Friday the 13th: A New Beginning

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning[lower-alpha 1] is a 1985 American slasher film directed by Danny Steinmann and starring Melanie Kinnaman, John Shepherd, and Shavar Ross. It is the fifth installment in the Friday the 13th film series. The film is set at a fictional halfway house, where an adult Tommy Jarvis—who killed Jason Voorhees as a child—again fears for his life when a new hockey-masked assailant begins a series of brutal murders. The film features a cameo appearance from Corey Feldman, who portrayed Tommy in the previous film.[2]

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDanny Steinmann
Produced byTimothy Silver
Screenplay by
  • Martin Kitrosser
  • David Cohen
  • Danny Steinmann
Story by
  • Martin Kitrosser
  • David Cohen
Based onCharacters
by Victor Miller
Starring
Music byHarry Manfredini
CinematographyStephen L. Posey
Edited byBruce Green
Production
company
  • Georgetown Productions
  • Terror, Inc.
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • March 22, 1985 (1985-03-22)
Running time
92 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2.2 million
Box office$22 million (US)[1]

A New Beginning features a high number of on-screen murders. Aside from its gore and violence, the film has also become known for its explicit nudity and sex scenes,[3] as well as frequent drug use. Peter Bracke's book Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th details that behind the scenes, the production was plagued with hardcore drug use.

Shot in California in 1984 on a budget of $2.2 million, A New Beginning was released theatrically on March 22, 1985, and grossed $22 million at the U.S. box office. The film was initially going to set up a new trilogy of films with a different villain for the series but, after a disappointing reception from fans and a steep decline in box-office receipts from Part III and The Final Chapter, Jason Voorhees was brought back for the next installment Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986) and has been the main antagonist in the series since. In addition to weak box office returns, most critics gave the film negative reviews.

Plot

The movie begins with young Tommy Jarvis walking in the woods, where he finds the gravestone of Jason Voorhees. Two boys, Les and Neil, dig Jason out of the grave. Before the two can do can anything else, Jason kills them and goes to kill Tommy. It turns out, however, that it was all a dream of teenage Tommy's. Five years after the demise of mass murderer Jason Voorhees, the youngest survivor, Tommy Jarvis, is tormented by nightmares of Jason, which leads to his internment in numerous psychiatric hospitals. He is transferred to the Pinehurst Halfway House, managed by Dr. Matt Letter and his assistant Pam Roberts. Tommy meets a circle of other teens consisting of lovers Eddie Kelso and Tina McCarthy, the stutterer Jake Patterson, the Goth Violet Moraine, the serious Robin Brown, the compulsive eater Joey Burns, and the young Reggie Winter, whose grandfather works as the facility's cook. The group is disliked by their neighbor Ethel Hubbard, as Eddie and Tina have made a habit of engaging in sexual intercourse on her lawn. For this reason, Matt forbids the group from venturing outside the facility's premises. Vic Faden, another patient in the institute, is gripped by a raptus of madness caused by Joey's impertinence and brutally kills him with an axe, leading to his arrest. That evening, two greasers are murdered by an unseen assailant after their car breaks down, and a diner waitress and her boyfriend are killed the following night. The sheriff hypothesizes that Jason Voorhees is the perpetrator of these murders, despite being killed many years ago, while Tommy himself is rendered a suspicious party.

The next morning, Eddie and Tina disobediently go into the forest and have sex. They are spotted by Ethel's farmhand Raymond Joffroy, who is killed soon after. While Eddie leaves to go wash off in the creek, Tina is murdered, and the same fate befalls Eddie. Reggie begs his grandfather for a visit to his brother Demon, who has just returned to town, and Pam offers to accompany him while bringing Tommy along. Tommy meets Ethel's son Junior and gets into a fight with him, but then runs away into the forest after realizing his actions. After Pam and Reggie leave, Demon and his girlfriend are slaughtered. Upon Pam and Reggie's return to the institute, they are warned of the disappearance of Matt and Reggie's grandfather. Pam goes to search for them, entrusting Reggie to Violet, Jake and Robin. At this time, Ethel and Junior are killed, as are Jake, Robin and Violet after Reggie falls asleep. Reggie awakens just as Pam returns, and they discover the trio's corpses in Tommy's room. The killer, who has taken on Jason's image, bursts into the house.

