I am big fan of horror movies. Well, 20th century horror movies. Sometime in the mid-2000’s I lost interest in horror movies. They all seemed like cheap remakes of classics I already loved.
In the 80’s I was all-in on horror movies and the slasher horror genre. The ‘Big 3’ horror franchises, Halloween, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street filled movie theaters all decade long. Friday the 13th (1980) debuted two years after Halloween (1978). A Nightmare on Elm Street didn’t hit the screens until 1984.
Friday the 13th is the horror franchise of the 1980’s. There were eight Friday the 13th movies released in the 80’s, one every year except 1985 and 1987. The Halloween franchise only released four movies. The late comer A Nightmare on Elm Street released five movies in the 1980’s.
The Release
On Friday the 13th, April 1984 the “final” Friday the 13th movie was released, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. We’d find out in 11 short months that it actually wasn’t ‘The Final Chapter’ and looking back 40 years it was far from ‘The Final Chapter.’
So why was it called The Final Chapter? It comes down to the producer Frank Mancuso Jr. who was tired of the movies and thought he wasn’t getting enough credit in Hollywood due to his involvement in the franchise. Mancuso Jr. agreed to make one final film if they could kill off Jason and end the franchise.
Make-up artist Tom Savini agreed to work on the movie because he wanted to help kill Jason as well. Savini worked on the original movie and helped create Jason.
Oddly, Mancuso Jr., didn’t leave the Friday the 13th franchise, he went on to produce three more sequels and created Friday the 13th: The Series. Mancuso Jr. would produce other movies including the Species franchise, Cool World, Ronin and many more.
Critics hated the movie. Siskel and Ebert trashed the movie, Ebert called it “an immoral and reprehensible piece of trash.” Siskel said in his review if you like this movie you like stabbing people. What? I don’t know why Siskel and Ebert reviewed slasher horror movies, they hated all of them.
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter earned over $11 million it’s opening weekend, making it the number one movie at the box office. Overall the movie grossed $33 million dollars on a $1.8 million budget.
The Movie
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter takes place immediately after the events of Friday the 13th Part III (in 3D). If you missed the first movie, or the second, or even the third it’s OK. The Final Chapter opens with a 3-minute montage of the first three movies.
After the opening credits we see the Police cleaning up the bodies from Part III. The paramedics load up Jason, who they think is dead, and take him to the morgue. Of course Jason isn’t dead and he escapes from the morgue, after killing the coroner and nurse and makes his way back to Crystal Lake.
At Crystal Lake we meet the Jarvis family, divorced mom, Joan, her daughter Trish and son Tommy, played by Corey Feldman. Tommy is a budding make-up artist making his own masks, a nod to Tom Savini. Unfortunately it never plays out in the movie. He doesn’t use the masks he creates in the movie. He does use some of his make-up tricks toward the end. Seems like a missed opportunity.
A group of victims teenagers show up at the cabin next to the Jarvis house and meet Trish and Tommy. The next day the group walks down to Crystal Lake, meet twin sisters Tina and Terri and they all go skinny dipping in Crystal Lake.
Trish and Tommy are driving back to their house when their car breaks down. Tommy tries to fix it when a hiker comes up and helps them. The hiker, Rob has a gun strapped to his backpack and pulls out a 6-inch knife to fix the car. Tommy mentions the gun and Rob tells him it’s for bear hunting, Tommy and Trish accept the answer and offer Rob a ride and invite him to the house.
It turns out Rob is the older brother of a girl named Sandra. She was killed by Jason in Friday the 13th Part 2. Rob is looking for Jason to avenge his sisters death.
That night the group of teenager are having a party in their cabin like teenagers will do. Sex, drugs and rock-n-roll, oh and Jason.
Jason is back and continues his killing spree. One by one he kills the teenagers with some impressive kills. Some in the house, some outside, Jason gets them all.
At one point Joan Jarvis, the mom, leaves her house to figure out why the power is out and we never see her again. It’s assumed she is killed but never confirmed. She just disappears.
Jason resumes his massacre of the teenagers throughout the night. Until only Trish and Tommy are left. Trish is a tough chick and gives Jason a great fight. While she is battling Jason, Tommy is upstairs shaving his hair off.
Tommy comes running down the stairs as Jason is about to kill Trish, yelling Jason’s name. Jason turns around and sees Tommy, who looks freakishly like a young Jason from the first movie, sunken eyes and scraggly hair. Jason is taken aback and pauses long enough for Trish to hit Jason with a machete knocking off the hockey mask.
