Even if there’s never a new Friday the 13th movie, director Jason Brooks — who stars as Jason and co-wrote this with Kim Terreson (who was also an assistant director and in charge of props) — have sidestepped the legal battles over who owns the franchise and have made a fan film that is honestly better than anything we’re going to get at this point.

This film and Friday the 13th Vengeance both are direct sequels to Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives and add Jason’s father Elias Voorhees (C.J. Graham, who was Jason in that film) to the saga, as he uses his son to attempt to destroy the Jarvis family. Interestingly enough, his henchman Walt is played by Jason Lives‘ director and writer Tom McLaughlin.

His goal is to kill Angelica (Kelly Tappan) and Ashley (Sanae Loutsis), the daughters of Tommy Jarvis (yes, played by Thom Matthews), to bring his dead wife Pamela back from the beyond. Jason, for his part, will just destroy everyone and anyone who is in his way. This movie does not skip the blood and gore at all and if anything pushes way past anything you’ve seen in a Friday the 13th film.

This is packed with plenty of things fans of the series will go crazy for, such as the sack mask from the second film and the look from Jason Lives. The funniest line is when Lauren (Tamara Glynn, who played Samantha Thomas in Halloween 5) claims she’s never heard of Jason because she grew up in Haddonfield. You’ll also see Diana “Darcy” Prince show up for a bit, as well as Nikki (Darcy DeMoss) make her return, plus roles for Paul T. Taylor (Pinhead from Hellraiser: Judgment), Rob Mello (Happy Death Day) and Richie Ramone (who played drums for The Ramones from 1983 to 1987 replacing Marky).

This is the most fun I’ve had watching a movie in some time. Don’t look at the term fan film and look down on it. Be happy that this crew put their time and energy into something that they love and know they basically can’t make money from. People have looked down on slashers and the Friday the 13th series for so long that it’s so awesome to find others that love it this much.

Want to learn more? Check out the official Facebook and YouTube pages for the movie.

This movie was part of the Another Hole in the Head film festival, which provides a unique vehicle for independent cinema. This year’s festival takes place from December 1st – December 18th, 2022. Screenings and performances will take place at the historic Roxie Cinema, 4 Star Theatre and Stage Werks in San Francisco, CA. It will also take place On Demand on Eventive and live on Zoom for those who can not attend the live screenings. You can learn more about how to attend or watch the festival live on their Eventlive site. You can also keep up with all of my AHITH film watches with this Letterboxd list.