American Mary (2012)

While I'd figure that a sizable percentage of the movies I've seen and reviewed for this blog over the last decade or so are big-budget Hollywood productions that have gotten huge advertising campaigns, there are more than a few I'd only heard of through word of mouth. Whether it be via a post on some online message board or a review on a random website (or honestly, even as an appearance on Mystery Science Theater 3000), I've seen my share of movies I probably would have never heard of had someone not told me about them.

Such was the case with the movie American Mary. I'd heard about it late last summer shortly after it was released on DVD, and while it sounded intriguing, I was hesitant to watch it because I was honestly creeped out by its concept. But I remained curious about it, wondering if I was actually doing myself a disservice by avoiding it. So I've finally given in to my curiosity and sat down to watch it, and I'm here to tell you that in spite of some glaring flaws, American Mary is a hell of a movie.

The "Mary" of the title refers to Mary Mason (Katherine Isabelle), a med student who longs to one day become a surgeon. Buried to her neck in bills and desperate to dig herself out of this massive debt, Mary applies for a job at a strip club. The club's owner, Billy Barker (Antonio Cupo), gets a bit of a laugh out of Mary bringing a résumé to her interview, but is soon happy she did. Taking notice of her education, Billy offers Mary five thousand dollars cash if she'll perform emergency surgery on a badly injured friend. She accepts, but returns home emotionally rattled by the experience.

Mary is contacted the next day by Beatress Johnson (Tristan Risk), a dancer at the club Mary had visited the night before. Having undergone numerous procedures to make herself resemble Betty Boop, Beatress offers Mary a hefty sum of money to perform some cosmetic surgery on a friend who wishes to look like a real-life Barbie doll by having her nipples removed and genitals altered. Mary accepts the job despite her initial ethical objections to it, because the paycheck too good to refuse.

Requests from others within the body modification community come rolling in once word gets out about the success she had with Beatress's friend, but Mary would prefer to stay on the up-and-up in the world of surgical practice. But when she's drugged and sexually assaulted by one Dr. Alan Grant (David Lovgren), her trusted mentor, Mary has a change of heart. She drops out of med school and starts performing these radical surgeries full time. While she finds a modicum of fame and success with her new line of work, the bizarre nature of it, along with the brand of horrific retribution she decides to exact on Dr. Grant, begin to take their toll on her sanity as she becomes a very dangerous person to deal with.

American Mary is a weird movie, no doubt about it. Granted, it may be less weird if the whole extreme body modification thing is what you're into, but that doesn't make the movie any less unique. I won't lie and call it a perfect movie, since there are a couple of flaws that hold it back from being great, but it's still an oddly compelling movie that I couldn't turn away from.

The movie was written and directed by twin sisters Jen and Sylvia Soska, who had made something of a splash on the independent movie scene in 2009 with their debut effort, the ludicrously-named exploitation flick Dead Hooker in a Trunk (which is probably the most straightforward title for a movie I've heard since Hobo with a Shotgun). But alas, I have yet to see Dead Hooker in a Trunk, so I can't say how much the Soskas have developed as filmmakers since then. I can say, however, that their work with this movie is really good.

As far as their direction goes, the Soskas prove themselves to be very smart, capable filmmakers. They obviously knew exactly what they wanted to do with the movie and how they wanted to accomplish it. The movie boasts some fantastic cinematography, adding a certain modicum of artistic beauty to the on-screen oddities. I also thought the Soskas had the pacing down pat too, never rushing into things yet crafting scenes in a way that always keeps the audience intrigued and curious about what might happen next.

I can't say I was as enthusiastic about their script, though. It comes across like a series of loosely connected vignettes instead of a linear narrative, with only a handful of things tying each scene to the next. I also thought the subplot with the curious detective prodding Mary about Dr. Grant's disappearance never really went anywhere. It feels like it belongs in a completely different movie, since I never thought it ever really carried the same weight as anything else in the movie.

