Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter ** (1984, Erich Anderson, Judie Aronson, Peter Barton, Kimberly Beck) – Classic Movie Review 8266

Jason Voorhees escapes from the morgue, kills, returns to Camp Crystal Lake and rampages again, targeting the Jarvis family and a group of teenagers next door, in director Joseph Zito’s grim and grisly 1984 horror slasher Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. It’s now up to young boy Tommy Jarvis (Corey Feldman) and his older sister to try to kill Jason and end his murderous rampage – finally.

There is more gore, as before, but considerably more than in its two predecessors Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) and Friday the 13th Part III (1982), and they have run out of invention, so it is unfortunately not what the title says it is. It stars E Erich Anderson, Judie Aronson, Peter Barton and Kimberly Beck. A couple of well-known faces – Crispin Glover and Corey Feldman – give it a lift. Ted White (uncredited) takes over as Jason.

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter manages to have a bit of tension, suspense and pace, as well as the slasher gore, but it is mostly just cynical and depressing.

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter runs 91 minutes, or 97 minutes (uncut), is made by Paramount Pictures, Georgetown Productions Inc and Sean S Cunningham Films, is released by Paramount, is written by Barney Cohen, is shot by Joao Fernandes, is produced by Frank Mancuso Jr and is scored by Harry Manfredini.

On a budget of $2,600,000, it grossed $32,980,000 in the US. A fifth chapter was inevitable. With hopes cruelly dashed by the failed promise of the title, Friday the 13th, Part V: A New Beginning, directed by Danny Steinmann, followed in 1985.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8266

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com