It wasn’t that long ago that rumors began to surface about the next Friday the 13th flick being a Found Footage film. Of course,  the vast majority of the internet threw a fit (like it does), and the idea was quickly walked back by studio execs. But I’ve often wondered what such a drastic spin on the familiar format would look like. We’ve been watching Jason stalk and kill teenagers in mostly the same ways for decades–would a little originality kill us?

NEVER HIKE ALONE is a short film (22 min) currently in the funding stages, and yes, it’s a bit of a slippery slope to seek funding to shoot a film around a property which you do not own–I get that. But the filmmakers are adamant that this is a work of Fan Fiction, and that no actual profit will be made. In fact, they’re looking to do a bit of good in the process. Here’s what the team has to say on the matter:

Being that Never Hike Alone is a product of Fan Fiction, we cannot make or use this project to create any sort of revenue for profit and that’s just fine with us. This project has always been about our passion for Friday the 13th, but we also thought we could find a way to do some added good. At the completion of production, Womp Stomp Films will donate all leftover funding to the Penny Pines Reforestation Program. 

That’s swell and everything, but how good can a work of “fan fiction” really be? Well, according to the teaser trailer that the team put together–really fucking good. NEVER HIKE ALONE is the shot in the arm that the F13 franchise so desperately needs, and if we have to go through independent channels to get that creativity, then so be it.

Check out the teaser trailer below, then head over to the official Kickstarter page to donate if this is something that interests you. Sign me the fuck up.

Never Hike Alone is a 22-minute short film that follows the story of KYLE MCLEOD (Andrew Leighty), an avid backcountry hiker who, while on a solo backpacking trip, discovers the long lost remains of CAMP CRYSTAL LAKE. Ignoring the old campfire ghost stories from his childhood, Kyle’s curious nature draws him in to see what is left of the camp since it was closed after the infamous 1980 Friday the 13th murders.

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