The movie's ending also comes completely out of nowhere, but the third act is so disjointed that I shouldn't be surprised. The first two-thirds of the movie are really good, but the third act comes apart at the seams to the point that the movie just kinda stops instead of actually ending. There's no real climax, no denouement or sense of closure. It just struck me as something the Soskas might have slapped together at the last minute after painting themselves into a corner.

But not only do the Soskas make up for it with their great direction, but the majority of the cast does their part as well. Among the supporting players, Antonio Cupo is sadly inconsistent in his role. The character is written as a sleazeball with a nice guy demeanor buried deep down, but Cupo only makes this evident part of the time. He's stiff for much of the movie, and he doesn't have much in the way of chemistry with our lead actress. There are times when Cupo isn't bad, but for much of the movie, he's just taking up space.

However, I immensely enjoyed Tristan Risk in her role as the bubbly Betty Boop wannabe. She's very likable and sweet, with a voice that seems heavily influenced by Ellen Greene's speaking voice in Little Shop of Horrors as much as it was by Betty Boop. She's a little unsettling at times too, but then I'm sure that was the point. Either way, I thought Risk's performance was absolutely fantastic, and she stands out as the brightest part of the movie's supporting cast.

But the real reason to see American Mary is its leading lady, Katherine Isabelle. I've been a fan of Isabelle ever since I first saw Ginger Snaps, and she doesn't disappoint here. She plays Mary as increasingly cold, almost sociopathic at times, You get the sense that she's got so much bottled up, like she's hiding something deep inside that she doesn't want anyone, even herself, so see or even acknowledge. Isabelle is frightening here, knowing exactly which buttons to push to be as scary as possible. I'm honestly surprised Isabelle isn't a bigger name than she is, because she has a ton of talent that should really be seen by more people.

Despite it stumbling near the end, American Mary is still a damn fine flick. The fact that it's so unlike the majority of the horror movies I usually watch makes it worth watching. Its uniqueness and off-kilter nature help to lessen the impact of the movie's less-than-stellar conclusion, and had the movie not existed outside the mainstream, it probably would have been ruined by overzealous studio executives and focus groups. But being made and released independently allows its originality to shine. And if American Mary is any indication, Jen and Sylvia Soska have a bright future ahead of them. I can't wait to see what they bring us next.

Final Rating: ***½

Devil's Due (2014)

The month of January has long been stigmatized as Hollywood's dumping ground. Low-budget genre movies and stuff that the studios think may underperform or just plain stink are often released not long after New Year's just so they can possibly make a little money from audiences that are worn out by the holidays and are looking for a little relief from miserable winter weather.

This year's movie dump began a few weeks ago with Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones and continues onward with another "found footage" movie, Devil's Due. I've never had a problem with found footage horror movies, but much like zombie movies, every one I see nowadays is just dime-a-dozen claptrap. Such was the case with Devil's Due, a movie that despite a few good moments never really reaches above mediocrity.

The movie focuses on Zach (Zach Gilford) and Samantha McCall (Allison Miller), a young couple who've just recently gotten married. While honeymooning in the Dominican Republic, Zach and Samantha are picked up by an aggressively friendly cab driver who offers to take them to the hottest nightclub in town. They agree to go once they realize the driver won't take no for an answer, and end up partying all night with other tourists. Things take a dark turn, though, when a passed-out Samantha is secretly taken to what appears to be the nightclub's basement and has a satanic ritual performed on her.

Zach and Samantha awaken in their hotel room the next morning with terrible hangovers and no idea how they got back to the hotel, and since actually watching what was filmed rarely occurs to anyone in found footage movies, they casually return home. Seven weeks later, Samantha discovers she's pregnant despite having taken birth control pills on a regular basis. They're shocked but overjoyed, but the joy gives way to fear as the months pass when they realize all is not right with their unborn baby.

