Since they called the fourth flick in the Friday the 13th series The Final Chapter, Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning shouldn’t exist. But I guess Paramount decided money remained to be made so the series continued with this 1985 flick.

In a departure from the first three sequels, Beginning doesn’t open with a rehash of the prior stories. It quickly reintroduces the character of Tommy Jarvis (Corey Feldman), the kid who supposedly finished off Jason in Final Chapter.

He watches some goons dig up Jason’s grave, an action that revives the killer and sends the madman after the boy. However, Tommy wakes up from this vision to reveal that he’s now a young adult (John Shepherd) in the care of a mental hospital.

Yes, it appears that little Tommy went a bit bonkers after his encounter with Jason, so now the extremely withdrawn dude remains a charge of the public health system. They send him to the rustic Pinehurst Youth Development Center, where he meets assistant director Pam Roberts (Melanie Kinnaman) and director Matthew Letter (Richard Young). They brief him on the center’s system and what they hope to do for him.

Tommy settles in and we meet the other residents as they go about their chores. One of them turns out to be a little nuttier than the rest; Vic Faden (Mark Venturini) goes psycho when he angrily takes an axe to fat, dopey resident Joey (Dominick Brascia). The cops cart off Vic, but we soon see that another murderer stalks the area when a mystery man violently slays a pair of young toughs.

The kids and staff remain on edge after this, and it doesn’t contribute to Tommy’s already precarious mental state. He continues to see visions of Jason, and he reacts violently when another kid taunts him. In the meantime, more slayings occur outside of the facility.

Sheriff Tucker (Marco St. John) tries to handle the killing spree while he undergoes pressures from the mayor (Ric Mancini). Tucker proposes an outrageous theory when he suspects Jason as the murderer even though Mr. Voorhees apparently was cremated.

From there, we watch as the death toll escalates. The mystery killer continues his rampage. As always, this leads toward an inevitable confrontation of some sort.

No one will accuse New Beginning of deviating radically from the template established in the first four movies. That said, I’ll give it some credit for its attempts to broaden matters.

Much of the set-up and execution remain the same. The plot offers another batch of youngsters isolated in the middle of the woods and we see a series of gruesome killings.

At least Beginning tries to do something different, though. Yeah, it follows the same basic structure, but it offers some intrigue as to the identity of the killer. Other flicks attempted red herrings, but this one pulls off those teasers.

Tommy doesn’t get a lot of depth, but he stands as one of the series’ more interesting characters. The rest of them vary from non-entity to broad stereotype.

New Beginning doesn’t attempt to delve into Tommy’s psychoses well, but it gives him some personality. That’s more than I can say for many folks in the prior four movies.

Overall, I find New Beginning to be the best of the first five Friday movies. Beginning doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it shows some creativity and turns into a reasonably satisfying slasher flick.

Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This became a good representation of an 80s movie.

Sharpness usually satisfied. A few shots looked a little soft but most of the flick seemed fairly concise.

I noticed no signs of jagged edges or shimmering, and edge haloes stayed absent. Grain looked appropriate, and no print flaws marred the presentation.

The movie depicted a natural palette with fairly good clarity and vivacity. Even colored lighting was smooth, as the movie consistently presented largely lively tones.

Blacks also came across as deep and firm, while shadows were nicely concise and not too opaque. Appealing across the board, this turned into a “B+” image.

The remixed DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundfield opened things up to a decent degree. Environmental material dominated, though a few scenes brought greater breadth to the proceedings.

The rainstorm used the various channels well, and some minor movement across channels appeared. Music also demonstrated nice stereo delineation. The surrounds remained pretty passive, but they contributed decent reinforcement and popped to life when necessary.

Speech betrayed no edginess and sounded reasonably natural, with tones that were a little tinny but not badly so. Effects stayed clear and acceptably accurate, and louder elements showed reasonable heft.

Music offered decent dynamics and was relatively warm and full. Though not great, this was probably the best soundtrack from the first five films.

How did the 2020 Shout Blu-ray compare to the Paramount BD from 2009? Both appeared to offer identical audio.

