Friday the 13th: Never Hike Alone director talks possible sequel

Horror fans are demanding a sequel to Vincente DiSanti’s Friday the 13th fan film Never Hike Alone, and DiSanti is weighing in on the possibility.

Are you a fan of the Friday the 13th series that has yet to watch Never Hike Alone? If you answered yes to that question, I need you to drop everything you’re doing to watch it now. I’ll even embed the entire fan film for you below so you don’t even need to go anywhere. Seriously, it’s cool. I’ll wait.

If you’re like me, you were ready for a follow-up the instant the credits hit the screen.  It’s not only better than the reboot Paramount would have given us this year, it’s one of the best ‘entries’ in the series — even if it’s unofficial. The only disappointing part about the film is that it had to end just when things were really getting interesting.

Of course, I’m not the only one begging for a sequel, and writer/director Vincente DiSanti has weighed in on the possibility during a Q&A in the Facebook group Club Voorhees. It seems that he has both good news and bad news about Never Hike Alone 2. In short, he really wants to do it, but it doesn’t seem likely to happen anytime soon.

From the chat:

"“The resources needed to complete a proper sequel would unfortunately exceed the budget range typically allowed for fan films. Although our first film cost 40K to produce, it was still 10K lower than the maximum allowable figure we researched of 50K. We don’t know the exact figure needed for the sequel just yet, but we do know it would far exceed that number.That said, the story for Never Hike Alone 2 is complete and we would very much like to tell it. Without giving too much away, the sequel would begin several hours prior to the final events of the first film. The story is told from the perspective of Tommy Jarvis leading up to his team’s discovery of Kyle and all the way to one hell of a final showdown with Jason Voorhees. Both Andrew and Thom have agreed to return to reprise their roles.”"

To clarify, DiSanti has a story ready to go, and the film’s stars have already agreed to return. But, legally, the budget needed for the sequel would surpass what is allowed for a fan film. In other words, DiSanti would need the permission of whomever owns the rights to the Friday the 13th films to be able to do his sequel. And with the ownership of those rights currently held up in a legal battle, it’s impossible to say how long it could take to sort these issues out.

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DiSanti adds that he “wouldn’t hesitate” to be a part of the franchise should he hypothetically get the call. Could the sequel to Never Hike Alone become an official part of the series and the 13th Friday movie? Let’s hope!