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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the Best-Kept Secrets of the Golden Era,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Final Exam (1981) (remastered edition) (DVD)
For me, this is among the very finest of the lesser-known early 80's slasher films. Among those more obscure movies, my favorites are 'Happy Birthday to Me' and 'Hell Night', with this one coming in third. This is a typical slasher film (although I regard it as substantially better than most). What I mean is, if you are looking for something revolutionary, then by all means look elsewhere. You won't find anything new here.Personally, I like slasher movies that adhere to the classic precepts, but then make them their own. After all, there is plenty of room for variation within the traditional slasher motif. A terrific example of this would be the film's heroine. Most of these types of films have a virtuous,likeable heroine. 'Final Exam' falls within that tradition. However, even though she is similar to others we find in the genre, she is still unique. In fact, she is among my absolute personal favorites. She is a lovely, pleasant, authentic girl, and she elevates the film beyond what it could have been without her. 'Final Exam' takes the classic slasher concept-inserting a mysterious killer into an otherwise unremarkable setting-and executes it quite effectively. The idea is very similar to 'Halloween'. Don't get me wrong........it's not NEARLY as good as 'Halloween.' But the basic structure is similar-namely, a bunch of people going about their business, with a killer always lurking off on the periphery. As with 'Halloween', if you want buckets of gore or tons of nudity, then you'll be disappointed. But if you like that traditional slasher motif, of a seemingly safe, tranquil environment-but with a hulking, mysterious figure, always off to one side, always waiting, but who always seems to vanish before anybody actually starts to worry about his presense-then there's a lot to like about 'Final Exam.' If you don't like slasher movies, this is certainly not the one that will change your mind. But if you do, this one features all the traditional elements. 'Final Exam' manages to take those traditional elements, and place its own stamp upon them. The film creates a sense of time, and place, and carves its own distinctive niche within the slasher pantheon.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very good-but suffers from Self-Imposed Limitations,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Final Exam (DVD)
I liked this film very much. It is aimed directly at the slasher audience. For me, at least, it was an effective slasher film.I guess different people prefer different things.It is not the goriest, although there are a few brutal moments. But it has the sort of ambience I like. The action unfolds as a killer stalks people on a relatively small college campus. The pace is natural and subdued, as we watch the students going about their business during the day.......and as we see the killer arrive on campus and begin stalking them. They take the time to establish the college campus as a safe, pleasant environment. Dorm life, among the girls in particular, is presented as warm and comfortable and relatively free of infighting and pettiness. I think that this helps to make the movie much stronger. This is a place where the people are accustomed to feeling safe and secure.This placid environment sets the stage for a stark contrast once the carnage begins. You get a typical collection of the usual stock characters-the 'nice' girl, the cheap blonde, the obnoxious athletes, and the stupid hillbilly cop.Of course, what would a film about young people be without-you guessed it-the requisite bespectacled geek. In this movie, the geek is a sort of Alpha geek. A time or two, it actually seems that the heroine might be showing a glimmer of interest in him. And he comes painfully close to getting to play hero......but he IS a geek, and this IS a movie, so you can guess how that turns out. Anyhow, I liked this film quite well. But it seems to me that it places restrictions on itself that keep it from being as good as it could have been. For example: This movie features a killer with no apparent motive. I have no problem with that. I actually like it. But I believe that killers in slasher films should wear a mask. This serves to heighten the mystery that surrounds the figure, and makes him a bit more macabre. Now, the killer in this movie is a big,burly guy. He's rough, and he's violent. But he would be so much more interesting if he wore a mask. As it is, he just looks like some disgruntled guy who got laid off from the mill or something. My other pet peeve about Final Exam is that they waste too much time. Too much time on college antics, and too much time on hillbilly cops, hillbilly coaches, hillbilly security guards, etc. It would have been much better if they had devoted those minutes to the unfolding story. People who want frat house antics, or people who want rednecks, can always watch movies that cater to those folks. But my overall impression is very positive about Final Exam. I especially liked the heroine. Personally, I liked her substantially better than Jamie Lee Curtis from Halloween or Adrienne King from Friday the 13th. She is a lovely girl, and the movie would not be the same without her presense. She comes across as thoughtful and strong, and very much her own person. And when she IS a little awkward, or a little uncertain.........well, these qualities wind up having an endearing quality about them, owing to her sincerity. Some of the scenes between her and the geek are actually quite good. There is a degree of depth, and warmth, in their interaction, that you don't often find in a slasher film. Put a ghoulish mask on the killer, and subtract a few hillbillies, and you'd have had a classic. But it's still very good as is. Among the more obscure, lesser-known slasher films, it is among my absolute favorites. They succeed in establishing a powerful sense of time and place. It kind of reminds me of my own college experience, especially what it was like on a late Friday, when lots of people had left and the place was kind of desolate.And the movie holds up extremely well to repeat viewing. Like most of my other slasher favorites, I continue to like Final Exam better over time.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not as bad as the reputation it gets,
