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Film / Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning

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There was a man so cold, no life was in his eyes...

"If Jason still haunts you, you're not alone!"

A New Beginning is the fifth film in the Friday the 13th series, released in 1985.

Several years have passed after Tommy Jarvis's traumatic encounter with Jason in The Final Chapter, and he has been spending that time by going through many mental institutes, with no sign of getting better. Now he has been moved to Pinehurst Cottage, a halfway house for troubled teenagers near Crystal Lake. Things don't start well when one of the residents is murdered by another, and soon afterwards a killer starts offing people in the surrounding area. Has Jason Voorhees returned once again?

The now laughable subtitle of the previous film was still somewhat true at the time, as this film was meant to move the series in a new direction beyond Jason Voorhees after he was Killed Off for Real, but after its poor reception, the producers changed course and brought Jason back in the next installment by literally bringing him Back from the Dead.


This film has examples of:

  • Aborted Arc: The Sequel Hook shows that Tommy is wearing a hockey mask and is presumably going to attack Pam. This isn't followed up on in the next film.
  • Asshole Victim: The grave robbers in Tommy's nightmare, and Ethel and her son Junior.
  • Ax-Crazy: Aside from the obvious, there's Victor, who hacks up Joey in a fit of rage.
  • Berserk Button: Don't scare Tommy or touch his masks.
    • When Vic says to leave him alone, leave him alone.
  • Big Damn Heroes:
    • Reggie saving Pam with an earthmover.
    • Tommy almost qualifies as that and a Heroic Sacrifice since his confronting fake Jason caused the killer to stop perusing Pam and Reggie, giving them time to hide in the barn roof.
  • Big "NO!": Tommy's opening nightmare ends with him screaming this.
  • Barrier-Busting Blow: When our masked assailant enters for the climax, it's through an exploding door.
  • Book Ends: The film opens and ends with Tommy going through a violent Nightmare Sequence, then waking up from it.
  • Brick Joke: In the fourth movie's title sequence, the hockey mask was destroyed by the subtitle. Here, the hockey mask destroys the subtitle.
  • Bullying a Dragon: Junior does this to Tommy, only for him to violently beat him up as a result.
  • Camping a Crapper: Happens to Demon.
  • Captain Obvious:
    • When Joey sees Tommy's arrival at Pinehurst, he wonders aloud that "he must be the new kid".
    • The next day after Joey's death, Violet is informed that she set too many places on the breakfast table. Fair enough, people make mistakes, but then Jake falls on this territory by telling her that "you don't set a place for dead person".
  • Casting Gag: Debi Sue Voorhees was cast more or less entirely for the novelty of her sharing a last name with the series' iconic villain. Ironically, since Jason isn't the killer in the film, she doesn't actually have any screen time with her famous "relative".
  • Cat Scare: Diner's cat scares Lana when she's about to go out with Billy.
  • The Cavalry Arrives Late: The help arrives after the main villain's demise.
  • Chainsaw Good: Used for defense the second time in the series, then the gasoline runs out...
  • Chekhov's Gun:
    • First thing that Tommy sees when he arrives at Pinehurst is an Earthmover; Reggie will use it to save Pam later in the film.
    • Tommy's knife, which he later uses to defend himself.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Roy, the father of the movie's first victim.
  • Children Are Innocent: The only reason why Tommy didn't beat up Reggie for scaring him or playing with his masks. He instead scares him back and warns him not to touch them.
  • Cigar Chomper: Sheriff Tucker.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Jason's methods become much more creative than the ol' slash & stab. Justified, as it isn't really Jason.
  • Comedic Sociopathy: Played with in regards to Violet. She seems quite amused at seeing Tommy beat up Eddie, but on the other hand, she's just as horrified as the others at seeing Joey be murdered by Vic, and she's seen trying to comfort Robin, who also witnessed the event. Duke plays this straight, however, being downright amused at the sight of Joey's body.
  • Continuity Nod: Tommy still has self-made monster masks, like in the previous film.
  • Country Matters: Pete isn't a nice person, and uses this to refer to the women who are waiting for him and Vinny.
  • Covers Always Lie: One poster for the film was clearly designed by someone who hadn't seen it and was only vaguely informed that it featured a hockey mask, as the mask doesn't look anything like the one in the movie.
  • Creepy Crows: A random crow flies on the scene after Raymond's death. After Tina and Eddie are dead too, it leaves.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Junior tries to pick a fight with Tommy, and gets his ass kicked.
  • Da Chief: Mayor Cobb comes off like this when he pesters Sheriff Tucker to solve the murders.
    Mayor Cobb: Your ass is on the line here, Tucker. Are you getting that?
