALONE (2017)

A FRIDAY THE 13TH FAN FILM

In the absence of new FRIDAY THE 13TH films, some dedicated fans have turned to making their own and it looks like we are going to have a slew of them on the way. This one however I believe is the only one that features an actor from the original series. 

If I was going to try and cram this movie into the original series timeline, I think we are looking at some time after Jason is revived by the electrical cord in FRIDAY THE 13th PART VIII : JASON TAKES MANHATTAN. In my head, I kind of like to think of everything that happens on the “2nd boat” in that movie as part of Rennie’s delusions, and not as actual timeline events. Just because when you watch that damn ending, none of it makes any sense. If you look at it from that perspective everything in this flows pretty nicely given that the Jason in this movie can toss full grown men around like rag dolls. That is a power he didn’t really have until the beginning of JASON LIVES : FRIDAY THE 13th PART VI. We do know this happens at least at some point after PART VI because Tommy Jarvis (played by Thom Mathews) is in it as a much older adult. I will say that even after all this thinking about it, the movie does not say exactly where it would have been in the timeline. That is likely on purpose as to not draw itself even closer to any possible legal issues with Paramount. 

In this one Kyle McLeod (played by Drew Leighty) is hiking alone in the freakin forest. That is like one of the dumber things you can do on a normal day, but it’s even dumber if you are even remotely close to Camp Crystal Lake, which of course he is. After sifting through some of what seems to be the living quarters of someone in the old camp site, Kyle suddenly finds himself face to face with the most iconic slasher of all time. 

Most of this movie is just Jason and Kyle. We don’t’ get a slew of drunken sex crazed teenagers, but the setting and creepiness factor is amazing. Director Vincente DiSanti (who also plays Jason Voorhees) pulls off a cinematic triumph on a budget under $20,000. I can see why fans of the original series hail this fan film as one of the best ever made. The Jason in this isn’t some scrawny dude, he’s got about the perfect stature and mannerisms of the original. I also appreciated the tons of detail the producers put into this thing.

Where this film lacks for me a bit is in the absence of 80’s soundtrack or score. Even getting the rights to something Alice Cooper did would have been a nice touch. I think for me that would have brought this a bit more nostalgia even if you were saying it happened in modern day. The score we do get is great, so this isn’t a huge knock on the film. 

One thing I didn’t like about his movie was the “half of a found footage” talking into a camera situation. I can’t stand most films done like this. I would rather they had given us a few other hikers the main character runs into or something. Because of that, a lot of this film drags and we learn almost nothing about the main character’s background. 

This movie is actually looking to turn in to a series, so I look forward to seeing what they do next. Overall this effort gets a 5 out of 7 from me. It ups the scares, but missed on a few critical horror film elements that wouldn’t have broken the budget.

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF WOMP STOMP FILMS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.  

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