Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
Directed by Joseph Zito
Friday the 13th is one of my favorite movie series ever. The quality of the movies isn’t amazing, I think we all know and accept that, but they’re so charming you can’t help but love them. This past Friday the 13th I was able to watch two of them in an old theater. I saw Part 2 and The Final Chapter, arguably two of the best in the series. I’m actually surprised I haven’t reviewed this one in the past, so here we go.
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter is the fourth installment into the series and in my opinion, the best one. It was originally meant to be the end of the series, obviously from the title, but we all know that didn’t happen. They brought in Joseph Zito, the director of the Prowler and they brought back Tom Savini to do the effects. This movie picks up right after the third one. Jason is taken to the morgue where of course he comes back to life and starts a killing spree. Meanwhile there is a group of teenagers staying at a house in the woods. The group consists of the virgin Sara, her boyfriend Doug, slutty Samantha, her boyfriend Paul, jokester/douche Ted, and the sad sack nerd Jimmy (Played by Crispin Glover). Next door is the Jarvis family. Tommy Jarvis is a young preteen boy played by Corey Feldman whom is a big horror movie and creature fan. Tommy’s sister Trish and his mother also live in the house. I’m assuming the dad either didn’t come or the parents are divorced, its never really actually talked about haha. They also have a dog named Gordon, no real reason to mention him other than I love dogs. Joining the teenagers are twin sisters Tina and Terri whom they meet one day when swimming in the lake. Soon after everyone is settled Jason shows up and starts picking people off one by one, same old stuff. We soon come to realize that Tommy and Trish are the main characters and they are the ones that have to try and stop Jason. Helping the Jarvis siblings is Rob Dier, he is a little bit older, maybe college age? Rob is the brother of Sandra, whom was murdered in part 2. Rob is there trying to hunt Jason down.
The acting is relatively good for the series, and especially for a 4th installment of a horror franchise. The most interesting characters are Tommy and Jimmy. Maybe only because those two went on to be stars? Tommy is giving the most character development in the movie, we get to know him and his interests. Jimmy is just quirky and fun. He gets upset so easily and he’s such a doofus that you can’t help but like him. Also, his dance is beyond hilarious, look it up. The characters are all pretty likeable even Ted, whom is definitely the douchebag of the bunch. He thinks he’s a lady’s man but ends up being the only guy that doesn’t get laid haha.
If there is one thing that the Friday the 13th series is known for, it is special effects. This movie does not disappoint, they brought back Tom Savini to do the art, and with Savini it is art. The kills are pretty brutal and mean spirited. Jason cuts a guy’s neck with a bone saw, stabs a nurse in the stomach and cut up to the chest, stabs a hitchhiker through the back of her neck and out her throat, stabs a girl up through a raft and out of her back, stabs a guy in the dick (dick move Jason), crushes a guy’s face into a wall, another guy gets a corkscrew to the hand a clever into the face, girl gets thrown out of the window and onto a car, guy stabbed into the back, girl gets an axe to the chest, guy gets stabbed multiple times, we get an off screen murder of Mrs. Jarvis, then finally Jason meets his end in an epic effect that I wont ruin for anyone lol. There’s just something about Savini’s work that is effective and realistic that still holds up years later. Along with the effects the camera work is pretty good and helps show off the kills by zooming in and taking interesting angles.
Seeing this in the theater with some people watching it for the first time was great. People were making comments during funnier scenes and the newbies were reacting to the special effects. I loved it, it really added to the environment. The Jason kill scene got a lot of people squirming and going “ugh!” which made me smile. The tone of the movie is so angry and dark. Jason is mean spirited and full of rage. Ted White played Jason and he was quoted for saying he disliked Corey Feldman a lot, so pretending to attempt in killing him wasn’t hard. This is still my favorite of the series. It is fun, brutal, and has great effects but it is far from a perfect movie. I would give this an A-. I dislike how Mrs. Jarvis is discarded off camera and Jimmy was such a lovable character that I was sad to see him go.
31 Horror Movies 