Director – Jason Pitts (Alone, Masquerade)
Starring – Alivea Disney (Evil Deeds, Mayberry Man), Will Reed (Horror Movies and Scary Stories), and CJ Bernard (Dark Night, Chemicals Between Us)
Release Date – 2021
Rating – 2/5
I never knew what fan films were until I started writing reviews for Horror Society. A few Halloween fans films were first brought to my attention before I was introduced to an Ash vs Marvel Zombies fan short. since then I’ve reviewed at least a dozen Friday the 13th fan films with at least a handful more on my radar.
A month or two ago I was introduced to Voorhees: Night of the Beast when actress Jessa Flux announced that she was in the film. I was curious about it especially when I learned that it was a Jason vs bigfoot film. I searched through YouTube when I found the film was available there. After watching a few Unearthed and Synapse Films I decided it was time to see if this fan film was worth a damn or not.
**Spoiler alert** The film blends Part VI and Jason Goes to Hell when one of the campers from Jason Lives that survived by hiding under the bed is now a grown adult. Suffering from night terrors, his friends decide to take him back to Crystal Lake to help him overcome his fears. That same night a group of bigfoot hunters, accompanied by Creighton Duke, find more than they were looking for when they find the famous cryptid and the local legend, Jason Voorhees. **Spoiler Alert**
Voorhees: Night of the Beast has what would be on of the wildest stories in fan film history. However, the wild and absurd storyline couldn’t really save this one from the horrible dialogue, chaotic story telling, and horrible fight scene. I wanted to love it but I just couldn’t.
The acting in this one is very inconsistent. Some of the cast has a lot of experience and handles themselves very well on camera while others struggled to keep their performance grounded. Their emotions were not genuine and some of the scenes did suffer because of it. The awkward dialogue makes it even more worse when you put it all together.
The story for this one has so much potential but the scenes and dialogue makes me think this was a dream project by a teenager that was never updated when the film was being made years later. I loved the idea of Jason fighting with a bigfoot put trying to cram these little nods from other installments in the franchise makes it feel a little thrown together. Honestly, I wish the film just followed the bigfoot hunters as they wondered too close to Crystal Lake without the twenty-somethings trying to party in a cabin while being inconsiderate to their friend.
Finally, the film has some bloody moments and Jason looks good for a fan film. However, the bigfoot is pretty laughable which is something that is pretty common in most sasquatch films. The kills are pretty standard stuff that doesn’t stick with you. The effects a minimal but just enough to make the scene work. Overall, Night of the Beast has some cool moments but the film as a whole was not for me. It’s one I can’t recommend so skip it unless you are a fan of Jessa Flux like I am.
