Friday the 13th The Final Chapter (1984) – Review

Friday the 13th Part 3 was to be the last entry in the franchise, the original script had Jason getting his head chopped off, but the studio decided to take one more stab at the apple and give the world Jason’s “Final Chapter” which, of course, ended up being far from the final entry in the series. Jason Voorhees may have looked quite dead at the end of Part III but it takes a lot more than an axe to the forehead to slow down the most notorious serial killer to ever grace the silver screen

The movie opens on a scene that takes place immediately after the previous movie ended, with the police processing the murder scene and Jason’s body being loaded into an ambulance, but the obvious question that leaps to mind is, “Can he really be dead? The unkillable nature of Jason is one of the more debatable aspects of the series, come part 6 and he’s basically a zombie risen from the grave which makes his unstoppable nature a little more believable, but in the first few films, it’s never explained why this mongoloid looking dude can survive being hung, stabbed and hacked in the face. With the fact that he was taken to the local morgue, one can assume at least someone checked his vitals before loading him into the ambulance, but does this mean Jason was really dead and that this is actually where zombie Jason made his first appearance or was he in some kind of Zen-like state where his life signs were too low to be detected?

Supernatural or not he’s also rather rude, he never knocks before entering.

Of course, the nature of Jason isn’t the driving force of this particular franchise; the inevitable body count is what brings audience members to see a Friday the 13th movie and this entry does not disappoint. The story basically surrounds two parties who live in two neighbouring houses; one is the Jarvis family consisting of movie monster enthusiast Tommy (Corey Feldman), his older sister and this film’s resident Final Girl, Trish (Kimberly Beck) and their clueless mother (Joan Freeman ), while the other house is invaded by six hormonally charged teenagers, the most notable of these being considered a “Dead Fuck” (Crispin Glover) by his supposed friend, and this group is joined by some twins who are here simply to ratchet up the kill count.

Double your pleasures double the kills.

As is the case with the previous sequels there isn’t much of a plot to be found here and once again Jason (Ted White) is given no motivation as to why he targets certain individuals – it can’t be territorial as his kill-range continues to grow – and after killing a nurse and the morgue attendant he seems to murder just about anyone who crosses his path. This film also throws in a revenge-seeking relative, in the form of Rob Dyer (Erich Anderson), who seems to be tracking Jason down after the monster had murdered his sister as if he were some modern-day Javert. He eventually teams up with Trish and Tommy but his ability to tackle Jason is quickly put into question when once entering the murder house he leaves Trish alone so that he can check out the basement and die. This was also after those two left eleven-year-old Tommy alone at home, even though they know that Jason is in the neighbourhood, and they leave with Rob telling the kid to “Hold the fort.” What a complete dick.

Question: It’s revealed that Rob’s sister was only murdered the night before, so how has he become this Jason expert all of a sudden?

Stray Observations:

• As in the previous movie none of the events takes place on Friday the 13th.
• Mrs. Jarvis jokes with her kids about a psychopath being at the door, which is pretty callous considering the massacre that occurred just the previous day. In fact, the Jarvis family seems completely unaware of the notoriety of Crystal Lake.
• Jason must have a cloak of invisibility, after murdering the nurse and morgue attendant he just wanders out of the hospital unseen.
• I assume the motto the filmmakers were under was “If you can’t think of anything original add more nudity.”
• The movie cheats by using the iconic musical sting “Ki-ki-ki, ma-ma-ma” for a fake scare. For the film, Jaws composer John Williams never used the “Da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum daaaaaaaa” unless it was the actual shark, something the composer of this movie should have taken note of.
• The film kind of teases us with the idea that the character of Sara (Barbara Howard ) could be the “Final Girl” but then she has “shower sex” and is doomed.
• Jason continues his mom’s modus operandi of either staging corpses or throwing them through windows, but this time out we get a Jason that literally sprints after our heroine.  Gone is the laconic stalking monster.
• Trish is unable to escape out of the front door because Jason has placed a corpse on the front doorstep. Was stepping over the body simply out of the question? Is there a bad luck custom she was worried about?
• Tommy Jarvis shaving his head to look like young Jason is a similar psychological attack to the one used against him in Friday the 13th Part 2 where the Final Girl pretended to be his mother.

Note: Despite being called “The Final Chapter” the producers clearly wanted an “out” if another sequel was required.

Legendary make-up effects man Tom Savini returned for this installment, lured back by the prospect of killing the monster he helped create, but I must admit that despite the variety of great kills on display here my favourite example here was more a stunt than a make-up effect, it’s where one of the twins is tossed out a second-floor window to then crash-land on the car below, it’s truly spectacular and is a tribute to director Joseph Vito’s skills as a filmmaker. Aside from the “fun” kills provided by Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter it was the cast that the producers of the film managed to assemble which makes this one memorable, this is the best collection of random teenagers and even with the limited screen time available to each character they were able to make us actually care about them. This is also the last film where one is truly invested in anyone other than Jason himself, for once he becomes “Super Jason” the films become even more about the kills and less about the victims.

“And he’s not only merely dead, he’s really most sincerely dead.”

With this entry director Joseph Zito crafted what is easily one of the best entries in the Friday the 13th series, the editing and shot composition is far above what is found in your average slasher film, and even setting aside the appearance of future stars Crispin Glover and Corey Feldman the entire ensemble give fantastic performances that equally standout from other installments, then you include the fact that Tom Savini returned to not only provide some of the best kills in the series but with such a variety that it was unequalled in the genre. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter may have the most inaccurate title in the franchise but it is one that I recommend highly.