It starts with Samantha having random nosebleeds and cravings for raw meat despite being an ardent vegetarian. And then there's her fits of rage, yelling at Zach over minor inconveniences and shattering car windows with her bare hands. Coupling this with the strange people watching their house at all hours of the day and night and the strange happenings at the abandoned house down the street, it soon becomes apparent that their baby is anything but normal.

My expectations going into Devil's Due were honestly pretty low. I'd heard it had gotten overwhelmingly lousy reviews and the commercials didn't exactly sell me on the movie either, plus I was still in kind of a funk after being disappointed by the new Paranormal Activity movie a few weeks ago. But I was feeling brave and decided to see it anyway. I left the theater feeling conflicted. I honestly didn't hate the movie, having actually enjoyed several parts of it. But it was just parts that I liked, not the complete package. There were just as many elements that dragged it down as there were ones that I liked, which ends up making me wish I'd just stayed home and rented the DVD from Netflix in a few months and saved myself the effort of having to drive to the theater.

The movie was directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gilbert from the filmmaking quartet known as "Radio Silence." The duo have plenty of experience with found footage, having worked with the other members of Radio Silence on the fantastic "10/31/98" segment of V/H/S along with a number of shorts featured on YouTube. There were some real flashes of brilliance here, with some scenes that are genuinely spooky and others that are very tense and suspenseful. The only bad part is that a lot of the movie feels like padding. One really gets the feeling that the movie was a short film that had gotten stretched out to feature length. Some of that is due to the lackluster script (which I'll get to later), but there's so much boring filler between the good stuff that it makes the rest of the movie look bad.

Bettinelli-Olpin and Gilbert also take some real liberties with the "found footage" concept. The reasoning behind the constant camera use is flimsy enough, but Bettinelli-Olpin and Gilbert cheat by utilizing store security cameras, along with footage from spy cameras installed in the McCall house by the evil cult behind all the supernatural shenanigans. Hell, the whole found footage gimmick in general just feels unnecessary here. The movie could have worked just as easily as a traditional movie. Upon reflect, that's probably why they went with security cameras and hidden cameras, to do regular movie stuff and found footage at the same time. And to me, that just feels kinda cheap.

But the directors could only improve upon the lousy script so much. Penned by Lindsay Devlin, the script for Devil's Due is almost unforgivably weak. It meanders on at a snail's pace, never really going anywhere and only occasionally doing anything worthwhile. By the time the climax arrives, it's like Devlin realized how much time has been wasted and just rushes into it.

It can't be stressed enough just how lousy this movie's pacing is. Both the directors and the writer have structured the movie in such an odd way that it's hard for it to get in a real groove. Scenes go on way too long and wear out their welcome, while other scenes that could have improved the movie in establishing a creepy, frightening vibe by appearing earlier don't show up until we're almost to the end. The most effective scenes are so late in the movie that by the time they arrive, less-enthusiastic audience members might have given up on the whole thing.

There are two consistently good elements to this movie, though, in the form of its two primary actors. Zach Gilford and Allison Miller are the absolute best parts of Devil's Due. Both of them are charming and likable, with a believable chemistry together and never wavering when there characters show some of the flaws the characters in other found footage movies have. I especially liked Miller, who added a sympathetic feeling to her character that she needed. You honestly find yourself feeling awful for her with each scene thanks to the earnestness she brings to the role.

I wish I could say that about the whole of Devil's Due, but I can't. Some movies can overcome a few flaws by playing to its own strengths, but this movie never does that. It's one of those mixed bags that never really gels into a decent whole. I'm actually surprised it got a theatrical release from a major Hollywood studio, because it feels like it could have gone straight to video. I noted in the introduction that found footage movies are becoming a dime a dozen, and Devil's Due unfortunately lends credence to that theory. The movie's worth a rental if you're trying to slap together a horror movie marathon at the last minute, but really, the devil could have delivered something better.

