A BREW TO A KILL: FRIDAY THE 13TH: A NEW BEGINNING and Ryeday The 13TH

Wow. So much has happened in Crystal Lake since our last visit. Mrs Voorhees got in over her head. Someone attempted to open another camp, a lot of people went to the lake to relax, and they’re all dead. Oh, and Jason, Mrs Voorhees’ son, isn’t dead. Maybe he didn’t even drown because he’s a full grown man running around the woods killing and maiming. Except for Tommy Jarvis, a young boy who killed Jason in part 4, The Final Chapter. But after the box office returns there was nothing final about that chapter.

Years after his deadly encounter with Jason Voorhees Tommy Jarvis (John Shepard) is being moved to the Pinehusrt Youth Development Center. This halfway house has some pretty odd patients, fat guy who loves chocolate, a stutterer, nymphos, nonspecific sub cultured girl, and a redhead(?). Why are they actually there? Far away from Crystal Lake may be what Tommy needs to move on in his life. But shortly after one of the other patients is killed a shitload of dead bodies start piling up. Could it be Jason has returned from the grave and found Tommy? Or is someone else behind the killings?

This is the second entry in what is known as the Tommy Jarvis trilogy. Corey Feldman, who played Tommy in part 4, was unavailable because he was filming The Goonies. Jumping in time helped the movie. Tommy needed to be older to continue his fight with Jason, and because he was to take the mantle of Jason at the end of A New Beginning. John Shepard brings a frailness to Tommy, but can convey the anger and hatred boiling just below the surface.

A New Beginning is perhaps the most hated in all the franchise (I’m sure Jason Goes to Hell and Jason X give it a run for its money). And why is it so hated? Because it isn’t Jason doing the killing. No one seems to ever ask why is Jason the killer? Mrs Voorhees had excellent motive, negligence and libido let her son die. The only motive Jason has is money, because a small half a million dollar movie went on to gross 39 million at the box office. If Jason didn’t really die he could have found his mom and lived with her. I suppose he was too busy building a shack from found items, collecting pointy objects and cutting holes in pillow cases.

The film itself is more or less a carbon copy of the first four. The fake scares, sex, drugs and dismemberment are all there. And the rain. I swear it rains in every damn Friday the 13th, except Jason X because space. If anything the Friday franchise is guilty of is repetition, which happened to be the working title for A New Beginning.

So what set apart part 5 and made it one of my favorite sequels? Director Danny Steinmann, of Savage Streets fame, brought the sleaze. Characters are reading dirty magazines, snorting coke, sneaking off for sex and there’s a good amount of nudity. I’m not positive but I think all the actresses had to sign a Jiggle Clause. There are no bras in this movie. Paramount wanted him to deliver a scare or kill every eight to nine minutes. Including dream sequences the body count is in the low twenties. While the body count is high the gore is trimmed and in some cases completely removed. A New Beginning, like all the installments was gutted of it’s kills by the MPAA. The true tragedy of the Friday franchise is the amount of footage that was cut and has been lost due to negligence. The original is the only of Paramount’s eight films to be released uncut. And that’s only because Warner Bros UK owns a copy of it.

Ryeday the 13th is a barrel aged Barleywine brewed by Excel Brewery in Breese, Illinois. Excel Bottling Company has been making pure sugar cane soda since 1936. They opened a brewery in 2012. There’s quite a few breweries that also craft soda. Abita, Sprecher, Oskar Blues and Stevens Point are just a couple of breweries making craft soda. In mid 2014 Excel relaunched and re-branded its beer line, and I think it was a good move. They went from a neighborhood brewery to a solid regional brewer. I have yet to be disappointed with one of their beers.

Brewed for their First Anniversary in 2013, Ryeday the 13th was aged in Templeton Rye Whiskey barrels for six months. I found it to be somewhat sweet with a lot of caramel notes in the smell and taste. You will feel every bit of its 12% ABV.

I met the owner and head brewery of Excel about a year ago. They mentioned their Second Anniversary beer had just been barreled. Excited I asked if it was called Ryeday the 13th part 2? In a perfect world there would be a line of Friday the 13th themed beers released annually. I was told that would not be the cased. I was crestfallen. Until I had their 2nd Anniversary beer. Who could stay mad over that?

Ryeday the 13th is perfect for the 13th or any day of the year. Be careful, though. Once you reach the end of that bottle there’s no telling who will be on the other side.