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
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