After the success of the original Friday the 13th in 1980, anybody with access to the right equipment started cranking out their own slasher movies. And Paramount Pictures, seeing dollar signs, started ordering one Friday the 13th sequel after another. But by the middle part of the decade, Paramount began having second thoughts. Slasher movies were nearly always met with nearly universal scorn and derision from critics, and though they were largely profitable from a financial standpoint, Paramount wanted to be known for their serious Oscar contenders rather than some lowly slasher flicks. That's why, in 1984, the studio chose to end the Friday the 13th franchise with its fourth entry. The series would end up continuing long past this one, but this so-called "final chapter" was indeed intended to bring the franchise to an end. And if it had indeed concluded, the saga of Jason Voorhees would have ended with a bang.
After the bloody ending of Part III, Jason Voorhees (Ted White) was apparently dead via an axe to the noggin. But you just can't keep a good horror villain down. He awakens in the county morgue, killing a morgue attendant and a nurse before making his way back to Crystal Lake.
And I'm sure Jason will be happy to find that he'll have a whole new crop of victims waiting for him. A group of horny teenagers have rented a lakefront cottage, expecting a few days of fun and debauchery. Their cottage just happens to be next door to the home of the Jarvis family. Twelve-year-old Tommy (Corey Feldman) kinda likes the idea of cute, nubile young women hanging out next door, but his sister Trish (Kimberly Beck) is more drawn to Rob (E. Erich Anderson), a mysterious hiker who claims to be in the woods hunting bears. It's soon revealed, however, that he's really there hunting Jason, who killed his sister in one of the previous movies. He'd better make damn sure he knows what he's in for, because this is Jason's "final chapter," and he's going out in a blaze of glory. (Until the next sequel, that is.)
It took half a decade and a couple of sequels to do it, but Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter represents what I feel is the first truly awesome Friday the 13th movie. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the first three, but The Final Chapter is where the franchise really hit its stride. It's funny that a movie that was supposed to be the last in its franchise ends up being the one that fully perfects the formula for future sequels. But that's exactly what The Final Chapter is. It's regarded by many fans as one of the best (if not the best) in the series, a status that is not undeserved.
The movie was directed by Joseph Zito, who was hired based on the strength of his prior directorial effort, the 1981 slasher flick The Prowler. The Friday the 13th movies ― and slasher movies in general ― have almost always based around the various set pieces that build to each kill. Much of the suspense and the scares often come from the anticipation of when, where, and how the killer might strike. Zito approaches The Final Chapter with his experience from The Prowler and uses that to craft these set pieces well. He builds upon what the first three movies did and creates an atmosphere that makes one feel that Jason could be anywhere at any time, ready to pounce upon an unsuspecting victim. He works in the occasional cheap "boo!" scare, but allowes some scenes to creep up on the viewer. Slasher movies are an odd beast in the realm of horror, but Zito has made one of the best ones.
The movie also benefits from some fantastic gore effects courtesy of Tom Savini, who had earlier worked with Zito on The Prowler. Savini returns to the franchise after his work on the first movie and sends Jason out in a bloody blaze of glory by giving us some of the best cinematic gore on his résumé. The way Jason is defeated alone is worthy the price of admission, but the way his victims are dispatched are all really cool. Granted, I'm sure a lot of the best stuff had to be trimmed or edited out to make sure the movie got an R-rating, but Savini's work here is just more proof why the best slasher movies of the early '80s hired him.
And like with most slasher movies, the script is mostly unimportant. It's just there so the characters have something to do between death scenes. But honestly, the movie's script, credited to Barney Cohen from a story by Bruce Hidemi Sakow, isn't really all that bad. Parts of it seems like it owes a debt to the glut of sex comedies that came out during the early '80s, as far as the tone of the early parts of the movie go. Some of the characters seemed like they escaped from a cheesy knockoff of Porky's. But it actually feels like a natural part of the movie, and the characters are likable and fun.
I actually really liked the subplot with the Rob character too. The idea of a guy roaming around the woods tracking Jason like he were big game is a pretty cool idea (one that the franchise would revisit nearly a decade later with Jason Goes to Hell), and tying it into the other movies by making Rob the brother of a victim from Part 2 is a good touch. The catch is, though, that it feels like he's been hunting Jason for months when the timeline of the sequels are spread out over just a few days. The continuity is a little screwy, but I still thought the concept was a neat enough idea that I'm surprised they waited until the ninth movie to try it again.
Even the cast is pretty good here. None of them were hired to give Oscar-caliber performances considering that nearly everyone is cannon fodder, but the majority of them weren't bad at all. I thought Crispin Glover (yes, George McFly himself) and Lawrence Monoson were funny in their parts as the two dorky goofballs amongst the teens at the cabin, while Judie Aronson and Barbara Howard have a few cute moments as well. Kimberly Beck, while not one of the best or more memorable Friday the 13th heroines, does prove to be a capable "Final Girl" and holds her own when necessary. E. Erich Anderson also does a great job as the mysterious Jason hunter, giving the character a sense of intrigue and a somewhat sympathetic nature as well. His final scene, though, is so goofy that I can't so much as think about it without wanting to laugh.
But the real stars among the cast are Corey Feldman and Ted White. Only twelve years old when the movie was released, Feldman had yet to be propelled into stardom by The Goonies. He shows a lot of the charm and charisma he would bring to future roles, though, and does a lot to make himself stand out from the pack. It's one of those cases where you watch an actor's pre-fame work and say to yourself, "Yeah, he'll be a star one day." White, meanwhile, makes for a damn fine Jason. He approaches the role in a way that makes Jason seem sleeker and meaner, casting an intimidating presence that makes Jason feel more unstoppable than before. The movie's got a lot going for it, but White's portrayal is the icing on the cake.
Thirsty years and eight more sequels later, it's obvious that Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter wasn't the final chapter after all. If it had been the franchise's actual swan song, it would have ended on a high note. With some inventive kills, decent acting, and some good scares, The Final Chapter is not just one of the best in the series, but one of the best the slasher sub-genre of horror has to offer. It's definitely worth the time and effort to check out. But now that the final chapter is out of the way, there's only one place to go from here: a new beginning.
Final Rating: ***½
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