The 'Friday The 13th: A New Beginning' Score Is An Underrated Gem
It's hard to believe that just ten to fifteen years ago a majority of Friday The 13th fans were still sour on Friday The 13th: A New Beginning as one of a few of the "black sheep" in the franchise. The use of a fake Jason truly stung the insides of the series faithful and it has taken some of our readers decades to overcome their negative relationship with the film. One aspect of A New Beginning that often gets overlooked in all of the hoopla surrounding the use of a crazy paramedic instead of Jason Voorhees as the killer is the wonderful score created specifically for the film.
For the fifth film, it was the first time Harry created an all around brand new score for a film in the franchise since orchestrating music for the original 1980 masterpiece. The three preceding films all used similar sounds and cues that were crafted for the first film. Not to say that I disliked the scores for Part 2, Part 3, or The Final Chapter (In fact, my favorite overall score is for The Final Chapter), but there is something fresh in the sounds created for A New Beginning that truly begins to transition from the older films in the franchise into what would be known as the zombie films in the franchise for the late 1980's.
There is a unique blend of what fans would think of old musical cues from the first four movies incorporated into Harry's Part 5 score, but updated and upgraded thanks to a larger orchestra at his disposal. Of course, the Ki Ki Ki Ma Ma Ma sound is as prevalent as ever, but now in A New Beginning there is a number of action beats added that really does increase the viewers adrenaline during climactic scenes. Such a scene exists when Pseudo Jason is about to attack Pam and Reggie bursts out of the barn with a tractor to save her. It's a fun and exciting scene with music that has never been used in any other film in the franchise before or after.
With that being said, there are other scenes that hold the classic scary and tense music that Friday The 13th is known for in the earlier films, but with a nice updated twist that makes certain scenes in A New Beginning contain truly unique and interesting music. For instance, in the beginning of the film when young Tommy is visiting the grave site of Jason Voorhees, you get the feeling of dread, sorrow and pain as he looks on at the killer's grave.
Knowing that, there is still an upbeat tempo added by Harry to his more somber music that really energizes the audience while viewing this movie and it is a prelude to what he creates for the subsequent Jason Lives: Friday The 13th Part 6.
In all, the score for Friday The 13th: A New Beginning really does deliver an overall fun and exciting experience and is unfortunately overshadowed by the critically negative response to the story the film presents to the audience. What do our readers think of the score and where would you rank it with other films in the franchise.
For the fifth film, it was the first time Harry created an all around brand new score for a film in the franchise since orchestrating music for the original 1980 masterpiece. The three preceding films all used similar sounds and cues that were crafted for the first film. Not to say that I disliked the scores for Part 2, Part 3, or The Final Chapter (In fact, my favorite overall score is for The Final Chapter), but there is something fresh in the sounds created for A New Beginning that truly begins to transition from the older films in the franchise into what would be known as the zombie films in the franchise for the late 1980's.
There is a unique blend of what fans would think of old musical cues from the first four movies incorporated into Harry's Part 5 score, but updated and upgraded thanks to a larger orchestra at his disposal. Of course, the Ki Ki Ki Ma Ma Ma sound is as prevalent as ever, but now in A New Beginning there is a number of action beats added that really does increase the viewers adrenaline during climactic scenes. Such a scene exists when Pseudo Jason is about to attack Pam and Reggie bursts out of the barn with a tractor to save her. It's a fun and exciting scene with music that has never been used in any other film in the franchise before or after.
With that being said, there are other scenes that hold the classic scary and tense music that Friday The 13th is known for in the earlier films, but with a nice updated twist that makes certain scenes in A New Beginning contain truly unique and interesting music. For instance, in the beginning of the film when young Tommy is visiting the grave site of Jason Voorhees, you get the feeling of dread, sorrow and pain as he looks on at the killer's grave.
Knowing that, there is still an upbeat tempo added by Harry to his more somber music that really energizes the audience while viewing this movie and it is a prelude to what he creates for the subsequent Jason Lives: Friday The 13th Part 6.
In all, the score for Friday The 13th: A New Beginning really does deliver an overall fun and exciting experience and is unfortunately overshadowed by the critically negative response to the story the film presents to the audience. What do our readers think of the score and where would you rank it with other films in the franchise.