After a long chase in which Pam and Reggie find the corpses of Matt and Reggie's grandfather, Jason is lured into a barn where he is struck by a tractor. Tommy returns and is attacked by Jason, but he manages to defend himself and escape. Tommy manages to throw Jason from the loft window and kill him. "Jason" is revealed to be one of the paramedics (Roy Burns) who arrived at the scene of Joey's murder. The paramedic happened to be Joey's loner father who went insane after his son's death. While recovering in the hospital, Tommy has another hallucination of Jason, but he faces his fears which makes Jason's hallucination disappear. He hears Pam approaching and smashes the window to appear as though he has escaped. When Pam rushes in, Tommy appears from behind the door wearing Roy's hockey mask and wielding a kitchen knife.

Cast

John Hock appeared as Jason Voorhees in the opening dream sequence because Morga was unavailable when the scene was shot. He also performed the stunt where Roy fell off the barn.[4]

Production
The hockey mask design used in A New Beginning.

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning was cast under a fake title, Repetition, and many of the actors in the film were not aware it was a Friday the 13th installment until after they were cast in their roles.[5] Among the unaware cast was lead actor John Shepherd, who spent several months volunteering at a state mental hospital to prepare for the role, and that he felt "really disappointed" to discover that Repetition was actually the fifth entry in the Friday the 13th series.[5] Actor Dick Wieand stated that "It wasn't until I saw Part V that I realized what a piece of trash it was. I mean, I knew the series' reputation, but you're always hoping that yours is going to come out better", and director Danny Steinmann stated that he "shot a fucking porno in the woods there. You wouldn't believe the nudity they cut out."[5]

According to the DVD box set Friday the 13th: Return to Crystal Lake, Corey Feldman was only able to make a cameo appearance in the film as a result of his involvement as an actor in The Goonies, which was released the same year as A New Beginning.[6] Feldman filmed the inserts of his cameo on a Sunday, as that was his off day of shooting his other film, and the footage was shot in the backyard of his family's home in Los Angeles with a rain machine.[7]

The film is the only entry in the Friday the 13th film series to feature a hockey mask design with two blue triangles pointing downward, as opposed to the more common variant of three red triangles, with the lower two pointing upward.[8][9]

Music
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning
Soundtrack album by
Harry Manfredini
ReleasedJanuary 13, 2012
GenreFilm score
Length48:30
LabelLa-La Land

On January 13, 2012, La-La Land Records released a limited edition 6-CD boxset containing Harry Manfredini's scores from the first six Friday the 13th films. It sold out in less than 24 hours.[10]

Release

Home media

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning was released on LaserDisc in 1986,[11] and on VHS in 1994 by Paramount Home Video.[12] Paramount released it in the United States on DVD on September 25, 2001.[13] In 2009, Paramount reissued its Friday the 13th films on DVD in "Deluxe Editions," reissuing A New Beginning on June 16, 2009.[14] This release featured several newly-commissioned bonus materials, including an audio commentary and interviews with the cast and crew.[14]

On September 13, 2013, Paramount and Warner Brothers co-released the Friday the 13th: The Complete Collection Blu-ray box set, featuring each of the twelve films;[15] this marked the first Blu-ray release of A New Beginning.[16] Paramount and Warner reissued the film as a standalone double-feature Blu-ray paired with Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives in 2014.[17] On February 13, 2018, Paramount re-released the film in another box set titled, Friday the 13th: The Ultimate Collection features only the first eight films of the franchise.[18]

Reception

Box office

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning opened on March 22, 1985, on 1,759 screens. The film debuted at number 1 on its opening weekend with a gross of $8,032,883, beating the teen sex comedy sequel Porky's Revenge, the biopic Mask, Berry Gordy's martial-arts action musical The Last Dragon and the Disney dinosaur fantasy Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend.[1] By the end of its theatrical run, the film would earn $22 million at the domestic box office, placing it at number 41 on the list of 1985's top box office earners. The film faced competition throughout the first half of the year against horror releases Cat's Eye and Lifeforce.[1]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning holds a 15% approval rating based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 3.15/10.[19]

Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune criticized the film for a perceived lack of originality, writing: "The new film is not really new. The same killer—a guy wearing a hockey mask and wielding a machete—still haunts a bunch of youngsters, mostly the inmates of a mental hospital," and added that there "is little suspense."[20] Variety wrote: "The fifth Friday the 13th film reiterates a chronicle of butcherings with even less variation than its predecessors."[21] Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote: "It's worth recognizing only as an artifact of our culture."[22] A review in the British film journal Films and Filming was critical of its redundancy in comparison to the previous sequels, with the review noting: "The woods are really spooky...especially when there's one of those giant thunderstorms (and boy! Does that Pam look great in a wet blouse!). And wait till you see what happens when Jason traps this one poor guy in a porta-loo!"[23]

