Friday the 13th: A New Beginning

If you though Part IV was the end, think again. Part V is all you love about this franchise, but more. More action. More sex. More laughs. More horror.

Give this movie a break. It is a little lame but at least they tried. They should have just kept Jason in the films and not tried to trick their target audience. However, at least there was a bit of a mystery to it. Except for the fact that it is at a weird halfway house it is an overall predictable but good horror movie.

Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning is often labelled the black sheep of the Friday the 13th series and is an installment that most people seem to ignore due to the elitist attitude that simply because our hockey mask wearing hero, Jason Voorhees is not present in this film and in his place is merely just an impostor. However, with an attitude like this, ignoring this film if you're a fan of the earlier films is really just causing you to miss out on a nice piece of horror entertainment. It may not be quite as good as the earlier films and had its fair share of flaws, but it certainly is a great piece of fun worth checking out. A New Beginning opens up with a dream sequence where Tommy Jarvis, the only recurring character in the franchise besides Jason, has a dream where Jason rises from the grave and is about to kill him. After he wakes up we learn that he is being transported to a mental home around Camp Crystal Lake. After one patient murders another over something completely ridiculous, a series of murders begin happening across the area at the hands of a killer who is using Jason's old M.O. Indeed, this is not the greatest horror movie ever made and far from the best Friday the 13th film, but what A New Beginning does that what all the following ones do not is it retains the style of filmmaking that made the previous films so likable. The style is hard to describe, but comparing Friday the 13th Part IV and Part VI you can see the level of change. Part V stylistically remained the most true to its predecessors than any Friday the 13th film that followed it, but sadly it just doesn't do it quite as well as the previous horror classics. One thing I appreciate is the return of the character, Tommy Jarvis. While the actor who portrayed him in this, John Shepherd doesn't hold a candle to Corey Feldman or Thom Mathews from Part VI, I did enjoy his performance mainly due to the shy personality he portrayed. As far as the other characters go, most of them are a bore and you just want to see the fake Jason kill them. Especially the hillbilly characters who were simply just irritating and besides the scene where Tommy kicks the ass of one of them they should have been cut from the film. I also really like the character who appeared to be some wannabe Michael Jackson. His appearance alone made the character worth it. A particular scene I really like in the film is the infamous scene in which Vic kills Joey over the issue of a chocolate bar and chopping wood. It's over the top and ridiculous, but in classic Friday the 13th fashion it is just awesome! Besides this scene, the kills are great and some are even quite imaginative, there's a solid body count and there is plenty of nudity (in fact, the nudity is better than the previous films). Other negatives are rooted in the fact that the film isn't particularly scary at all. Even though I've never found Friday the 13th films scary, the last 4 (especially the first) all had their tense moments. There is none of that here and sometimes it feels as though nothing of importance or interest is going on. I also want to add that the ending is just really bad, but it doesn't ruin the overall experience you had for the last 80 minutes. Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning is not an outstanding horror film and isn't equal to its predecessors, but it is a nice piece of fun that fans can enjoy as long as they can get over the fact that Jason is not the killer and the ending is quite bad. It's a worthwhile horror movie and worth seeing. 7/10

Years after Tommy Jarvis (John Sheperd) killed Jason Voorhees for good, he has been sent to mental facility to one other home where he is now placed in a halfway house for troubled teens as he tries to get rid of the painful memories of Jason. A fat patient named Joey (Dominick Brasca) who annoys the other patients and one of them named Vic (Mark Venturni) hacks him up then gets arrested. However things may look safe at the haven for Tommy as he befriends a young boy named Reggie (Shevar Ross) who is the grandson of one of the workers. But unfortunately a killer is on the loose in the town but is it really Jason back from the dead or someone in his footsteps? Considered by fans as the worst of the Paramount Friday The 13th movies, this one isn't that bad as they said it was. This movie was originally considered a new beginning after Jason died in the last movie and the makers wanted to make the series into something different with a new killer in each installment which is kind of similar to "Halloween III: Season of the Witch" in concept of a different horror movie in each installment. Fans of Jason rejected this idea and wanted the goalie back and they got their wish with the next installment. This part of the series co-stars a cameo by Corey Feldman and even has Miguel Nuenz Jr. of "Return of the Living Dead" fame which should surprise fans of the horror genre. There's a lot of graphic killings in this one as it has a body count of 20 dead people with some good kills of skull-crushings, implements, stabbings and that kind of thing. A couple of sexy naked chicks including a topless blonde waitress who is just gorgeous as hell and of course some twists with turns. Overall it's not that bad.

