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31 Days of Horror Movies: Friday the 13th: A New Beginning



Today's film is a favorite from my childhood. That's right: I watched a slasher film as a kid. Don't judge (me, or my parents). You get scared. You laugh at some parts. It was fun. And this one didn't give me a single nightmare. Let's take a look at...

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning

The fifth entry in the once-popular Friday the 13th series of movies finds us at a relatively isolated home for troubled youth that is located, of course, deep in the woods. We arrive at the youth home via Tommy Jarvis, a guy with definite issues. He was in the previous Friday the 13th, portrayed that time by little Corey Feldman. Most everyone he knew was murdered by Jason Voorhees. Now, Tommy is all grown-up, played by the rather dishy John Shepherd.

I'm about to spoil the movie's big reveal for you ---  Jason Voorhees isn't the killer. True, there's a maniac running around in a hockey mask, slashing-up sex-crazed teenagers, but it isn't the notorious murderer who dominates most of the series. This time, it's a paramedic named Roy. You see, his illegitimate son was a resident at the youth home and was violently killed by one of the other residents. Now, instead of seeking justice for his son by having the actual killer put away for years, Roy decided to don a hockey mask and chop-up the other residents.

Just roll with it.

At any rate, I mentioned earlier that Friday the 13th: A New Beginning is a childhood favorite. And so it is. It stands out as being the most comical of the slasher films in this series, and features an assortment of odd and amusing characters. I taped (that's 'recorded' for those of you who were born post-1990) the movie off of HBO, and often watched it repeatedly with my friend Derrick. We would roll over laughing at some of the scenes and lines (such as "Those damn enchiladas!"), and overall had a blast.

It may seem weird to laugh at a horror movie, but keep in mind that the Friday the 13th series wasn't exactly high art, that it tried at times to be amusing, and that laughing at gross stuff is what teenage boys do. I have to say: If you're going to watch an '80s slasher flick (of which there are many), then give this one a look. It ain't pretty, but sometimes you just feel like slumming it for a bit.

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