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Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

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Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
File:Friday the 13th part 4.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJoseph Zito
Written byBarney Cohen (screenplay)
Bruce Hidemi Sakow (story)
Victor Miller
Martin Kitrosser
Ron Kurz
Carol Watson (characters)
Produced byFrank Mancuso Jr.
Tony Bishop (co-producer)
StarringKimberly Beck
Erich Anderson
Corey Feldman
Peter Barton
Crispin Glover
Ted White (uncredited)
CinematographyJoão Fernandes
Edited byJoel Goodman
Music byHarry Manfredini
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
April 13, 1984
Running time
90 minutes
CountryTemplate:FilmUS
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2,600,000 (estimated)
Box office$32,980,880 (Domestic)

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter is a 1984 slasher film. It is the fourth film in the Friday the 13th film series. Though it was billed as "The Final Chapter," there have been many further sequels in the franchise. The popularity and financial success of the film, which grossed over $32 million, kept Paramount Pictures from retiring the franchise. Because of the finality of this film's plot and title, the next film, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, attempted to continue the series with a different killer; due to that film's critical failure, it was ultimately partially retconned, making The Final Chapter the indirect predecessor to Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives in the series' canon, in the sense of Jason himself returning at that point in the franchise. Likewise, Tommy Jarvis's storyline was incorporated into A New Beginning, making a direct connection that picks up from The Final Chapter and then into Jason Lives.

Plot

The day after the events of Friday the 13th Part 3, paramedics and officers are cleaning up the killing spree at a lakefront property left by mass murderer Jason Voorhees. Voorhees himself is the final body to be taken to the morgue, having been struck in the head with an axe by the sole survivor of his rampage, Chris Higgins.

At the hospital, Jason is placed in the morgue, but reanimates when attendant Dr. Axel (Bruce Mahler) becomes amorous with Nurse Morgan. Jason kills the couple and slips out of the hospital, making his way back to Crystal Lake.

The next morning, the Jarvis family-- Mrs. Jarvis (Joan Freeman), her teenage daughter Tricia (Kimberly Beck), her 12-year-old son Tommy (Corey Feldman), and their dog Gordon-- make their way to the lake for vacation. Also en route to the lake are a group of vacationing teens, including Paul (Clyde Hayes), his flirtatious girlfriend Sam (Judie Aronson), jokester Ted (Lawrence Monoson), Ted's best friend Jimmy (Crispin Glover), Doug (Peter Barton) and his girlfriend Sara (Barbara Howard). The group nearly stops to pick up a hitchhiker (Bonnie Hellman), but instead keep driving; moments later, Jason emerges from the woods and murders the hitchhiker.

The Jarvises and the teens arrive at the lake, introducing themselves to the Jarvises and inviting Tricia to join them later. The teens head out to the woods to skinny dip, where they meet a pair of twins, Tina and Terri (Camilla and Carey More), whom they invite to join them as potential dates for Ted and Jimmy. Meanwhile, Tricia and Tommy head into town, only for their car to break down along the way. They're rescued by a young man named Rob (Erich Anderson), who is armed with weapons and survivalist supplies and claims to have come to the woods to hunt.

Night falls, and Jason begins killing the teenagers off one by one, starting outside the house when Sam goes swimming and working his way inside. After killing everyone there he heads next door to the Jarvis house; he kills Mrs. Jarvis, but Tricia and Tommy have gone back into town. When they arrive back at the house, Tricia goes to Rob's camp for help, where she discovers a scrapbook filled with articles about Jason's initial sighting years before. Rob tells her that he was prompted to come to the woods by news of Jason's disappearance from the morgue; Jason murdered his sister, Sandra, two days prior (Friday the 13th Part 2) and Rob intends to kill him in revenge.

Rob accompanies Tricia back to the teenagers' house. Jason catches Rob off guard in the basement and kills him. Tricia runs back to her house and she and Tommy set about barricading themselves in, but Jason still manages to break in by using Rob's body to smash through a window. Jason pursues them upstairs, where Tricia bludgeons him with Tommy's computer monitor. They attempt to leave, but Jason awakens again and pursues them back downstairs. Tommy, having read Rob's newspaper clippings about Jason, hurriedly shaves his head and uses his special effects makeup to make himself resemble Jason as he appeared as a child. Tommy runs downstairs and calls out to Jason; Jason, thinking he sees himself, becomes confused. Tommy calls Jason to him, beckoning him to "remember." Jason briefly relents in his attack, allowing Tricia to attack him with a machete. In the process, his mask comes off, terrifying Tricia with the sight of his disfigured face. She drops the machete, and Jason begins advancing on her. Tommy snatches up the machete and swings it at Jason's face, lodging the tip in his eye. Jason staggers and falls onto the machete, driving it through his skull. Tommy and Tricia are initially celebratory until Tommy sees Jason's fingers twitching. Not satisfied that he is dead, Tommy yanks the machete out of Jason's head and begins hacking his body to pieces while a hysterical Tricia begs him to stop.

Sometime later, Tricia consults with doctors in a hospital over Tommy's behavior, concerned about the sudden outburst of violence. The doctors assure her that Tommy was simply acting in an instinctive survival mode to protect them and that such a display was perfectly normal under the circumstances. Tommy is brought into the room and Tricia hugs him while Tommy blankly stares ahead.

Alternate ending

An alternate ending to the film, included in the 2009 Deluxe Edition DVD, shows a dream sequence where Trish and Tommy wake up the next morning after killing Jason to the sound of police sirens. Trish sends Tommy to summon the police who have arrived next door. At that point she notices water dripping from the ceiling and goes to investigate. She enters the upstairs bathroom, and finds the body of her mother floating in a tub full of bloody water. Trish lifts her mother out of the tub, prompting Mrs. Jarvis' eyes to open, revealing them to be solid white and devoid of irses. Jason suddenly appears from behind the bathroom door and prepares to attack Trish. Trish then suddenly wakes up in the hospital in a scene reminiscent of the ending of the first movie. In his commentary, the director says this scene was cut because it interfered with the idea that this would be the final film.

Cast

Reception

Box office

The film played in 1,594 theaters and opened in first place in the box office taking $11,183,148 during its first weekend. It ended with a total domestic gross of $32,980,000.

Critical

The film received generally negative reviews, with a 24% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[1]

References

  1. ^ "Friday the 13th - The Final Chapter Movie Reviews, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2010-09-30.
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