Customer Reviews

Friday the 13th - The Final Chapter

5 star:		(105)
4 star:		(67)
3 star:		(34)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

There was a time, back in the day, when the "Friday the 13th" movies were meant to scare you, not make you laugh. No movie in the entire series does this better that "Friday the 13th Part 4: The Final Chapter". This is the DEFINITIVE "Friday the 13th" movie.

Part 4 has the best of everything!! Story, cast,(Corey Feldman, Crispin Glover, Lawrence Monoson), graphic violence, and inventive killings.

Immediately picking up where "Friday the 13th Part 3" (the 2nd best of the series), "Friday the 13th Part 4" was such a brilliant addition to the franchise. For those who haven't seen the series, Part 4 is not a bad place to start, or finish. We get a great little campfire story (courtesy of Part 2) and a lot of great death sequences (from the 3 movies past) within the first 5 minutes. We also get real acting, & actual character development with the "Final Chapter". This was the last movie in the series that was actually made AS a horror film, and not as a cult film. And this movie does scare!

The killings in the "Final Chapter" are original and beautifully executed. Corkscrew to hand-then cleaver to face, spear gun right in the groin (YEAH BABY), banana vomiting, and 2 WONDERFUL crashing through the window sequences (one with twin Tina, the other with Trish) that still manages to frighten me to this day. The shower seen is pretty awesome as well, and even the dog isn't safe in this one! Awesome!!

After Part 4, the franchise became almost a joke, and the films that followed are nothing but camp. They are still good and watch able, but they weren't intended to scare the heck out of ya!

"Friday the 13th Part 4: The Final Chapter" does it all, time and time again. This film has gone under rated and without credit for many years. Many people say that the original "Friday the 13th" was the best, but I highly beg to differ. Part 1 WAS the original, but it's somewhat slow paced, and Tom Savini's masterful special effects are much more evident in Part 4. Tom was really on top of his game by the time "The Final Chapter" went into production.
Part 1 has the scariest ending, I'll give it that.

If you want to see Jason at his peak, when he was a total bad-boy and really did some butt kicking, then look no further than this classic film in horror cinema!

This really was "The Final Chapter"; in more ways than one.

This is by far the best Friday the 13th movie of them all. If you only buy one out of the group, make it this one. I can remember when this movie hit the theaters. I was there on opening night. There were so many people in the theater that the ushers had to keep coming in to advise everyone to move over towards the right to allow more people in. Once the movie actually started the opening scenes were all flashbacks to previous Friday movies which caused the audience to scream at every scene. This sent the theater manager into action. They actually stopped the film and turned the lights on. The manager came down front and made a statement. He stated that if we didn't keep down the screaming that they would stop the movie and ask everyone to leave. I guess the theaters on each side of ours were complaining that we were too loud. That was awesome! This movie is great, forget the fact that this is the fourth in a franchise that has some bad entries. A great movie from the greatest of eras regarding the horror genre.

The Final Chapter has one of the most intense chase scenes in the history of horror films with Kimberly Beck as the heroine trying to escape Jason's clutches and Corey Feldman using a more psychological approach to defeat him. I love all of the Friday the 13th films up through part 7 which featured a telekenesis angle (even part 5 with a Jason imposter was entertaining). Part 8 was watchable but began the downfall of the series with Jason leaving Crystal Lake for Manhattan and eventually ending up in space. These types of films should always stick to their roots because that is what made them so popular to begin with. The Final Chapter has Jason in his scariest form and Crystal Lake looks great in the midst of a rainstorm which helps set the tone and atmosphere of chaos to come. The best acting is supplied by Kimberly Beck, everyone else is simply mediocre to poor but the suspense and thrills are all there. This would also mark the end of the deformed "man-like" Jason before he ended up as a zombie-type who could not be killed.