  • Danger Takes a Backseat: After finally getting his car started, Pete gets his throat slit. Resulting in. . .
  • Dead Man Honking: . . . his head hitting the steering wheel, resting on the horn.
  • Demonic Possession: Implied in the ending.
  • Destination Defenestration: George's eyeless corpse is hurled through a window.
  • Developing Doomed Characters: This is typical for all Friday the 13th movies, but this one goes to the extremes with this trope, since here we have more than 20 characters who get introduced with their names and short backstories only to get killed off!
  • Disney Villain Death: Roy is killed when he falls off a farm loft, then impaled on a tractor harrow.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Victor kills Joey just for annoying him.
  • The Dog Was the Mastermind: The killer turns out to be Roy, one of the two EMTs from early in the film. Blink and you'll miss him.
  • Dramatic Thunder: Thunder rumbles and lightning flashes when Jason raises his machete to kill Tommy in the opening Nightmare Sequence.
  • Eye Scream: Tina gets both of her eyes gouged out with gardening shears.
    • Her boyfriend's eyes are crushed with a belt around a tree, as well.
    • And later in the same movie, Reggie's grandpa is found dead with his eyes gouged out.
  • Evil Laugh: Tommy laughs evilly after stabbing Pam in his second Nightmare Sequence.
  • Fanservice: The nudity, it's so gratuitous! Except for Lana flashing her boobs in a mirror. That was completely necessary for the plot. Even the Final Girl spends the climax in a Sexy Soaked Shirt with no bra.
  • Final Girl: Pam.
  • Flipping the Bird: After giving her ultimatum to stay away from her property to the residents of Pinehurst, Ethel hops on her son's motorcycle and gives Sheriff Tucker the finger before leaving the scene.
  • Foreshadowing: The hockey mask in this film has blue markings on it instead of red ones, foreshadowing that the real killer isn't Jason at all.
    • Then there's the moment where a deputy tells Sheriff Tucker that there's a maniac on the loose, and the camera then cuts to Roy giving them a glance. Roy even asks Sheriff Tucker if he's talking to him.
    • And that bit where Roy sees Joey's chopped-up corpse, his reaction and that little evil musical cue in the background, in retrospect, should have raised an alarm or two.
    • When Pam and Reggie run out of Pinehurst after Jason attacks, they find an ambulance conveniently parked a bit away, with Duke the asshole EMT who'd made fun of Joey's death dead in the driver's seat... at which point "Jason" emerges from the other side of the ambulance, almost as though he'd been sitting in the other seat. It's practically a confession.
    • Jason is noteworthily more fragile than he was in previous movies, collapsing in agony from a pocket knife to the leg and staggering for several seconds from a cut to the shoulder. Unlike Jason, Roy is an ordinary human with no Super-Toughness.
    • Jason's hands are noticeably darker than his head. After his death, it's shown that Roy wore a rubber mask of Jason's face under his hockey mask.
  • Gender-Blender Name: Robin.
  • Grave Robbing: The film opens with two guys disturbing Jason's grave.
  • Groin Attack: Was originally going to happen to one of the female victims and was actually filmed, but they realized the MPAA would never let it through, so they re-filmed her death with a new method.
  • Hallucinations: Tommy has hallucinations about Jason standing around menacingly a few times.
  • Handyman: Raymond, the vagrant that appears on Ethel's doorstep and is then employed by her to work for food after claiming to be one.
  • Harmful to Minors: Events of The Final Chapter messed up Tommy Jarvis bad.
  • Heroic BSoD: Tommy, when he's not panicking or attacking anyone.
  • Hostile Weather: It's raining and thundering in the opening and the climax.
  • Idiot Ball: Pinehurst. It is fair enough that they let the kids do whatever they want, as it's supposed to help them re-enter society. However doing so allows two of the residents to go outside their boundaries and have sex on Ethel's farm which nearly get them arrested, as well as later on killed.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Thanks to some conveniently placed tractor harrows.
  • Impromptu Tracheotomy: Les gets an icepick into his throat in the opening.
  • Informed Flaw: All the teens at the halfway house seem to have some kind of social or personality problem, except for Robin.
  • Interface Spoiler: The DVDs with chapter listings give away the twist with the name of the last chapter: "Copycat Killer".
  • In-Series Nickname: Reggie tells in his introductory scene that he's called Reckless, which is held up by the fact that his grandfather and brother call him that.
  • Jerkass: Duke the ambulance worker, who after seeing the kids recoil from the sight of Joey's mutilated corpse, calls them pussies. Ethel and Junior also count, as they are very antagonistic and showcase no good qualities. And then there's Vic...
  • Karma Houdini: Roy never went after Vic, the guy who actually killed his son. He did get arrested though.
  • Kiai: Ethel's take on preparing chicken for supper.
  • Kill the Cutie: Violet's fate.
