Which is a real problem, but the Ghostbusters got themselves into that lawsuit and-oh, sorry, that's the wrong notes...
Here we are - this film was panned by both fans and critics. Critics because... well, it was the 1980's and this is a slasher film. By the fans because of a slightly more simple fact: Jason Voorhees isn't the killer.
Spoiler alert.
So last time, Tommy Jarvis (then Corey Feldman) had brutally beaten Jason Voorhees to death with a machete. The man was capital D dead and there was no way around it, probably. Rather than just have Jason come back again...well, I already spoiled that, but we'll get into more detail about it later. Tommy (John Shepherd) wakes up from an incredibly vivid dream where Jason comes back to life to find himself being transported to a halfway house being run by a Dr. Matthew Letter (Richard Young, who you might remember as the man who gave Indiana Jones his hat) and Pam Roberts (Melanie Kinnaman, mostly known for this and Best of the Best with Eric Roberts).
They're apparently working on an experimental form of therapy for troubled teens, which roughly translates to "we didn't have the money to film in an actual asylum". Tommy, in the X amount of years since Part 4, has become a ward of the state and shipped from place to place.
What happened to his sister, Trish? No idea, at least not in the films. If you listen to The Tommy Tapes, she finally just dropped him when she couldn't handle what she perceived as his delusions about Jason Voorhees - enhanced by the conspiracy in the town of Crystal Lake to keep Jason a secret for...some reason.
Hey, remember when this series was about a woman who was overcome with grief by the death of her son and determined to make anyone she perceived as being responsible for it pay with their lives? I miss that simplicity.
Nevertheless, after one of the teenagers at the home is killed over a chocolate bar (no, seriously), other teenagers start getting killed off one by one at the hands of a hockey mask-clad killer. Has Jason Voorhees returned from the grave to enact vengeance? Or is something far more mundane and less sinister going on here?
I'll go ahead and be honest here, I do actually enjoy this movie but am more than happy to acknowledge that it's a huge dumpster fire. Believe it or not, though, it's not because of the twist with who the killer actually is. It's just all the things leading up to that and the ending of the film that it kind of cheats out on with Part 6.
I also like Part 6, which definitely isn't a dumpster fire, but we'll get into that when I review Jason Lives.
This is the kind of film that people think of when they try to think of the 80's Slasher Film. Far and away from the earlier entries in the series that emphasized character and endeavored to make the people on the chopping block actually likable, A New Beginning is the point where the series start putting in irredeemable characters such as Ethel Hubbard and Demon. They aren't the only ones, and not every character is of that stripe in this film, but this is definitely the point where the switch started being made in this franchise.
Again, Jason Lives kind of made this film a false start on that trend, but it was inevitable.
The entire film just feels altogether more unpleasant, looking like a low-budget knock off or a terrible porn parody than a legitimate movie. Director Danny Steinmann has even talked about everything he shot that had to be cut out, describing it as "a fucking porno in the woods", given that the sex and drug content was ramped up big time in this one.
Sure, we had the kids smoking weed in Friday the 13th...
And Friday the 13th Part 2...
And Teddy, Jimbo, and all their friends were going full 420 blaze it in The Final Chapter...
But it really got amped up here.
The entire thing feels overall grittier, not like in the 90's sense of dark and gritty that has stuck around in pop culture and unfortunately never left, but just overall unclean and not necessarily easy to look at. It's weird to try and explain, it's really something you need to experience.
John Shepherd gives the single worst performance out of the three actors who have played Tommy. While Corey Feldman did pretty alright as the kid version and Thom Matthews gave a sterling and well-remembered rendition in Part 6, John Shepherd largely plays Tommy as catatonic with some fits of rage at points that I'm sure were intended by producer Joseph Zito to foreshadow his eventual turn into the killer in the franchise.
While that is interesting to know from a behind the scenes perspective, it doesn't really make him appealing to watch. Shepherd was apparently really disappointed to learn that he was just filming another part in the Friday the 13th franchise and it really shows onscreen. This is also a problem because we need a central character who we can relate to...and Tommy really doesn't fit that role in this movie. I do have some thoughts on who could have filled that role, but more on that later.
The rest of the cast range from catatonic (not so much as Shepherd, though) to hilariously over the top (the aforementioned Ethel Hubbard). Melanie Kinnaman in particular tries to do her best with the role of Pam (even effectively being the Final Girl of the film), but was clearly cast only for two reasons that have nothing to do with her acting talent and everything to do with wet t-shirts that are at least two sizes too small.
Not that I am completely against such things, obviously.
The fact remains, however, that this film was in almost every sense a bomb. While it did make back its budget (making around $22 million on a budget of just over $2 million), for once the fans and the critics were both aligned against this movie - just for completely different reasons. Critics hated it because it was a slasher film in the 1980's and that was the popular thing to do as a critic, and fans hated it for the simple fact that the killer wasn't Jason.
...or was that it? Would this film have been any better if Jason had been the killer? Not really. You can honestly take out the twist about the killer and very little would change. Tommy would still be having his hallucinations and mental breakdown and may even lead to the twist of him attacking Pam with a kitchen knife.
...and then there'd be Jason and Tommy running around, and I don't know about you, but that just screams "Slasher-Buddy Cop Film".
Jokes aside, Paramount listened to the fans and we got a very different take on the franchise for the sixth entry - Jason Lives. It's one of the most beloved films by the fans and is often touted as the best in the series since the original. But is it good? You'll have to wait until next October to find out...
As for this movie...I don't know why but I enjoy it? Maybe because it tried to take things in a different direction and failed so spectacularly. It's not my favorite in the franchise, not by a long shot (though it is waaaaaay better than Jason Takes Manhattan), but I enjoy it for what it is: trashy popcorn entertainment. If only there was a way to make it better...
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning was originally made by Paramount Pictures, franchise rights belong with New Line Cinema or possibly Victor Miller alone depending on when this comes out.
For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.
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