Friday the 13th: Part V - A New Beginning Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Friday the 13th: Part V - A New Beginning Blu-ray Movie Review

Where's Jason?

Reviewed by Michael Reuben September 11, 2013

Friday the 13th V: A New Beginning is being released as part of Friday the 13th: The Complete Collection.

The trailer of Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (technically, the "V" isn't part of the title) made effective use of the opening sequence in which young Tommy Jarvis (Corey Feldman, taking a day off from filming The Goonies) witnesses Jason rise from his grave to resume his endless killing spree. Some fans were disappointed when they arrived at the theater only to discover that the Jason in that early sequence was not the one claiming lives in A New Beginning. Indeed, for as long as they possibly could, screenwriters Martin Kitrosser and David Cohen and director Danny Steinman (who also contributed to the screenplay) did their best to keep their killer off camera, leaving the audience in doubt whether it really was Jason.

A New Beginning can be viewed as an attempt to reboot the franchise (in modern parlance) by returning to the mystery of the original Friday the 13th. But as the saying goes, you can't go home again. Fans sufficiently imbued with the Jason mythology that they'd kept the franchise afloat as critics condemned each new entry, and even when the studio said "No more!", were not prepared to start from the beginning. They wanted to see Jason resurrected in a way that honored his previous outings. While one can acknowledge the inventiveness of the plot in A New Beginning, it has an inescapable feel of "been there, done that" by the time we reach the end. For the sake of anyone new to the series, I will leave it at that, but Friday the 13th fans will know what I mean.

In the pouring rain, young Tommy Jarvis (Feldman from the front and an unidentified double from behind), creeps up on two thrill seekers digging up Jason's grave. They get more than they bargained for, as the worm-infested corpse awakens and skewers them both. Jason rises, climbs from the earth, starts for Tommy, and then . . .

A much older Tommy (John Shepherd) awakens in the back of a van bringing him to the Pinehurst Halfway House, an experimental facility operated by Dr. Matthew Letter (Richard Young) and Pam Roberts (Melanie Kinnaman) for troubled teens who have been bounced around too many institutions and foster homes. Tommy fits the profile, having spent years in therapy and on medication attempting to deal with the trauma of killing Jason Voorhees in The Final Chapter.

Pinehurst is a sore point with neighboring farm owner, Ethel Hubbard (Carol Locatell), who objects to having a bunch of crazy kids nearby, especially since one couple, Eddie and Tina (John Robert Dixon and Debi Sue Voorhees—no relation), keep slipping into her tranquil fields to have sex. Ethel's adult son, Junior (Ron Sloan), follows his mom around like a puppy and is subject to a stream of constant abuse. The Hubbards mark the return of a kind of crude "rube" humor that was blessedly absent from The Final Chapter and has been one of the more dubious elements in the Friday the 13th series. (Even the commentary makes note of this.)

Taking a leaf from The Final Chapter's book, A New Beginning adds a kid to the mix: Reggie (Shavar Ross) a/k/a "Reggie the Reckless", grandson of Pinehurst's cook, George (Vernon Washington). Reggie's older brother, Demon (Miguel A. Nunez Jr.), lives in a trailer nearby with his girlfriend, Anita (Jere Fields). All of these characters serve as additional meat for the slaughter to come.

The action of A New Beginning kicks off with a classic, gruesome, Friday the 13th-style murder, but it's one that has nothing to do with Jason Voorhees. Again, for the sake of first-time viewers, I'll leave out the details, but it's an inventive departure from the formula. Sheriff Tucker (Marco St. John) is called, as are two paramedics, Duke and Roy (Caskey Swaim and Dick Wieand). It's a tragic occasion from which everyone tries to move on, but by the next day, more bodies are piling up left and right, all bearing the unmistakable Jason signature. Tommy Jarvis believes the monster has returned, because he keeps seeing him in visions. Even Sheriff Tucker begins to suspect the former killer, but Mayor Cobb (Rick Mancini) won't hear mention of the name "Voorhees".

