1985: Friday The 13th: A New Beginning
The plot: In a move that needlessly tangles the series chronology and continuity (such as it is), the story leaps ahead to roughly eight years after the end of the previous film, with the-character-formerly-played-by-Corey-Feldman-but-now-played-by-John-Shepard having become a dazed young man, plagued by visions of Jason. Surprisingly, when a new string of murders begins, the culprit is neither Jason nor the kid, but rather a paramedic seeking vengeance for the accidental death of his son.
The victims: Inmates at a camp-like institution for troubled teens, including a new wave chick and a black dude in Michael Jackson gear. Next to Jason Goes To Hell, A New Beginning features the highest percentage of black characters, perhaps as a way of acknowledging the persistent popularity of these films in the African-American community.
Series motifs: The fades-to-white are gone for good, but otherwise A New Beginning offers the greatest number of direct steals from earlier Friday The 13th movies: A woman primps for sex by spraying perfume down her panties, just like in Part II. A dude gets offed while taking a dump, just like in Part III. A camper is impaled from below his bed, just like in the first film. And teenagers hang out in a party van, just like in every other Friday The 13th film. Also, the victims' liberal use of marijuana is accented by a few lines of cocaine.
The style: The post-Porky's emphasis on nudity continues, in what's easily the coarsest entry in the series. The language is rougher—typical line: "You big fat dildo, eat your fuckin' slop!"—the sex earthier, and the murders grosser. Halfway through the Reagan era, and with cable TV and VCRs blanketing the nation, the ante had been upped.
1985 signifiers: The opening credits music is overtly action movie-ish, like something straight out of a Canon Films production.
1986: Jason Lives: Friday The 13th Part VI
The plot: The-character-formerly-played-by-Corey-Feldman-and-John-Shepard-but-now-played-by-Thom-Matthews inadvertently revives Jason's corpse while trying to consign him to hell, and the newly undead Jason heads back to Camp Crystal Lake, which for some reason is operational again. (And with actual little kids for once.) Meanwhile, the local authorities do all they can to pretend nothing is amiss, even going so far as to lock Matthews in jail to shut him up.
The victims: Cops and counselors, plus Tony Goldwyn and Ron "Horshack" Palillo.
Series motifs: The tinny, synthesized music of A New Beginning returns, making the movie sound like a feature-length G.I. Joe cartoon. Jason Lives also introduces the idea that the masked murderer can be revived supernaturally, and can only be destroyed by removal to the bottom of Crystal Lake.
The style: Hyper-winking. Writer-director Tom McLoughlin practically turns Jason Lives into a parody of Friday The 13th and horror movies in general, starting with a Frankenstein-like rebirth for Jason—all lightning and metal rods—and extending to the moment when one of Jason's victims says, "I've seen enough horror movies to know that any weirdo wearing a mask is never friendly." McLoughlin piles up the cute, sticking in place names like Karloff's Grocery, Cunningham Road, and the town of Carpenter, and having campers read Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit. Even the murders have some slapstick elements, as one victim leaves behind a bloody smiley face on the tree Jason smashes him into. At one point, the film's designated crazy old coot looks straight into the camera and growls, "Some folks have a strange idea of entertainment." Indeed.
1986 signifiers: The boys look like Bruce Springsteen and the girls look like either Madonna or Lisa Bonet. But the biggest clue to what year this is may be the film's song-heavy soundtrack—no doubt a post-Top Gun attempt to develop some ancillary revenue streams. And don't overlook Jason Lives' lighting: The inky black nights of the early '80s have been replaced by a kind of well-lit darkness, like a used car lot having a midnight madness sale, and the believably shabby small town locations have given way to a quaint, Hollywood-ized small town that could pass for the set of Back To The Future.
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