NEVER HIKE IN THE SNOW

  2020/31m

Director/Writer: Vincente DiSanti / Cast: Thom Mathews, Vinny Guastaferro, Bryan Forrest, Courtlan Gordon, Anna Campbell, Vincent DiSanti.

Body Count: 2

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Released on the same day as the all-encompassing Friday the 13th Blu Ray box set, this prequel to the 2017 54-minute fan film that out fanned and out filmed all of its competitors serves as a sort of ‘expansion pack’ to build on its new little Jason-verse.

A teen photographer flees through the snow-carpeted forest floor in the vicinity of Camp Crystal Lake but is caught before he can reach his car by an unwelcoming Jason, who’s probably just trying to kick back and stay warm in his cabin. (J uses a bow and arrow for what feels like the first time?)

Local Sheriff Rick Cologne – Part VI alumni Vincent Guastaferro, one of the few second-tier characters to survive originally – instructs a young deputy to salt over the bloodstains while he goes to talk to the mom of the missing teen, discovering he’d purposefully gone looking for the old camp.

A spanner is thrown into Cologne’s approach in the form of Tommy Jarvis, who is intent on finishing off Jason all over again. Things culminate with the young deputy happening on the camp and seeing a light in a window… Don’t do it, dude.

Because it doesn’t have the contained story Never Hike Alone afforded itself, Snow feels a tad superfluous by comparison, but with the knowledge the producers plan on further films, it’s a necessary puzzle piece. In its favour, it’s as marvellously made as its predecessor, with majestic aerial shots bringing us in, has great acting from everybody involved and even a glimpse of Mrs Voorhees.

Blurbs-of-interest: Campbell and DiSanti were in fellow fan film Jason Rising in 2021.