Kicking off the Jason Universe with a 13-minute short film/commercial for Angry Orchard cider was a bit of a choice. Horror Inc. and Mike Nelson joined forces to give us the first official Friday the 13th/Jason Voorhees anything on film since the 2009 remake. How does it fare? Well, it’s a bit complicated. Considering the weight that the project is under for expectations from fans, it’s a bit mixed. The movie cuts out all the “normal” stuff you’d see like character development, nuance, and plot, and focuses mostly on what we know from the series. This time around, there’s a group of young adults taking a trip to Crystal Lake for a weekend getaway. One girl, Eve, is out wandering after they arrive and meets the owner of the property. He explains about the unfortunate happenings in the past, and that’s really all you need to know.

Mike Nelson directed and wrote the short, and it shows that he knows a thing or two about Friday the 13th. There are POV shots, walking shots, and even nice imagery of the serene lake. The performances here are also fine; they do the job of conveying that they’re in a horror short. The most powerful and best is that of Jason, though. It’s nice to see the big guy back on the screen. It’s been since 2009 and the hockey mask is a sight for sore eyes.

Speaking of that hockey mask, much was made about how it looked when they showed it off in concept art and at San Diego Comic-Con. Well, here, it looks fine. It’s really hard to even notice that it’s a new mask design.

The Kills Are The Best Part, By Far

We’re here to see Jason mess people up. Does he do that?

Yes. Yes, he does! And in glorious fashion, too. Once Jason shows up, the whole think picks up the pace quite a bit. Thankfully, besides some crunchy apples and bottles, this isn’t too much of a commercial for Angry Orchard. The film acts like it’s the third act of a Friday the 13th film and the bodies stack up. The only thing that really befuddled me was the ending, which leaves off on some sort of cliffhanger with Eve and Jason. She was grabbed into the lake earlier, but we don’t really know where it goes from here. So that’s for fans to debate.

The only other thing is that they needed to get someone who is HUGE to play Jason. He looks fine here, but doesn’t look like the hulking monster like Kane Hodder or Derek Mears played in the later stages of the series. That’s the number one thing they need to knock out of the park and fans will be happy. If Jason looks cool and like they want to, the pieces will fall into place.

However, the short film is a return of Jason Voorhees to our screens, so I can’t be too terrible mad that it’s not perfect. As they showed at the panel, Horror Inc. does actually care about Jason and they care what fans think. We’ll have to see how Jason goes in the future for a new movie and a video game, but for now, this is what we have to work with.

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