Here are the details for the new Deluxe Edition:

Audio commentary by director Joseph Zito, screenwriter Barney Cohen and editor Joel Goodman
* Fan commentary by Adam Green and Joe Lynch
* Slashed scenes
* The Lost Ending
* Jason's Unlucky Day: 25 Years After FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER
* Lost Tales from Camp Blood--Part IV
* The Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited--Part I
* Jimmy's Dead Dance Moves
* Original theatrical trailer

Released on Friday the 13th-- April 13, 1984.
This is the fourth "Friday the 13th" film. When we last saw Jason the killer, he had an ax right through his hockey mask and into his face.
On this VHS, we are treated to a 2 and a half minute montage of the first Friday the 13th (1980), Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) and Friday the 13th Part 3: 3D (1982), to catch us up on what is going on.
Only Terry Ballad returns from Friday the 13th Part 3: 3D (1982) as a State Trooper in this film.
The film begins only moments after where the third film ended. The ambulence and the police are there at the barn. Jason's body (Ted White) is loaded in the ambulence and taken to the hospital morgue. While morgue attendent, Axel (Bruce Mahler) and nurse Morgan (Lisa Freeman) are making-out, Jason awakes and ultimatly kills both.
Six young adults (Lawrence Monoson, Crispin Glover, Barbara Howard, Jodie Aronson, Alan Hayes, Peter Barton) rent a abin across from the Jarvis family. The mother (Joan Freeman) keeps an eye on her young son, Tommy (Corey Feldman) who likes to be voyeuristic looking out his own bedroom window at the new cabineers, Samantha (Jodie Aronson) and Paul (Alan Hayes) making-out.
The next day, twin sisters, Tina (Camilla More) and Terri (Carey More) show the new cabineers the way to Crystal Point where they all engage in some good clean fun of skinny-dipping. Meanwhile, Trish jarvis (Kimberely Beck) and her brother Tommy pick up a traveler, Rob Dier (Erich Anderson) whoose sister "Sandy Dier" was killed by Jason in Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981). The party is getting started and jason plans on crashing that party in his own "slasher" way.
Body Count: 13
Running Time: 91 minutes.
Bruce Mahler was a cast member in the "FRIDAYS" variety tv series (1980-82).
Cory Feldman, you remember from Gremlins (1984), The Goonies (1985).
Camilla More appeared on "Days Of Our Lives" in 1986-1988, General Hospital in 1991-92. Her twin sister, Carey More, appeared on "Days of Our Lives" in 1987.
Lawerence Monoson was in The Last American Virgin (1982), And The Band Played On (1993-tv).
Crispin Glover was in Back To The Future (1985).
Lisa Freeman was in Back To The Future (1985), Back To The Future Part 2 (1989).
Alan Hayes was in "Bold and the Beautiful" in 1988-89.
Peter Barton was in "The Powers of Matthew Starr" tv series (1982), "Young and the Restless in 1987-93, " The Bold and the Beautiful" in 1993, "Sunset Beach" in 1997-98.
Kimberly Beck was in the original "Fantasy Island" tv series in 1978-79, Independence Day (1996).

The story continues in the next film: FRIDAY THE 13th: A NEW BEGINNING (1985).

A new "Friday The 13th" movie was released in 2009.

Update: The 13th movie, Friday the 13th Part 2, will be released in 2013.

The Friday the 13th films have always interested me. The movies themselves are scary but yet are devoid of a real plot,hammered by an extremely low budget,and have really no character development at all. But for some reason, people don't seem to mind this. The movies are entertaining enough,and having a very low budget only seems to make the movies feel more creepy. In Friday the 13th-The Final Chapter (yeah right!) there really isn't much more to add if you've seen the first 3 films. You know Jason is going to rise from the grave and kill some teenagers (or rather people in their mid 20's playing teenagers),and you know there is going to be a lot of gory, grisly deaths.

Makeup master Tom Savini returned for the last time in the series to create the films extermely disturbing death scenes. Young Corey Feldman appears as Tommy Jarvis, a 12 year old obsessed with video games and creating his own monster masks and makeup. When a group of teenagers rent the house next door to the Jarvis family, Jason returns to Crystal Lake to kill everyone. That's pretty much it plot wise, you see dumb teenagers going outside in the middle of the night by themselves to take a little midnight swim (take a guess at what happens to them..) This movie is a horror movie and follows the formula of dumb characters doing dumb things, but that's all part of the fun with these type of films, guessing how and who's going to die next.

