Review of Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) by John P — 05 Jun 2010

Ahhh... "The Final Chapter", they claim. Though we know now the "Friday the 13th" series is far from over, in 1984 the brilliant marketing clan at Paramount wanted to bring moviegoers out in droves to see Jason Voorhees finally die. Hell, they even got makeup-FX wizard Tom Savini to return.

The sad part is, outstanding FX aside, the supposedly final film in the series is dull.

The film takes place shortly after the events unfolded in "Part III". Jason escapes from the morgue, and next thing you know... he's back at Crystal Lake. His would-be victims consist of a family (a divorced mom, her virginal, hot daughter and her young son), and a pack of horny teenagers renting the house next door.

I don't know why I didn't care for this movie. The characters are dry and the dialogue boring. The editing is horrible... there are a few scenes where the scary music kicks in for no apparent reason, and then the scene cuts to another take that has nothing to do with the story. Even when Jason attacks, it's not scary... we know it's coming, and we wait for the gory killing. Only the final chase sequence and the final showdown has a bit of tension.

On the good side, the acting is actually quite good for a "Friday" film. Corey Feldman is good as the young boy, and even character actor Crispin Glover shows up as a geeky teenager hellbent for some lovin'. As mentioned, Savini's effects are a definite highlight. And, the film doesn't hold many barriers when it comes to nudity. To put it simply, there's more gore and nudity in this thing than in the first three films combined: probably why it's a fan favourite.