Review of Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) by Jack S — 04 Jun 2008

Bewildering fan favorite in the Friday the 13th series. True, it is the last vestige of classic Paramount Jason, before he turned into a zombified killing machine in Part 6. However, the whole thing is completely disjointed, pointless (especially considering that this was the series' "Final Chapter," yet was subseded by seven more sequels), and unstructured --even for a Friday the 13th film. The teenagers in this one are totally uninteresting. None have the delightful charm and wit of Ginny (played by Amy Steel in Part 2), the sympathetic appeal of Shelly (played by Larry Zerner in Part 3), or the guarded pragmatism of Alice (played by Adrienne King in Part 1). The kids in the Final Chapter are also some of the least plausible in the entire series. Buxom British twins in the middle of the New Jersey wilderness? This is the stodgiest and most jejune group of soon-to-be-slaughtered youths in the Jason Voorhees saga.

Furthermore, this is when the series really started to become body count intensive, sacrificing coherent form and story for blood. Case in point: while the killing of the pleasantly plump, banana-eating hippie hitchhiker was a cool scene, it feels blatantly tacked on, rushed, and screws up any semblance of pacing in the film.

The proceedings aren't a complete wash, though, as director Joseph Zito manages to squeeze out a few nice stylistic touches -- I love the scene where Jason chases Trish through the rain, illuminated only by occasional flashes of lightning. Plus, Tom Savini makes his return to the series here, and of course adds some eye-popping gore to the kills.