Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (A Retrospective)
Release Date: March 22, 1985
Starring: John Shepard, Corey Feldman, Melanie Kinnaman, Shavar Ross, Marco St. John, Dick Wieand, Richard Young, Tiffany Helm, Juliette Cummins, Carol Locatell, Ron Sloan, Debi Sue Voorhees, and Tom Morga.
Directed by: Danny Steinmann
Synopsis:
As a child, Tommy Jarvis killed the masked psychopath Jason Voorhees. Plagued by the memories he finds it hard to shake the thought that maybe Jason is still out there when a string of grisly murders begin near the halfway house that he has just moved into.
The 1980’s was a phenomenal decade for the horror genre. Most of us, I would argue, find great joy and pleasure from watching most of the films that were produced during this time. I was born at the tail end of the 80’s but these were the movies which defined my taste in cinema, and to this day it is still my personal favorite decade of horror flicks. Out of all the franchises that were released and started during this decade, Friday the 13th, was one of the few which slashed its way into pop culture and entertained us with brutal and inventive death sequences while pissing off a lot of people at the same time.
Every major franchise has that one film though which tries something different and manages to inadvertently not only pisses off that group of already rallying parents, teachers, religious figures, etc. – but also the long standing fans who had grown attached to the franchise. The Friday franchise reached that point with part five – A New Beginning. In retrospect you can see that even though it was much maligned at first those “one films” have gone and to achieve some cult classic notoriety. For example: Halloween 3: Season of the Witch is now a fan favorite that genre fans rant and rave about, however, at the time of its original release fans were quick to throw a middle finger at the creators. A New Beginning follows suit because if taken out of their respective franchise, these are fun movies to throw on and just have a good time with some friends, or even on your own.
As a huge fan of this particular film and I was glad that they did something different with the franchise… however they could have made the killer someone we knew, like Tommy, or even bring in Jason’s father as the menace. Spoiler in case you haven’t seen this one – I love the idea of a father losing his mind and seeking revenge for the death of his son. If you have not seen Friday V then I highly recommend you go right now and seek this out. The Friday the 13th films have long been known to be inventive with their kills and this entry into the iconic series definitely delivers on the goods! In fact, two of my personal favorite kills in the franchise find their home here when a couple sneaks off into the woods to enjoy some “alone time.”
Director, Danny Steinmann, delivered a very well put together movie that serves as a “who done it” just like the original Friday movie did with plenty of red herrings to throw you on and off the trail of the killer. The story is good and the acting is a hell of a lot better than what some would lead you to think! What do you guys think though? Are there others out there who share my love for this wondrously sleazy good time? If only for the seemingly endless robot dance sequence?
Categorized:News Retrospectives
