MIDDLE-AGED MATINEE! #12 - 'Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter'

'Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter' (1984)

Welcome back to my "Middle-Aged Matinee!" article. In this article, I look back at certain films that came out during the year of my birth, 1984! This week, I take a look at "Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter". As always, I hope you enjoy the following review.

Believe it or not, the slasher genre during the mid-1980s was already starting to show diminishing returns at the box office. That’s why Paramount Pictures attempted to do what so many protagonists have failed to do over the years in a “Friday the 13th” film: kill off Jason Voorhees.

The diminishing returns of the series, along with the fact that the studio always looked at the films in this series as their bastard cousins, are why “Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter” exists. In the movie, Jason is still alive and begins to terrorize a family in one house near Camp Crystal Lake while also going after a group of college kids that have rented another house nearby.

As for the family, they are the real main characters of the movie. This is particularly true of Kimberly Beck as Trish and Corey Feldman as her younger brother Tommy Jarvis. The other group of sexually active, drug using teens… Well, they’re just fodder for the most part.

Jason Voorhees is back for more blood in 'Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter'!

This is the fourth movie in the “Friday the 13th” franchise. If you don’t know what you’re getting by the time of this movie, then I don’t know what to tell you. This is another movie about a deformed killer taking out a bunch of kids essentially because they’re on his turf at Camp Crystal Lake.

Although, I will say that this is one of my favorite movies in the “Friday the 13th” series. I actually do like the characters and that even includes Crispen Glover’s insanely awkward Jimmy who has… Well, let’s just say some pretty unique moves on the dance floor.

Trish and Tommy are also characters that you actually root for and you hope they survive Jason’s wrath. Beck is a solid final girl and Feldman’s Tommy is one of the more unique heroes in an ‘80s slasher flick.

Of course, another highlight of the movie are the kills. This is really why audiences wanted to go see these films back in the day. This movie benefits from the master of special make-up effects, Tom Savini who returned one last time after skipping the second and third outings. Like with most of the other movies he’s worked on, Savini works his magic and comes up with some pretty remarkable ways to off the characters.

Now, we do know that “The Final Chapter” wasn’t actually the final chapter in the series, but there was definitely a solid attempt to send Jason out with a bang. At the end of the day, there were great kills, characters I actually gave a damn about, and a genuine attempt to end this series with a little more style than we’re accustomed to from ‘80s slashers.

In short, “Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter” is one of the better sequels to emerge from the long-running franchise.