By
This review is from: Final Exam (1981) [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Here we go again another slasher flick from the early 80s. After the success of John Carpenter's Halloween and Sean Cunningham's Friday the 13th it seemed every horror flick coming out in the early 80s was a slasher movie. From 1981 we have the college campus based slasher Final Exam.Final Exam is one of the forgotten slasher flicks of the 80s while it's still remembered by some regardless of if the person liked it or not Final Exam is a slasher you don't hear much about. Despite the bad reputation the movie gets I personally think it's a bit better than it. There's nothing here we haven't seen before, but Final Exam also strays from the typical slasher flick. After the first two murders no one else dies for about the next 55-minutes, which is bound to turn some people off. If not for a couple of shots of the killer wandering around the college campus you might even forget you're watching a slasher flick. The first half of the movie is a mix of a comedy full of pranks and jokes and even some sappy dramatic moments. With all of this happening some of the audience might get bored with the lack of thrills. Final Exam tries to be more than the typical slasher flick; writer/director Jimmy Huston takes his time and actually develops the characters. Most of the characters here are the typical characters we see in slasher flicks. Only difference instead of being in the movie for a few minutes before getting killed they stay around a lot longer before getting killed. The characters are still 1-dimesnional, but better developed than most in this type of movie since we spend so much time with them. Final Exam may not rate as one of the greatest slasher flicks from the 80s, but I do think it's one of the better written ones. The script is nothing amazing. But it does work for the most part. Like I said while the characters are the typical slasher movie characters the fact so much time is spent with them we get to know them slightly better. Radish played by Joel Rice seems to be a pretty big influence on the Randy character from writer Kevin Williamson. But that is part of the reason why Final Exam takes so much heat from slasher fans. The final 35-minutes though deliver with about 8-death scenes, but the problem is the gore is lacking. There isn't any gore at all. The closest we come to any of the red stuff is some blood splatter. So taking all this into account it's quite easy to understand why Final Exam is a mostly forgotten slasher flick. But despite all that I do think the movie is better than what most people say. If you can make it through the first hour and not be bored you'll be happy with the last half. As director Jimmy Huston does a fairly good job. It's quite obvious he was a fan of Halloween. There were many shots Halloween inspired with the killer just walking into frame. In the first half like I said it was more of a comedy/drama than a horror flick, but every so often the killer would appear which would remind us we are watching a horror flick; but even with those couple of shots the sense of dread and looming danger is never quite there. I actually wasn't bored by the first half for the most part it held my attention. But the 2nd half is when things begin to pick up. The 2nd half of Final Exam gets to the stalk and slash aspect and while not the best I have seen it is fairly effective. The only problem though is that it does suffer from being too much. Once the killings start it just too many one after another, while the set ups are fairly good it just is too many coming at once. The death scenes are pretty much the same. The set up though again is fairly good, while I can't say Final Exam is scary, but there is some decent suspense. The final act works rather well as the killer played by Timothy L. Raynor chases Courtney played by Cecile Bagdadi all around the college campus. There are some solid suspense scenes and while it may not go down in slasher movie history it is effective and gets the job done. The acting here is slightly better than most of slasher flicks; while the acting isn't great I think it was a little better than most and Cecile Bagdadi made for a likeable heroine. The most interesting aspect of Final Exam is the killer lacks any motivation. We never find out his name or why he is killing people. Normally back in the 80s the killer had some sort of motivation. A lot of the times it was about revenge. The victims sometimes had a connection to the killer and other times they had no connection. But normally it was some sort of revenge aspect. Even in the slasher movies where there was no revenge story, we would get a little history on the killer. But here we never find anything about the killer. Some people disliked that concept, but I think it works rather well. It would be nice to know a little something, but it does add some realism. Most serial killers target random people. There might be a connection between the victims, maybe hair color or style. So the fact we never learn anything about the killer is a little disappointing, but also works in my opinion. Even though I did enjoy Final Exam it's not much of a surprise it isn't highly talked about. 1981 was a big year for slasher movies. In 1981 we had Jason's debut as the killer in Friday the 13th Part II, Halloween II, The Prowler, My Bloody Valentine and The Burning just to name a few. Compared to those, Final Exam lacks in the gore and or nudity department. But despite all that I must say again I think Final Exam is slightly better than the reputation it gets. Final Exam does lack the thrills and suspense and is quite weak in the gore area and there is only one scene with any nudity. But despite these flaws I still enjoyed the movie. There is some decent suspense at times, but not enough for Final Exam to stand out. Slasher fans have already probably sought this one out for those not really into slashers it's probably best you skip this one. In closing, Final Exam is a flawed film, but despite those flaws I did enjoy the movie.
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