Friday the 13th Part V: The Unmasking of a Franchise

Would someone please tell me why this is even a part of the Friday the 13th series? Did the producers and studio bigwigs not learn anything from Halloween III: Season of the Witch? If you are going to make a Friday the 13th movie it must have Jason Voorhees in it. Not in a flashback, not in a dream sequence. Jason Voorhees must be the machete wielding, teenager hacking antagonist. Fans of this series will not settle for just any idiot wearing a hockey mask, I don’t care what reason he has for putting it on and acting like our beloved Mr. Voorhees.

Also, would someone please tell me where they got the actors for this one? Did K-mart run a blue light special on actors? I suppose since the idiots in the studio were on a roll and decided to make a Friday film without Jason, they may as well use bargain-bin actors in it, too. I mean, hey, the real Jason got to kill Crispin Glover for crying out loud. Who does this fake loser get to obliterate but some guy whose biggest acting job was the lead in his sixth grade production of “Annie, Get Your Gun”.

Hockey-masked slasher Jason Voorhees was dead and buried after 1984’s billed “Final Chapter.” But he was soon exhumed for 1985’s Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, which attempted to reboot the indestructible franchise by introducing a new murderer. While fans craved Jason’s return, Part V remains a derided yet fascinating detour.

With Jason decapitated, Part V shifts focus to Tommy Jarvis, the boy who killed him, now a troubled teen. But the formula persists – when grisly murders plague a nearby halfway house, has Jason risen again? Or is a new masked killer on the loose?

This array of largely indistinguishable hormonal teens getting hacked to pieces demonstrated the franchise struggling to justify its continuation minus its marquee monster. While the whodunit angle briefly intrigues, the psycho reveal lands with a thud. And the excessive gore provides numbing shocks without suspense.

Yet Part V warrants credit for audaciously tampering with a proven model, even if its twist flopped. Sidelining Jason was a failed but bold gambit hinting at fascinating directions had the series continued minus its supernaturally resilient cash cow. But box office spoke louder than creativity – Jason would return the very next year, and remain hockey-masked box office gold for decades to come.

So, do you get the feeling I think this movie suck? You’d be right. I do think it sucks, but I’d watch it over Twilight any day of the week. Take care and stay scared, everybody!!

Trivia

The film was originally written to have Corey Feldman as the star, reprising the role of Tommy Jarvis. However, he was already working on The Goonies (1985), so the script was rewritten to have Feldman’s appearance limited to a cameo.

Tommy’s opening dream was different in the original script, and arguably made him seem more of a suspect later on. It opens as more of a continuation from the ending of the previous film – The Final Chapter – as a young Tommy is taken to the same hospital as Jason’s corpse. Then, in a sudden fit of psychotic rage, young Tommy winds up attacking half the hospital staff trying to get to the morgue and finding Jason’s bloodied body. Once he had finally found the body, Jason suddenly rises from the autopsy table. Immediately after this, the adult Tommy wakes up in the van en route to the Pinehurst house.

This is the second movie of the series in which Jason Voorhees is not the killer.

Directed by Danny Steinmann

Story by Martin Kitrosser and David Cohen

Screenplay by Martin Kitrosser, David Cohen and Danny Steinmann