If you’ve missed the unkillable lug known as Jason Voorhees, then you’re in luck: Sweet Revenge (2025), the official short film from the so-called “Jason Universe” and writer-director Mike P. Nelson (Wrong Turn), is just the fix you’re looking for.
It’s been 16 long years since Friday the 13th fans received an official Jason Voorhees film. Of course, the hockey mask-wearing slayer hasn’t exactly been silent on other fronts. There’s been everything else in between: fan-films, video games, many, many cancelled projects, and lawsuits tying the series up in copyright knots. But a film? The last was Marcus Nispel’s 2009 reboot, Friday the 13th which, as far as this horror fiend is concerned, utterly failed to distinguish itself in any meaningful way from the original.
After such a long time away, I admit that I was confused that the first order of business from Horror Inc., the company handling the Jason Universe label, was to partner up with a hard cider company known as Angry Orchard and produce a short film. Granted, Sweet Revenge is both a sneaky advertisement and a celebration of the franchise’s 45th anniversary, but still, a cider company? Capitalism never fails to make me shake my head.
Yet, as skeptical as I was, I was pleasantly surprised by the time I’d finished the 13-minute splatterfest. And also a little sad, because despite it being highly unlikely that this film will be considered “canonical” to the Jason Voorhees universe, the film introduces some pretty fun ideas and a final girl that, well, is very… unfinal. You’ll see what I mean.
[Ed. note: Spoilers ahead for Sweet Revenge]
The short begins with four friends in a car as they head to a campsite for a weekend away. Our main girl is Eve (Ally Ioannides), who is sharing sappy looks with her fiancé-to-be, Kyle (Toussaint Morrison). They’re joined by Kyle’s friend Troy (Tim James White) and Dana (Natassia Wakey). In a quick flashback, we learn that Eve has some serious confidence issues, wondering aloud to Dana why Kyle chose her out of everyone. Dana, with the cryptic undertone I’ve come to expect in this franchise, tells her that sometimes you find the one, and other times… “The one finds you.” Huh, I sure hope this one is a nice guy and not an undead maniac with a machete. That would suck.
The friends settle in at the campsite, but it isn’t long before things get weird. Eve, who has clearly never watched a horror film in her life, wanders off into the woods while something – or someone – watches her from afar. It’s a simple shot, but I’m impressed by how Nelson psyches up the viewer in such a short amount of time. Eve eventually comes across Harold (Chris Carlson), the owner of the campsite. He offers her an apple (real subtle, Angry Orchard) and explains that he and his wife love money so much that they bought this campsite to save it from being demolished, despite its history of bloody murder and torture. Eve’s face drops, which makes me believe this was not included in the brochure advertising the camp, but she shakes it off long enough to go tease Kyle that she’s about to go for a dip in the lake.
Eve’s dip ends with her grabbing a boat to take out into the lake. Friday the 13th fans will know that eh, going to the lake in this franchise… not a great idea. My stomach roiled with unease the moment Eve ventured out into the open, an unsettling chord of music akin to a knife dragged across steel. The music pauses, just for a moment.
Then, all hell breaks loose as we finally get a glimpse of the man, the myth, the legend: Jason Voorhees. Much akin to him jumping out from the lake in the original Friday the 13th film, Jason yoinks Eve into the watery depths.
For his first cinematic appearance in so long, it’s a tad underwhelming, but what happens next makes up for it. We last see Eve in the daytime, but soon after she’s pulled into what you think is certain doom, she pops back up from the lake and it’s night. Already, I’m asking questions like ‘how the hell could she have survived that long?’ But there’s no time to unpack this – we are officially in the part of the film where Sweet Revenge reminds us quite clearly that this is a love letter to Friday the 13th. Much like original final girl Alice Hardy, Eve stumbles across various dead bodies that Jason, like a particularly brutal cat, has left lying around. One victim is Harold, who is trussed up like a pig with an apple in his mouth and a machete in his eye. Serves him right for peeping at Eve earlier on. I bet he doesn’t even have a wife.
Eve grabs the machete and moves on to the cabin she’s staying at, only to discover that Dana and Kyle are making out on the sofa. She’s just been drowned by a psycho in a mask and now her fiancé is cheating on her with her best friend? This is possibly the worst night of Eve’s life. Thankfully, Jason is here to help and his arrival this time is much more explosive, with his signature “ki ki ki ma ma ma” theme interwoven throughout. He tosses Eve through the window and proceeds to go to town on all her friends, including her cheating dirtbag boyfriend, Kyle.
In many ways, slasher films like Friday the 13th have really sold the surface-level narrative of “sex is bad,” with most Jason’s victims being horny teenagers. This time around, the angle seems to be slightly more nuanced in the context that I was suddenly fine with Kyle and Dana being skewered, but hey, why fix what ain’t broke?
Jason’s kills here are gobsmackingly good and, just for the record, will make it so I never look at a boat propeller the same way ever again. For something that is a glorified advertisement, I can’t lie: Nelson captures the undeniable strength of the presence of Jason Voorhees (played beautifully by actor Schuyler White) and the unwilling meatbags that have the misfortune to stumble upon him.
Dana and Eve manage to escape the bloodbath in the car, with a sign naming the campsite as ‘Camp Crystal Lake’ in their rear mirror. Both of them are sporting a gnarly injury but, otherwise alive. Things take a turn for the worse, however, and the car ends up crashed with Eve getting out of the car and coming across Jason on the road. In spite of this, Eve doesn’t look even a little scared and instead smiles. Why? Previously, I had thought it was lights out for our final girl when Jason pinned her to the floor with a machete to the heart, but not only did she yank it out of her chest, but she looks completely fine? Considering that she was also out in the lake for hours earlier… I can’t help but wonder if Eve somehow ended up being transformed by the lake and, like Jason, she’s already dead.
The short ends on that speculative, interesting note that left me with questions that I’m hesitant will ever be answered. Will Eve return in the upcoming movie? What could it mean for Jason to have someone like him, who is also eager to slice and dice those who have hurt and shamed her? What does it mean for Friday the 13th as a whole? Does it even matter, because this is just spon con?
Here’s the only thing that’s certain: Sweet Revenge was a pleasant surprise and one that has me, despite being the most skeptical woman alive, hopeful for whatever comes next for the Friday the 13th franchise.
Sweet Revenge is available to watch now on YouTube.