Visuals showed a moderate uptick in terms of delineation, as the 2020 version seemed a bit better defined than the 2009 release. Fans shouldn’t expect massive improvements but the 2020 Shout version delivered the more satisfying image.

With a mix of old and new extras, we get three separate audio commentaries. The first comes from director/co-writer Danny Steinmann and actors John Shepherd and Shavar Ross. Along with moderator Michael Felsher , all sit together for this running, screen-specific piece look at cast and performances, some character/story issues, controversies and fan reaction, sets and locations, gore and effects, MPAA concerns, music, and a few other production areas.

On paper, the commentary covers a good array of subjects. However, most of the time the participants just joke around, and Steinmann acts as the worst offender.

He thinks the track is an opportunity for him to crack wise and only occasionally throw out an actual film fact. We do learn a little here, but the lame attempts at comedy make this a tedious listen.

The next two commentaries are new to the Shout set, and the second features actors Melanie Kinnaman, Deborah Voorhees, and Tiffany Helm and author Peter M. Bracke. All four sit together for a running, screen-specific discussion of their Friday exposure prior to Beginning, their casting, their characters and performances, and general memories of the production.

As with other tracks of this sort, we get a decent overview of the actors’ experiences but nothing I’d call terribly memorable. I do like Kinnaman’s willingness to complain about aspects of the shoot, as she helps the chat avoid the usual incessant happy-happy tone.

For the final commentary, we find filmmakers Adam Green and Joe Lynch. Both sit together for a running, screen-specific look at the genre and the franchise, aspects of this production, their view of the flick and related domains.

Neither Green nor Lynch worked on New Beginning, and that means technically this falls into the category of “fan commentary”. Most of those offer little more than rambling praise, but as horror directors themselves, Green and Lynch bring a lot more to the table.

Taken from a 2018 recording for a podcast, Lynch and Green give us a fine examination of New Beginning from a mix of perspectives. They turn this into a lively and informative chat.

Yet another edition of Lost Tales from Camp Blood appears here. In this seven-minute, 10-second short film, we get another tedious chapter in this poorly developed series. The first four segments were boring, and clip five isn’t any better.

Continuing a series started on Final Chapter, The Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited Part II runs 10 minutes, 11 seconds. Just like “Part I”, this piece examines the Friday flicks from a faux documentary viewpoint. That premise has the potential to be lame, but “Massacres” is actually a fun dissection of movie events.

Next we find New Beginnings: The Making of Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning. It goes for 11 minutes, four seconds and features Steinmann, Felsher, Ross, stuntman Tom Morga, compose Harry Manfredini, and actors Tiffany Helm and Dick Wieand.

We get some thoughts about characters and story, cast and performances, costume choices, music, MPAA issues, gore and effects, and the movie’s reputation. “Beginnings” repeats some info from the commentaries, but it also lacks that tracks annoying elements.

Well, it lacks some of them at least, as Steinmann’s lame jokes still crop up on a couple of occasions. The program’s too short to be very valuable, but it offers a decent synopsis of some topics.

Finally, we find one trailer, five TV spots and two still galleries.

These cover “Movie Stills” (69 images) and “Posters and Lobby Cards” (29). Expect a nice compilation of shots.

Anyone who wants a radical departure from the standard Friday the 13th epic won’t get it in A New Beginning. However, the movie manages to broaden its horizons somewhat, as we finally get a Friday that feels like more than just a remake of the others. The Blu-ray offers pretty good picture and audio along with a decent set of supplements. I find a fair amount to like about the film, and the Blu-ray reproduces it in a satisfying way.

Note that as of December 2024, this Shout Blu-ray of the film appears solely as part of a 12-film “Friday the 13th Collection” set. It also includes the first four Friday flicks, this movie’s subsequent five sequels, 2003’s Freddy vs. Jason, the 2009 reboot and two discs of bonus materials.

Note that this Blu-ray loses some extras found on the Paramount release. However, these appear on the aforementioned bonus discs, so the Shout set doesn’t drop existing materials.