Trish is horrified looking at Jason’s deformed face and Tommy picks up the machete and slams it into Jason’s head. Jason falls to the ground and the machete splits his head. As Tommy and Trish hug and cry Tommy notices Jason’s finger twitching. He grabs the machete and hacks away at Jason yelling Die! Die! the entire time.
Jason is dead. This is truly The Final Chapter… maybe.
The Cast
There are a few stars, or soon to be stars in this movie. The obvious is Corey Feldman as Tommy. Feldman was already an established TV actor starring in two season of The Bad News Bears series as well as Eight is Enough, The Love Boat, Mork & Mindy and more. This was his first starring role in a movie. He was a voice actor in The Fox and the Hound (1981). He also starred in Gremlins (1984).
Feldman’s breakout role was in 1985, starring in a Gen X favorite, The Goonies. Then Stand by Me, The Lost Boys and the list goes on until 2022. Recently he was a contestant on The Mask Singer.
Judie Aronson played the vixen Samatha. At one point in the movie she’s swimming naked in the lake, at night out to a raft. There is steam coming off the water because it was filmed in December and cold outside. Aronson ended up getting hypothermia during the filming of the scene. Aronson is probably best know as Hilly from Weird Science. She also played Patricia, in American Ninja.
Perhaps the most recognizable, at least today is Crispin Glover who plays Jimmy. Glover best know for playing George McFly in Back to the Future. Glover has a dance scene in this movie that’s become a thing of legend. It’s goofy, spastic and a must see!
Glover’s been in some great movies over the years; At Close Range, The Doors, Charlie’s Angels and many more. Glover is still acting today with one movie coming out in 2024 and two movies in post production.
Stuntman Ted White played Jason Voorhees. He was the third actor to play the masked Jason Voorhees. White had a hard time on set. He didn’t interact with the actors because he thought it would take away from the fear of Jason. He asked not to be credited as playing Jason as he thought it would be detrimental to his career. He was confrontational with Tom Savini until he found Savinin was also a stuntman, he didn’t get along with the director and referred to Feldman as the “meanest goddamn little kid.”
White did stick up for Judie Aronson during her nude scene. White insisted Aronson be able to get out of the raft in-between takes to warm up. Director Joseph Zito refused the request. For his part, White refused to act until Aronson was able to warm up. Zito finally agreed and the scene continued with Aronson and White.
White started acting and stunt work in 1949. In his early days he was a stunt double for John Wayne, Fess Parker and Clark Gable. His 80’s stunt credits include Cloak & Dagger, Short Circuit, Major League and Roadhouse. White passed away in 2022 at the age of 96.
The rest of the cast continued acting in movies and TV shows but never had big breakout roles.
The Kills
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter has some impressive kills, maybe the best seen so far in the franchise. I’m torn whether to spoil the kills for those who haven’t seen the movie, of course it’s 40 years old so you’ve had plenty of time to watch the movie. I’ll keep it a little vague for those who haven’t seen the movie. (who are you?)
There are a couple of stabbings, one from behind that I found gross. Not because of the killing but the person was eating and the chewed up food and blood spewed out of their mouth. Ewww.
There’s a beheading with a hacksaw, one guy gets a spear gun to the groin. That will make anyone cringe. Spears, axes, thrown out windows, there were so many great ways Jason dispatched his victims.
There’s one part where Jason is attacking a guy with his machete and the guy screams over and over ‘he’s killing me, he’s killing me’ it’s almost comical… in a demented sort of way.
The best is when Tommy plants the machete in Jason’s skull. Tom Savini went over the top and proved he is a master of make-up and effects. It’s a great visual.
Jason killed 13 people in the movie, the most so far. The movie also contained the most nudity and gore of any Friday the 13th movie. Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning said “hold my beer” and would almost double that number of kills, killing 22 people and had excessive amounts of nudity and gore.
The End is Just the Beginning
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter is one of my favorite Friday the 13th movies. It’s easily in the top 3 and if pressed sits in the number 2 spot, right behind the first movie. The other movie in the top 3 is Part 2. Part VI: Jason Lives is good too, maybe it should be in the top 3. Thankfully we aren’t ranking the movies in this post.
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter is a good jumping on point in the franchise. It recaps the first three movies and introduces Tommy Jarvis who is an integral part of the story for the next three movies. You can’t really watch A New Beginning or Jason Lives without knowing Tommy and his background with Jason.
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter is one of the best entries in the franchise and should be on anyone’s watch list. If you’re looking for a new movie to watch this Halloween season, or something to re-watch. Think about watching Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter.
Have you seen Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter? Are you going to watch it this Halloween Season? If so let me know your thoughts in the comments below or on X. The main Geekster channel is @GeeksterMedia and I’m @MileHighSamurai You can also find me on Bluesky @MileHighSamurai
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