Movie Review- Friday the 13th: A New Beginning

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning marks the gradual decline of the Friday the 13th series. People often bash this film for the exceptionally thin plot, the exceptionally thin characters, and lack of Jason. This might be one of the worst films in the franchise, but boy is it entertaining. Much like Part 3, which was often unintentionally hilarious, Part 5 is so contrived and over-the-top that the end result is a very entertaining slasher film.

The story picks up several years after Part 4, and Tommy Jarvis is now in a mental institution. Shortly after arriving, some kid gets ax-murdered by one of the patients after a dispute over a chocolate bar. That scene pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the film; extremely goofy and violent. Soon after, a copycat Jason goes around randomly killing people on his way to the mental institution. We then get a final showdown sequence, and after faux-Jason is dispatched, it's revealed that the killer was the father of the kid that got ax-murdered. It's a pretty lame twist, but at least there was a twist instead of the killer just being the crazed ax-murderer. A lot of people complain about this movie because Jason isn't actually in it. I personally thought this was a refreshing plot point. By slightly distancing itself from the other films, Part 5 prevents itself from copying the exact same plot of the previous 4, giving a bit of fresh air into the series.

The characters this time are thinner than ever. Several characters are introduced only to be killed five minutes later, and the only character with any depth is Tommy, but much of his character is just carried over from the previous film. That's not to say these characters aren't hilarious, though. All of the teens at the mental institution are comically over-the-top with their delivery, and because of the lack of character development, many of the characters seem to act at random, making for some very unexpected laughs here and there. The minor characters are hilarious, too. There's a foul-mouthed hillbilly and her son, who live next to the institution and do nothing but act like rednecks and swear. It's extremely juvenile but entertaining. There are also two greaser-looking kids who show up pretty early in the film. They get killed off quickly, but their time on screen is hilarious; one of the characters starts randomly singing to himself before getting killed by faux-Jason, and it's as funny as it is very unfitting for a slasher movie.

The death scenes are all very ridiculous and over the top in Part 5, which makes this film very enjoyable. There's a bizarre death by belt to the face, and an equally weird death by road flare to the mouth. There's a few generic axings and the obligatory "someone gets stabbed while in bed" scene. The makeup effects are pretty decent throughout, but for some reason we rarely seen any violence on screen. Most of what we see is the aftermath of the killing, which doesn't take nearly as much effort to pull off as a special effect. As someone who loves special effects, I couldn't help but feel slightly cheated.

Overall, this is a very campy and ridiculous slasher film. It doesn't feel like a Friday the 13th movie, but more of a parody of the series. The ridiculousness doesn't seem intentional however, and we're left with a slasher movie that doesn't realize how hilariously terrible it is. It's definitely a terrible movie, but it's just as enjoyable as the first four films, just not in the same way. This is definitely a film worth watching if you like the campier stuff.

Entertainment- 4/5

Quality- 2/5

IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089173/