Review of Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) by Slashergirl V — 14 Jun 2010

Part 4 was supposed to be the final film of the franchise; it marks the last film that tried to be truly frightening and where Jason remained a human being. We have pretty much a carbon copy of the previous three installments but with better acting, including Corey Feldman and Crispin Glover, better gore effects (Tom Savini returned) and much less annoying teenage characters. Still part 4 ends up being equally as good as the previous three, no better or no worse.

The plot picks up a day after part 3 ends. Jason is supposedly dead and is placed in the city morgue. Of course it doesn't take him long to come back alive (why didn't any of the medics check to see if he was dead?) and kill his way out of the hospital and head back to Crystal Lake. A bunch of teenagers (who supposedly don't care that 30+ people have been murdered in the area in the last 2 days) rent a house on Crystal Lake for a get away. Jason takes offence to this and so begins another killing spree. Add in a family living next door and a bloke who has come to avenge the death of his sister and you have the plot.

The teenagers are much less annoying in this installment and do have some funny moments. One particular scene of Crispin Glover dancing is hilarious, only Glover could pull it off. The bad part is that Jason has very little screen time until about an hour in when everything kicks off. The death scenes are much gorier than previous installments but it's very predictable as to when they are going happen. The ending is strange, but the death scene of Jason is the best off the series so far. Everything was good bout this film except the short period that Jason actually did the killings, about 25 minutes in total. More time should have been spent on this section instead of the usual party and sex scenes segment and part 4 would have been the best of the series. Instead it's pretty standard fare and adds nothing new.

Worth a watch to see a crazy bald Corey Feldman and Glovers dance scene as well as the goriest deaths of the series so far but it's only as good as the previous films. Marks the death of human Jason and sets us up for the supernatural Jason to come in the next 6 films. Worth a watch.