| Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) 91 min |
| I would have to say that this is my second favorite entry in the series, only behind Part 2. This is the fourth movie in five years for the franchise, and one of the strongest slashers of the early 80s. In many ways, I see this as the pinnacle of this type of film. After this one, the series took on a slightly different tone. Slashers evolved into slighlty more comic oriented action movies. I don't consider this a bad thing either, Part 6 works well with this new formula. A comparison that keeps coming to mind for me involves the sexploitation films of the late 60s and early 70s. I think those are some of the most entertaining films I've ever seen. They kept getting a little more risque until finally Deep Throat came along and paved the way for a horde of uninspired hard core features. It's true that a good deal in the aftermath of Deep Throat was complete and utter garbage, but I don't blame Gerard Damiano (aka Jerry Gerard, the mastermind behind such other great titles as The Devil in Miss Jones and Let My Puppets Come) for this mess we're in. His landmark film had a lot of the same style of humor that made most of the soft core movies of the earlier decades so fun to watch. |
| Anyway, before I get to far off the topic at hand I'll try to clear up this comparison a little bit. As much as I love the early 80s slasher movies more than almost anything else, they had just about reached perfection (if you despise these movies like I know so many do, none of this is likely to make any sense). There wasn't really anywhere else to go in this direction without coming off as completely tired and repetative. I honestly think this is what the other films were leading up to. This has everything I could possibly want in this type of slasher film. So onward we have gone, Jason's subsequent outings have had high points (Part 6) and low points (Part 8). |
| Now that all that is out of the way, I'll move on to the film itself. Jason is brought to the Essex County morgue after the events in part 3. He isn't down for long, but he seems to wake up in a much fouler mood than we have previously seen him. This is probably the most mean spirited he's been in the entire series. He doesn't stalk as much as in previous entries, but when he pounces he's all business. He does this strange grunting that he hadn't done much previously, it really works well with the murders in this one. As he makes his way back to the camp he offs anyone in his way. It's hard to describe how viscious he looks when he stomps right up to a girl and rams a knife right through the back of her neck! |
| When he finally gets to the camp, he finds one of the more amusing groups of teens in the series. Living there is the Jarvis family, a single mother with a preteen son (Tommy) and a pretty teenage daughter (Trish). Next door there is a house that's been rented by some rowdy kids. These kids are fabulous! The best of which are Teddy and Jimbo (Lawrence Monosoon and Crispin Glover respectively) as they discuss the perils of love and life. There's enough great 'dead fuck' jokes found here to last a lifetime. Jimbo provides what is undoubtedly one of the most hilarious scenes in the franchise as he rocks out to Lion's Love Is a Lie! If there weren't other people in the shot I would swear that they slowed down the camera to make it look like he's dancing faster. I wouldn't recommend anyone reading this to try that at home though, you're libel to get whip lash! To round out the cast there is also an amatuer Jason hunter added to the mix as a romantic interest for Trish. His motivation is that Jason killer his sister Sandra earlier in the series (Part 2). His part in the story is interesting, but ultimately a little anticlimactic. |
| Entertaining characters are an important element to a fun Friday film, but the real point of interest is the graphic murders. Here we find some of my favorites in the series, with some jaw droppingly gruesome effects by Tom Savini. The murders aren't really methodic as they were occasionally in the earlier installments (Vicki in Part 2 or Chili in Part 3). Here Jason is as ruthless as ever, tossing people through windows, spearing them in the balls, crushing heads, cleaving faces, and whipping axes through doors just to name a few. While not as scary as Part 2, I would say this has my favorite murder sequences of the series. There is no sense of playfullness here, if Jason is nearby you're probably going to die, and die in a nasty way. The trump card of the movie though, was that Jason was supposed to finally get his too! As everyone knows, this wasn't even the half way point in the series, but that doesn't mean that they go easy on Jason. His death here is just as nasty as that of any of the teens. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who might not have seen it yet, but this one is sure not to disappoint! |
| On the technical side of things, this film is quite accomplished for a slasher. The acting is credible all the way through. The photography is good and straightforward. The direction is tight and the effects are obvious showstoppers. This was the slickest entry up until this point, but it never wimps out. Overall, I think this makes an excellent group film. It's wet enough to keep the gorehounds cheering but it isn't too much that nonhorror fans will find it downright vile. I think most people from either side of the road should have a good time here. |
| Friday IV is distributed by Paramount and is now available on a good looking widescreen DVD. It's short on extras (as are most Paramont releases, especially horror films) but the presentation is really good. The trailer included is nice but not as good as some 80s movies. There are constant rumblings on the internet of a possible uncut release of the films, but I don't know if that will be happening any time soon. Right now I'm content with the current releases, but you can bet I'd be first in line if they were ever given the release they deserve. Unfortunately, the franchise just doesn't appear to be the money maker that it once was (at least when looking at Jason X's dismal box office performance). It is encouraging that they are revisiting the previously released Star Trek films with nice packages, but in all honesty those movies have a much larger following. Still it is frusterating that we can't get better DVDs, but I guess sometimes you have to take what you're given. |
| I give this one a full 5 dead fucks out of 5! |
| reviewed by Joe Canistro 05/06/2002 |
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