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FRIDAY THE 13TH PART V:
A NEW BEGINNING (DELUXE EDITION) |
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| Actors: John Shepard, Melanie Kinnaman, Shavar Ross, Richard Young, Carol Locatell |
| Director: Danny Steinmann |
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Distributor: Paramount |
| DVD release: 16 June 2009 |
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Runtime: 92 minutes (1 disc) |
| Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC |
| DVD features: Aspect ratio 2.35:1, Audio tracks (Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - English; Mono - English, French, Spanish), Subtitles (English, French, Portugese, Spanish), Commentary (director/co-screenwriter Danny Steinmann and cast members), Lost Tales from Camp Blood - Part V, The Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited Part II, New Beginnings: The Making of Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning, Original theatrical trailer |
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I know the Friday the 13th series isn't exactly The Godfather trilogy or the Star Wars saga, but some entries, especially Part 1 and Part 4 , are actually pretty well made and scary. The same cannot be said for Part 5: A New Beginning. In almost every aspect, this movie is just really, really bad.
The plot: Tommy Jarvis (played by Corey Feldman in Part 4, now shown as an adult and played by John Shepard in Part 5), has become a troubled mute and is sent to a secluded halfway house for troubled teens. When fellow teens, staff, and neighbors start falling one by one, Tommy believes that Jason has returned from the grave, while the local police suspect that Tommy himself might be the culprit.
Such a plot could have worked if given a competent script, direction and acting, but alas, none of that is found here.
- The direction is sloppy. For instance, one female character running from Jason has a pink sweater tied over her shoulders 80's style that magically disappears and reappears between shots. Furthermore, a fresh victim is clearly still breathing when the camera shows her supposed corpse.
- The cast is comprised of clichés and stock characters. For one, there is an obnoxious white trash mother and son who live near the camp (unlike any other member of the cast, both have thick hillbilly accents). Also, out of nowhere, two leather jacketed guys show up who seemed to have headed straight for the camp from their Grease audition.
- The "regular" cast is no better, as their actions and dress will remind the viewer of everything bad about the '80s. One character has a bad Jeri Curl 'do like that seen on Rockwell or Jermaine Jackson. His girlfriend looks so much like Ola Ray (the heroine in Michael Jackson's famous Thriller video) that the director asks on the commentary track if she's actually Ola Ray). There is also a female character with a bad blonde-with-brunette-tips perm that is a reminder of Madonna's hair in Desperately Seeking Susan
 . One of the "highlights" of the film is this half-robot, half-moonwalk dance she does late in the movie. - Finally, the ending is shout-back-at-the-screen lame, particularly when Jason just seems to stand there and wait for someone to hit him with a bulldozer (he only had about, say, half a minute to move before it got to him).
This is the worst movie in the series. There are almost no suspense or scares. The plot is full of holes and rather silly. The characters are annoying for the most part and not worth caring about. Also, gore hounds will be sorely disappointed with the tame kills. I recommend this DVD only to collectors and avid fans of the series who want to complete their Friday the 13th collection. Otherwise, there are hundreds of better, scarier horror films out there.
Extras:
- Commentary track by director Danny Steinman and stars John Shepard and Shavar Ross.
- A continuation of Tales from Camp Blood (Part 5)
- New Beginnings: The Making of Friday 13th Part V: A New Beginning
- The Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited Part 2, a continuing parody of the true-crime features from A&E with the Jason murders as its angle.
- Original trailer
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