Friday the 13th: A New Beginning review.
The sleaziest and, perhaps, dumbest installment of the Friday the 13th franchise, A New Beginning manages to feel like classic era Jason Voorhees…despite it being anything but. A narrative betrayal and a classic aesthetic combine to make an interesting chapter…but not a very good one.
Classic movie reviews will contain spoilers.
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning
Directed by Danny Steinmann
Screenplay by Martin Kitrosser, David Cohen and Danny Steinmann
Starring John Shepherd, Melanie Kinnaman, Shavar Ross, Richard Young and Marco St. John
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning Review
One of the biggest misnomers about the slasher genre, and Friday the 13th in particular, is that they’re all the same. On the contrary, the series proved time and again that it would have benefited from choosing more familiarity. In 12 movies (including a remake/reboot) Jason Voorhees only stalks camp counselors three times. Part 2, Part 6 and the 2009 reboot. Sure, he kills other teens a few times…but this is a series that sent Jason to space, did a body swapping story, sent him to Manhattan, had him fight a telekinetic opponent…and Freddy Krueger. Hell…he isn’t even the killer in the original! Nor is he the killer in this installment…Friday the 13th: A New Beginning.
Tommy Jarvis (John Shepherd) is in a halfway house following the events of The Final Chapter. Haunted by visions of Jason Voorhees…and the prime suspect when the murders begin again.
I’m going to cut the film synopsis off right there to point out that this is actually a great plot for a Friday the 13th movie. A direct sequel to a beloved installment…calling into question both the sanity of a survivor and the true fate of the villain. That’s the last we’ll see of a good plot in A New Beginning.
Let’s get right to the elephant in the room. Jason Voorhees is dead. Tommy did kill him at the end of The Final Chapter. This isn’t a Jason Voorhees movie. This is the story of Roy, the paramedic. With a story that makes absolutely no sense, Roy takes on the Jason persona so that he can go on a killing spree of his own. His motivation for vengeance makes (some) sense. But his plan afterwards makes none.
Roy snaps after the death of his son Joey at the hands of Vic, a fellow resident at Tommy’s facility. Using Jason’s return as a cover…Roy slaughters most of the patients and several townsfolk…none of whom are actually responsible for his son’s death. Vic is taken away to jail and, I guess, Roy believes in the justice system? Whatever nonsense reason he decided to dress as Jason and kill so many unrelated people to the crime that set him off…A New Beginning manages to reveal it just as nonsensically.
Outside of one long shot of Roy reacting to the sight of his son’s dead body…we don’t know anything about him until after he is dispatched by Tommy and the other survivors. Only a picture of Joey in his wallet gives any clue to what we just watched for the last hour and a half. It’s a lot to ask of viewers to even remember that this character was in the film…it’s too much to ask of them to care.
So…that out of the way…Friday the 13th: A New Beginning plays out like a regular Jason movie for most of the story. Since we don’t know that it’s an imposter until the end…we can judge what came before it without the sting of betrayal. What comes before it is…kind of a mess too. There are 21 deaths in this movie and many of them are for totally unlikable characters. These movies work best when you care about the people being chased…this is one of the more egregious entries when it comes to rooting for the killer.
There is also an overt sleaziness to the whole thing. Foul mouthed caricatures covered in literal filth mix in with a soft core porn mentality throughout the second act of Friday the 13th: A New Beginning. Averaging a death every four minutes or so, it’s never short on momentum. It is, however, short on character depth. The deaths are also incredibly subdued for a movie that is letting loose in every other direction.
Tommy spends most of the movie mute…so we don’t learn anything interesting about his life post The Final Chapter. When people list Tommy Jarvis as a great horror character…they’re omitting this version. That’s not a comment on the actor. He’s given nothing to work with and less to play off of. Our final girl is Pam (Melanie Kinnaman). She’s fine but also underwritten. She spends the climax trying to protect the young Reggie (Shavar Ross) who, along with his brother Demon (Miguel A. Núñez) probably make out the best with what they’re given.
It’s not all bad though. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning has the one trick up its sleeve that the original 8 Paramount movies can always rely on. It feels like it’s supposed to feel. As we discussed in our review of Friday the 13th (2009), a recurring issue with the later entries in the series is that they don’t feel right. Jason doesn’t work as well outside of the 80s aesthetic of the Paramount years. This isn’t even a Jason movie, and it still looks and feels more like one that anything after Jason Takes Manhattan.
Is that enough to make up for all that it lacks? Honestly? Kind of, yeah. There’s something about the way an original Friday movie feels that makes up for a lot. There’s still a frantic chase (that editing makes both confusing and funny) and some fun moments (Demon’s enchiladas). It’s comfort food. Not particularly tasty…and not good for you in the slightest…but you love it anyway.
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning is a bad movie that you can watch on a loop and never tire of. A brainless plot and characters you don’t mind seeing getting killed somehow just works for a mid-80s slasher movie. And this may be the most mid-80s slasher movie ever made.
Scare Value
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning does a lot more wrong than it does right. The imposter storyline is as poorly executed as it is thought out. While the continuing adventures of Tommy Jarvis was the correct choice…the story doesn’t do his character any favors. All of that said…it has the look and feel of a classic Friday movie. With a high body count and plenty of characters who deserve their fates…A New Beginning has enough of what you want out of it to be passable despite its flaws.
2/5
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning Links
Rent/Buy on VOD from Vudu
Rent/Buy on VOD from Amazon
Buy the Friday the 13th Collection on Blu-Ray from Amazon
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning Trailer
If you enjoyed this review of Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, check out another 80s horror review: Chopping Mall. Or see where it ranks in our series ranking.
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