Believe it or not, FRIDAY THE 13th PART V: A NEW BEGINNING was my entry point into the Jason Voorhees saga. Like a host of other horror movies, my father had it taped onto a grainy VHS tape. Remember, this was back when HBO was part of basic cable (god I’m old). Even though the film – SPOILER ALERT – doesn’t actually feature Jason, it very much feels and looks like any of the other entries. It’s got a torrential downpour, dark and moody chase scenes in the woods, and the signature masked killer. Plus, it has some of the gnarliest kills and coolest characters in the entire franchise – here’s looking at you, Violet (Tiffany Helm), who I desperately wanted to be as a kid. The film, directed by Danny Steinmann, who co-wrote the script with Martin Kitrosser and David Cohen, doesn’t get nearly enough credit for trying something new. It’s about time we give it its due.
It’s been a number of years since the events of the previous film, FRIDAY THE 13th: THE FINAL CHAPTER, and Tommy Jarvis (John Shepherd) barely copes with his trauma. On a prescription regimen, his mental health hangs by a thread, but he’s well enough for the doctors to believe he’s ready to move into a halfway house as a way to transition into a normal life. The film opens with a fever nightmare, as he dreams he’s a young boy again (played by Corey Feldman) and witnesses Jason coming back from the dead and climbing out of his grave. Tommy awakens with a start just as the machete slices through the air. He has arrived at his new home where he meets Dr. Matt Letter (Richard Young) and his assistant Pam (Melanie Kinnaman). Also living on the property are the facility’s cook George (Vernon Washington) and his son Reggie (Shavar Ross), who proves to be the film’s MVP.
The characters – which also include a bad boy with a temper named Vic (Mark Venturini) and the girl-next-door type Robin (Juliette Cummins) – fit into stereotypical molds as you’d expect with an ‘80s slasher flick. They’re not particularly inventive – and Violet is perhaps the most rad of the bunch – but they serve a purpose: to feed the body count. The impetus for the mayhem and slaughter begins on a sunny afternoon when Violet and Robin are hanging laundry. Joey (Dominick Brascia) attempts to help out but smears the bedsheets with sticky chocolate, much to Robin and Violet’s dismay. Joey wanders over to Vic, who is busy chopping wood. He’s clearly disgruntled, a bit manic, and bug-eyed. Joey is a chatterbox and talks Vic’s ear off. He hands Vic a chocolate bar and places it down in front of him, squarely on a block of wood. Wielding an ax, Vic flies off the handle (pun intended) and murders Joey as he turns away. Blood-curdling screams fill the afternoon air, a shocking set-up for what’s to come.
Tommy meanwhile treads emotional waters, not even staying afloat most of the time. He continues to hear “Die – Tommy!” pounding in his skull. Those final few moments of his last encounter with Jason haunt him and nearly push him over the edge. The agony Shepherd brings to the role is impressive, and dare I say award-worthy. Of course, we know how the Academy feels about horror. But I digress. In those most intimate of moments, Shepherd’s face contorts in pain, twitching as he grapples with past trauma and living in the present. A brand new day sweeps out in front of him, but he can’t help but be trapped by what happened. He may never recover, and soon enough, he’ll be confronted with his demons again. As Laurie Strode says in HALLOWEEN ENDS, evil doesn’t die, it changes shape.
With Joey dead, the film quickly switches into your typical FRIDAY THE 13th film. A masked killer, who we presume to be Jason Voorhees, arrives to collect some heads and other body parts. His way of killing pretty much falls in line with what we’ve come to expect from Jason. There’s brutality in the way he stabs and skewers Violet and Reggie’s older brother Demon (Miguel A. Núñez Jr.), tightens a leather strap over Eddie’s (John Robert Dixon) eyes, or shoves a glowing flair into a greaser’s mouth. He’s unrelenting, pouncing upon his victims like a panther. The copycat killer feels just like Jason, his M.O. much the same. Until the big twist, you’re none the wiser (unless you’re one of the few who spot the very different-colored hockey mask).
A NEW BEGINNING doesn’t try to be another other than a FRIDAY THE 13th film while also bringing something clever into the mix. As the fifth entry, there’s not too much at stake at this point. Fans just want bloody kills and heart-pounding tension – and the film delivers in spades. With help from cinematographer Stephen L. Posey, director Danny Steinmann brings a sense of mood and atmosphere to the picture, particularly when night falls and the rain pours. It’s classic FRIDAY THE 13th, which makes it as good, if not better, than most of the other sequels.
While Pam doesn’t make much of a Final Girl – all she really does is scream and run around without a bra on, rarely fighting back – it’s Reggie who truly shines. He’s a badass little warrior with a real will to survive, and he saves Pam at almost every turn. His big moment arrives in the third act as Pam lies writhing and screaming in the mud, with the killer drawing closer to her. At the last possible second, Reggie comes bursting out of a nearby barn riding a tractor. Pam rolls out of the way, and Reggie bulldozes the killer, flinging him back onto the ground. Naturally, that won’t exactly kill him, but it does give the duo ample time to run into the barn. There, after a bit of a struggle, Jason (aka Roy) is thrown out the window and lands on a bed of nails. His mask flies off, revealing his true identity. Roy, who happened to be Joey’s estranged father, sought revenge on the other kids for his son’s death. You don’t need a more complicated motive than that. It’s good old-fashioned revenge!
A NEW BEGINNING isn’t about reinventing the wheel but rather delivering something fun and right in line with what the franchise is all about. If I had one gripe about the film, it would be that we don’t get to know Roy outside a few scenes here and there. A quick rewrite to include him more throughout the picture would have done wonders for the big reveal – letting it land with a loud boom! rather than a limp thud. That’s a small quibble when you take the film for what it is. It’s your typical FRIDAY THE 13th film. What else could you possibly want?!?
Tags: Bee Delores, Bruce Green, corey feldman, Corey Parker, Danny Steinmann, David Cohen, Dominick Brascia, Friday the 13th, Harry Manfredini, Horror, Jason Voorhees, John Robert Dixon, John Shepherd, Juliette Cummins, Marco St. John, Mark Venturini, Martin Kitrosser, Melanie Kinnaman, Miguel A. Núñez Jr., Richard Young, Sequels, Shavar Ross, Stephen L. Posey, The 1980s, Tiffany Helm, Tom Morga, Vernon Washington, Victor Miller
Yo, Bee. I like your writing.
Ummm, HBO was ALWAYS pay cable. Possibly your cable system included it for free, but they paid for it.
Also, possibly did you live in a motel? HBO has often been bundled into the room cost.