Final Rating: **

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014)

For the longest time, it seemed like The Blair Witch Project was the standard bearer for the "found footage" style of filmmaking. Even when the style really took off a few years ago in the wake of movies like Cloverfield, it was that cheap little indie flick that a lot of people thought of whenever the topic of found footage movies came up.

That is until 2009, when Paramount Pictures picked up and released Paranormal Activity to theaters nationwide after a successful run touring the film festival circuit. The movie was a huge hit, spawned sequel after sequel in rapid succession, and arguably helped to kill the Saw franchise. But after four consecutive Halloween weekends saw a release of a new entry in the franchise in some form or fashion, the year 2013 passed without one. However, now that 2014 has arrived, a new Paranormal Activity movie has also arrived with it in the form of what's being called a spinoff to the franchise. After the disappointment that was the fourth movie, I went into Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones expecting the worst but hoping for the best. And while it was far from the best chapter in the series, it still had its moments.

The movie quickly introduces us to Jesse (Andrew Jacobs), a recent high school graduate with his whole life ahead of him. But with no real immediate direction to travel in, he's content to spend all day goofing off with his best friend Hector (Jorge Diaz), pulling pranks on one another and capturing it and their day-to-day lives with Hector's ever-present camcorder. But things go from fun to frightening when their camera accidentally captures an old lady in a neighboring apartment in the midst of a ritual conjuring some serious black magic.

When word comes a few days later that the old lady has been murdered, a curious Jesse and Hector sneak into her apartment and find evidence that lends credence to their belief that their recently deceased neighbor was a witch. Jesse awakens the next morning with a bloody bite mark on his forearm, but the horror is tempered when he discovers that he's developed what appear to be superpowers. He tosses bullies across a parking lot with his bare hands, throws himself backwards to find himself levitating just above the ground, and defies gravity by jumping a skateboard over a standing Hector's head.

This comes with a price, however. Jesse quickly becomes distant and quick to anger, refusing to speak to Hector and attacking another boy for simply having a polite conversation with a mutual acquaintance. A deeper investigation soon makes it apparent that Jesse has been cursed, and that he'll get far worse before he gets better.

I had been led to believe that this would be the movie that would redefine and reshape the Paranormal Activity franchise. The handful of reviews I'd read implied that The Marked Ones would blow the socks off the fans who'd stood by the series. But it turns out I'd basically read a whole bunch of overblown hyperbole. I won't say the movie is actively bad, but it's just kinda there. It has its ups and downs like most movies, yet it doesn't really do much to make itself better than any of the other Paranormal Activity movies. Outside of a handful of references to the earlier movies and the crazy ending, it honestly could have been just another random mediocre found footage movie that would have otherwise flown under the radar.

The movie was written and directed by Christopher Landon, who is no stranger to the franchise, having written all of the other sequels beginning with Paranormal Activity 2. But for someone so heavily involved with the evolution of this series, The Marked Ones comes across like he was just throwing things at the wall to see what would stick. It was as if he was unsure of what he wanted to do with the movie. I understand that Landon might want to shake things up after the disappointment that was the fourth movie, but he takes it in a really weird direction. Landon moves away from the "haunted house" vibe of the first four movies and instead gives us what would happen if you combined Chronicle with demonic possession. The whole "being cursed gives Jesse superpowers" thing is interesting, I'll give it that, but Landon handles it awkwardly. It feels clunky and forced, and doesn't add a whole lot to the movie other than to imply that something weird is happening to Jesse. And honestly, that's something that could have been done so much better.

And in moving away from the "haunted house" format, Landon also moves away from the franchise's typical formula by eschewing slow-burning fear for cheap jump scare after cheap jump scare. There's not really any suspense, no feeling of dread brought on by a lurking, invisible menace. It's just stuff leaping into frame and yelling "boo!" over and over and over until it becomes monotonous. These moments have their place in horror movies and I'm not opposed to them, but if that's all there is, they lose their punch after a while. Some of the scares in The Marked Ones are good, but the spooky feeling from the other movies is barely here at all.

