I’m gonna go ahead and assume the threat in this film’s subtitle, “A New Beginning”, scared mid-80s critics more than the actual film scared its audience.
Hmm, I apologise for that stock smart alec remark, but I’ve been sitting on it for 93 minutes.
Anyway, I started watching this fifth instalment of the much-disrespected but never-ending Friday the 13th series with the belief that I would have absolutely nothing to say about it whatsoever. Seriously, I actually almost turned it off before the titles appeared, planning to watch it another day when I felt less apathetic. I’m glad persevered though, as I was thoroughly charmed by this strangely sweet movie.
One of my first comments was going to be: “Corey Feldman puts more effort into his brief cameo in the opening scene than any of the main actors do for the rest of the movie”, but I had to bin that straight away, as Part V is filled with some very earnest performances by a handful of still-unknowns. I recognised a face here and there, but none of the names stood out in the cast list. The performances are where this film really shines, which I’m guessing were coaxed out by a director who turned up on set every day with a notepad full of ideas, instead of just an unread copy of the script.
A rare feat in the b-movie industry, for sure.
While the overall blocking and camera movements aren’t particularly dazzling, the director seems to pay close attention to smaller moments, like when characters are thinking or reacting during a conversation. Again, that shows thought was put into scenes ahead of time, which I can’t help but appreciate.
The film appears to be a murder mystery, even though it forgets to set up a murder mystery. In fact, it almost comes as an afterthought that “Jason” isn’t really Jason. But, then again, you could run with the meta-theory that none of the Jasons in this series are really Jason. The real Jason Voorhees drowned in a lake when he was a child. Each film has some random asshole going around murdering people, then latterly gets tagged with the “Jason” cryptid identity. I dunno, but this film’s twist reveal really didn’t bother me.
I think to be bothered one would need to be mildly invested.
While the film unfolded, I felt like the kills would have benefited from the audience being able to see Jason sneaking up on his victims, as the blunt jump-scares are pretty dull. Not terrible, just dull. I was also disappointed that Tommy Jarvis didn’t do anything clever at the end, he just stabs Jason with his “gun in the first act” penknife. Still, the moment when the two characters finally face off in silence did elicit a chill through me, which I did not expect.
You know, an emotion.
I really liked the character of the little kid Reggie, especially when he’s sassing the ladies. The bit where he says: “Yo, Pam, come here, baby!” to his mature guardian made me laugh out loud. I also genuinely cheered: “Yay! Reggie!” when he charges at Jason in the bulldozer. The bit where his brother is being sung to by his girlfriend while he’s straining on the toilet seemed weird, until I remembered my dad used to do the same thing for me when I was little.
Errr… is this not where we share that kind of stuff?!
Like the sympathetic Crispin Glover in the previous instalment, I was sad when the stuttering character of Jake is dispatched. I actually thought, after they get a hero shot all of their own, that the inhabitants of the psychiatric home were going to team up and successfully fight Jason together. But no, they mostly all just die.
I believe there’s a theme within this movie about the citizens outside the home being the ones who really should be inside it, but thankfully the screenwriter doesn’t labour the point. It’s there if you want it, but it doesn’t wave its hands around for attention.
Along with the attentive directing, the cinematography is incredibly lush, reminding me very much of the work of Dean Cundy. That’s actually been the surprising thing about all of these films so far - none of them look particularly cheap. They probably were cheap to make, but that certainly doesn’t come across in the filmmaking. Usually that appears in the form of the acting, but, again, everyone is putting in the effort hear.
So, yes, I now regret leaving it 3 months to continue reviewing this series. My excuse is a combination of boredom in essentially watching the same movie over and over again, and a simple slide into nihilistic depression. Believe me, you don’t get much done when you just don’t care about anything anymore. Well, hopefully that negativity is over for the time being, as it felt great taking the time to watch something with a critical eye and make notes, instead of just dribbling in front of cooking shows with a glass* of whisky in my hand.
Hopefully, my review of Jason Lives won’t take as long to appear.
Do stay in touch, darlings.
Toodles!
*bottle
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