The DVD itself is extremely disapointing with the bonus material being nothing more than a lame theatrical trailer. Even the transfer is a total let down. Has it improved from the VHS version of the movie? Sure, but not much. The image quality is in terms pathetic on how the movie could look compared to other films that have been digitally remastered. The sound is even worse. A flat mono track is the only availabe sound option. Thanks a lot Paramount. It amazes me how Paramount can produce a profitable franchise that was so sucsessful it has 8 (soon to be nine sequels) and not give it any special attention at all. Obviously if there are that many sequels made there is a huge number of loyal fans to these films who are given absoulutly nothing in return. Without the fans, this series would have ran out of steam a long time ago. Maybe someday the loyal fans of this series will get what they deserve. My applause goes to New Line Cinema who now holds the right to the franchise. Maybe someday they can buy the rights from Paramount and produce a collection similar to the outstanding Nightmare on Elm Street DVD collection. One can only hope. To sum up this very long review, the movie itself is worth watching, but spending over $20 on this bare bones DVD? Do yourself a favor and buy the VHS version for $9.99. This DVD would be better used as a coaster. Thanks for nothing Paramount!

This review refers to the Paramount DVD edition of the film.

THE WHO'S WHO: Starring Kimberly Beck, Peter Barton, Corey Feldman, E. Erich Anderson, Crispin Glover, Alan Hayes, Barbara Howard, Lawrence Monoson, Joan Freeman, Judie Aronson, Camilla More, Carey More. Score Composed By Harry Manfredini. Special Make-Up Effects By Tom Savini. Directed By Joseph Zito. (R) For Violence, Gore, Profanity, Drug Use, Nudity and Sexual Content; 91m.; 1984.

WHAT'S GOING ON IN HERE?: This film may call itself the "Final Chapter", but as we all know, it would take a lot more to keep old Jason Voorhees down than this. That's not to say the people in this film don't give it their all, for they most certainly put up a good fight. Vacationing family and party-loving teens are next door neighbors in a secluded part of the woods. But their idyllic summer sanctum is about to be disrupted by the disfigured Jason, who enjoys nothing more than slicing his way through another set of victims. Being the fourth entry in the long running series, it's obvious at this point that the plot is not the main concern of the filmmakers. What is important is the ability to assemble a bright, likeable cast of characters you can feed to the hockey masked horror over the course of an hour and a half. This film succeeds on that point, presenting a great cast and some truly phenomenal special effects. Make-up master Tom Savini, who created the original film's gruesome effects, returns for Jason's brutal demise. Steve Miner passes the franchise over to "Missing in Action" director Joseph Zito, who does an admirable job packing this film with small moments of wry wit and large doses of intense violence. More kudos go to the wonderful cast members. Crispin Glover (Jim) and Lawrence Monoson (Ted) are the best of the new batch of slaughter victims waiting to happen, while Kimberly Beck (Trish Jarvis) comes close to rivaling their performances. Barbara Howard's wide-eyed interpretation of Sara is another above average display. The other highlight to the cast is a young Corey Feldman, showing a promise that wouldn't always be fulfilled later in his on again/off again career. Finally, E. Erich Anderson brings a bit of continuity to the ongoing series as Rob, a revenge-minded wanderer seeking retribution against Jason for the murder of his sister Sandra (from part two). Trivia buffs take note: Pamela Voorhees tombstone can be seen early on in the film, just before the unlucky hitchhiker (Bonnie Hellman) gets massacred. Overall, this film is a minor step up from "Friday the 13th Part 3", returning the Voorhees legacy to the legendary status it so richly deserves.