And while I'll applaud Landon's efforts to deepen the franchise's mythology, it's really just a mess. This is the first entry in the franchise in which Katie or her nephew Hunter aren't the focus of the movie in some form or fashion, which paves the way for Landon to investigate the whole evil cult thing that's been building from the other sequels. At least, that's what you'd think. Even when they have characters come in solely to dump a whole bunch of exposition on us, we never really feel like much is learned. For every question from the earlier movies that it might answer, it just raises twenty more. It's like Landon wanted to straighten some things out while still leaving the movie's mythology confusing enough that it would draw people into the next Paranormal Activity sequel to see if that one would make any sense.

At least the movie's cast is relatively strong. While much of the supporting cast isn't all that really memorable, they all play their parts as well as they can. The movie belongs to Andrew Jacobs and Jorge Diaz, though. Diaz is funny in his role as the protagonist's sidekick and comic relief, while Jacobs is likable, charismatic, and sympathetic all at once. Despite how crazy and borderline silly the movie gets at times, Jacobs remains relatively consistent. He's good enough that you can't help but worry for Jesse and his friends during all the awful stuff that plagues them. He also proves to be pretty scary too, his increasingly cold demeanor becoming more and more off-putting as the movie goes on. It's a good performance that really makes the movie a little bit better.

Unfortunately, the movie as a whole is still kinda mediocre. There are some parts of the movie that are genuinely fun and some really good scares to be found. It's a definite step up from the fourth movie, at the very least. But The Marked Ones is still honestly one of the weaker entries in the Paranormal Activity saga. The elements that work in the movie's favor are bogged down by the amount of stuff that just plain doesn't work. It's a movie that could have turned the whole franchise on its ear, but ultimately stumbled over its own feet. The next Paranormal Activity movie is apparently still in the works and looks to be released at the end of October. Assuming that holds true, we've got a ten-month wait to see just where the story will go from here. I'm actually genuinely curious to see it, just to see if any lessons have been learned from two "meh" sequels in a row. But then we'll see this Halloween, won't we?

Final Rating: **½

Die Hard (1988)

If you've read any of the reviews I've posted on Christmas over the last few years, you've probably noticed that my taste in Christmas movies leans more towards the wacky and weird than to the traditional. Why would I watch Miracle on 34th Street or It's a Wonderful Life when Gremlins and Silent Night, Deadly Night are right there? But of all the off-kilter holiday-themed movies I've seen over the years, not one of them can come close to topping the pure unbridled awesomeness that is Die Hard. I know Die Hard probably isn't the first or even second movie that comes to mind when you think of Christmas movies. (That is, unless you're a total kook like me.) But if you've seen it, you'll know that Christmas is at least involved in the movie's premise, so I'm counting it.

Meet Detective John McClane (Bruce Willis), an off-duty New York City cop who's arrived in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve. Hoping to spend the holiday with his kids and try smoothing out the problems that have hurt his marriage with his estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia), all John wants is a nice, quiet Christmas with his family. But things never work out like we expect them to, do they?

Upon his arrival in Los Angeles, John heads for Nakatomi Plaza, the massive office building where Holly works, to surprise her. His arrival is not the only surprise of the evening, as a group of terrorists led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) barge into the building's Christmas party and take everyone hostage. While Gruber's plan is to steal the 640 million dollars worth of bearer bonds in the building's vault, John ― who managed to elude Gruber's henchmen during their initial sweep of the building ― intends to throw a wrench into the mix and protect Holly and the other hostages.

Die Hard is one of those rare movies that has managed to withstand the test of time. Twenty-five years since it was unleashed upon the world, it has steadily built a reputation as one of the greatest action movies ever made. As big as Schwarzenegger and Stallone's action movies were during their heyday, I dare say that only Terminator 2 and First Blood even come close to matching how freaking good Die Hard is. It is a movie that absolutely must be seen if you even remotely consider yourself a fan of the genre.

