Review #23: "The Man Behind the Mask" - Friday the 13th: The Obsession (Episode 1)

Source: Vimeo
Length: 10 minutes
Air date: October 31st, 2011

Friday the 13th: The Obsession was a fan-made web-series containing seven episodes that came out late 2011 and early 2012.

The first episode, "The Man Behind the Mask," sets up the series by introducing the main characters.

A lesbian couple are camping out at Crystal Lake, discussing relationship problems.

Amy feels her girlfriend is flirting with other people too liberally, while her girlfriend Nikki says she's naturally extroverted, and it just comes naturally to her. All of the sudden, Jason pops out from behind them, and goes after Nikki, eventually ripping her head off.

Ignoring Amy, Jason walks by her, and then Amy wakes up, revealing the opening to be a nightmare. Her walls, covered with Friday the 13th posters, reveal her to be a big fan of the franchise. Ever since her break-up, though, she's been having problems.

Todd, a friend of her's, tries to comfort her, but she feels this last breakup is worse than the others she's faced. Turning to another topic, she asks Todd if he'll be at the park later, to which he replies he can't go with her, but he'll show up later.

The episode ends with Amy telling Todd that he's lucky she's not his girlfriend, or she could kick his ass.


This first episode wasn't terrible - the camera work, for being a low quality series, isn't too shabby, and the story seems decent thus far. My main issue is the fact that the audio quality sometimes dips down quite low, and it's difficult to make out a few of the words said. Still, Amy's character seems interesting thus far, and I'm intrigued as to why they chose to make the main character a lesbian. It's a unique choice.

Todd seems like a cool guy, but assuming that this series becomes a slasher in nature, he may very well not be around too long. Seeing the head ripped off was pretty cool, also.

Decent opening to the series, and with only six remaining episodes, it should pick up quickly with the following episode, titled "Hard Rock Summer."

My rating: 7/10


IMDb page