THEY SAY THEY'RE SPECIAL BUT...: The 1.85:1 widescreen transfer that appears on this disc is grainy, lacks definition and, on the odd moment here and there, is downright horrible. Fans of these fright films will have grown use to this sub-standard treatment by now, as Paramount released the original three "Friday" films in transfers that were similarly detestable. The 2.0 mono that accompanies this film is extraordinarily, shamefully fuzzy during the opening moments. While the track does clear up a bit after the initial ten or twelve minutes, there's still some discernable hiss throughout. This proves to distract the viewer and takes away from the enjoyment of the film. A French mono track is also available while English subtitles for this disc have a ruddy yellow coloring and have been placed within the frame of the movie. The cover for this release is a direct reproduction of the original video release cover (too bad the hatchet mark is on the wrong side of the hockey mask). The back cover shows a spark of ingenuity with its red-saturated photograph but still has a ways to go before it becomes noteworthy. The one sheet insert that comes with this disc highlights the fourteen chapter stops for the hour and a half long film. As usual, the accompanying DVD is a silver-topped disc with information pertaining to the film painted on its glossy surface. The only special feature included is the compulsory original theatrical trailer (1:51). The trailer is presented in a 1.85:1 widescreen format and features good voice over work and an appealing array of scenes from the film, perfectly designed to intrigue potential viewers.

THE YOLK'S ON YOU: Paramount has never been known for plying their releases with additional footage, let alone hiding anything on the disc. You're more likely to live through an ax wound to your abdomen than you are of finding hidden easter eggs on this one.

THE LEWD AND NUDE ALERT: The film starts off fairly slow in this category but quickly rises to expectations. Viewers get to see Samantha (Judie Aronson) undress as Corey Feldman watches from his window. While she doesn't reveal anything in that scene, we're later treated to an afternoon skinny dipping session (about thirty minutes into the film) where we have the opportunity to see Sam's awe-inspiring breasts and buns. We also catch brief glimpses of the More twins (Camilla and Carey) in the water, although lubricious viewers will undoubtedly wish for more. Sam graces the screen again in her naked glory when she swims out to an inflatable raft the night of the party. During the party, Ted (Lawrence Monoson) finds an old black and white stag film which features some vintage nudity from a few cute girls. The captivating Sara (Barbara Howard) shows off her white underwear while getting ready for her rendezvous with Doug (Peter Barton). Last but not least, viewers get to see Sara through a steamed up shower door, although the body belongs to double Robyn Woods, not to Barbara Howard.

THE GORE REPORT: Early on in the film, a hospital orderly has his throat slashed with a hacksaw and then has his head wrenched around backwards. In one of the bloodier sequences of the film, an unlucky partygoer has a corkscrew shoved through his hand and then takes a meat cleaver to the head. However, the pinnacle of bloodshed is reserved for Jason. First, his left hand gets hacked by a machete. Then he takes the machete to the left side of his head in perhaps the goriest moment of the entire production.

SAY AGAIN: "Axel, I am not going to fake any more orgasms for you." - Nurse R. Morgan (Lisa Freeman). "You got the curse?" - Axel (Bruce Mahler). "If I do, you're it." - Nurse R. Morgan (Lisa Freeman).

THE FINAL SAY: Yes, I recommend buying this DVD. While the quality of the presentation is fairly leaden, this is still a vital part of horror history. One major flaw is Paramount's decision not to reinstate the scenes used in the televised presentation of "The Final Chapter", including the memorable bit where Tommy (Corey Feldman) scares his sister with one of his masks before trying to fix the engine of their car. I believe the recently released "From Crystal Lake to Manhattan" boxed set has that television footage, although it has not been placed back into the movie. Rather, it has been relegated to the extra features section of the box. Therefore, the individual DVD edition of this film is still the preferred method of acquisition.

PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM: "Love is a Lie" Performed By Lion. "Love is a Lie" Can Be Found on Lion's "Trouble in Angel City" Available on Grand Slamm Compact Discs, Cassettes and Records.

FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER DVD

***** Out of 5

In recent years DVD releases have started to get really lame; so called SE DVDs is anything, but that. Even Blu-ray releases aren't always so excellent either. Of all the DVDs and Blu-ray's I own most of the weakest releases are always from Paramount and their releases of the Friday the 13th movies are terrible. With the Deluxe Edition DVDs and Blu-ray releases, Paramount has slightly made up for their horrible releases of the series. But The Final Chapter was an excellent release and quite honestly one of my favorite DVDs that I own.

AUDIO COMMENTARY- Joseph Zito, Barney Cohen, Joel Goodman
Solid track, which is the standard commentary track, but it is informative and a good listen, but the 2nd audio track was better; but like I said this was a good track.