That wily rascal Jason Voorhees is at it again....or is he? Yes, this is the installment in the interminable "Friday the 13th" series that thought it would be a good idea to do without its only reason for existence...the hockey-masked Jason. Though you hardly notice the loss, since you don't KNOW it's not Jason until the film's final moments, and the copycat killer dresses like Jason anyway, so what's the difference? If you've seen one axe-wielding psycho in a hockey mask, you've seen them all. Actually, I kind of like this entry. It provides the best nudity of the series....no fewer than three gratuitous boob shots, and nice * they are. And it's funny, sometimes intentionally so, as when the hillbilly mom calls her dufus son a *, sometimes unintentionally, as when the Michael Jackson look alike sings a duet with his girlfriend through an outhouse wall while he's on the crapper. And the filmmakers outdo themselves with the body count this time around. By the end of the movie, there's no longer time to show them being killed off. Characters you've completely forgotten about just pop up as dead bodies. But what do you expect with all that plot to get through? Compared to the other films in the series, this is practically "War and Peace," what with the murder mystery story and the Tommy Jarvis plot line, which attempts to add a sense of continuity to the middle batch of movies (o.k. so Part 6 picks up Tommy's storyline in a completely different place and with a different actor, but for a series like this that's the best you can hope for in the way of consistency). Grade: C

OK lets get it all out that annoys people the most about this movie. Jason Voorhees is not the killer. In the film Tommy Jarvis (from the last film) is sent to a new place to get back to his own self like before the events of the Final Chapter. As he stays he and keeps going into fits of rage and having hallucinations of Jason, as this goes on real murders are happening all over the area by some unknown killer. I don't want to ruin it for people who haven't seen it but honestly behind Part 2 and 4 this is one of my favorite squeals. Many people bash this movie because Jason is not the killer which i think is ridiculous. People honestly don't think, in the original, Pamela Voorhees was the killer not Jason, Originally it was to be an only film, NO Jason, NO nothing. But many people liked it and wanted more. after Jason's death in Final chapter, they wanted to show he was really dead, by bringing in a new killer. I thought that was smart then keep bringing Jason back again. My main point is, Give it a watch! its extremely entertaining, there is a high body count and amazing score. Yes it has its week moments but overall its a lot of fun to watch. Any true Friday the 13th fan must watch!

This takes place about 10 years after "The Final (right) Chapter" (which places it in the mid 1990s!). Tommy Jarvis (John Shepherd) is basically mentally disturbed and is being sent to an institution called Pinehurst. As soon as he arrives there people start getting murdered by Jason--but Jason was cremated after he was killed. Is it Tommy finally being driven crazy or is it somebody else? This actually differs from the other sequels--it actually has a story! Also it has an astronomical body count--20! Most of them were cut down by the MPAA to get an R rating however. For those curious--14 men are killed and 6 women. This has all the same problems as earlier movies and then some--there are continuity errors left and right; some truly terrible acting (Melanie Kinnaman as Pam was the worst); bad dialogue; Jason being able to seemingly teleport to magically appear wherever he wants; gratuitous female nudity; two extremely annoying hillbillies and characters so stupid you want them dead! But it has some good points--this is the first Friday the 13th to have black characters; it's never boring; there are very few character scenes (considering how bad they were in the past this is a very good thing) and there is actually some good acting from Shavar Ross, Jerry Pavlon and John Shepherd. The sequence where Shepherd single-handedly knocks the hillbilly cold is a highlight. A lot of fans hate this--it's dismissed as "the film without Jason" and considered (along with part 3) as the worst of the series. I disagree. It's no masterpiece by any means but I was always entertained. I give it a 7.

