Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)

“You better watch out for the snake that’s going to crawl up that crapper and bite your ass.”

This is the film in the franchise that everyone hates because Jason isn’t in it. You’re not supposed to like it. And, let’s face it, I haven’t much liked the Friday the 13th franchise so far which so far has consisted of a series of increasingly formulaic and by-the-book slashers. So, although it would be heretical to start liking this of all films in the series, chances are slim, right?

Well, sorry. Grab your torches and pitchforks and start laying siege to my castle. I like this film. It’s quite good. Now, let’s not exaggerate: I wouldn’t use a stronger phrase than “quite good”. But quite good it is. It’s well structured, well shot, the deaths may be quite similar and mostly done with knives but they’re well done with lots of suspense. And, even better, with Jason out of the picture there’s a real mystery to the killings. Tommy from the last film is all grown up and ready to be the red herring here, carefully kept away from the murders until revealed not to be the killer at the climax... until he shows himself to have a Jason mask and actually sets out to be the second Jason copycat killer. It’s all quite clever and asks as a rather good origin story for Tommy/Jason which, I’m fairly sure, will never be followed up on.

The identity of the real killer is cleverly done, too; a real surprise but the clues were there, fair and square. As a film about the legacy of Jason rather than Jason himself it, er, actually works better. Sorry. Also, the characters are actually likeable and have personalities, even if one of them does look rather creepily like Michael Jackson, who in 1985 was known as the “King of Pop” rather than as a notorious child molester- that’s one thing that’s dated. But no review of this film would be complete without a mention of the splendidly sweary Ethel, who deserves a film of her own.

So, yeah, I quite liked it. Soz.