Plot
Tommy has been suffering survivors guilt for the several years, and going from hospital to hospital.
His newest location is Pinehurst Halfway House, but on the day of his arrival a patient there is brutally murdered by another patient.
Soon more and more murders keep happening. The mayor is beside himself, and the towns Sherriff says it’s Jason Vorhees, back from the dead… but is it really Jason???
Breakdown/Cast/Direction
The fifth film in the franchise, follows Tommy (John Shepherd) from #4, five years after the events where he killed Jason Vorhees. He is still struggling with his demons, and has constant nightmares (there is a brief Corey Feldman cameo at the start of the film in one of them), and has been living in group homes ever since.
He is still a kid at heart, making his masks – but because of his trauma – struggles to make connections. Even though he is a ‘continued’ character, he is not really the main character – rather we follow other characters throughout.
His newest ‘home’ is Pinehurst, where upon his arrival, a fight between two other inmates leads to one of them being murdered.
The local residences (including the very… inbred (?) Ma and Jr) want the hospital closed down, and are constantly harassing the residents (even if they should probably be there themselves).
What follows is a fairly irritating series of events where many disposable characters are murdered (the killer always out of the sight of the audience). None of them are overly likeable either, so you’re not really sorry to see them go.
There is an okay conflict between the mayor and the Sherriff that I wish was explored further, where the Sherriff believes that Jason is back from the dead (and the mayor is dismissive). It does make the audience question who is actually responsible for the murders too.
The narrative isn’t overly well portrayed either, with characters on screen acting like no human has ever acted before. Conversations are contrived, and the acting is both under and over which makes me think there wasn’t great director notes. We spend too much time with them, only for them to be offed minutes later.
The final reveal of who the killer is works for me, and I liked the ‘continuation’ of Tommy’s psychotic downfall (which predates Halloween 4, and what that film does with Jamie).
Overall
A misfire on a few levels, with this being a “Jason-less?” Jason Vorhees film…
The lack of any real lead character hurts, and we should have spent more time with Tommy.
The finale is good, and potentially sets up more Tommy in future movies.
Not quite passable.
2/5
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