Jason's unlucky day - Friday the 13th IV The Final Chapter

 Jason's unlucky day - Friday the 13th IV The Final Chapter

PLOT - After being mortally wounded and taken to the morgue, murderer Jason Voorhees spontaneously revives and embarks on a killing spree as he makes his way back to his home at Camp Crystal Lake. There he finds a group of teenagers ready to party, a mysterious man camping in the woods looking for revenge, and perhaps his very match...a young Tommy Jarvis.

LOWDOWN -  I decided to do this review after spending my entire day sculpting and working on one of my latest projects. After spraying crystal clear in a closed off area for the last few hours I decided to take a breather and enjoy the rest of my night. Earlier today I watched my favorite guilty pleasure movie of all time...Jason Goes To Hell The Final Friday, so I found it fitting to end the night with my own personal favorite of the entire series with Friday The 13th Part IV The Final Chapter. 

As I posted last week, my love and passion for the Friday the 13th films go on and on. I would like to count myself as a pretty big fan, and my vast unlimited memory of useless knowledge and trivia for these movies are more than a little scary. So as I lay here, most likely half high from the chemicals I just used, I decided to write up a little review on my thoughts and views on The Final Chapter. A movie that in my eyes closed the first loop of films that started the entire series and changed the ways of slashers in the 1980's forever.

I have fond memories of my mother renting this movie along with the original Nightmare On Elm Street, and Prom Night. I remember vaguely knowing the Friday the 13th films at that point and honestly being completely blown away when I saw this movie. Never before had I see horror done this way. Here we had a much of horny teenagers, all in the middle of the woods, and this huge lurking killer with a hockey mask slaughtering his way through every single one. It didn't take long for my obession for this movies to grow and slowly but very surely I began renting/buying every single one.

Aside from my love for Jason Goes To Hell, the first five Friday the 13ths are my favorites. It's really hard to describe what exactly it is about these movies that stand out for me. I think the first mainly being the fact that this was sorta back when Jason was still human. Yeah the guy got a machete to the neck/shoulder, hung, and an axe to the head...but hey maybe he had super human strength? In my eyes a lot of what happened could happen...maybe...if that makes any sense.

The first movie is beyond classic (which reminds me I still need to pick up on blu-ray) This followed in the footsteps of the very famous Black Christmas and Halloween. They changed the setting and placed a bunch of teens in the center ring of danger, slowly getting picked off one by one. I've commented before that the original movie really isn't just your typical slasher, it's a tragic tale of revenge. The sequels that followed show the bloody aftermath of how a distraught half crazed mother's mistake shaped her mentally challenged child who had been living scared and alone in the woods for years completely alone and driven to seek the same revenge his mother had. Yeah the fact he hadn't of drowned and was living in the woods was a tad far fetched but I really dug how Jason was alive how seeking revenge and killing anyone who came back around the area where the original massacre took place. I love how part 2, 3, and 4 all take place within the same time frame. That Jason went on a full on mass murder spree all within a week, all ending in the bloody show down of part IV. 

Coming straight from the release of the third film which had done very well at the box office and gained a very special place in Friday the 13th film history as being the only movie to be released in 3D. The studio I guess was sorta embarrassed by the little monster they made despite the success and money the past three films had made. Here they decided to put a rest to Jason once and for all and kill the monster they created. 

Yeah right...

Bringing back 80's makeup wizzard Mr. Tom Savini (Hey, that guy owns me 40 thousand dollars!) to come back to help kill the monster he helped create. Carefully putting all the nails in Jason's coffin, they even advertised this movie as being the "Final Chapter" and even displayed on posters that the April 13th release date would be Jason's death date. 

To me the whole Final Chapter thing wasn't as dumb as everyone thinks since eight movies followed this one. I feel in many senses this was the final chapter for the first round of movies. Part 1-4 all have a very similar look and feel towards them. They show the audience the humble beginnings of what caused Jason to become the killing machine he's now famous for being. For the first movie we learned about his so call "drowning" and his mother seeking revenge and causing the original Camp Blood massacre to happen. In the sequel we met a grown Jason, no longer being that creepy seaweed covered child that jumped out and scared the shit out of all of us a year before. Here Jason took care of business killing the girl that killed his mother, and returned to the lake to pick off a few new victims, sporting a sack instead of his famous hockey mask he got in the third.

