Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Joseph Zito

Writers:

Barney Cohen (screenplay)
Martin Kitrosser (character creator)

Release Date:

13 April 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Three Times Before You Have Felt The Terror, Known The Madness, Lived The Horror. But This Is The One You've Been Screaming For.

Plot:

Having been revived at the hospital, Jason returns to Crystal Lake to meet more victims. However, this time has he met his match in Tommy Jarvis ?

Plot Keywords:

Crystal Lake | Murder | Cabin | Morgue | Blood

Awards:

1 nomination

US TV Schedule:

Fri. Nov. 13

12:00 PM

SPIKETV

Cast

Kimberly Beck	...	Trish Jarvis
Erich Anderson	...	Rob Dyer (as E.Erich Anderson)
Corey Feldman	...	Tommy Jarvis
Barbara Howard	...	Sara
Peter Barton	...	Doug
Lawrence Monoson	...	Ted
Joan Freeman	...	Mrs. Jarvis
Crispin Glover	...	Jimmy Mortimer
Clyde Hayes	...	Paul (as Alan Hayes)
Judie Aronson	...	Samantha
Camilla More	...	Tina
Carey More	...	Terri
Bruce Mahler	...	Axel
Lisa Freeman	...	Nurse Morgan
Wayne Grace	...	Officer Jamison

Also Known As:

Friday the 13th Part 4 (USA) (working title)
Friday the 13th: Last Chapter (Philippines: English title)
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter - Part 4 (UK) (DVD box title)
Friday the Thirteenth: The Final Chapter (USA) (trailer title)

Runtime:

90 min | USA:97 min (uncut version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:18 (Banned) (cut) | New Zealand:R16 | Singapore:PG (heavily cut) | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | South Korea:18 | Netherlands:16 | Brazil:14 | Denmark:15 | Ireland:18 | Spain:18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Canada:R | France:-12 | Norway:18 (video premiere) | Sweden:15 (cut) (Banned, 1984) | UK:18 | USA:R | Italy:VM14 | Mexico:C | Finland:K-18

Filming Locations:

Lake Minnewashta, Chanhassen, Minnesota, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Out of all the films in the series this one has the most nudity

Goofs:

Continuity: Through out this whole movie Jason Voorhees has long black fingernails and gray colored skin on his hands. When Jason kills the hitch hiker he has normal looking human hands. (Tom Savini stepped in and played Jason in this scene, but forgot to put makeup on his hands).

Quotes:

Jimmy: Hey, Ted, where's that corkscrew? You know, that fancy corkscrew for the wine bottle? Ted. Ted? TED! HEY, TED, where the hell is the corkscrew?
[Jason shoves it into Jimbo's hand]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Tiptoes (2003)

Soundtrack:

Love is a Lie

The Point Where the Series Started Getting Watchable

How many times do you have to stab Jason Voorhees before he dies? Apparently many times, because he returns yet again. This time a family (mother, son, daughter), a house full of teenagers, and a hunter (who happens to be the brother of a prior Jason victim) are the unfortunate ones to be in Jason's path. Is this, as the title suggests, the "final chapter"?

Many people give this film a low rating, and maybe they're looking at it differently than I do. To me, you can make only so many movies of a guy hacking up teenagers before the idea gets a little stale. Part four (this film) is when the crew realized you could break up the monotony with a little humor. So now in part four you have a fair amount of laughs, some improved gore (compared to the first few films) and the same old formula of killing kids.

You also have two key guest stars: Corey Feldman and Crispin Glover. You cannot play down the Feldman power here. Sure, he's young. But he really steals the show and watch his expressions when he finds some neighbors doing something naughty. Feldman's absence from this film would likely have lead to dullness and the premature death of the series.

Glover, meanwhile, is the humorous aspect. Well, okay, not just Glover -- the whole opening scene with Axel the Coroner is morbidly amusing (and really anticipates part nine's coroner). But Crispin Glover is fun to watch, and his "white boy dance" is pretty amusing.

The inclusion of character Rob Dier (brother of part two's Sandra Dier) is a good move, adding some continuity to the movie, further connecting it to the previous films. And for horror fanboys who like nudity (and you know you do), this is the episode that contains by far the most nudity in the series. For some people, that's all it takes to sell a picture.

So I understand if people rank this film lower because they think it's getting stale or if the humor makes them think the creators aren't taking the series seriously anymore. As for me, that's what makes this one of my favorite episodes in the series (probably in my top three out of eleven films). We have a crew that just wants to have fun, and if we go along for the ride we have a little fun ourselves. Seems fair.