Never Hike Alone

With time to kill and trying to find something to watch on YouTube, I stumbled upon Never Hike Alone quite by accident, but being a "fan film," my expectations were very low. I was however very wrong.

Most fan films I've seen are obviously made with a lot of passion, but with varying degrees of quality. This was one of the best efforts I've seen.

I'm not sure of the films budget, but whatever it was, they certainly put it to good use. It was well shot and edited, the special effects were good and the fight scenes/kill scenes were very well done and the acting (so often the downfall of low budget or fan films) was surprisingly good.

The only minor criticism, I feel the film could have been tighter in terms of pacing, but that aside, its a very entertaining film and well worth a watch. I would go so far as to say that I've seen a lot worse films that have had a theatrical release! Goes to show, I should never pre-judge a "fan film."

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

I saw one bad review and figured that being an indie film maybe this was an honest review and all the other reviews were possibly friends of the filmmakers or cast mates trying to get some positive ratings on IMDB. I'm glad that I decided to take a chance and give this nice little gem a look for myself. I have no idea what that reviewer's problem was, but this was actually a very entertaining fan film. The build up to the confrontation between the main character and Jason was well done. And the fight scenes were actually quite entertaining. I would really like to see what these people are able to accomplish in the future if someone will give them a decent budget and a good script. Well done and keep up the good work.

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".