The movie was directed by John McTiernan, who had previously made a name for himself with Predator a year earlier. Much like Predator, his work with Die Hard is fabulous. Each scene is filled with a tension and excitement that many of the movie's subsequent knockoffs and wannabes (and to a certain extent, its sequels too) never came close to duplicating. McTiernan keeps the movie rolling at a hundred miles an hour even during its slower, more understated moments, and even at 132 minutes in length, the movie never once lags or wears out its welcome. McTiernan knows exactly which buttons to push to keep the audience's attention and make sure they're having a blast watching the movie. He keeps the pace fast and the entertainment value high, with every gunshot, broken window, chase sequence, and explosion orchestrated to be as energetic and thrilling as possible. McTiernan went above and beyond the call of duty and crafted an action movie that's not just a great genre flick, but a great movie in general to boot.

It also helps he's working from a surprisingly strong script penned by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza. I haven't read the source material ― Roderick Thorp's 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever ― so I honestly can't compare just how good an adaptation it is. But twenty-five years after its release, I wouldn't doubt that Die Hard has completely overshadowed Nothing Lasts Forever by a considerable margin. At this point, most people probably wouldn't even know it was based on a book at all if it weren't for Thorp's name appearing in the credits. But we're here to talk about a movie and not a book, and Stuart and de Souza's script for this movie is something else. The whole terrorist plot is stock action movie fodder, but where Stuart and de Souza's writing succeeds is with its witty dialogue and intelligent characters. The banter between John and the other characters is fantastically written, each line having a sense of urgency that makes even the tiniest thing feel important. And you can't have an '80s action movie without a fair share of one-liners, and all of Die Hard's are pretty great.

The characters are fantastic too, but they're made better by the excellent group of actors assembled in front of the camera. Amongst the minor supporting cast, Reginald VelJohnson (who plays an LAPD cop on the outside John manages to contact) and Bonnie Bedelia are likable in their roles, while William Atherton is fun as a slimeball tabloid TV reporter who continually irritates the police who've congregated outside Nakatomi Plaza and Paul Gleason also does a fine job as the LAPD's deputy chief and head of the negotiations with Gruber's gang. But the stars of the movie are where the best acting comes.

As the villainous Hans Gruber, Alan Rickman is absolutely wonderful. He practically steals the entire movie with by playing Gruber as suave, sophisticated, yet utterly vile. Rickman redefined the action movie villain with this performance, as his Gruber is an intelligent and well-composed gentleman that still has no qualms with putting a bullet between someone's eyes if they don't cooperate to his liking.

Our hero, meanwhile, is nothing short of stellar as well. Prior to Die Hard's release in 1988, Bruce Willis was known mostly as a comedic TV actor thanks to his starring role on Moonlighting. This movie helped change the public's perception of Willis from TV joker to action hero and bona fide movie star. John McClane is unique among action heroes in that he's not some brawny superhuman or a military-trained killing machine, but just a regular NYPD cop stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time. Willis approaches it appropriately, playing John as a normal guy with a normal life that's ended up out of his element. He gets bruised and bloodied, beats himself up because he failed to stop Gruber from killing a hostage, tries desperately to save the life of another hostage that he doesn't even personally like just because it was the right thing to do. He knows he's in way over his head and that any wrong move could possibly get him and the hostages killed, and Willis plays it with absolute perfection. He's charismatic and very believable, and I honestly don't know if any of the other actors who I've heard were up for the role could have pulled it off quite as well.

People have been singing Die Hard's praises for twenty-five years, and this review is just one more for that massive pile of positive ones. It is not hyperbole when I say that it continues to hold up to this day as one of the best American action movies ever made. Anyone who even remotely considers themselves a fan of the genre and has yet to see Die Hard is doing themselves a great disservice. And while it might not be the most traditional Christmas movie, I'd much rather spend the yuletide season with John McClane than George Bailey and Clarence the angel. Yippee-ki-yay, indeed.

Final Rating: ****½

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

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