Money...that's what kept this franchise alive even after a 'Final Chapter.' The producers couldn't ignore a huge profit...so they didn't. A year later they came up with a fresh take on the series. It's one of the most controversial films in the series. I think it in ways is the worst and in many ways is the best.
As always, we begin with the trailer. Again, the trailer is lackluster. However, the tagline is not: If the memory of Jason still haunts you...you're not alone. Fantastic advertising. It totally plays on the nostalgia factor to the fans, plus gains new interest.
As far as the movie itself...this is the first film in the series to have a character who survives two films. Tommy Jarvis is back and better than ever. This is the best the Tommy character will ever be: tortured, mental, quiet, aggressive, but ultimately heroic. If you're not familiar with the ending, you could possibly think that Tommy himself is the killer. The film hints the entire time that it could be Tommy who's completely delusional and doesn't even know he's killing people. That's, however, not the case.
Apart from the amazing Tommy character who seems like a character from a drama, not a Friday the 13th film, the film's characters suck. While Tommy is completely serious and troubled, the rest of the characters are jokey and over the top. If you thought the characters in the first four were over the top, wait till you see these characters! The characters in the previous sequels were bland, these are annoying!
Pam as a final girl is only impressive at the end. It's very surprising to me how little time we actually spend with our final girl, but hey, Tommy's the real star of the film. Pam is nice, older, and has a good heart. She runs the institute/halfway house that Tommy arrives at. She does everything she can to make Tommy feel at home. She encourages him to go out and escape when she takes Reggie to visit his brother. As far as the end chase. She runs a little, but she fights back with a chainsaw! This is definitely one of the most powerful final girls we've seen so far. It's really quite sad that overall her character and actress are so forgettable.
A New Beginning didn't stand a chance against the MPAA. The MPAA gave The Final Chapter a lot of leeway because they assumed it would be the final entry in the series and they'd never have to deal with Friday the 13th again. Well, a year later when a new Friday film was submitted, they butchered the edit. There is not a single death scene that remains in it's entirety in the whole film. I don't know how impressive those effects would have been, but I don't feel right about critiquing something I can't see in it's entirety. The two death scenes that are standouts are back to back. Tina and Eddie. They both have deaths to do with eyes. It's really gross to think about...it's unfortunately the only impressive kills in the whole film. That's REALLY saying something because this film has the highest death count thus far: 21.
We cannot finish this review without discussing the ending. Tommy's not the killer, but neither is Jason. It's Roy, the ambulance driver. Roy saw that his son was murdered at the hands of a fellow institutioner. He blamed the Institute and decided to kill everyone involved in it and in the surrounding areas. While I like this twist, the audience didn't. I think it goes back to the charm of the original. Who's the killer? What's the motive? It goes back to it, only this time you see a hockey masked killer and think it's Jason the entire time. Jason's never been the BIGGEST appeal to the franchise for me, so it doesn't really affect me. I like how Tommy thinks he's crazy. I like that the sheriff tries to blame it on Jason and nobody believes him. It was incredibly smart writing...possibly too smart for a Friday film? You need to give the audience what they want, a lesson that was taken from this film.
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning was released on March 22, 1985. On a budget of $2.2 million, it was number 1 at the box office on it's opening weekend. The film is a lot of fun, deep in parts, and unbelievably annoying at others. It's incredibly uneven. In total, the film made $21,930,418. The money came in for the film, but the ending really upset the fanbase. Wanting to erase that this film had a copycat killer, the producers had to think on their feet really quickly. They had to bring Jason back to life, but how...well, we'll discuss that next time.
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