Friday the 13th Part 13

Director - Todd Jason Cook (Evil Night, Night of the Clown)

Release Date - 1991

Genre - Horror

Format - DVD (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     The last few months I've added several fan films to my collection.  A couple were for Halloween while several were Friday the 13th fan films.  Before I dive into the more bigger budgeted fan films I decided to check out two from S.O.V. director Todd Jason Cook who brought us Zombified, Death Metal Zombies, Evil Night, Dummy, and Night of the Clowns.  I knew these would be far from perfect but I was more curious than not to see what these movies would be like.  

     This film, just like Cook's previous fan film, follows a group of teens who just happens to find themselves face to face with the iconic slasher Jason. 

     As I said in the previous review, I didn't go into this one expecting something spectacular or amazing.  I know Cook was pretty much a kid when he made these films and it was his love of slasher movies that made him try his hand at directing.  With that being said, both of these are rough and almost impossible to finish.  The acting in this one is similar to some of the no-budget backyard horror flicks I've reviewed in the past.  The film's cast consists of teenagers with no experience but they are passionate about the film and try their hardest.  I've seen movies with decent budgets that hired professionals that had a lot lazier acting than this one.  The story for this one is almost the same as the previous fan film.  We follow a group of teenagers as they are stalked and murdered by Jason.  Simple but if you take the story only footage and stretch it out you would once again get a film running around 30 to 40 minutes.  Cook really loved his b-roll and metal when he was making this.  Finally, the kills are exactly as you would expect.  We have some fake blood with no practical effects.  They are amusing in an unintentional way.  Overall, Friday the 13th Part 13 is another look at the humble beginnings of Todd Jason Cook who would go on to make several S.O.V. horror classics that has a decent following.  The film is not perfect but is a bit of a horror history lesson for genre fans.