As a kid, this was my favorite Friday the 13th. There is something about a hulking unstoppable murderer VS a telekinetic heroine that I really enjoyed growing up. This installment gives us a character who can fight Jason, one who can do real damage to our antagonist.
We begin with a bit of exposition and clips of Jason's various killings from all movies, especially part 6. Though we have had retellings in three out of the seven movies so far, this one is done more effectively than the other two. The scenes during the intro are touched up, with parts 1-5 having a slightly better quality to them. We get an outline of a hockey mask as beams of light course through the holes. The mask jaggedly splits in two and the title card comes up, written in red.
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| Our telekinetic protagonist, Tina |
Some time has passed since part 6. We see Jason resting in the lake when Tina kills her father. After that beginning scene, Tina is now a young adult, about seventeen. So at least seventeen years have past since part six. There are a few houses by the lake, I assume it is no longer a camp for kids but a small community in a forested area.
The setting is Crystal Lake as usual. It seems the name "Forest Green" was changed back because the studio thought "eh, we can change it back now". The grounds are a bit different with houses taking the place of log cabins. No counselors either, as the lake (for this movie at least) is a small community. Maybe they moved the camp somewhere safer.
Right away, through her fathers death, we learn Tina has a special gift. One night, her mother and father where arguing. Her drunk abusive father strikes Tina's mom so Tina runs to the lake and high tails it in a motor boat. Her father, standing on the dock, pleads with her to come back. In anger, Tina snaps at her dad. Her latent psychic powers causes the dock to crumble, drowning her dad in the process. This power will be used to snap the chain restraining Jason at the bottom of the lake.
The main villain is not Jason but the mentally and emotionally abusive psych doctor Crews, who is trying to "help" Tina become "normal". Really, he is trying to understand how Tina's powers work and see if he can use them for his own gain. All he is interested in involves Tina having to move things with her mind and not having contact with the outside world. You can tell right away this guy is not a good person, and later in the movie you find out he is a downright scum bag.
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| Doctor Crews is the real bad guy. |
Rounding out the cast is Tina's loving mother, Mrs. Shepard, handsome and caring guy Nick, the male lead, Eddie, the storyteller and writer, whose book involves space and protozoa, Russ, whose cabin the teens are using to throw a birthday party, Melissa, a snobby bitch, David a "cool stoner" type guy, Sandra the gold digger, and a few others who get little character development (like the nerd girl or Ben the black guy) before they get killed off.
Jason looks amazing in this installment. The decade underwater has not be beneficial to his skin. His hands are big, grey, and wrinkled, his head is a wrinkly miasmic grey mess. Half of his spine is exposed, poking out of his sunken in back, and his cloths are in tatters. We get to see his face near the end of the movie and my god is it beautiful in a grotesque fiendish kind of way. Props to the FX department for making Jason look as badass as possible.
Kane Hodder plays Jason, and he will stay the villain until Freddy vs Jason comes out. He is the actor people associate with the character, and for good reason. He gives Jason these little nuances that make him creepy. Hodder is a stuntman and, while playing the role, has done most if not all of the stunts. He is the most loved Jason actor and knows how to play the role as if he created the character.
Speaking of Jason and his quest to punish all who enter his domain, the killing in A New Blood comes from all angles: an ax, a metal spike, the trusty machete, and even a weed wacker are all used to dispense justice upon the cast. Jason even goes so far as to kill a girl with a party favor. The murders are varied but are not shown in great length like they were in part 5. It seems the studio wanted to tone back on the gore since then and while the different ways to execute people have been explore they lack the detail to make a real impact. Most of the deaths happen with a cut to Jason committing the deed then another cut away to another scene.
Tina holds her own against Jason, using everything in the vicinity against him. Jason takes a lot of punishment himself in this installment. He gets electrocuted, lit on fire, gets his mask tightened around his head until it snaps, and has a house dropped on him, among other things. This movie shows us how much a zombie can be damaged, but he still keeps coming back. This movie really, unlike any other, show just how much damage you have to inflict and in the end, its never enough.
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| Maybe he is born with it, maybe its... |
The ending is a little off-putting. Despite all we have seen in A New Blood, this is the most far reaching scene the Friday series has had. It's so unbelievable that it kills the whole finale. You'll understand when you see it.
Audio 8/10
The score is beautifully crafted, but it is lacking the modern music of the last two films. One of my all time favorite scores in any horror movie. It has a certain charm to it. Harry Manfedini uses a horror themed music set when Jason is afoot and a separate music set when Tina is using her powers, then he mixes them during the Tina vs Jason fight. It feels pleasing to the ears.
Video 8/10
There are not a lot of problems with the video. It looks great. The POV shots of Jason sneaking around have been in all Friday the 13th movies he has been in. This time we do not get a massive rain storm in the end, but we do get a single crack of lightning, I wonder if they thought of making a storm and dismissed it halfway though because the one flash of lightning with out a follow up is really weird.
Effects 9/10
From Jason's horrid clothing and festering body to the reveal of all the deceased in the movie, it looks fantastic. Having Kane Hodder play Jason makes the effects department be able to do more then they normally could. There is an explosion, Jason is lit on fire, and so much more that makes me tip my hat to the special effects workers on this movie. Very little CGI is used. I believe when Jason's mask gets ripped off, it is one of the few cases of CGI in A New Blood.
Story 7/10
There are a few plot holes in the story, like what did Dr. Crews want to do with Jason. He obviously knew about him since Tina and Nick find news paper articles about the Camp Blood Massacre in his drawer. This is never explained. Adding a telekinetic girl was a stretch, but it makes such a good foil for the unstoppable beast that is Jason in this movie. Originally, part 7 was going to be Freddy vs Jason but I think New Line dropped out, so they made Tina have powers since the script was already in place.
Not having Crystal Lake be a camp is also a big departure from every movie, except for the next film, where we go beyond the lake. Speaking of the lake, remember my small rant in part 6? Well that was rectified in this movie as the lake is much deeper in A New Blood.
Overall 89/100
Again, this is my favorite Friday the 13th film. There is something about the brains over brawn theme this movie has going for it that I enjoy. Although the ending, I feel, is a cop out and there would have been many better ways to end Jason's massacre in this movie, I would most definitely add this to your "to watch list", even if you don't like Friday the 13th.
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