Henry Edgar of the Daily Press wrote: "If you like the others in this series, you'll like this one. If you didn't, stay away. Jason has his own followers, and he seems willing to continue the bloodshed forever."[24] Steve Davis of The Austin Chronicle criticized the film's redundant violence, noting that the film consisted of the "Same screaming, same endless chases, same breasts, same blood, same axe, same lack of explanation, same ending primed for another sequel. Is there a pattern emerging here? In short: same as it ever was, same as it ever was."[25] Scott Meslow of GQ called the film "the bloodiest, most deranged" installment in the series, noting its total of 22 murder sequences.[5] Leonard Maltin awarded the film no stars, writing: "A clever title (after... The Final Chapter) for more gore galore, as gruesome and disgusting as ever."[26]

Writing for Slant Magazine, Jeremiah Kipp wrote: "There’s more plot than usual, involving Jason survivor Tommy Jarvis wondering if the pileup of corpses can be blamed on Jason, a copycat, or himself. But Agatha Christie this ain’t. The tone is crude, raunchy, and leering, with kill scenes combined with more nudity than usual."[27]

Notes
  1. The film's poster and related marketing use the Roman numeral "Part V". However, the copyright notice and the film's on-screen title use "Friday the 13th: A New Beginning".

References
  1. "Friday the 13th - Part V". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
  2. Bracke 2006, p. 120.
  3. TV Guide Staff. "Friday the 13th, Part V: A New Beginning". TV Guide. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  4. Parker, Jason (December 23, 2010). "The Jason Acting Duo Of 'A New Beginning'". Fridaythe13thfilms.com. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
  5. Meslow, Scott (May 13, 2016). "The Bloodiest, Most Deranged 'Friday the 13th' Movie". GQ. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  6. Miller, Mark L. (June 13, 2014). "FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 5: A NEW BEGINNING (1985)". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  7. Farrands, Daniel et al. (2015). Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th (Blu-ray)|format= requires |url= (help). Image Entertainment. ASIN B00YT9IS1G.
  8. Clark, Sean (February 13, 2009). "[13 Days of F13] The Masks of Jason Voorhees!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  9. Parker, Jason (March 22, 2016). "NECA To Release Replica "Roy" Hockey Mask From 'Friday The 13th: A New Beginning'!". Fridaythe13thfranchise.com. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  10. "La-La Land Records: Friday the 13th". La-La Land Records. Archived from the original on January 15, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2012.
  11. Pratt 1988, p. 123.
  12. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (VHS)|format= requires |url= (help). Paramount Home Video. 1994. ASIN 6300214656.CS1 maint: ASIN uses ISBN (link)
  13. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (DVD)|format= requires |url= (help). Paramount Home Video. 2001. ASIN B00005NG6D.
  14. McGaughy, Cameron (June 8, 2009). "Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (Deluxe Edition)". DVD Talk. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
  15. "Friday the 13th: The Complete Collection". High Def Digest. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
  16. "FRIDAY THE 13TH THE COMPLETE COLLECTION Coming to Blu-ray, 9/13". Broadway World. June 11, 2013.
  17. Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning / Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (Blu-ray)|format= requires |url= (help). Paramount Home Video; Warner Home Video. 2015. ASIN B012BYDK90.
  18. "Friday The 13th: The Ultimate Collection (DVD)". Target Corporation. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  19. "Friday the 13th, Part V - A New Beginning (1985)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
  20. Siskel, Gene (March 25, 1985). "Friday the 13th — A New Beginning". Chicago Tribune. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. "Review: 'Friday the 13th – A New Beginning'". Variety. 1985. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
  22. Canby, Vincent (March 23, 1983). "Friday the 13th A New Beginning (1985)". The New York Times. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  23. "Friday the 13th – A New Beginning". Films and Filming. Hansom Books (364–366, 368–375): 40. 1985.
  24. Edgar, Henry (March 30, 1985). "Bloodbath resumes in yet another 'Friday 13th'". Daily Press. Newport, Virginia. p. D2 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. Davis, Steve (April 5, 1985). "Friday the 13th: Part V - A New Beginning". The Austin Chronicle. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  26. Maltin 2008, p. 496.
  27. Kipp, Jeremiah (June 12, 2009). "Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning Film Review". Slant Magazine. Retrieved October 13, 2017.

Works cited
  • Bracke, Peter (2006). Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th (First ed.). London: Titan Books. ISBN 1845763432.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Maltin, Leonard (2008). Sader, Luke; Clark, Mike (eds.). Leonard Maltin's 2009 Movie Guide. New York: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-452-28978-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Pratt, Douglas (1988). The Laser Video Disc Companion: A Guide to the Best (and Worst) Laser Video Discs. New York: New York Zoetrope. ISBN 978-0-918-43286-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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