Movie Review: Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter

This was the movie that made Jason a star, a true slasher icon of the 80's and I love every second of it! Likeable characters, disturbing kills, a badass heroine. All those in one would make one kickass movie. I know I said this movie was cheesy in my last review but what 80's movie wasn't? even the good ones had their moments.
This was also the start of the Tommy Jarvis chronicles which starts out his humble beginnings  as an artistic 11 year old to an accomplished survivalist and foil to Jason Voorhees.
So here's the story: The Jarvis family has just moved into their idyllic vacation home.

After going through a tough divorce, Mrs. Jarvis thinks this will be a good stress reliever for her kids, Trish and Tommy. Along the way, a group of teenagers are vacationing next door for little R+R. Little do they know that someone used to live around these parts and he's not too keen on strangers. His name is Jason Voorhees, who is set out to clean house on those who invaded his territory.

The cast is a likeable, charismatic bunch that bring realism to their characters. Everyone seems molded into their own personality and did I mention the cast is more hotter this time around? Okay, let's round up then.

In this corner, you have Paul, the tall handsome jock with a heart of gold. Just look at those bedroom eyes. Just look at them.

and in this corner, you have the sensitive blond Jim, a shy cute nerd with a quirky sense of humor.

And then you have Doug, a gorgeous hunk with soft blue eyes. He's so good he's the type of guy you want to take home to mom. No wonder Sarah had to get in the shower with him.

Then in this corner, you have cool, smooth Ted, a wise-cracking stud with a really nice ass:

And last but least, we have the hunkiest of them all, our false hero(yes, I said false and we'll talk about that later). A strong woodsman who is on the prowl. Woof! Even our main girl Trish couldn't keep her eyes off him!

Now that we got that out of my system. Let's get to our real main characters, Tommy and Trish. But first let's take insight on the red herrings.

First, you have Sarah, who seems like the potential candidate for the final girl role. She is doe-eyed, wears pink sweaters and pastels, bookish, shy, and sweet. but in the heat of the moment, she falls for the very handsome Doug and her desires take over for a love session in the shower.

Well, you know what happens...

Then you have Rob, the strong woodsman who is out to avenge his sister's death(Sandra from Part 2) and has the high potential of being our main hero. But just like the character of Rick in Part 3, he goes out pretty easily.

So finally we get to Trish, who is seen as a substitute parent for Tommy since their parents divorced. But what so cool and interesting about this character is how much she puts up a fight and boy does she. Just see for yourself:

She literally crashed through a window, gets up and proceeds to fight Jason with the machete.

If that's not badass I don't know what is.

But through it all, the true hero of the story is Tommy. It is basically a coming of age story for him as he realizes his true talent, discovering girls, and ultimately facing his fears and overcoming them. He suddenly becomes a man by saving his sister from the monster.

Though by the end, he will become a broken young man with an emotional baggage.

The special effects are truly amazing. And finally they brought in Tom Savini for his artistic license. The aesthetic he puts into these effects are just simply brutal and hard-edged than the first one. The kills are disturbingly real and cringe-worthy and it really freaked me out when I was a kid.

Now, Jason in this movie is full on vicious. He is much more stronger and tougher than he was in the previous films. And furthermore, much more scarier. Thanks to Ted White for putting such a strong force and malice to the Jason character. He claimed he only did it for the money(Oh yes, Ted White, play the money card like Betsy Palmer did) and he's not really a big fan of the Friday films. I understand that it isn't a film for everyone and he was just a humble guy doing his job. And he did it pretty well I might add.
according to the cast + crew, the happenings on the set was a real life horror movie of it's own. Over and over the actors had to re-do scenes, not to mention shooting outdoors in the dead of fall and winter. It was so excruciating that Judie Aronson(Sam) was almost in tears because she had to stand inside the water under the almost 20 degree weather. Ted White got so pissed to the point where he threaten to quit because of this. Once I hear what goes on behind the scenes from this film, it makes me feel kind of bad that this was what the actors had to go through for the sake of entertaining the audience. But in a horror movie, you always don't know what you're getting yourself into.
There was alternate ending involving Trish finding her dead mother in the bathtub. Finally the missing reel can be found on the 2009/2010 DVD box set, since most of these missing alternate endings wound up disappearing. Here's the Clip:

This was a great time. This is possibly one of the best slasher sequels of the early 80's. It was so successful in fact, that it even beat out A Nightmare On Elm Street the same year. Even back then Freddy and Jason was duking it out.
Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter has the special ingredients of a slasher: Likeable Characters, A scary villain, and gruesome kills. It is an instant fan favorite and one of the memorable Friday films.
Last word: Watch it, you'll have a great time.
P.S. Here's Crispin Glover's goofy dance. It's a hoot: