User Reviews

I love this film, and, as far as I'm concerned, it's the best of the series. "Friday the 13th: A New Beginning" is vastly underrated by all the crybabies out there. "Oh, boo hoo, where's Jason?!" He's not here, so get the hell over it already. Too many sequels that try to shake things up a little get shat all over for daring to not be a clone of what's come before. It's sad.

I love the halfway house setting. It's a unique idea that naturally lends itself to some offbeat slasher fodder. I also find the area in which the film was shot surprisingly atmospheric. Along with the killer being unseen for the first time since the original, it helps to make this a creepier entry in franchise. This is probably the most bizarre film in the series, too, which only makes it more endearing to me. The characters are great. From the quirky halfway house residents to the crazed backwoods hicks, to the wacky Demon, this film's characters are very entertaining, and on many occasions, quite amusing. I also love the direction in which they take the character of Tommy Jarvis, having all these mental problems thanks to Mr. Voorhees. His hallucinations are actually rather eerie, to boot. It's a damn shame they didn't continue the idea in Jason Lives, which I consider to be one of the weakest entries in the series (but that's another story for another review board).

I think the kills in this film are some of the most original in the series. A leather strap crushing someone's head against a tree, a road flare to the mouth, a cleaver decapitation while riding a motorcycle, among others, aren't your typical slasher kills. I also love the fact that the killer is copycat, Roy. It's a nice, refreshing take. I always see people whine about Jason not being the killer here, but I say it's better that way. I think having chocolate bar boy be his son was a nice twist. Funny how he kills everyone but his son's killer, but I'm sure he couldn't get to him with the authorities taking him into custody.

I could go on and on about how enjoyable this film is. It has a real charm to it, and it's a shame that so many consider it one of the low points of the series, even the worst. I was disappointed to see this film on the IMDb bottom 100 a good while back. It's no longer on the list, so that's cool.

And remember, "Y-ya don't s-set a place for a dead person!"

**This review contains major SPOILERS**

After well and truly offing Jason with a few dozen machete blows to the head in Part 4, the so called 'Final Chapter', producers realised that there was still money to be milked from the cash-cow and so green lit the next instalment, 'A New Beginning'. However, this time the formula is mixed up a bit; we now have a copycat killer instead of Jason and also our first recurring character (that doesn't get killed off before the opening credits at least) in Tommy Jarvis. He is now a young adult and played by a below-average-even-for-the-genre John Shepard.

After a dream sequence (yawn) the film starts with Tommy being transported to a halfway house of sorts, after spending years in institutions he is now ready to start making the transition to normal life. However, when horny teens left, right and centre start turning up dead, Tommy realises that his battle with Jason may not yet be over and he stands up again to fight the hockey masked maniac.

Danny Steinmann directed the picture and from looking at his resume I can see this was the last film he ever had any creative involvement with. I'm not the least bit surprised. His direction is utterly uninspired, the stalk scenes are boring and redundant, drag on for what seems like an eternity and the pay offs (kills) are for the most part rather dull. Elaborate deaths scenes are the driving force behind this franchise, however almost all the kills seem extra tame after the especially brutal Part 4 (with the exception of the garden shears to the face – nice) and the MPAA hacking it to bits can't have helped much either.

The acting is generally what you'd expect, nobody really stands out and there is nothing even approaching a memorable character but the cast manage to keep from embarrassing themselves. As mentioned, John Shepard is a pretty poor lead, probably the worst of the first 5 films.

I have to give the filmmakers credit for trying to go in new directions and not just re-hashing the Jason formula and there are moments when it feels like we are going to get to see a truly tortured, complex character in Tommy Jarvis. I get the feeling, especially from the "shock" (ie, utterly predictable) ending that the producers were really ready to move the series forward and leave Jason dead and that is worthy of praise. However, the film too often slips back into silly slasher territory and with direction as dull and kill scenes as tame as this, that simply isn't good enough.

Obviously the series was never known for its' high art but this is the first one that I consider truly bad. It still made money though and another sequel was soon in production. You just can't keep a good cash-cow down...

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.

The above sensitive quote is delivered by an authority figure trying to comfort some teens the day after one of their friends has been killed. Overall I think this is easily the most entertaining Friday film. It's terrible, but amusingly so. This movie averages more than one corpse every 5 minutes.

This time around we have a group of teens with psychological problems staying at some isolated treatment center. They wander around freely, so it's sort of another camp scenario. We have the usual stereotypes substituting for actual characters. The stutterer. The new wave chick. The horny couple. A corny hillbilly mother and son. The furious mayor. A guy whose entire character is defined by his reading a porn mag and making a lewd gesture at the beginning, and then later snorting coke. A pair of rockabilly dudes, one of whom wanders into the forest to defecate (that was unexpected, as people outdoors generally wander off to take a leak, instead). We also meet a waitress who spontaneously flashes her chest in the mirror for no reason (one assumes the director was under pressure to meet a breast quota). Of course, there is a thunderstorm throughout the climax of the film. The movie also features Dudley (of "Diff'rent Strokes") and two cast members from Return of the Living Dead. That right there is a good enough reason to watch F13 part 5. And the stiff acting of the grey haired cop is also pretty funny.

I find it ridiculous that some F13 fans hate this movie because the real Jason is not in it. Does that mean if the final 10 minutes were edited out, they would actually consider this to be a good 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

It was by no means a bad move to make more Friday the 13th's following number 4, "The Final Chapter". This "ressurection" of the esteemed Jason Voorhees fails miserably. Like entry number 9, "Jason Goes to Hell", this installation is too far removed from the others in terms of storyline, taking it away from Camp Crystal Lake and the usual plots. The extremely large cast also take away screen time from each other, meaning 95% of the cast we simply do not care about them, which is very wrong.

Another way this film strays from the normal horror routines is by having a male in the lead (John Shepherd as Tommy), though it's not like he is present very much, and he is so boring that he is painful to watch, a far cry from Corey Feldman and Thom Mathews who play Tommy in parts 4 and 6, respectively. Few horror films have males in the lead, though others include "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2" and "Prom Night 3", some argue that a male lead doesn't work as well as female, I think it depends on the characters.

Another difference between "A New Beginning" and the previous entries is that there are a lot of adult and authority figures present, though the authority only works to a certain degree. Richard Young plays Matt, the head of the home Tommy is put in, and while he does an okay job, his authority is not that present. The supposed-heroine of the film is Pam (Melanie Kinnaman), and once more to be different than the previous films, she is not a teen, but assistant head of the home Tommy and the other teens are in, and once again, this change doesn't work well, not to mention she is almost as bad as Kari Keegan's Jessica, the heroine from part 9.

While the film is littered with a boring and / or useless cast and characters, there are a few highlights. Shavar Ross plays Reggie, another child (like Tommy was in part 4), and I must say, Shavar Ross can scream better than any of the women in this film. Carol Locatell is great as the crazy neighbor Ethel, and the only two teens that one could really care for, Eddie and Tina, played by hottie John Robert Dixon and Debisue Voorhees who had great hair, also get the best deaths. Of the other teens, none are particularly noteworthy, except perhaps Tiffany Helm who plays Violet - but only for her hair.

Now a major reason that the film just doesn't work is because it is not Jason doing the killings (which i might add are in general not very gory), but a paramedic called Roy (played by Dick Wieand) who discovers his son has been killed at the home Tommy and the others stay at, so he uses Jason's old M.O to get revenge. Admirable, but doesn't quite hit the mark. So unless you are a die-hard Jason fan, then I would recommend watching parts 2 or 7, far superior sequels.

**EXTREME SPOILER**

Even devoted series fans despised "Friday the 13th, Part V." It's not because of its overall poor quality, but because this time, "Jason" is an imposter; a man seeking revenge for the death of his son. This fact is not revealed until the very end, but since it is such common knowledge among genre fans, I feel blameless in discussing it here. The truth is, the film is so arbitrary that it would have made no difference even if Jason had truly risen from his grave, where he must have been rolling for the duration of the film. Director Danny Steinmann seems to be aiming for a murder mystery type of story, suggesting that the killer may be a mental patient or some redneck. However, this element is so ineptly handled that it simply doesn't matter. It's just a bad slasher movie that lurches from one kill scene to another, peopled with cartoonishly obnoxious characters who deserve what they get. There's plenty of gore and female nudity, but even then, it never rises from the muck.

For the most part, the performances are strictly amateur night, although John Shepherd does a decent job as Tommy Jarvis, a decade or so after part 4. Shavar Ross does his best, though kid characters in horror movies are almost always annoying. (Exception: "Halloween") Melanie Kinnaman is okay; at least she doesn't embarrass herself. Otherwise, most of the actors, who shall remain nameless, deserve to have their SAG cards torn up, especially that Michael Jackson wannabe. Why do actors do these movies anyway? Are they that desperate for the money? Don't they know that appearing in a Jason flick is a guaranteed career-killer? I think one actress was denied a promising role in an Oliver Stone film for that reason. To be fair, there's little that can be done with such poor material.

The only good part is the flashback in the beginning, featuring a cameo by Corey Feldman. Otherwise, it's pure and utter drivel; poorly acted (discounting the above exceptions), written, and directed. I'm not a snob; I actually enjoyed parts 6 and 7 at times, though otherwise the films are just average slasher movies. I'm giving this one a bad review simply because I found no chills or thrills in this unfortunate sequel. I tend to be fairly critical of horror movies, and this one deserves a good thrashing. Didn't this one actually send fans protesting at Paramount's gates? See, even with the fans, you can't throw just anything at them; they know what they want too.

1/2 star (out of ****)

Released by Paramount Pictures

After a creative high in the previous film The Final Chapter, this movie took a significant nosedive in quality. One of my least favorite films in this franchise. Why they didn't just end the franchise is beyond me, but money talks I guess. To begin, the character of Tommy Jarvis who was our heroine from the previous film and arguably the most interesting new addition, was completely destroyed in this movie both with the actor's portrayal and the way the character was written. Once again, the kills are shown from the killer's point of view, and because of this, they tried to make you think that Tommy was the new killer in the movie. They set up that possibility at the end of the previous film, where he is shown to have gone a little nuts after killing Jason. From there, we are taken to a new setting of this halfway house where a bunch of troubled kids live under psychiatric care. This would've worked had the characters been interesting even in the slightest, but only three characters even stood out which were Reggie the Reckless, his cousin Demon ("Those damn enchiladas" will always be an iconic line of his), and the crazy neighbor lady Ethel who is probably the funniest character in the entire franchise. Other than those characters, everyone else are just stock teenagers to be killed by Jason. Except here's the dumbest part, it's not even Jason! While the ending twist didn't enrage me as much as it did other fans, I just didn't think the replacement killer made much of an impact to the story whatsoever. The ambulance driver Roy Burns (who only appeared in two scenes in the entire movie) is revealed to be the Jason wannabe. This is due to the death of his son at the beginning of the film at the hands of another teen at this halfway house. Since Roy was barely a character in the film, this reveal made no impact at all. I didn't care who this person was because I knew nothing about them. Had he been more prominent in the film and actually been a part of the story, then the reveal of him being the actual killer would've been effective. The final girl Pam isn't all that interesting and spends most of the third act running away from Roy other than when she used a chainsaw against him which was pretty cool. The kill count in this movie is pretty high, however almost all of the deaths aren't even shown and instead we just see the weapon slashing at the person. On the other hand, the nudity is cranked up to 11 so if you're into that then this movie has more nudity than any other film in the franchise. This is because the director literally had directed hardcore pornography previously. The ending of the film once again sets up Tommy as the future killer and once again this is not paid off in the following film so the ending is pointless too. Overall, this is a really bad film and one you can skip over.

Though not impressed with the iconic Friday 13th franchise I've not found any of the films "Bad" up until now. New Beginning however has sadly changed that.

Following on from 1984's Final Chapter we see Tommy Jarvis all grown up and loonier than a loony toon on the looniest day of their life with an electrified looney machine! Traumatised by his butchering Jason 10yrs before he is now in a home for similar mentally broken individuals and as you can imagine they start getting picked off one by one.

The movie teases a twist, doesn't deliver but then tacts it on the end anyway for good measure and it simply doesn't work.

Know what else doesn't work? The film! After Final Chapters competent delivery and excellent death sequences this feels like a huge step backwards. I'm not sure if the budget was cut, the director was poor or they just couldn't be bothered anymore 5 movies in but this was granny pants.

The Good:

Follows directly on from the events of Final Chapter

Couple of decent characters

The Bad:

Death scenes have taken a step backwards

Film simply isn't very good

Ending is really bad

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

When a movie advertises itself as a final chapter, maybe they should stick to their word

It really doesn't take much to make you snap and become mask wearing machete swinging serial killer

OK, I am a movie watcher and when a "decent" film has sequels, good or bad I have to see them and now I hate myself for it. I hate this movie at this point because this is the third time they tried a who-dun-it? in the series and the outcome still sucks. They had the first film which had decent kills but had an unfair twist in introducing a character at the last minute. They had the second film in which I don't believe you were supposed to know it was Jason because that would not have made sense if you believe in time and dieing and poor Mrs. Voorhees' motives. Then there is this film which obviously was trying to catch some of the surprise success of the 4th film(which was promised to be the last).

I can't really express my full opinion of this film without dissecting it piece by piece, but it honestly does not deserve the effort. Even in the spirit of Friday films, this is trash.....unless a drawn out daylight nude scene is enough to wave off 18-22 deaths(no gore), greasers in 1985, loud rednecks,a horrible mask, a horrible twist ending, and the man voted most likely to not look like Corey Feldman when he grows up who also knows karate.

Jason may not be the killer this time around but that doesn't stop this movie from being a wacky and fun time. I would say to give this a chance and try not to listen to all the bad reviews. I feel like this entry is getting a bit a of a renaissance and reassessment anyway.

The status of Friday The 13th Part V: A New Beginning as the least popular film in the series has always frustrated and perplexed me. Masterfully directed by Danny Steinmann, it is a supremely entertaining exploitation slasher film. The most common reasons given seem to be: (a) there's not enough gore (b) the story is stupid/the acting isn't very good (c) Jason isn't in the movie. Of course, none of these explanations is valid. First of all, if gore alone is your litmus test to determine whether or not a film is enjoyable, you should probably steer clear of the entire Friday The 13th series, as well as any movie that has been subjected to the wacky ratings system and experienced a wide theatrical release. Go watch… I don't know… a Guinea Pig film. A New Beginning has as much gore as any of the Friday films. If a strong plot and acting of the highest caliber is important to you… well, let's be honest, criticizing A New Beginning for its silly plot is like dismissing Van Gogh because you don't like the color yellow. You're missing the point. Yes, I sort of understand the complaint that Jason isn't in the movie, as he is my favorite of the classic maniacs. (Cropsy, Marty, Michael Meyers, and Angela round out the top five.) But his absence alone shouldn't ruin the whole movie for you. I'd rather watch an entertaining movie that alludes to, yet doesn't feature the actual Jason, as opposed to a boring movie that completely screws up his mythology. (Here's a clue. It comes after VIII and before X.)

Friday The 13th Part V: A New Beginning works because it takes the elements that make a good slasher film and completely exaggerates them. All irony aside, A New Beginning is a trashy, sleazy, exploitative masterpiece. The very premise of having "Jason" hack up a group of mentally-ill teens, which includes two nymphomaniacs, an angry sociopath, a chocolate loving man child, a new-wave goth who likes to dance, and a stutterer, is indicative of the sick-minded, oozy greatness of this movie. Jesus, I haven't even touched upon the mother-son hillbilly biker duo or Demon! This movie has more great characters than the entire Halloween series combined! Are you not entertained by Demon in his "sh*tbox" singing "Oooh, Oooh, Baby…. Oooh, Oooh, Baby" to his sexy girlfriend before being impaled? How could this be? Are you made of stone? Are you? Do you not enjoy watching Violet, who is the most uniquely attractive female in the entire Friday series, do the robot to Pseudo Echo before being killed? I love her with all my heart. What about Ethel and Junior, the most vile, hate-filled, "loony" hating hicks to ever interact with a stained voyeur-drifter? Junior's decapitation, after being pummeled by Tommy following a prank which consisted of shining a light in his eyes, is a fitting end for the angry dullard. Oh, and Vic? The greatest red herring in slasher history. He violently kills Joey after the overweight stereotype accuses him of being "out of line." Harsh words from a strange man!

The number of kills in this movie dwarf the previous Friday record. (Subsequent sequels had more, but, with the exception of Jason X… another unjustly maligned classic… not by much.) The fact that most of these kills are peripheral to the story, unnecessary, and hilarious only adds to their quality. Case in point, the hideously obnoxious, cocaine-addicted mental health worker Billy who picks up Lana the waitress at the diner. She who proceeds to get naked while saying "It's showtime!" to herself in the mirror. You don't see the entertainment value in that, my friends? Following this odd display, a cat bafflingly drops from above and bounces clumsily and hard off a booth. It was a cheap shock and laugh at the same time! Shortly thereafter, Billy and Lana are both killed with enough blood to make it all worthwhile. That entire scene is mesmerizing. And let's not forget the two jerks with the broken down car who appear earlier in the film. They're greasers! Greasers!

I watch slasher films not for genuine scares or insightful twists, but to be entertained. And I am usually entertained by their exploitative depths, bloody action, nudity, uniquely stupid characters, and the basest nihilism of it all. I simply cannot see how anyone could argue A New Beginning doesn't contain every single one of these qualities in excess. It's a sleazy, vicious, offensive slasher that epitomizes everything that makes the genre popular. The time has come to re-evaluate this amazing film and give Steinmann the credit he deserves.

I'll start off by saying that Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, cinematically, is a bad movie, but that doesn't matter. Friday the 13th movies have never been good in that category, Friday the 13th however, does shine in another category, and that category being slasher flicks. So in that light, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning is pretty good despite being hated by fans because of a very understandable reason.

Review:

Bad: Roy. Aka, fake Jason Voorhees: Roy (the killer) isn't bad because he is not Jason Voorhees, Roy is bad because he is supposed to be the main antagonist of this movie, the decision to make a very uninteresting character with very little screen time the killer is pretty lazy. Of course, the movie did hint at him being the killer, but when a character like that is so small and forgettable, the only hint at him being the killer in the entire movie, you kinda just forget about. When you don't even recognize his face after he is revealed to be the killer, yeah maybe there could be a problem with that. They were so lazy with the character Roy, that the movie literally just tells you who Roy was near the end of the movie instead of spending more time with him so that the viewers will eventually recognize his face after his reveal. Also the gore effects can sometimes look kinda bad even tho we don't see that much of it because the MPAA cut it.

Mixed: The whodunnit aspect, Tommy Jarvis: Like i said, Roy was pretty uninteresting. But there was another potential killer alongside Roy, Tommy Jarvis. Tommy Jarvis was interesting in this one. I thought he was played very well by his actor, and he is a beliveable character, maybe there was room for some charisma but eh.. whatever. I just wished we saw more of Tommy as he kind of just disappears at halfway into the movie.

Good: The rest of the characters, Reggie the Reckless, Pam, the Sheriff, Demon, Anita, Ethel, Junior and every other little small character, i enjoyed every single one of them when they were on screen, even if they have zero to do with the plot. Appearently the actors who portrayed the characters improvised most of their lines and you can tell. Obviously, the characters in this are one of the best parts of the film.

The soundtrack fits the mood of Friday the 13th: A New Beginning as well.

Favorite characters: Reggie, Demon, Ethel and Junior.

Favorite scene: When Ethel spits into Junior's Stew that she is making for him, while he is is riding his motorbike yelling and screaming like a little 6 year old kid as a fully grown adult right before his death.

Favorite kill: Eddie's head crushed by a tightened leather belt.

(Story: 3/10) (Characters: 9/10) (Entertainment: 8/10) (Acting: 7.5/10) (Soundtrack: 8.5/10)

(Final rating: 8/10)