And of course the last movie being a cheesy but awesome 3D 80's thrill ride with an awesome disco score, and bad ass fight which left a very famous mark in Jason's mask for the rest of the series. One of my favorite openings of any Friday the 13th movie is this one. We get a sweet recap by Paul from part two (which continues to stump many people who if he exactly died or not...) telling the story of Jason and how he's still seeking revenge and won't stop until no one comes around his home again. Being able watch some of the greater deaths in the last few movies, we come back to the final duel between Chris and Jason as she slams the axe right into his head as he stumbles towards her. I love the final line before the credits "No! He can't be alive!" 

Well guess what honey...he is.

The opening showing the complete chaos of all the police at the cabin was perfect. In fact one of the paramedics utter my all time favorite lines in the whole series "Yeah he got seven kids and three bikers...this time they got him."

One shot that always gets me is when all the ambulnaces, cop cars, and choppers leave and how the cabin is left in the darkness as if nothing at all had happened. Very creepy...

Jason of course wakes up from his little axe to the head accident and quickly begins making his way back to the lake to see if anyone is around to slaughter. 

Among the cast we find us a very young George McFly aka Crispin Glover who is nothing less than adorable in this movie. For anyone who went to school with me, they know how much I love this guy and still to this day completely love his sick dance moves he displays in this movie.

We also see a young Corey Feldman. Another childhood crush of mine (I know...I know...) who was the first actor to play Mr. Tommy Jarvis. A young horror fan who has a crazy talent for making monster masks. Feldman did an awesome job as Tommy and this was the first chapter in which Jarvis and Jason went head to head. I always felt it was a shame he didn't come back for part five besides a brief clever cameo but I guess it was between this movie and The Goonies. I feel he made the right choice with that one.

We also meet two pretty bad ass characters. One as Trish, Tommy's older sister played by Kimberly Beck. This is one of my favorite final girls in the whole series. First off she was gorgeous looking and second she gave Jason a fucking run for his money! I love the scene where she's holding the machete and tells him she's going to give him something to remember her by. Such a bad ass! I hate that she didn't return for any of the movies. Just to think she could have been kicking ass along side her brother in the next two movies! What a waste!

The second is Erich Anderson as Rob, the man seeking revenge for his sister's murder (remember the chick who gets impaled with her boyfriend in part 2? Yep that's her) Even though he really never got to fully kick some ass in this movie, I always found it a shame he was killed and always feel bad whenever he yells to Trish to run screaming "He's killing me! He's killing me!"

This movie picks up the action very quickly in the final night during a rain storm. Between the two houses that are across from each other, Jason has himself a good time killing all these horny teenagers who are trying not to be "dead fucks".

The deaths and makeup in this movie are amazing (The corkscrew death with Crispin being my favorite.) I really gotta hand it to Savini that the makeup in this one was pretty bad ass. I love Jason's look at the end and of course that wonderful bloody death of his. Every time I watch this movie I always find myself pretty stunned they got away with as much as they did. This by far has been Jason's greatest death and what makes it even better is the fact a little boy had something to do with it. In fact in my eyes this is Jason's first real death besides his would be drowning. In fact this death was so bad ass he didn't return until part 6!

There are so many memorable moments in this one. The hitchhiker with her banana, the dog jumping out the window (???), Teddy and Jimbo, The slow motion falls out the windows, the silent 1920's porno movies, the bed breaking with Crispin Glover, the completely bad ass death whent he girl is thrown on top of the station wagon, and of course Tommy Jarvis himself pulling a Ginny from part two, trying to level and fuck with Jason's mind.

Rumor had it they wanted to kill Jason and turn Tommy into the next killer. (which explains the creepy shot of Tommy looking over his sister's shoulder.) To me the way they ended up doing it was better. This was the end of an era for these movies. It was a sign that the first half of the decade was over and that the tables were truly turned now for Jason. The same year Freddy was born, Jason was supposed to be killed. Go figure.

This is a great slasher with feels very full circle to me. They went completely balls to the walls with this movie and in my eyes is one of the greatest of the entire series!

4 Stars!