Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

Directed by Joseph Zito. Starring Kimberly Beck, E. Erich Anderson, Corey Feldman, Joan Freeman, Barbara Howard, Crispin Glover, Peter Barton, Lawrence Monoson, Camilla More, Carrie More, Judia Aronson, Alan Hayes, Ted White. [R]

More horny teens, more moronic behavior, more bloody brutality. Picking up again shortly after the last outing, now Jason sets his sights on another group of young folks wanting to get it on along the shores of Crystal Lake; living next door, a divorced mom and her two kids (Feldman and “final-girl”-to-be Beck) also get pulled into the mayhem. With makeup guru Tom Savini returning to the series, there’s no shortage of gory murders to satisfy the fanbase; Glover is also on hand to provide a little of his reliably weird energy (he briefly “dances” here and, well, it is a thing of beauty). But otherwise, it’s just a lame retread without any originality, artistic cred, or reason to exist besides make money. As the title suggests, this was intended as the final film in the series, as Paramount recognized the declining interest in the genre and producer Frank Mancuso Jr. wanted to move on to other, hopefully less odious projects…but it ended up being another hit, so it was the “final chapter” in the same way that the Rolling Stones do a “final tour.”

20/100