NEWS: From Obsession To Reality In New Web Series

13 Years ago a fan-based movie project entitled Friday The 13th: The Obsession promised something different than the usual Jason-In-The-Woods backyard fare, with a unique high-concept storyline mixing grand Voorhees action with intimate character-based storytelling. Sadly it would remain lost and unseen. However its legacy was secured through the fan community’s continued word-of-mouth for over a decade now.

In the interim, obsessed Tim Whitfield has gone pro with directing, and now armed with a new bag of tricks, has finally decided to resurrect Friday The 13th: The Obsession as a premium web-series. His successful LA outfit Timberwolf West is seeking to raise $500 funding for assorted filming essentials and has opened the door to fans to help reach this goal. Incremental perks for contributors involve on-screen credits and a DVD of the series (this is a non-profit endeavor and will never be sold afterward). Learn more here.

Fridaythe13thfilms.com as provided $50 funding toward it, gaining an Associate Producer credit in return – and encourages all dedicated Friday The 13th fans to do the same if able.

Press Release

In the summer 1998 Tim Whitfield was at a campground in Northern Rhode Island with a VHS camcorder in hand shooting a scene from his incredibly ambitious (for the time) fan film about a fan’s obsession with Jason Voorhees and “Friday The 13th” – little did he know, 13 years and over 25 original productions later, people would still be waiting to see the never released amateur fan video shot with a bunch of friends from his restaurant job.

“This thing haunts me.” Tim reveals, “No matter what news I post, how many DVDs I sell or how many downloads one of my short films get… eventually someone says.. ‘yea that’s cool.. but what about Obsession.’ Seriously.. it’s crazy.” Tim isn’t exaggerating either, in fact 3 years ago a fan posted the original ‘Obsession’ trailers, something which Tim himself had not seen in probably 7 or 8 years. “It was incredible.. I don’t know where he got them, probably saved from my old website from the 90s.. but I don’t have a frame of edited footage from ‘Obsession’ anymore… and original raw footage tapes were left in RI when I moved to California 4 years ago.” Even still, there it was on You Tube, the trailers to Tim’s original Friday the 13th fan film, saved and posted by a long time fan.

Since the 90′s Tim and Timberwolf with the help of Joe Patnaud and Mike Defrancesco made 12 or 13 original short films and even 2 Friday The 13th fan films which Joe Patnaud directed, but even still fans wanted to see ‘Obsession’. “Joe’s two fans films were so much better than Obsession on a technical level” Tim admits, “Cold Heart of Crystal Lake shot in 2024 still looks good today, and The Storm, made under Joe’s Midnight Hill banner on DVCPROHD rivals even some of the actual Friday the 13th films.. but for some reason Obsession was still asked about.” In 2024 Tim did try to remake “Obsession” without Jason, replaced with a non-copyrighted villain, but Tim admits it just didn’t work. “There were a lot of problems with that production… it was miscast, under produced and just rushed all around. But, ultimately none of that mattered, because without Jason it just lacked the strength and passion of the original story. The locations and the characters just require Jason.. period.”

After producing two features and a web series in California, Tim began to realize Obsession could work as a web series. “It was two web series that gave me the idea actually” Tim explains, “First it was the interest and the success of releasing a old original 2024 feature ‘Shadows Fall’ as web series, then it was the (overall) ease and success shooting a new web series ‘Diary of A Black Widow’ with Y-Not Productions that made me realize it could be done for a reasonable budget.” Tim knew they could not do a feature,  because of the time and upfront money such a project requires with no way to earn it back since it was a fan film. But as a web series it could be done 15 or so minutes at a time, for little cost without the cast and crew missing work and paid projects.

The next step was getting fan and support from other groups. Matthew Cichella from Never Submit Entertainment, who has helped out as producer on several other Timberwolf projects stepped up to co-produce the series. “I was planning on doing a Friday fan film myself sometime this year, but I would just as rather see “Obsession” see the light of day and be a huge part of it.” Matt reveals.

The next step for Obsession is cast and crew. Tim would very much like to have Joe Patnaud direct 2 of the episodes. “Joe is a great director and shooter, and I have come to trust him very much directing me as Jason. ” Tim admits, ” I want to play Jason again in this like in Cold Heart and The Storm, and Joe is my first choice for directing the two ‘Jason’ filled episodes.” For those that don’t know, Obsession is about a obsessed fan of the Friday the 13th series, taking on Jason’s persona, so the actual ‘Jason Voorhees’ is only in 2 or 3 major sequences, and in scattered visions throughout…  with the ‘pseudo’ Jason taking on the killings in much of the rest of it.

As for the rest of the cast Tim has already talked to Marie Lynn and Rydell Danzie, and is looking at other resumes. So if you are interested, please let him know. This is a great project for exposure as The Storm and Cold Heart have a combined 60,000 views.

“This will be it for Timberwolf and Jason… I am very happy with our new original stuff, and Timberwolf is really getting ready to blast into the next level, but I still need to close this door.” Tim admits, “This has been eating at me for a long, long time… it’s time to be Jason to rest, but not without a GREAT fight.”

Disclaimer

Friday the 13th, Jason Voorhees and Crystal Lake are copyright and property of New Line Cinema Entertainment. Timberwolf West Entertainment and Never Submit Entertainment are making a web series loosely based off the Jason Voorhees character, but this is a fan film. No profit will be made. This film will not be sold!

Links

Friday The 13th: The Obsession on Facebook
Friday The 13th: The Obsession Funding Campaign
Timberwolf West/Midnight Hill Blog