These days it seems like Kickstarter was made for horror movie fans.
On October 26 a new film project was started at the popular crowdfunding site and, in just over a week, the new fan film, Friday the 13th: Vengeance, became a reality. With 17 days left to go, the project has pulled in nearly double the $25k they were looking for; currently sitting at $42,262. Now that would buy a pretty fancy hockey mask!
What is Friday the 13th: Vengeance, you ask?
According to the Kickstarter project page, Vengeance is an unofficial “sequel” of sorts that takes place roughly 30 years after the events of Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI (1986). In fact, the actor behind the hockey mask in that film, C.J. Graham, will be starring in Vengeance as none other than Elias Voorhees. Yep, you guessed it. Daddy’s home.
I’ll let the filmmakers take it from here:
The story begins with Elias Voorhees, Jason’s father, returning to Crystal Lake and a string of grisly murders that soon follows his arrival. After hearing the news of the most recent killings Tommy Jarvis then goes missing, which leaves it up to his daughter Angelica Jarvis to rise to the challenge of not only finding her father, but also finding a way to destroy his old nemesis Jason Voorhees in the process. Armed with knowledge never previously known about Jason, Angelica may prove to be his greatest threat yet, which culminates in an epic showdown of Jarvis vs. Voorhees.
And that’s not all!
Supposedly, Steve Dash, who also spent some time behind the hockey mask as Jason’s stunt double in Friday the 13th Part II (1981), will have a role of some kind. His IMDB listing for Vengeance currently says “To Be Announced” so, at this point, your guess is as good as mine.
But wait, there’s more!
Tom McLoughlin, the writer/director of Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI, is also listed on the Kickstarter project page. He’ll be filling the role of “film consultant” and who better to consult on your sequel than the guy who wrote the original!
From the looks of things, Brownspace Films, the production company behind Friday the 13th: Vengeance had originally been working on a 28 minute short film called Mythos: A Friday the 13th Fan Film. When they found out how desperate F13 fans were to fill the Jason-sized holes in their souls, cast and crew went back to the drawing board.
After some rewriting and reshooting, they set their sights on a feature-length movie and renamed it Friday the 13th: Vengeance.
And, since Vengeance is a fan film, we’ll all get to watch it for free when the masterpiece is done!
Horror fans, man. You gotta love ’em!
[Note: Since it’s far too early for Friday the 13th: Vengeance to have a trailer. I’m including the original trailer for Mythos: A Friday the 13th Fan Film. Just to give you all a taste.]
One more fun bit of trivia… The eagle-eyed among you probably noticed the credit at the beginning of the trailer that said, “F13 Consultation by Womp Stomp Films”. That, of course, would be none other than the amazing creators behind the Friday the 13th short film tour-de-force, Never Hike Alone (2017).
With such talented and knowledgeable consultants, cast, and crew, Friday the 13th: Vengeance is definitely one to keep an eye on.