Friday the 13^th: The Final Chapter is a 1984 slasher film directed by Joseph Zito, starring Ted White, Kimberly Beck, Coery Feldman, Erich Anderson, and Joan Freeman. Serving as the fourth installment in the Friday the 13^th film series the film follows Jason Vorhees who returns to Crystal Lake and continues his killing spree on a family and a group of neighboring teenagers after being revived from his mortal wound.

Positives:

• Great suspenseful atmosphere
• Great use of practical effects
• Highly effective score
• Great performance by the two leads

Negatives:

• Poor story
• Poor characters
• Poor script
• Poor dialogue
• Poor acting
• Painfully predicatable

Plot:  After being mortally wounded and taken to the morgue, murderer Jason Voorhees spontaneously revives and embarks on a killing spree as he makes his way back to his home at Camp Crystal Lake.  The story has little to no depth and is predictable in nearly every sense. The exposition into previous series could’ve been handled better than just using footage from previous films. The Jarvis family trying to survive an onslaught by Jason would’ve made for a more compelling story. Rob (Dier) searching for Jason due to the death of his sister in the previous film is a good story arc. There are so many plotholes that it makes the story pretty messy. (2 out of 5)

Characters: Tommy (Feldman), Trish (Beck), and Mrs. Jarvis (Freeman), and Rob are the only characters worth caring about. The highlight of the film is actually Tommy and Trish as she desperately tries to protect her brother.  Rob is a great character but ultimately wasted.  Come on, someone seeking revenge against Jason for the murder of his sister.  And what happens, he gets killed off with little more than a scuffle.  Mrs. Jarvis never had a chance. Most of the teen characters are either forgettable, useless, or unlikable and only shoed into the plot as fodder.  The film would’ve benefited greatly had they not actually been in the film. (2 out of 5)

Cast:  Good performances by the main cast but poor from the supporting. Thumbs up to Kimberly Beck (Trish), E. Erich Anderson (Rob), and Corey Feldman (Tommy) for basically carrying the movie whereas everyone else is just a complete drag (though this is more on the director and the writing than actually not be able to act). Before he became a vampire hunter, Corey Feldman gave a pretty good performance as a smart kid who likes all kinds of horror in movies. Ted White does a great job as Jason Vorhees, maintaining that menacing presence.  The other performances include Barbara Howard, Joan Freeman, Camilla More, Peter Barton, Crispin Glover, Judie Aronson, Lawrence Monoson, Alan Hayes, Carey More, Bruce Mahler, Lisa Feeman, and Bonnie Hellman. (2 out of 5)

Visuals: There is a good use of practical effects. The kill scenes are intense but effective and not overly gory.  However, the biggest problems with the character deaths are that they are sudden before the film cuts to another scene.  If someone gets stabbed, we don’t see any of the pain or suffering.  We just see the stab and that’s it. Great use of camera work when it comes to the dark scenes. The Jason costume design looks great, having a decayed look to the character. (3 out of 5)

Music/Score: The score is pretty good, helping to maintain a tense atmosphere as well as adding to the intensity of certain scenes. The string instruments leave a feeling of isolation that helps build suspense.  Harry Manfredini does a great job with the score, though admittedly it does make jumpscares pretty predictable. (4 out of 5)

Writing: The film has a pretty crappy script, especially when it comes to most of the characters outside of the Jarvis family. Most of the characters are written poorly along with their dialogue. There are so many conveniences written into the plot that it is ridiculous. How Jason was revived is never really explained.  Yeah, he’s a big ugly dude but wasn’t it established that he died in the previous film. The writing does little to deviate from the typical Friday the 13th formula and for as good as the premise is, the writing ultimately falls flat.  There is a lot of jumpscares that feel forced and predictable.  The movie maintains a lot of suspense and the poor jumpscares breaks that suspense.  (1 out of 5)

The Verdict: In the end, Friday the 13^th: The Final Chapter is what could be said to be a quick cash in for the producers. Aside from the typical Friday the 13^th formula, the film suffers with lacing performances, interesting characters, some kind of a story, terrible dialogue and a generic script. Friday the 13^th: The Final Chapter gets 2 out of 5.