Main Cast: Crispin Glover, Kimberly Beck, Barbara Howard, Erich Anderson, Corey Feldman
Release Year: 1984
Country: US
Run Time: 91 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Hockey-masked killer Jason Vorhees returns to terrorize a lakeside family and their rowdy teen neighbors in this fourth installment of the long-running slasher series. After the events of Friday the 13th, Part 3, Jason's seemingly lifeless body is brought to the morgue, where horny attendant Axel (Bruce Mahler) is trying to score with foxy Nurse Morgan (Lisa Freeman). The pair quickly meet a grisly end. Meanwhile, at Crystal Lake, estranged wife Mrs. Jarvis (Joan Freeman) and her kids -- young Tommy (Corey Feldman) and teenaged Trish (Kimberly Beck) -- find their quiet invaded by a group of hard-partying kids moving into the rental house next door. The youngsters include curious virgin Sara (Barbara Howard), hot-to-trot Samantha (Judie Aronson), and nebbish Jimmy (Crispin Glover). Tommy, a monster makeup enthusiast, enjoys watching the scantily clad young ladies through his window, while Trish toys with the idea of joining in their revelries. Also lurking around the area is Rob (Erich Anderson), who claims to be hunting bear but actually has mysterious ties to the events of Friday the 13th, Part 2. As the house full of teens begins to pair off -- aided by the addition of local twins Tina (Camilla More) and Terri (Carey More) to the mix -- an unseen killer begins to pick them off one by one. The bloodshed climaxes with a tense showdown in which Tommy disguises himself as a bald, lumpy boyhood version of Jason in hopes of distracting the relentless psychopath who hunts him. Feldman would return for a cameo in Friday the 13th, Part V: A New Beginning, only to be replaced by another actor in a grown-up version of the role. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Review
With the exception of Kevin Bacon, Corey Feldman is probably the most famous actor ever to grace a Friday the 13th flick, and his precocious performance in Friday the 13th -- The Final Chapter is one of the elements that elevates the film above most of the other installments. The lurid imagery of special-effects artists Tom Savini and Martin Becker don't hurt, nor does Barney Cohen's relatively well-oiled script. Teen comedy antics from Crispin Glover and Lawrence Monoson and the good girl/bad girl combo of Barbara Howard and Judie Aronson give the typically sex-crazed shenanigans of the cast of victims a bit more pull than normal, although Kimberly Beck is just as generic a putative heroine as those found in the earlier installments. Joseph Zito isn't exactly a cinematic stylist, but the director does manage to inject a bit of freshness into the inevitable climactic hunt. The scene in which Feldman's character figuratively "becomes" Jason is among the queasiest moments in the entire series; the killing that occurs immediately afterward is definitely the most enjoyable, as far as such things go. Alas, this wasn't truly "the final chapter" in the saga. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Alan Hayes - Paul; Judie Aronson - Samantha; Ted White - Jason; Lawrence Monoson - Ted; Joan Freeman - Mrs. Jarvis; Peter Barton - Doug; Camilla More - Tina; Carey More - Terri; Lisa Freeman - Nurse Morgan; Bruce Mahler - Axel; Kirsten Baker; Anthony Barrile - Vinnie; Richard Brooker; Peter Brouwer; Todd Bryant - Grave Robber Neil; Ronn Carroll; Steve Daskawisz; Tom Everett - Flashlight Man; Rex Everhart; Walter Gorney; Wayne Grace - Officer Jamison; Bonnie Hellman - Hitchhiker; Dana Kimmell; Adrienne King; Marta Kober; Paul Lukather - Doctor; Tom McBride; Betsy Palmer; Jaime Perry; Antony Ponzini - Vincent; Jeffrey Rogers; Gene Ross - Cop; Nick Savage; Amy Steel; Lauren Taylor; Russell Todd; John Furey; Frankie Hill - Lainie; Abigail Shelton - Woman; Jack Marks; Thad Geer - Running Man; Arnie Moore - Medic; Robert Perault - Medic; John Walsh - TV Newscaster
Credit
Joe Hoffman - Art Director, Fern Champion - Casting, Pamela Basker - Casting, Terry Ballard - Consultant/advisor, Tony Bishop - Co-producer, Tony Bishop - First Assistant Director, Joseph Zito - Director, Joe Hoffman - Director, Joel Goodman - Editor, Daniel Loewenthal - Editor, Lisa Barsamian - Executive Producer, Tony Bishop - Location Manager, Harry Manfredini - Composer (Music Score), Tom Savini - Makeup Special Effects, Joao Fernandes - Cinematographer, Frank Mancuso, Jr. - Producer, Lisa Barsamian - Producer, Martin Becker - Special Effects, Sheryl Brown - Stunts, Bobby Cummings - Stunts, Tracy Keehn-Dashnaw - Stunts, Pamela Bebermeyer - Stunts, Mike De Luna - Stunts, Bruce Hidemi Sakow - Screen Story, Barney Cohen - Screenwriter, Frank Mancuso, Jr. - Screenwriter, Bruce Hidemi Sakow - Screenwriter, Charles Grenzbach - Re-Recording Mixer, Susan Malerstein-Watkins - Script Supervisor
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter is a 1984 slasher film. It is the fourth film in the Friday the 13th film series. Though it was billed as "The Final Chapter," there have been many further sequels in the franchise. The popularity and financial success of the film, which grossed over $32 million, kept Paramount Pictures from retiring the franchise. Because of the finality of this film's plot and title, the next film, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, "attempted" to reboot the series with a different killer.
