10. Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985)
This Danny Steinmann-directed 1985 entry picks up the story of Friday the 13th Part IV’s troubled Tommy Jarvis, imagining that in the span of five years he’s grown from a horror-obsessed kid played by Corey Feldman into a suspiciously old-looking teenager played by John Shepherd. Though he personally slaughtered Jason, Tommy is still haunted by his encounter with the monster and has been institutionalized since that terrible night.
He’s barely functional when he arrives at his latest residence—a group home for disturbed teens who’re being prepped to re-enter the outside world—and things only get worse when a sudden act of violence sparks a series of horrible murders, all committed by an unseen assailant (until we get a look at him, and he looks exactly like Jason Voorhees). A New Beginning spends a lot of time positioning Tommy as the new Jason, so when we see it’s not him behind the mask, it’s almost a nifty surprise—until the final moments make it very clear that Tommy is definitely on his way to following in the footsteps of his nemesis. It’s a pretty shrug-worthy entry overall, though it’s probably the sequel stuffed with the most gratuitous nudity, so that’s something at least.
