Yesterday I saw Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) for the first time, also as part of the ‪#‎80sHorrorWeek‬. I have seen the first four Friday the 13th movies before this. 1 and 2 were fantastic entries in the horror genre, 3 was very mediocre and 4 was only half good. Well I’ve seen ‘A New Beginning’ and while its not as good as ‘The Final Chapter’, it still left a better impression on me than Part III did. The storyline, while different this time around, was interesting enough. I know most fans weren’t pleased with the approach the franchise took with this installment but I didn’t mind it to be perfectly honest with you. However, this doesn’t mean that I loved this installment as it was very by-the-numbers and filled with cliches.
The acting performances were pretty much awful. Melanie Kinnaman (as Pam) might be one of the prettiest final girls of the Friday the 13th franchise but her acting is very over the top and flawed in a lot of parts. John Shepherd (Tommy Jarvis), Carol Locatell (Ethel) and Tiffany Helm (Violet) were very solid in this film. The characters weren’t very likeable in this installment as most weren’t even trying to achieve that level. And the kills, while high on body count, were decent but pretty much bloodless. The soundtrack is pretty good, just as in the other installments. The plot twist at the end was surprising and wasn’t a letdown whatsoever, it only made up for most of the film. There aren’t many ‘scary’ scenes in this installment and the suspense is also hard to find. I did love all the scenes with the character of Ethel and the ‘robot dance’ scene with Violet was awesome! (the soundtrack ‘His Eyes’ by Pseudo Echo is my favorite of the entire franchise!)
Overall, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning isn’t one of the better Friday the 13th movies but its definitely fun to watch and I enjoyed this 80’s slasher for what it was, even though it was nothing I’d call outstanding either.
–Ferdi Akkulak