A day after the events of Friday the 13th Part 3, police and paramedics are busy cleaning up the mess deformed serial murderer Jason Voorhees left at Higgins Haven, including the defeated hockey-masked killer himself. Once delivered to the Wessex County morgue, it turns out that Jason is still alive. He rises, kills morgue doctor, Axel, and Nurse Morgan, then makes his way back to Crystal Lake. A group of friends (Paul, Sam, Sara, Doug, Ted, and Jimmy) have rented a house on Crystal Lake. On the way there, the group passes Mrs. Voorhees' tombstone and a female hitchhiker, who becomes Jason's next victim, stabbed in throat while eating a banana. Next to the rental house is the Jarvis home. The group meet Trish and Tommy when they arrive. The next day the group befriends twins Tina and Terri, who live in the area, and they all go skinny dipping at Crystal Point. Trish and Tommy, driving by, stop to see who's at Crystal Point and the group invites Trish to a party that night. Trish's car breaks down a bit further along the road, and they are helped by Rob, a hiker with mysterious reasons for visiting Crystal Lake, who soon becomes good friends with Trish and Tommy.
Next door, the kids are enjoying themselves by dancing and listening to music. With four girls and four boys, each now has a date. However conflict ensues as some of the kids switch dates. These conflicts prove to be the least of their troubles as Jason stalks and kills them one by one. Sam goes out skinny-dipping and is impaled from under a raft. When Paul goes out to be with her, he is harpooned in the crotch. Terri decides to leave early and is about to get on her bike but has a spear rammed into her back. Jimmy decides to celebrate scoring with Tina with a bottle of wine. While searching for a corkscrew, Jason appears from the shadows and slams it on Jimmy's hand and drives a meatcleaver in his face. Upstairs Tina looks out the window and is grabbed and thrown two stories down landing on the car. While Ted watches vintage stag films he gets too close to the projector screen and is stabbed in the head by Jason who plunges a kitchen knife though the screen from the other side. After Doug and Sara finish making love in the shower, Jason attacks Doug, crashing his head against the shower tile. He then kills Sara by throwing an axe through the front door when she tries to escape.
At the Jarvis house, Trish and Tommy find their mother missing, so Trish goes to Rob for help. Rob explains that he's looking to get revenge for the death of his sister, Sandra Dyer (killed by Jason in Part II). Trish and Rob take Gordon (the Jarvis family dog) next door to see what's going on. Tommy is left at home, and finds Rob's newspaper articles about Jason. At the house, a frightened Gordon jumps though a second story window apparently killing himself. Jason kills Rob, and Trish flees back to her home intending to warn Tommy. Tommy shaves his head and makes himself up to look like Jason, which is effective in distracting Jason long enough for Trish to be able to attack Jason with his machete. She just misses him, but manages to knock the hockey mask off his face. While Jason heads for her, she drops the machete to the floor. Tommy picks it up and swings it at Jason's head. Jason then falls to the floor, causing the machete to dig further into his head. As he embraces his sister, Tommy sees Jason begin to move, loses control and, hacks Jason repeatedly with the machete, while Trish screams his name. The final scene of the film has Tommy visiting Trish in the hospital, and they embrace as they believe their nightmare is over, with a shot of Tommy psychotically looking towards the camera, leaving the impression that Tommy will become a killer like Jason in future installments.
