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This article contains spoilers for Jason Universe: Sweet Revenge.

Fellow horror fan, I can't tell you how delighted I am to share that I've just watched an all-new, official piece of Friday the 13th media that I simply loved. I'm even more excited that that short film, entitled Sweet Revenge, is available for free on YouTube. Yes, you can watch an official Jason Voorhees film free of charge, a fact that feels like it has to come with a catch...

And, well, it does. Or rather, an egregious amount of product placement. Check out Sweet Revenge in this link - we can't post it here because of age restrictions - brought to you (quite forcefully) by Angry Orchard Hard Cider.

Pretty great, right? The twist with who you think is going to end up as the final girl being an undead killer herself? The implication that Camp Crystal Lake gives back its dead other than Jason? The boat rudder kill?? All impeccable choices that give me a genuine sense of hope that there may be new breath coming into this franchise. And yet, I simply have to address the giant, apple-shaped elephant in the room.

Starting out watching this, I was sure that that first shot of a case of Angry Orchard in the background would be the last we see of Friday the 13th's most recent brand partnership. And goddamn, was I wrong. Our protagonist, wink-at-camerally named Eve, is almost never without a bottle of Angry Orchard in her hand for the first couple minutes of the short. Then, when we get to Camp Crystal Lake, it turns out that it's now the site of an actual orchard, replete with a creepy old groundskeeper who will literally die by apple-stuffing later in the short.

But to cap it all off, I simply have to admire the fact that Angry Orchard had the balls to remind the viewer of their product during an actual Jason Voorhees kill. For the first time in Friday the 13th history, likely in horror history in general, a popular slasher came at a victim with an apple corer. No, not an apple peeler or even a handle-bearing apple corer, both of which have distinctly knife-like properties. I'm talking about one of these guys:

Again, I just want to reiterate that I absolutely loved this short. Yes, it was capitalistic to a certifiably hilarious level, but isn't part of Jason Voorhees's charm that he's over the top? Part of the reason you go see these movies is to find out what new, weird way Jason's going to discover to hack up a bunch of teens; can you blame Angry Orchard for wanting to get a slice of the pie?

Oh god, now even I am doing it.

All this to say - I'm going to be keeping an eye on Sweet Revenge's director, Mike P. Nelson. The guy has proved his chops as a Friday the 13th creator and the franchise would be remiss not to give him another shot. One that, hopefully, doesn't have to go through the same amount of product placement. 

In the immortal words of Danny Elfman, "Life's no fun without a good scare." Join Popverse's weekly explorations of the best opening moments of horror cinema in The Coldest Open, and then check out:

• The best horror movies of all time, according to horror aficionado Greg Silber
• The most underrated horror movies from the past couple years
• All the new and upcoming horror movies for 2025 and beyond

And much gore. Er, more. Much more.