Jason Rising (2021) Review

Directed By: James Sweet

Synopsis: After three female fugitives escape from the Wessex County Corrections Farm, A local Sheriff and his deputy team up with two US Marshal’s to track them down, following them into the hallowed grounds of Camp Crystal Lake years after it has been condemned only to find out they are the ones being hunted by the masked killer Jason Voorhees.

Review: Friday The 13th lives on with fan films, these aren’t just two dudes grabbing a cam and donning a pound store costume for giggles, no sir. These movies get crowd-funded and receive a sizeable budget and we have a micro-budget movie that out does most horror movies that get physical releases. These people are die hard fans who know the characters through and through, so when it comes to telling their own unique story, they know what interpretation of Jason they want to use and put their own unique spin on it.

Vincente DiSanti the mastermind behind the ‘Never Hike’ Friday the 13th fan films, produces and has a writing credit(along with director James Sweet) for Jason Rising. It’s almost like a seal of approval as Vincente has garnered the fans trust through his ‘Never Hike’ movies, which bring a scary Jason story, the two movies we have so far feature amazing character stories and we also have fan favourite Tommy Jarvis back in the fold (played Thom Mathews – reprising his role from Jason Lives).

Jason Rising is directed and written by James Sweet. This version of Jason is centred around Jasons Final Chapter appearance and the opening picks up right where The Final Chapter left off and has the sheriff and two deputies burying Jason in a crate wrapped in chains.

What starts out as ‘human Jason’ quickly turns to zombie Jason when he gets his welcomed resurrection, which hosts a very well put together headless/ghost/ living corpse of Mrs Voorhees. James Sweet has created his own unique version of Jason and this is James’s incarnation of Jason which can be added to the ‘JasonVerse’ (as Vincente recently described it).

Jason Rising features quite a few easter eggs throughout that I think fans will love spotting, on multiple views you are bound to spot something you missed. Jason Rising has some great special effects and brings back the good old days of Jason slashing up a body count with some very gory kills with practical effects.

Overall Jason Rising is a great addition to the ever growing ‘JasonVerse’ and hopefully it spawns a couple of more stories, the movie features two cameos that are sure to have fans cheering and wanting to see more of, as the two cameos are fan favourite characters.

At a run time of 1 hour Jason Rising delivers everything and more you could hope for, filled with gory kills, a punch the air cameo at the end and a Jason that doesn’t half scare the shit out of you.