Friday the 13th, Part V: A New Beginning (Deluxe Edition) – DVD Review
The Film:
The one nobody likes. The worst one. These were the things I have always heard about Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning, and one of the chiefs reasons I always skipped out on seeing it. It certainly has a bad wrap, but is it justifiable or just misunderstood?It’s neither, as it isn’t a good film at all, but we’re talking about the Friday the 13th films here, so I think that’s excusable. It has to do a few things right for us to embrace it, as a horror film, as a slasher, and as a Jason movie. Coming hot off the heels of the minor classic Final Chapter, A New Beginning it feels like Halloween III: Season of the Witch, where it’s sort of the bastard film in the franchise. Jason is not the killer, just a sick copycat, but looking back at it years later, Jason’s presence is everywhere. The kills feels abbreviated, but are still pretty mean. The film’s biggest flaw, well not counting that Jason is dead and gone, and we got a copycat, is that the focus should be on Tommy Jarvis, here years later after killing Jason, he is mentally ill from the experience. He should be our focus and is not. He barely talks, and is regulated to the sidelines as a secondary character, while the other characters the film follows, are nothing more than fodder for carnage.
Part V feels like a collection of kills, more so than the other films, and its story is paper thin, even by slasher film standards. So no Jason, no main character, and a thin plot, this film is wretched, right? No entirely true. There’s some bleak dark humor here, more than any other Jason film, that was a tough pill to swallow back in 1985. Despite its obvious flaws, the film is pretty fun, mostly because of oddball scenes like when Tommy is scared by a guy in a Wolfman mask, instead of lightening up, he body slams him through a table! When a guy chopping wood is irritated beyond belief by this fat kid offering him chocolate, instead of telling him to bug off, he axes him to death! These scenes are ones we secretly picture happening, that never come true, unless you’re A new Beginning.
I find it odd, that no fan offers this film as a bridging film from the human Jason to the zombie Jason. In this film, Jason is dead and gone for real, but his essence peeks up from time to time. His presence is a character too, offering us a dick tease of the real thing, which is resurrected in the more popular Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives! It doesn’t work as a good film, nor as a good horror film, but as a Friday film, it gets a bad wrap as being the worst (that belong to Jason X), when it should be viewed as a primer to zombie Jason, the more popular version of the character. A few laughs, a few good bits of nudity, some of the wackiest Friday characters, and some good kills (although rather un-gory), it works as what it is, nothing more, nothing less.
The DVD:
Audio/Video: Very slight improvement over the 2004 DVD, but regardless, this is a great looking disc. The audio too is a nice 5.1 mix. Paramount has done a stellar job, and as each sequel rolls on, the newer films look damn good. A Blu Ray will only be better.
Commentary: Steinmann, the director, offers up a laid back but odd track as he tells of various production tales, but also has this borderline fun/sarcastic attitude on the track. He loves to make mention of the girl’s boobs, though. There’s some more participants adding to the lightheartedness of the track. Pretty decent for the fans of the film, but one wishes the recorded but M.I.A. Fan track was here.
New Beginnings: Short and quick, running 13 minutes, this will give most casual fans a good bit of info on the making of the film. I enjoyed it, but be advised more info can be found in books and in the My Name is Jason documentary.
Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited II: Running about 10 minutes, this is an all-new mockumentary thing, that is okay, but gets old fast.
Lost Tales from Camp Blood 5: Another fan made short film, pretty decent compared to what we have seen so far.
Trailer
Conclusion: Solid little plate of extras for the third time A New Beginning has been out on DVD. Imagine that? Great disc for Friday fans.
Rating: 
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