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Today, instead of a movie, I thought I’d take a look at a vignette. Some might call it a short film, others might call it a commercial, but Angry Orchard and Horror Inc. call it a vignette. That’s right, today’s review is Sweet Revenge.
Vignette of the Day
Sweet Revenge was released yesterday on the Jason Universe YouTube channel. If you’re unaware, Sweet Revenge is a “vignette” produced in collaboration between Horror Inc. and Angry Orchard Hard Cider. I’ve written about this before, so if you want more background on this short film and Jason Universe as a whole, take a look at that article. I was skeptical about what Sweet Revenge might be, and now that I’ve seen it, I can say this: it’s not great, and I’m still not sold on Jason Universe (or Angry Orchard).
Go ahead and watch Sweet Revenge now if you haven’t yet, because I’m going to spoil the story in the paragraphs below.
If you didn’t watch the video above, here’s the gist of it. Four friends arrive at a cabin on Crystal Lake. Eve (Ally Ioannides) is engaged to Kyle (Toussaint Morrison). Eve goes out onto the lake where she is pulled into the water by Jason (Schuyler White). Some time later, Eve emerges from the lake and finds the mutilated bodies of various people. She also finds Tyler kissing Dana (Natassia Wakey). Jason attacks, but Eve can’t be killed because she is already dead, having drowned in the lake and revived. The short ends with Eve killing Dana, and then facing off with Jason.
For a short based on Friday the 13th, the story is fine. You have young people at a cabin, a betrayal of a relationship, and some murder. There’s one fun and gory death scene with Jason using a motorboat propeller as a weapon, but most of the murder happens off-screen (which isn’t necessarily unusual). The short doesn’t really capture the lewdness of the Friday the 13th franchise, but I honestly didn’t expect it to, considering it’s being released on YouTube and has a very obvious sponsor.
Speaking of the sponsor, the product placement in the first few minutes of Sweet Revenge had me worried. It is very upfront, with Eve even holding a bottle of Angry Orchard towards the camera at one point. Thankfully the commercial ends around the five minute mark, even though a box of Angry Orchard is seen clearly in the cabin later on. Plus, and maybe I’m being nitpicky, but I consider all the apples as product placement as well. Sure, there’s an element of “forbidden fruit” with Eve biting into an apple, but it’s still there to support the sponsors who sell hard cider.
Moving on though, the supernatural stuff with Eve reminds me of Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood. Not in the sense of any specific story connections, but just because both that and Sweet Revenge feature a final girl with special powers. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I like The New Blood okay, but it’s far from my favorite in the franchise.
In Sweet Revenge, the parallels between Eve and Jason are obvious (drowning, revival, revenge). But for a re-introduction of Jason Voorhees, I think something more “back to basics” might have been better. Something with a survivor fighting and outsmarting Jason despite her fear, rather than a final girl who becomes a second unkillable murderer. Remind people of what they’ve been missing and do it well. Sweet Revenge feels like a deep sequel trying too hard to reinvent the formula of the franchise. Like The New Blood.
As for Jason, I do prefer it when Jason is bigger. More physically imposing. This new Jason isn’t terrible, but I prefer pretty much all of the earlier ones (except the bloated one from Jason Goes to Hell). The mask looks awful in the illustrations previously released by Jason Universe, but on screen it looks okay I suppose. I mean, we really don’t get a great look at it in various situations because when Jason finally shows up, there are only a few shots when it isn’t so dark it’s hard to make out any details. This is when I complain about modern lighting in movies and shows. I don’t care if it’s a night shot outside. Light your movie. If you want to emulate Friday the 13th, they were generally well lit even when outside at night with no visible light sources. Anyway. Jason has looked better.
And that’s all I really have. Sweet Revenge is okay, but the biggest issue I had with it before I saw it is still the issue I have now. Direct sponsorship of a film with overt and repeated product placement makes me not want to watch. I understand product placement in general, but be more subtle about it. Eve conspicuously holding up a bottle of Angry Orchard so we can see the label feels like Will Smith getting Converse All Stars and showing them off in I, Robot (2004). Pointless and obvious. At least I didn’t have to pay to watch Sweet Revenge.
My lesser issues with Sweet Revenge mostly amount to it feeling like a fan-made homage rather than a new, official mini-chapter in the franchise (and yes, some Friday the 13th fan films are good). Removing the mystery of Crystal Lake and explicitly showing that it brings people back from the dead was a bad decision. It’s like fan head-canon that probably shouldn’t be written into the franchise. As an experiment in restarting the franchise, Sweet Revenge is forgettable. As a short film, it’s bland except for the one good kill. As a sponsored ad for Angry Orchard, I don’t like it at all.
Related Vignette Recommendation
If you want to watch an advertisement, but a good one, check out La Masacre (The Massacre, 2022). It’s about the same length as Sweet Revenge, but it’s much, much better. It was produced by KFC in Spain for the promotion of a genuinely awful-looking food gimmick called Pollizza. A Pollizza was fried chicken topped with pizza sauce, cheese, and pepperoni. So, pizza with the crust replaced by chicken. It’s a dumb idea, but the short film is surprisingly good.
Birthdays
Candace Hilligoss was born on August 14th, 1935. She doesn’t have many acting roles in her filmography, but she is a horror icon for starring as Mary Henry in Carnival of Souls (1962). In horror she also appeared in a supporting role in The Curse of the Living Corpse (1964). Candace published a memoir in 2016 titled The Odyssey and The Idiocy, Marriage to an Actor, A Memoir.
Tony Moran was also born on August 14th, in 1957. Most people know that Nick Castle played Michael Myers in the original Halloween, but Tony Moran played Michael in the scene where he is unmasked right before Dr. Loomis shoots him. Tony has also appeared in low-budget horror movies over the past decade and a half, including roles in Death House (2017), Haunting in New England (2016), Clown Motel (2019), and more.
More birthdays on August 14th:
- Fran Bennett (1937) – Dr. Heffner in New Nightmare (1994)
- Halle Berry (1966) – Never Let Go (2024), Gothika (2003)
- David Call (1982) – Depraved (2019), Insidious: The Red Door (2023)
- Lamorne Morris (1983) – Night Shift (2023), April Fools (2007)
- Mila Kunis (1983) – American Psycho II (2002), Black Swan (2010)
Events on This Day
The Monster Squad was released in US theaters on August 14th, 1987. The beloved cult classic was inspired by the monsters made famous on film by Universal from the 1930s to the 1950s. However, since Monster Squad was a Warner Bros. production, the designs of the monsters had to be sufficiently different from their iconic Universal designs. The Monster Squad is streaming on Prime Video.
Also released on August 14th, in 1981, was Wes Craven’s Deadly Blessing. The movie is about a pregnant woman, Martha, who lives with her husband Jim next to an ultra-religious community called the Hittites. Jim is a former Hittite himself, something which doesn’t sit well with the leaders of the community. A mysterious killer lurks in the shadows, exacerbating the already tense situation between Martha and the Hittites. Deadly Blessing contains multiple hallmarks of Wes Craven’s films, including vivid nightmares, a dark look at religion, and even a scene that is extremely similar to the bathtub scene in A Nightmare on Elm Street. Deadly Blessing is streaming on Tubi.
Thank you for reading! What did you think of Sweet Revenge? Am I being to critical? Too easy on it?