  • Killed Offscreen: Matt, George and Duke all get killed offscreen, with their bodies discovered when Pam is fleeing from Jason.
  • Lack of Empathy: After seeing the cast recoiling in horror at the sight of their mutilated friend, an ambulance worker calls them a "bunch of pussies".
  • Legacy Character: The ending implies Jason is going to become one. Tommy puts on Jason's mask and is clearly about to kill. However, poor fan reception led to the abandonment of the idea.
  • Lightning Reveal: When Reggie enters Tommy's room to see if he has returned, it's dark until a lighting strike shows him that the room is filled with corpses.
  • Made of Iron: Roy Burns takes a ton of damage and still continues to menace Tommy, Pam and Reggie.
  • Menacing Stroll: Jason walking towards Tommy in the opening.
  • Mirror Scare: The first Jason hallucination manifests itself this way.
  • Misplaced Retribution:
    • Joey's father, Roy, proceeds to kill everyone near and around Pinehurst except Victor, the guy who actually killed his son.
    • Somewhat justified, as Victor, the man who butchered his son, was taken into police custody, before Roy could get to him. Still doesn't explain why he goes after the rest of the kids.
  • Momma's Boy: Junior, a man-child who still lives his mother and comes screaming for her when he is hurt.
  • Neck Lift: Violet is lifted up against the wall before being stabbed.
  • Nightmare Sequence: The film opens with one and another one takes place before the ending.
  • Offscreen Teleportation: Jason, of course. At one point, he barges into Pinehurst through the front door, prompting Pam and Reggie to run out the back door in the opposite direction. After going through the woods for a bit, they find an ambulance... with the driver dead and Jason already hiding behind the far side of the ambulance, having somehow passed them unseen despite them running in a straight line away from him.
  • Off with His Head!: Junior gets his head chopped off when he is riding his bike.
  • Porky Pig Pronunciation: Jake stutters, which leads to a failed courting attempt of Robin because it makes her laugh.
  • The Quiet One: Tommy speaks only 24 words during the film.
  • Raised by Grandparents: Reggie was raised by his grandfather George.
  • Red Herring:
    • The hints that Tommy might be doing the killings.
    • Jason himself, as someone else is responsible for the killings.
    • The creepy stranger who shows up out of nowhere to offer Ethel his services.
  • Replacement Flat Character: Reggie is basically what Tommy was at the start of the fourth movie: an innocent kid who thinks horror stuff is cool, and whom ends up helping fight the bad guy in the end.
  • The Reveal: "Jason" is revealed to be ambulance driver Roy Burns, who donned Jason's costume to kill the teenagers (and other random people) because of the death of his illegitimate son Joey early in the film.
  • Riddle for the Ages: Why did Roy never target Victor, the man who actually killed his son? Then again he would have been in police custody so unreachable for him
  • Sexy Soaked Shirt: Due to the climax of the film taking place during a thunderstorm, Pam's white button-down blouse quickly gets soaked and stays that way. And she forgot to wear a bra that day.
  • Shoot the Shaggy Dog: The whole movie is just a bunch of shaggy dogs being killed for no good reason.
  • Sir Swears-a-Lot: Ethel, who drops many f-bombs in her appearances.
  • Stop Copying Me: Junior has a tendency to copy everything Ethel says. Even when she barks at him to stop, he does it. He also mimics her chopping motion at one point (though that might have been because he found it amusing).
  • Too Dumb to Live: Joey. Dear GOD, Joey. When a literal mental patient currently chopping wood with an ax tells you to get lost, do so.
  • Traitor Shot: The moment where Roy Burns gives a pissed-off look after covering up Joey's body, and a sinister sting is accompanying it.
  • Vertigo Effect: Used when Pam goes looking for the missing persons and the camera lingers on those who are staying in the Pinehurst Cottage.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: A bunch of characters (such as the pair of greasers and Lana, the blonde waitress) get introduced only to be killed almost immediately.
  • Wham Shot: Roy is revealed as the killer when the audience gets a closeup on "Jason's" corpse, and sees his face instead.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: We never find out what happened to Victor after he got arrested.
  • Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Tommy has no problem kicking the shit out of two people that startle him, but when Reggie does it, he out-scares him with his homemade masks.
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: After being hit with the tractor, Roy Burns takes a moment to examine the massive wound bleeding heavily on his chest. He gets an even more extreme one inside the barn when Tommy sticks his pocket knife between his legs, causing him to cover his eyes in excruciating pain. Even though he follows Jason Voorhees' modus operandi, he does not have Jason's immunity to pain or his fast-healing abilities.

"There's a man with no life in his eyes..."

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