Pictures of the week: Friday The 13th, by Brandon Gray

It’s a nightmarish but unmistakeably hammed-up scene: a peroxide blonde flees for her life from a masked killer in a deserted wood. Nearby, a man lies dead, murdered with a knife dripping in red paint. →
Photograph: Brandon Gray

The image is taken from a short series of photographs that tells the story of a couple whose idyllic trip to a national park doesn’t end well. But this romantic bloodbath isn’t just a fun recreation of a horror movie; it’s a set of commemorative engagement photos with a twist.→
Photograph: Brandon Gray

Engagement pictures are a distinct photographic genre and, like their cousin the wedding announcement, peculiarly American. A quick search reveals couples entwined in cornfields, splashing through surf, or strolling through cobbled streets. →
Photograph: Brandon Gray

As with much personal photography – from family group shots to baby announcements – creativity and original thought tend to take a back seat. This Toronto couple, Josh Morden and Van (Vanessa) Lawson, decided to subvert the tradition. →
Photograph: Brandon Gray

Both fans of horror movies, they enlisted photographer Brandon Gray to create a photo story that starts with a passionate picnic and ends with a horrifying appearance by the masked character Jason Voorhees from the film Friday The 13th.→
Photograph: Brandon Gray

All four – including the killer himself – have been best friends since their early teens. The shoot took place in a Toronto park last month, and the couple – with Gray as best man – are getting married next September.→
Photograph: Brandon Gray

'Engagement photos are very popular over here,' Gray says, 'but they’re almost all the same. The couple is out on a nature walk, holding hands, kissing, hiking.'→
Photograph: Brandon Gray

'It’s a nice way to freeze that moment in your life, but they are pretty cheesy. So we came up with something cool, interesting, funny and sad.'
Photograph: Brandon Gray

I suspect the wedding won’t be all that traditional, either.→
Photograph: Brandon Gray

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Photograph: Brandon Gray