Friday the 13th: A New Beginning

  We close out the first Friday the 13th theme month not with a bang, but with a sad little fart. After four films that varied in quality but were still enjoyable in their own way we are at the first true stinker of the bunch. It’s Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, also known as the other one without Jason Vorhees.

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning was written by Martin Kitrosser (Model Behavior), David Cohen (Hollywood Zap), and Danny Steinmann (Savage Streets) with Steinmann also directing the film. A New Beginning was made on a budget of $2.2 million, made $8,032,883 upon opening, and went on to make $21,930,418 worldwide. The film was released on March 22nd, 1985 to largely negative reviews. 

After killing Jason Vorhees, Tommy Jarvis (John Shepherd, The Hunt for Red October) spent several years in several psychiatric institutions and is sent to a halfway house near Crystal Lake. After one of the teens at the halfway house kills another, someone takes up Jason Vorhees’ mantle and begins killing indiscriminately at the halfway house and the surrounding area. 

Unfortunately, A New Beginning falls into all of the negative tropes that people associate with this franchise; flat characters, no plot, and gratuitous nudity (seriously, Tina’s (Debi Sue Vorhees, Dallas) nude scene is so long and so unneeded).

The biggest complaint often lodged at this film is that it features a copycat killer and not Jason himself. While I certainly understand that complaint, it’s not one that I share. The issue isn’t that the killer is a copycat, it’s that the reveal of the killer simultaneously makes no sense and is underwhelming. Roy Burns (Dick Wieand, The Young and the Restless) is motivated by revenge (his son was the film’s first victim) but he never actually goes after his son’s killer and his victims are entirely random. Even more damning, before the reveal that he is the killer he only appears in two scenes and is on screen for less than a minute. As far as Big Bads go, he is seriously lacking.

Similarly, Tommy Jarvis as our protagonist is a big problem. He spends a great deal of time offscreen and has little characterization. It’s a disappointing step back from the precocious yet brave child from The Final Chapter. The other main protagonist, Pam (Melanie Kinnaman, General Hospital), suffers from similar problems. She is deeply uninteresting and her chemistry with Tommy is nonexistent. 

The other characters of the film aren’t much better. Instead of developing the teens of the halfway house before killing them, the film opts instead to introduce new characters randomly as cannon fodder. The worst of these are Ethel (Carol Locatell, Scandal) and Junior (Ron Sloane, Warm Summer Rain) as the obnoxious hillbilly neighbors. The less said about them the better.

The one saving grace is the character of Violet (Tiffany Helm, In the Tall Grass). While a minor character, she’s fun and stands out from the rest of the characters. It’s very disappointing the ease with which she is dispatched. 

Overall, A New Beginning is an incredibly disappointing entry into this franchise. It would be quite easy to skip this installment altogether and go right to Part VI and not miss anything important.

Rating: 1 fake Jason out of 5

Other Observations:

• Does the Dog Die? No dogs are killed!

• Harrison’s Favorite Scare: Tina’s nude scene may be gratuitous but her death is gnarly.

• When the Fuck is This Movie Set? It’s not established exactly how many years have passed but this film states that Tommy was 12 in The Final Chapter and he’s presumably 16 or 17 here, so I’m placing this movie in 1989, four years in the (then) future.

• Next Week: We’ll return to the Friday the 13th franchise in August (the next month with a Friday the 13th). Next week we’re travelling back in time to check out Cat People.