The man behind the mask this time ain't our favorite facially-deformed mass murderer, but an impostor. For that reason, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning is often labeled the black sheep of the series. As a fan of the Friday films, it took me a long time to get over Jason's absence (while he does appear in a dream sequence, does that really count?). I mean, you wouldn't make a Rocky film without the Italian Stallion. But once I put that disappointment aside and judged this work on its own merits, I was pleasantly surprised. Of course A New Beginning is far from perfect. Most of the characters are one-dimensional and unappealing, and the thrills are few and far between. When people complain about the senselessness of gory movies, this is the sort of effort they're talking about. Yet for all its faults, A New Beginning boasts a fairly interesting (by genre standards) storyline, as the maniac slashes his way through a facility for troubled youth. Among the tenants is Tommy Jarvis, still plagued by nightmares of hacking up Jason years earlier. There are even a couple of unintentional laughs amid the corny dialog, and the exciting barn finale (yes, they've done a barn finale before, but bear with us) is a highlight that holds up well. The biggest failure here is the attempt at a Scooby Dooish mystery element. The writers perhaps envisioned the audience gasping in the final frames when Roy the ambulance driver's face is revealed beneath the goalie mask. But did anyone actually remember this guy? I had no idea who I was looking at until the dialog revealed his identity. Roy just wasn't prominent enough for us to remember. The producers' desire to go in a different, Jason-less direction showed they didn't really understand their audience. These fans ask for something a bit different each time, but they certainly don't want the wheel reinvented (as the failure of Jason Goes to Hell again illustrated eight years later). More than twenty years after its release, A New Beginning remains the most controversial entry in the series. Many still feel betrayed by the impostor gimmick, but if they can set that aside and try to enjoy this like any other low budget horror flick, they too will be pleasantly surprised.

Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning. This sequel is actually one of the best in my opinion, except for the lousy ending. Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning does everything correctly, through the first three quarters of the movie. We start off with the plot of Tommy Jarvis being sent to a halfway house for troubled teens, and there he is plagued by visions of Jason Voorhees. So we now have a fresh twist that the movie isn't to be set about cabins in the woods again, which is a breath of fresh air. Then, we have the absolutely fantastic array of characters, all of which are rememberal and great to watch. Ethel and Junior provide comical relief as the hillbilly mother and son, we feel sympathy for Jake, Violet and Robin, who are all great people to watch interact. The characters are all interesting, and all have their own personal traits which makes them work, instead of them all just wanting to party, drink, smoke and have sex, so this is also a step in a new direction. Out of all of the Friday the 13th instalments, Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning probably has the most memorable characters, and some fantastic scenes with them, for example when Anita and Demon sing whilst he is on the toilet, or when Violet is dancing the robot. Friday the 13th does have some very memorable and inventive death scenes as well, although plot holes and continuity issues do fall through think and fast. There is some nudity as well, mainly from Debbie Sue Voorhees, which is very enjoyable. The script can get very lame, for instance the conversations between Billy and Lana. However the twist ending is that Jason Voorhees wasn't behind these murders, but it was instead a copycat who was killing off the teens after his estranged son was hacked up at that very same halfway house. This is quite a let down, but seriously, don't let this put you completely off. Jason takes a vacation, but this filler still delivers the goods.

"Friday the 13th:A New Beginning" isn't as bad as those above me keep saying it is.I'm not entirely sure why so many people hate this entry-OK so Jason wasn't there,but there's plenty of violence to satisfy b-horror movie fans and nobody acts any worse than before.Of course this one isn't as good as the previous ones,mainly because it lacks the first four films mean spirited edge,but it is still a pretty enjoyable slasher flick.There's also no real blood or gore as most of the killings appear to take place simply off-camera,but I don't mind that.If I want to be sickened by extreme gore I'll watch again "Guinea Pig:Flowers of Flesh and Blood" instead of this,but if I want to see an enjoyable slasher with plenty of nudity I'll choose this one.The plot is simple:the traumatized Tommy Jarvis(John Shepherd),who killed Jason in the previous entry arrives at the Pinehurst home for disturbed teens run by Matt(Richard Young)and Pam(Melanie Kinnaman),soon befriending a good-natured young boy named Reggie(Shavar Ross),whose grandfather works as the institution's cook.Not long after his arrival,Tommy sees an angry patient named Vic(Mark Venturini)hack a fat teen(Dominick Brascia,the same guy who directed forgotten 80's slasher "Evil Laugh")to death with an axe.Over twenty more murders follow,but who is the killer? All in all I enjoyed this one,so you should check it out for yourself.