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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not as bad as the reputation it gets, December 10, 2007
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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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Speedy the slasher, October 1, 2004
There certainly are some entertaining parts to this movie, but that is also where it fails. This slasher movie consists of quite a few slasher scenes that are loosely held together by the thinnest of plots (Oh gee, and that is unique for slasher films?). There is no reason given for the killer other than he apparently woke up one morning and decided to go out and kill people; as provided by the paranoid nerd/genius (a brain is a terrible thing to waste). The pacing of the movie is good with some well done action scenes. Whether as a result of editing and/or scripting, the killer is either in two places at once or the fastest SOB to weild a knife. Although, when he starts his spree, any story that was developing stops and it is just one slasher scene after another. One scene of interest in where the slasher catches an arrow with his hand; which is well done. There are several well done scenes; unfortunately it becomes a collection of slasher scenes with nothing to hold it together. This is a shame. With a little more story and a little more humor they could have had a good movie or a good parody; as it is, it is neither.-Bob
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
a lack of blood or sense sink this turkey, May 19, 2006
this one tried for something new but failed at every turn. a lack of scares os thrills kills this before the killing begins and we never learn who or why the killings take place. just a big pile of goo that goes nowhere
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