FRIDAY THE 13TH PART V: A NEW BEGINNING (REVIEW)

Dir. Danny Steinmann

Reviewer. Martyn Wakefield

Take away the blood, schlock and gore and the tepid FRIDAY THE 13TH series was truly dead in the water with its 5th entry. What had made the series such a success all taken away in favour of a PTSD survival story after Tommy struggles with his responsibility of killing Jason Voorhees.

With blink-and-you'll-miss-it deaths and no run up to them, this entry is miles away from the slasher formula that fails to tick any boxes for franchise fans and newcomers alike.

Even with the introduction of a TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE like Sawyer family is a huge misdirect as every death is done almost off screen to perhaps hide budget restraints or take a more conservative approach to a film that's core became a godfather to the video nasty era. Saved with a reference to THE BURNING and an interesting if not spectacular toilet scene, the film feels like a toned down version of itself that similar to the likes of HALLOWEEN IV and HALLOWEEN ENDS, transfers the baton, even if only for a short time, the franchise is served best when it's simply down to brainless hacking and slashing.

Luckily this isn't the last we see of Jason and can be considered the ROCKY V of the FRIDAY THE 13TH saga, it will have fans and purists will indulge what it has to offer but as a solo entry it falls short of the series highs.