AUDIO COMMENTARY- Adam Green & Joe Lynch
Adam Green is of course the writer/director of Hatchet and Joe Lynch the director of Wrong Turn 2 and these two are truly a blast to listen to. Like all of us they are fans of the movie and it's just a blast listening to these guys talk about the movie; they have fun with the movie and have a few jokes about the movie, but not in an insulting way. Like I said, like all of us Green and Lynch are fans and it's sort of like hanging out with a couple of friends and watching the movie. I wasn't sure if I liked the idea of a fan commentary, but it turned out to be possibly the best part of the disc. Both Green and Lynch are horror geeks and it's so much fun listening to them go on about the movie.

LOST TALES FROM CAMP BLOOD PART IV 6:19
Directed by Andrew Ceperley and like the others I found this enjoyable; while it's nothing amazing, it is fun for the most part. This may not be the strongest feature on the disc, but makes for a decent filler.

SLASHED SCENES 15:17
This is a collection of alternate footage that features extra gore, but you can see the cast and crew so it's not the typical alternate footage. There is also no audio, since the track was lost, but director Joseph Zito provides commentary on it. This was an excellent feature and this alone makes the disc more than worth a purchase.

JASONS UNLUCKY DAY: 25-YEARS AFTER FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER- 11:02
This features interviews with many members of the cast and crew and while it's pretty much the same stuff we've heard in the past it's still a very solid feature.

THE LOST ENDING 3:19
Like Slashed Scenes there is no audio, but commentary is provided by Joseph Zito and Kimberly Beck; despite no audio there are subtitles provided. This was really great to finally see; I'm not sure if it would have worked in the film itself. But once again this disc provides the goods.

THE CRYSTAL LAKE MASSACRE REVISITED PART 1 18:05
This is a really fun feature, which is a spoof on the series; it centers on people who live around Crystal Lake and they discuss the legend of Jason; this feature is rather silly, but it's also very funny; keep a watch for the names horror fans and Friday fans should pick up on them; Director Stuart Gordon appears as Shelly' father; Shelly of course being from Friday the 13th Part 3. This one is just silly fun and another excellent feature. This was directed by Daniel Farrands the writer of Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers.

JIMMY'S DEAD DANCE MOVES 2:06
Commentary is provided by Joseph Zito and once again we have another winner; this was a really fun feature and I'm sure fans of this movie will love it.

THEATRICAL TRALIER 1:54
No need to explain this.

TRANSFER
All the prior releases of The Final Chapter were quite poor with a lot of grain and dirt; to be honest the past DVD releases were slightly better than a re-mastered VHS and at times the quality was no better than a VHS. To be honest the only reason to buy the DVD is for the Widescreen; if not for that the DVD wasn't an upgrade over the VHS for the most part.

Of all the DVD release for the Friday the 13th movies The Final Chapter was the worst transfer. Forget the features for a moment the picture quality alone is worth the price of the disc. This transfer is far better than the lousy releases in the past; while there is still obviously some grain and dirt this transfer looks amazing and far sharper than the prior releases.

The colors are sharp and the movie looks brand new. This DVD was re-mastered in High Definition and it just looks amazing. Sometimes these movies are too cleaned up and they lose their low budget charm, but that doesn't happen here. But the picture is sharp and spot on; the past releases were horrible, but this DVD is top notch.

The scene where Jason kills Doug was horrible in the original release; the POV shots are so grainy and it just simply looked horrible and plus the light was turned off, but yet it was still bright in the room. That problem is gone on this transfer. The original release the picture quality was terrible, but this new DVD gets it all right and the movie looks amazing and brings a new layer to the movie;

AUDIO

The new 5.1 Surround sound was alright; to be honest on this release and the Blu-ray releases for the first 3 I have preferred the original Mono track. The 5.1 sounds great in terms of music, but I wasn't too fond of the dialogue. It didn't sound bad or anything, but I didn't really like it all that much. Again it sounds good, but I preferred the original Mono track.

