Film

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning

Name: Friday the 13th: A New Beginning
Genre: Horror
Released: 1985
Cast: Melanie Kinnaman, John Shepherd, Shavar Ross, Richard Young, Marco St. John

Friday the 13th Part V trades the iconic killer's mystique for raw, trashy fun. It's a slasher that knows exactly what it is: a pretext for inventive kills and teenage carnage in a creaky old house. Made for people who want their horror unpretentious, gory, and absolutely committed to the bit.

TMDb rating

2.6

If you liked this

Friday the 13th Part III1982

The film that established Jason as an unstoppable force and made the hockey mask iconic. Lean, focused, and genuinely tense, it's the template everything else follows. Also the first in 3D, which is kind of spectacular.

But The 3D gimmickry hasn't aged gracefully, and it moves slower than later entries. If you want pure gore over atmosphere, you might find it a bit restrained.

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter1984

Sharper writing and better pacing than most sequels, with genuine character work among the carnage. Tom Savini's effects are extraordinary. It's the closest the series gets to actually being a good film, not just a vehicle for kills.

But The title promised finality; knowing sequels kept coming anyway saps some punch. It's also the most earnest entry, which some find less fun than the shameless ones.

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter poster

Sleepaway Camp1983

A slasher with a genuinely twisted ending that reframes everything you've watched. Low budget but clever, with a nasty sense of humour and practical effects that still disturb. Influenced countless imitators.

But The acting is genuinely rough and the pacing drags in stretches. Its shock ending also gets spoiled constantly, which dulls the impact considerably.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Friday the 13th: A New Beginning

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Teeth2008

Both are exploitation films with teenage protagonists caught in nightmarish circumstances, but this one flips the power dynamic entirely—the killer impulse lives in the victim.

A body-horror film that weaponizes the slasher's favourite target—a young woman—and gives her literal power over her predators. Darkly funny, visually inventive, and genuinely transgressive about sex and violence in ways A New Beginning only stumbles toward.

But It's grotesque and uncomfortable deliberately, especially in its treatment of male bodies. The metaphor is heavy-handed and not everyone finds dark comedy about sexual assault funny.

The Burning1981

A summer-camp slasher with a real mean streak, Jason Alexander in an early role, and one of the best kill sequences in 80s horror—a raft massacre that's genuinely upsetting. Stripped-down and vicious.

But It's slower and gloomier than you might want, and the killer has less personality. The grainy print quality on most copies doesn't help its already murky atmosphere.

Madman1981

A backwoods slasher with genuine dread and a killer who's actually menacing rather than comic. Made for nothing on an actual campground in upstate New York, which gives it an authenticity most imitators lack.

But It's genuinely bleak and short on the kind of inventive kills slasher fans crave. The pacing is deliberate; if you're after gore spectacle, look elsewhere.

Happy Birthday to Me1981

A slasher mystery with a wild twist and genuine craft in its filmmaking. Melissa Sue Anderson leads confidently, and the kills are creative and often shocking. It actually tries to be a puzzle, not just a body count.

But The twist, while good, does strain credibility in retrospect. Some find the pacing uneven, and it's less visceral than you'd expect from the era.

Prom Night1980

Leslie Nielsen before comedy, a legitimately tense mystery, and production value that lifts it above typical slasher fare. The prom setting gives it visual flair, and it builds atmosphere carefully over gore.

But It's slow-burn and measured; if you're craving immediate carnage, the first half will test your patience. Also, the killer reveal is less satisfying than the mystery buildup.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre1974

The granddaddy of the genre—relentless, claustrophobic, genuinely horrifying without much on-screen gore. It changed what horror could be. Essential viewing for understanding why slashers became what they are.

But It's grainy, handheld, and deliberately unpolished in ways modern viewers might find hard to parse. The pacing is avant-garde; some find it exhausting rather than thrilling.

A Nightmare on Elm Street1984

Johnny Depp's debut and Robert Englund's transformative role as Freddy Krueger, a killer with personality and humour. Wes Craven brought genuine craft and dream logic to slasher conventions. It spawned a very different franchise.

But The sequels got increasingly jokey and diluted its impact. The original's special effects are dated, and some find the premise more interesting than the execution.

Battle Royale2000

Like A New Beginning, it's a film about teenagers in peril where the audience is invited to enjoy their deaths. But this one earns the investment through craft and character, showing what teenage-slaughter cinema could be if it aimed higher.

A Japanese film where teenagers are forced to kill each other on an island, executed with style, dark humour, and genuine emotional stakes. The kill choreography is balletic; the character work makes you care who dies. It's what slasher films dream of being.

But It's violent and sometimes brutal in ways that make American slashers look quaint. The runtime is substantial, and the premise requires you to accept a wild political conceit immediately.