Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) Paramount Pictures/Horror RT: 91 minutes Rated R (language, graphic violence, nudity, sexual content) Director: Joseph Zito Screenplay: Barney Cohen Music: Harry Manfredini Cinematography: Joao Fernandes Release date: April 13, 1984 (US) Cast: Kimberly Beck, Peter Barton, Corey Feldman, E. Erich Anderson, Crispin Glover, Alan Hayes, Barbara Howard, Lawrence Monoson, Joan Freeman, Judie Aronson, Camilla More, Carey More, Bruce Mahler, Lisa Freeman, Bonnie Hellman, Ted White. Box Office: $32.9 million (US) Body Count: 13
Rating: ****
Don’t believe everything you read. Do you really think that Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter will be the last we see of Jason Voorhees? Not a chance! If it makes money (which it did), the producers will find a way to bring him back (which they did).
I didn’t know this at the tender age of 16; I really believed this fourth installment would be the final chapter of a horror franchise that I loved. So imagine my disappointment when I found out it wouldn’t be playing at a theater near me. Well, it did play in this one theater that my parents forbade me to patronize as it meant taking my life into my hands (the Eric Terminal Theater at 69th Street). We managed to find a theater about a half an hour away that was showing it, so my dad dropped me off that Sunday afternoon for the first matinee. Now the other thing I didn’t realize about Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter at the time was that Tom Savini did the makeup and gore effects. I wasn’t familiar with his work at that point, but I liked what I saw onscreen that afternoon. I found out later that he also worked on the first movie. I quickly became a fan. As for the movie itself, it’s great! It has plenty of gore, hot babes and naked boobs. What’s not to like? It also has a decent storyline which helps immensely.
The Final Chapter picks up right after the events of the previous movie with paramedics collecting the remains of Jason’s victims as well as the masked killer himself. They deliver him to the county morgue where a slimy doctor (Mahler, Police Academy) and hot nurse (Lisa Freeman, Savage Streets) come close to having sex right next to his corpse. True to form, Jason wakes up and makes short work of the duo. He’s on the loose again and this time goes after a group of teens renting a house near Crystal Lake for the weekend. They are as follows: Paul (Hayes, Neon Maniacs) and his girlfriend Sam (Aronson, American Ninja), Doug (Barton, Hell Night) and his girlfriend Sara (Howard, White Palace), wise-ass Ted (Monoson, The Last American Virgin) and nerdy Jimmy (Glover, River’s Edge). Their house is located next door to the Jarvis family- single mom Mrs. Jarvis (Joan Freeman, The Reluctant Astronaut), daughter Trish (Beck, Massacre at Central High) and 12YO Tommy (Feldman, The Goonies). The teens meet hot twins Tina and Terri (Camilla and Carey More) and go skinny dipping with them. Trish and Tommy meet Rob (Anderson, Missing in Action) when their car breaks down. He claims to be hunting for bear, but somehow that doesn’t ring true. Then teens throw a party that night and get an unexpected guest. At the end of Jason’s latest killing spree, Trish and Tommy are the only survivors.
Okay, I have to backtrack a bit and explain something. It’s a given that Jason will be “killed” at the end of each F13 movie. Of course, we know that he’s not really dead. At the end of II, the heroine brings him down with a machete to the shoulder. At the end of III, the heroine buries an axe in his skull. His demise in The Final Chapter is a real doozy thanks to Savini. It’s not the girl that dispatches him, but her preteen brother. Believe me, it’s wicked awesome!
As per usual, Jason comes up with creative ways to do away with victims. The highlights in The Final Chapter include a beheading by hacksaw, a guy getting stabbed in the groin with a harpoon gun, a girl getting stabbed through the chest as she lies on a rubber raft, a guy’s skull getting crushed, death by meat cleaver and corkscrew and a hitchhiker getting stabbed through the neck. That SOB Jason even kills the Jarvis family dog. The acting is about what you’d expect from an F13 flick. The actress that caught my attention this time is Aronson. She’s a real cutie. It’s weird seeing familiar faces like Monoson and Glover playing victims. The two have a nice rapport as Monson’s character keeps referring to Glover as a “dead f**k” due to his lack of sexual prowess. Feldman does a great job as Tommy Jarvis, a character that will ultimately stick around for two more movies.
As I left the theater that afternoon, part of me knew that it wasn’t the end. A couple of kids evidently shared this opinion as they called out “Friday the 13th Part Tommy” as they approached the exit doors. It’s always fun watching these movies with an enthusiastic audience, isn’t it?