FINAL WORDS ON THE DISC
I'm sure many will wait for a Blu-ray release, but the DVD is very worthy. Due to the age of the film and the Blu-ray will be taken from the same source when the Blu-ray does come out it really won't look that much better and odds are the extras will be the same. But if anyone is hesitant on picking this up due to Paramount's track record I can faithfully say Paramount did right this time; this is one of the few releases that is worthy of being called a Special Edition (or in this case Deluxe Edition). The only thing really missing is the TV scenes that were included on the Crystal Lake to Manhattan set. But it's really not a big deal. This disc is jam packed with solid extras and has a great transfer and is highly worth the upgrade.

Once again, this is another great installment of the series! When it comes to the story, this is some of the best writing I have seen in a horror movie, it really does make a lot of sense and it isn't all about sex. Jason looks awesome in this film and is one of his best and scariest looks. This movie is famous for introducing the character of Tommy Jarvis (played in the movie by the young Corey Feldman), who would appear in two more sequels. The acting in this movie is just as good as the story, some of the best in the series. From this movie on, the story and acting really felt professional. Highly recommend to those who have never seen one movie in the series, this is definitely one of the best. This movie also has Crispin Glover, who is now famous for the role of George McFly, Marty's dad on the Back to the Future trilogy. He is hilarious in this movie and makes the movie even better during his scenes!

As you can see above, a five star rating. Well, that goes for the movie. This DVD gets two stars. Truly, this is a really bad disk. The picture is horrendous, the sound is unbearable, and there are absoloutley NO EXTRAS EXCEPT FOR A TRAILER!. And, that trailer is the worse one of the whole series, and the picture's even worse than the movie. Now, I'm not going to give the plot, because every time I do for a Friday movie I feel like I did it before. And besides, I'm sure other reviews will give you some plot information. But what I'm grading is this DVD from Paramount. As said above, it's really BAD. OK, so it is a bit better than the video, but not by much. After three really good Friday DVDs (#3 in particular) Paramount loads us this ... disk. There are many flaws in this disk.

#1. The picture. What I consider the most important part, is about as good as a really old video that's been watched a million times. In every dark scene (basically the whole movie) there's grime and dots that glitter on the screen, and in some parts the grime takes over and you cannot see the picture! Very lousy picture quality.

#2. What is the deal with the sound? It is so incredibly quiet that you'll have to turn your TV up as high as it goes (and strain your ears) just to hear what they're saying. But, there are subtitles if you can't hear it.

#3. The stupid menu! It's really cruddy. AND it's really hard to pick the things on it. You can see a stupid trailer, and scene selections.

#4. Oh! There's NO DELETED SCENES! This one had a ton of deleted stuff (both in scenes and in murders). I know that the previous ones didn't have deleted scenes, but #s 1 and 3 had a few extended murders. But, this one, which is really highley cnsored, is exactley the same! Nothing new! Nothing at all! I'll bet Paramount's just doing this o that they can release some super special Two Disk limited Edition or something. ...

Anyway, sorry for no plot rviews, it's a good plot, but I hope I was helpfull in telling you whether this disk was worth it (if I was, please vote for me!).

Friday the 13th The Final Chapter is Rated R For Strong Language, Light Gore, Some Violence, and Strong Nudity.

If you enjoyed this movie, I'd recommend any other Friday The 13th film, Halloween, Halloween 2, A nightmare On Elm Street, and Scream.

Given how pleased I was with the first 3 movies on DVD, I was just a little let down by the fact that FINAL CHAPTER seems to have been left a little shorthanded with the new transfer. The movie itself is a perfect example of a good slasher sequel, and fans of the series will love this die hard Jason movie. There is a slew of funny and interesting characters, some great setpieces, and Jason himself pretty much transformed into the Jason we all know and love in THIS movie. It's a good old fashioned stalk and slash gore fest. The only let down is the new DVD transfer. Paramount seems to have used an old dark print. All the night scenes are too dark and it makes it hard to see things and make out what's going on. Some scenes are too grainy and soft, where the first 3 movies on DVD are all sharp and crip. Viewers might benefit more from seeing the VHS because the DVD, although OK here and there, isn't what it should have been.