8.5/10
The year is 1985, and this fifth installment of the series was released. The supposed 'Final Chapter' had been released the year before, and the filmmakers obviously pulled a Rolling Stones on that farewell. Here's this film, a resurrection from cinema death, a rebirth of a film series that millions of people had grown to love in the five years before. They were honestly as serious as can be when they said that the film was "A New Beginning" though. This film took such a different turn from the installments, because the movie doesn't take place in Camp Crystal Lake, and Jason is no longer the villain of the series. This caused the reception of the film to be awful, by both fans, and critics. I honestly don't see the film to be as bad as what many say, and it's a superb slasher flick.
The film starts off with young Tommy Jarvis(Corey Feldman) being terrorized by Jason Voorhees. This is found out to be a dream, and we are brought to an older Tommy, who is being brought to a mental institution. Here we meet many others that have disorders, and they are terrorized by an unknown villain.
One of the things I really like about this film was the increase of outrageousness. This film took a huge turn in darkness. While I find "The Final Chapter" to be gorier, this one definitely amped up the brutality. The film at the time held the record for body count in the series. The film also showed a lot more onscreen violence than past installments. He killings are also much more creative, and much much more gruesome. A lot of them are cringeworthy.
The suspense in this film is crazy. The moments of running away from the killer are so intense, that they really give a lot of anxiousness to the audience. The scenes were so well do, because the sets and environments were perfect. I especially love when Pam and Reggie are escaping in the woods as a massive thunderstorm takes place. You really can't get a better horror scene than that. The fear of the characters is so realistic, and the killer is as threatening as ever.
In this film, I would call the cast good. John Shepherd was very good as Tommy Jarvis. It was a hard task to take over for Corey Feldman in the role, because his performance was so iconic. I think Shepherd did a fantastic job of being a completely paranoid and occasionally violent version of Jarvis. It was a great idea to bring Jarvis back again, because he was one of the better characters, and they really left a huge cliffhanger of his fate in the previous film. Another standout character in the film was Shavar Ross' character Reggie. Like Tommy Jarvis in Part 4, he really took the role as the cute little kid that you don't want anything to happen to. He did a perfect job of being likable; much like his character on "Different Strokes." Carol Locatell was absolutely hilarious in the role of Ethel. She is so foul, and probably used the f bomb about 30 times her own. Richard Young was also great as Matt, because he was a very likable and genuine guy. Melanie Kinnaman definitely deserves a spot in the 'final girl' hall of fame in her role of Pam, because she had such a vibrant way of expressing her fear. Her screams are really piercing. As a character she was also much smarter and stronger than many of the girls. She had a very likable personality too, and she was great to Reggie.
I think the flow of the film was fantastic. You stay occupied the whole time, and there really isn't anything I could call a dry moment. I think that this is something the series is usually good about, but this one to an even bigger extent. I also feel that this film took a much more serious tone. Even though there is a lot of funny stuff, there really isn't much cheesiness.
I like the fact that the movie changed things up a little. When people saw that there was a new film in the series, they most likely expected another Camp Crystal Lake movie with Jason, but this one as much different. The fact that it takes place in a mental institution gives a huge amount of tension, because the characters themselves have a lot of issues to begin with. I also feel that the mystery of a different killer makes it great, because it brings back the shock of the original.
Many people like to kill on this film. I really don't see it to be nearly as bad as the mainstream calls it. It is a very enjoyable movie, and it really does have some extremely brutal moments. The cast really went above and beyond, and the movie tried to be original. It was also very well directed, and it had a good script. So I cannot call it a bad film at all. I highly recommend watching this film, because while it's not at the top of my list, it is still super fun, and it proves the point that there isn't a bad film of the original Paramount films.
What do you guys think of this film?
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