By no means a perfect film-far from it, in fact. This might be the worst performance I've specifically seen Sanae Loutsis give, which I'm willing to cut her some slack for simply based on her age, it just stood out in contrast with many of the others in the film who give solid performances. (Not a dig at Loutsis specifically, just that this movie wasn't her best.) The effects are shockingly good for the budget the film had, the camerawork is solid for the most part, and the kills were brutal. The biggest issue was definitely the script, both in story and some dialogue. The film often feels like it's struggling to tell a full story. The pacing is wildly inconsistent, ramping up and dying back down at several points. It introduces a lot of characters who, while are nowhere near survivor material, at least seem far more important than they actually end up being, and in some cases, get killed off only to be replaced by a character with the exact same role, making it feel much more like padding than anything else. Characters are introduced late in the film with no purpose other than upping the body count, which feels slightly cheap, and some of them suffer the aforementioned issue of feeling like they're going to be at least somewhat relevant only to be killed off five minutes later max. The dialogue often feels jarring and peculiar given the serious presentation of the film, and many of the character choices both in and out of universe feel lackluster. Ashley waiting in the cabin for several minutes while her father is struggling, doing nothing, is a prime example of this. As well, certain things feel wildly inconsistent within the story, such as Angelica seemingly dying but then being revealed to be alive, despite the fact that what happened to her not only *would* have killed someone else in the film, but actually *did* kill someone else within the film.
However, this movie should still be praised for being a labor of love. Sub-par acting and bad writing are par for the course with the Friday the 13th movies, and here it was done on a fraction of the budget, which definitely helps its case. It has a lot of fun in its runtime, which is more than can be said for some other films in the series, too. It definitely feels like a wrapping up point, I frankly don't see how a third one could be made, but given the status of "professional" releases to streaming services now, the fact that it was able to tell at least a semi-full story is still a godsend and makes a strong case for indie films in general. Above all that, making a movie is an incredibly difficult process that can be thankless and unrewarding at its worst, so the fact that this could be made at all is something truly magnificent. After all, even a bad story is better than one never told. In the words of Sam Raimi, the worst thing a filmmaker can do is make a boring picture. This definitely wasn't boring, so with all those merits, it's still a worthwhile watch for any fans.
However, this movie should still be praised for being a labor of love. Sub-par acting and bad writing are par for the course with the Friday the 13th movies, and here it was done on a fraction of the budget, which definitely helps its case. It has a lot of fun in its runtime, which is more than can be said for some other films in the series, too. It definitely feels like a wrapping up point, I frankly don't see how a third one could be made, but given the status of "professional" releases to streaming services now, the fact that it was able to tell at least a semi-full story is still a godsend and makes a strong case for indie films in general. Above all that, making a movie is an incredibly difficult process that can be thankless and unrewarding at its worst, so the fact that this could be made at all is something truly magnificent. After all, even a bad story is better than one never told. In the words of Sam Raimi, the worst thing a filmmaker can do is make a boring picture. This definitely wasn't boring, so with all those merits, it's still a worthwhile watch for any fans.