Friday the 13th Part V A New Beginning

[baumer]

Review it

[75Live]

I wasn't crazy about this part. I do like how they kept Tommy in the series, but the ending idea was a bit off for me.

Tommy after his experience with Jason and hacking him to death is obviously troubled and is now at a mental "hospital" which is more like a farm. He has visions of Jason and is trying to get past the trauma. Killings start to happen after one of the "inmates" kills another inmate.

I won't give away the entire story, but it isn't Jason going around killing everyone. As a hint, if you pay attention when "Jason" is on the screen either as a person or as a vision, you can tell.

Basically the idea is at the end, Tommy embraces his "evil" side and at dons the mask and is shown about to kill a nurse. In turn, this would make Tommy become the new Jason. I am assuming this was the original idea. But kind of like the Halloween series, when Michael Myers wasn't the focal point, I think they realized that wasn't the best idea and went back to Jason in part 6.

I have to give this one a C

[ddddeeee]

Gets a bad rep for not featuring Jason as the killer, but IMO it's probably better than all the movies that followed. The atmosphere is enjoyably sleazy which is probably due to being directed by a porn director. Love Manfredini's score for this one.

[baumer]

I like to think of myself as a Friday the 13th purist. I love the first four films in the series and really hate the last three. So somewhere in the middle of that scale is part 6 and this one. And while I have to admit that this one goes against everything that is Friday the 13th, it is quite entertaining, funny and so improbable and impossible ( even for a Friday movie ) that I enjoyed this one immensely. Maybe not on the same level as the first four, but quite a bit nonetheless. You just have to get past the premise and the ridiculous idea of the killer in this one and you too may be able to enjoy it.

First of all, it has to be said, Jason is not in this one, and if you pay attention to the tag line ( If Jason still haunts you, you are not alone ) then you'll know that he's not. But some idiot takes up his legacy and decides to kill everyone because he sees his son lying in a body bag. And if you can't figure out who the killer is then you really aren't paying attention to "subtle" shots in the film. When Jason is first introduced, we see a shot of the guys leg and hands and it looks like the guy is standing identically to the way he has in all the other films. Then there is a scene where the sheriff mumbles to himself and the same guy that turns out to be Jason says " You talking to me sheriff? " For no particular reason. So to be fair, on that level, the film is really stupid. Not to mention the fact that the guy that turns out to be Jason is probably about 5'10 and maybe weighs 200 pounds ( he is a little rotund ) where as Jason was probably 6'5 and 240. So the attempted similarity there is incorrect as well. Then there is the fact that this guy can do the things that Jason did. He can shatter doors just by plowing through them, he can take a chainsaw in the arm and still keep fighting like he was impervious to pain. So let's recap Jason here. He is the undead. He is perhaps spawned by Satan himself. He has been killed too many times to be counted and then resurrected and he is the personification of evil. This Jason is an ambulance attendant. Enough said.

But having said all that, I have to admit I had fun watching this film. I was far from scared but I was very entertained. The film is actually quite well done in many aspects. One of them is that it does stay true to the Friday the 13th legacy as there is a high body count and if the sensors hadn't of gotten a hold of it, it would have been much gorier.

As strange as this is to say, one of the strengths of the film, is the characters. Tommy Jarvis is all grown up now and is the quiet and psychologically tormented teen that is at a halfway house for reformed kids. John Shepherd is actually a very good Tommy Jarvis. He did have a career in Hollywood after this film and he shows he can act here. I enjoyed Tommy as a quiet, psychologically tormented teenager. I also liked the complete over the top characters " Ma" the biker chick and her dimwitted redneck son.

I liked how one guy shows up in the middle of the film for no reason, with no name and no purpose in the film except to die a short time later. I thought Pam was sexy, especially when she wore no bra on a stormy night while wearing a white see through blouse. Vic made me laugh because he was just p****d at the world and Joey was funny too. One of my favourite characters is Damon. He meets an untimely death in an outhouse, which is a Friday the 13th staple as well. Many people have died just after doing their business and not properly cleaning themselves afterwards ( remember Harold in the 3rd and also Chuck in the 3rd ).

Friday 5 is not a true Friday the 13th in the sense that it has no Jason, but it is fun and it is worth a laugh and it has atmosphere. It is worth seeing and I think if you can sit back and just think of this as 90 minutes of fluff, then you'll have a good time watching it. It is much better than 7,8,9 but pales in comparison to the first 4. Still there is just something fun about the whole thing. It doesn't have the edge of the third and fourth, but it is done well enough in many areas for many of us Friday the 13th nuts to get some enjoyment out of it.

8/10

[ddddeeee]

This movie is just amazing. It's a laugh from start to finish. Ethel is my hero, the singing in the cubicle, the dancing to that awesome Psuedo Echo song, sexy lead, the fat guy getting whacked, Tommy's awesome fighting style, Roy's motivation, it's all just brilliant. One of the most entertaining movies ever.

 

The best part? Roy had a newspaper clipping of Jason on him. I can just imagine Jason posing for that photo before he died.

Edited September 15, 2013 by ddddeeee

[The Stingray]

Sleazy trash. Not a fan of this one.