FRIDAY THE 13TH PART V A NEW BEGINNING

Directed by Danny Steinmann
Written by David Cohen, Danny Steinmann & Martin Kitrosser
Music by Harry Manfredini
Cast: John Shepherd, Tom Morga, Melanie Kinnaman, Shavar Ross, Dick Wieand, Tiffany Helm & Miguel A. Nunez Jr.

1985/92 mins/Color/Dolby Digital 5.1
1.85:1 anamorphic/English/US/NTSC Region 1

Review from the Paramount DVD

Eight years after the terrible events of THE FINAL CHAPTER, we follow the now twenty something Tommy Jarvis, as he is about to live in yet another psychiatric house. But a hockey-masked murderer is killing people around him. Is Jason back or has someone else taken his place?

Played much more as a who-dun-it then a typical FRIDAY THE 13TH film, the biggest problem with A NEW BEGINNING is that the killer is not Jason but some paramedic gone mad to avenge his son's murder. Making the whole thing even more idiotic since the previous film's ending led us to believe that Jason's killer, Tommy Jarvis, would continue his work but they unfortunately decided to go on another road. A NEW BEGINNING was more then beginning of the end then anything else.

When the film opened in theater in March 1985, it grossed $8 million during the weekend for a total of $21.9 million, which was far from the success of the previous film. It seems as if only the horror fans now went to see this series and that the mainstream crowd gave up on it. Another element that gave the FRIDAY THE 13TH series some problems was the arrival of a new killer monster in the world of horror cinema, one that would become even more popular in term of box office results then Jason had imagined, that person was Freddy Krueger from A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET.

It was after seeing Danny Steinmann 1984 vigilante film SAVAGE STREETS (with Linda Blair and a young Linnea Quigley) that producers Stephen Minasian and Phil Scuderi offered him two projects. The first one was a sequel to Wes Craven's THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, which was to be called BEYOND THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. As you now know, that sequel never happened but Steinmann did get to direct the fifth FRIDAY THE 13TH film. Genre fans must also remember that Danny Steinmann also directed the 1981 film THE UNSEEN.

Corey Feldman was originally supposed to star as Tommy in this sequel but he was working on THE GOONIES at the time, making it impossible for him to do so. Then at the end of principal photography, Feldman was available so a prologue was shot in two days in the backyard of Corey's neighbor’s house.

An interesting fact about the film is then when it went into production almost everyone working on it didn't know it was actually a new FRIDAY THE 13TH film as it was named REPETITION to avoid any controversy.

Even though he was uncredited, it was actor Tom Morga who played the role of Jason through all of the film except for the revealing ending where Jason was unmasked (Dick Wieand). Morga would later play Michael Myers in 1988 successful HALLOWEEN 4 THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS thanks to Dick Warlock (Myers in HALLOWEEN II) who suggested him after Warlock worked with Morga as stunt coordinator in A NEW BEGINNING. Interesting to note that Ted White, who played Jason in THE FINAL CHAPTER, turned down to return in this new chapter.

While most of them unfortunately appear off-screen, FRIDAY THE 13TH PART V A NEW BEGINNING had the most kills of the first eight films of the series. The film also suffers from poor editing "continuity" especially the scene with Pam's pink sweater, which magically reappears and disappears during her run through the woods.

The film is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio and it is anamorphic. The image looks good with rich colors saturation, deep blacks and some grain. It isn’t a perfect transfer but this is as good as I remember the film looking. A newly remastered English Dolby Digital 5.1 sounds very good. Purists fear not as the original English mono stereo sound is also included, as are French and Spanish mono stereo soundtracks. Subtitles are available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

We get a commentary track with Danny Steinmann, John Shepherd and Shavar Ross who are mostly making fun of the film and swearing, not the most informative commentary track. 'Lost Tales from Camp Blood - Part 5' is another episode in fan made spin-off that we would be better without. 'The Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited Part II' is more useless crap that Paramount decided to put on these Deluxe Edition of the FRIDAY THE 13TH movies. They shouldn't waste money on such crap and instead re-insert the gore scenes IN the film. 'New beginning: The Making of Friday the 13th: Part V A New Beginning' is an interesting 11 minutes featurette with the cast and crew talking about the making-of the film. We also get the original theatrical trailer and a trailer for THE UNINVITED. The film is separated in 14 chapters stop, features static menus with music, comes in a keep case which itself comes in a neat holographic cover and without a booklet or inlay card.

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Review by Kim Dubuisson. All Right Reserved. 2009. ©

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