Director Steinman says in the commentary that he was instructed to provide a death or a "jump" (but preferably a death) every seven or eight minutes, and he certainly racks up a high body count. He even gives Ethel Hubbard a vagrant laborer (Sonny Shields), just to provide an additional victim. It may or may not be a coincidence, but when A New Beginning leads its killer to a final reckoning, it occurs in a barn, which is just where Part 3 concluded. And then, just as Part 3 led directly into The Final Chapter, where we take a trip to the hospital with Jason's body, A New Beginning also goes from the barn to a hospital, where . . . well, you get the idea.

Friday the 13th: Part V - A New Beginning Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

A New Beginning's cinematographer Stephen L. Posey was a horror veteran who would later graduate to directing TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. By this point in the series, the aesthetic of Friday the 13th was sufficiently established that any capable DP could replicate it, and Posey's work fits comfortably with the look of prior entries in the series.

Warner/Paramount's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray of A New Beginning is on a par with its presentation of The Final Chapter , and indeed somewhat better. There are almost no scenes where the film's grain becomes exaggerated to the point where grainophobes are likely to complain; whether that is a function of superior lighting, better film stock or just good fortune, I cannot say. Colors are distinct but not oversaturated, black levels and contrast are appropriately set, and detail is very good without the overly sharp edges that betray digital enhancement. The grain patterns appear natural and undisturbed, and the source material is in excellent condition.

A New Beginning is the first entry in The Complete Collection to share a disc with another film (Jason Lives). Both films have fewer extras than the first four entries, but I was alert for signs of compression artifacts resulting from squeezing these two films (totaling just under three hours) onto a single BD-50. I didn't see any. The average bitrate for A New Beginning is 22.35 Mbps; while not overly generous, this is well within an acceptable range.

Friday the 13th: Part V - A New Beginning Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Once again, an original mono mix has been given a conservative 5.1 remix and presented as lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1. The sound remains almost entirely in front, even during such likely candidates as the opening downpour. Henry Manfredini's score benefits from the enhanced stereo separation and extended dynamic range, while the dialogue remains clear and the screams are piercing.

Fans of The Shining will recognize its familiar opening theme, which makes its first appearance in Manfredini's score for A New Beginning. The original source is the fifth movement of Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique, which was also the favorite love song of the abusive husband in Sleeping with the Enemy.

Friday the 13th: Part V - A New Beginning Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary with Director/Co-Screenwriter Danny Steinman and Cast and Crew: Steinman is joined by actors John Shepherd and Shavar Ross. Michael Felsher, described by Steinman as a producer and writer, joins by telephone, not because he was involved in making the film but because he is a fan. It's a jokey commentary, long on camaraderie but short on information. Steinman sets the tone, and the point that comes through most strongly is how dissatisfied he is with the finished product because of cuts required by the MPAA.



• The Friday the 13th Chronicles, Part V (480i; 1.33:1; 5:51): With a minor contribution from Joseph Zito, Corey Feldman discusses the continuity (or lack thereof) between The Final Chapter and subsequent entries in the series.



• Lost Tales from Camp Blood—Part 5 (1080p; 2.35:1; 7:10): The fifth entry in the 2009 series about an axe-wielding killer.



• The Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited, Part II (1080p; 1.78:1; 10:11): A continuation of the mock TV documentary from The Final Chapter extras.



• New Beginnings: The Making of Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1080p; 1.78:1; 11:04): This retrospective documentary/appreciation of A New Beginning offer comments by fan Michael Felsher, director Steinman, actors Shavar Ross, Tiffany Helm and Dick Wieand, stuntman Tom Morga (who performed some of the "secondary" Jason sequences) and composer Manfredini. Watch for an amusing cameo by Tom Savini.



• Original Theatrical Trailer (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 2:00).

Friday the 13th: Part V - A New Beginning Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A New Beginning has some clever moments, but it's hard not to feel the bottom of the barrel approaching, if not quite being scraped. The sixth chapter in the series would exhaust even the limited possibilities that remained after A New Beginning, before the series disappeared down the telekinetic rabbit hole of The New Blood. Despite the tight space constraints of a double-feature disc, the Blu-ray presentation is worthy. Recommended.