RIP: Dominick Brascia of Friday the 13th 5 has passed away

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Listeners to radio stations like 1450 KMMS and 1340 KPRK will remember Dominick Brascia as the host of the morning show Dominick in the Morning, but to many genre fans who reside beyond the range of the stations Brascia worked at he will always be Joey from FRIDAY THE 13TH: A NEW BEGINNING (pictured above), the fifth installment in the FRIDAY THE 13TH franchise. Joey was a memorable character, a guy with obvious disabilities who really loved chocolate and wanted to be friends with the other troubled teens at the Pinehurst halfway house. His death is one of the most disturbing in the series, because he gets murdered not by Jason Voorhees or a Jason copycat, but by a fellow teen who is annoyed when Joey tries to be nice to him. Joey's death is the motivation for the killing spree that follows.

Brascia went on to appear in films like ONCE BITTEN, IRON EAGLE, EVIL LAUGH, and RUSH WEEK, and on the TV shows Amazing Stories, Knight Rider, and Night Court, but his acting career barely made it out of the '80s. Along the way he also directed a handful of films, including the previously mentioned EVIL LAUGH and 1988's HARD ROCK NIGHTMARE.

Eventually Brascia turned his attention to radio, which he worked in for well over a decade, broadcasting in Nevada, New York, Colorado, Texas, Alabama, California, and Montana.

Sadly, Brascia passed away of natural causes over the weekend at his home in Bozeman, Montana. Born May 29, 1956, he was just 62 years old.

Our condolences go out to Brascia's family, friends, and fans. 

I'm definitely going to be having a memorial viewing of some of his films. FRIDAY THE 13TH: A NEW BEGINNING has been a regular part of my viewing rotation for over thirty years now, and it's always going to be.

CLICK HERE to read an interview The Arrow conducted with Brascia in 2000.