Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter Blu-ray Movie Review

A Child Shall Lead Them

Reviewed by Michael Reuben September 11, 2013

Friday the 13th IV: The Final Chapter is being released as part of Friday the 13th: The Complete Collection.

Director Joseph Zito has frankly admitted that he didn't have too many new ideas for the fourth installment in the Friday the 13th series, which he fully expected to be the last outing for Jason Voorhees. But one of those ideas was truly ingenious: adding a precocious kid to the usual mix of teens in jeopardy. The result was the casting of Corey Feldman, who, whatever the vagaries of his adult career, turned in a memorable performance and became the signature presence in The Final Chapter (next to Jason himself). Feldman's incarnation of the terrorized Tommy Jarvis not only established a continuing character, but it also helped introduce the franchise to a new generation of horror fans who were thrilled to find someone their own age. If they couldn't sneak into an R-rated theatrical showing, they saw the film at home on the newfangled format of VHS tape. For proof of The Final Chapter's influence on the young, look no further than the "fan" commentary track by genre fanatics, horror directors and, currently, Holliston stars Adam Green and Joe Lynch.

Makeup artist Tom Savini returned for the first time since the original film, because he believed he would be killing off the franchise and character he had created. In a sense he did, even if the producers deemed his notion of a microwave ray gun too expensive and also inconsistent with the series' usual motif of cutting and bludgeoning. But Savini adapted one of his Day of the Dead designs to provide an operatic end for Jason, and as he himself points out, it gained in impact, because Jason's is the only death in the film on which the camera lingers. Zito and editor Joel Goodman cut away quickly from all the others, which has the interesting effect of making them seem more graphic in memory than they actually are.

The Final Chapter opens with a terrific montage recapping the first three films, which was assembled under the supervision of producer Frank Mancuso, Jr. The character of Paul (John Furey) from Part 2 provides narration as a campfire tale. Then, following in the footsteps of Halloween II, the story picks up exactly where the previous film ended. A long tracking shot follows a helicopter landing among the police, paramedics and emergency vehicles gathered at the site of Jason's 3D slaughter, and the camera wanders among the carnage until it reaches Jason's body. As director Zito says in the disc's extras, every director wants to be Orson Welles in Touch of Evil. And why not?

Again echoing Halloween II, Jason is packed off to the hospital morgue, but he only remains there long enough to dispatch a nubile nurse and a horny doctor (Lisa Freeman and Bruce Mahler). An aggressive hitchhiker (Bonnie Hellman, who has no lines but makes a strong impression) serves as another reminder of Jason's predilections while he makes his way back to Crystal Lake. Headlines proclaim that the body is missing, but everyone just assumes it was stolen. (Who would want it?)

Eschewing the series' classic camp site venue, The Final Chapter is set primarily in two neighboring houses. One is the longtime residence of the Jarvis family: Tommy (Feldman), his sister, Trish (Kimberly Beck), and their mother (Joan Freeman). Somehow the Jarvises have lived in Crystal Lake for all these years without ever stumbling across Jason. (On the crew commentary track, Zito & Co. joke about this, but agree that one just has to "go with it".) The neighboring house has been rented for the summer by the requisite group of six hormonal youths, of which by far the most intriguing is Jimmy, because he's played by a young Crispin Glover. Having been recently dumped by his girlfriend, Jimmy is desperate to hit it off with somebody, anybody, to restore faith in his wounded manhood.

The group is joined by a pair of twins (another of Zito's inspirations), Tina and Terri (Camilla and Carey More), who happen to be cycling through this remote part of the woods and immediately accept an invitation to join the party at the rented house. The Jarvises are joined by Rob Dyer (Erich Anderson), who assists Tommy and Trish when their car breaks down. As soon as they get home, Tommy drags Rob upstairs to show him the collection of monster masks, creature models and working props he's constructed all by himself. It's clear that Tommy is a precocious, pint-size Savini, but Rob's mind is elsewhere. He's come looking for Jason, who killed his sister in Part 2. Needless to say, he doesn't succeed.

Stuntman Ted White makes a particularly effective Jason. He moves faster and more gracefully than some of the previous versions, and his still poses are often expressive, as if Jason were saying something you can't quite make out. White would later complain that Feldman was a "brat" on set, but maybe that helped the movie, because their final showdown has a genuine charge, as Tommy, having studied Rob Dyer's newspaper clippings about Jason, makes a last-ditch attempt to throw him off-balance psychologically. And thus Jason Voorhees dies. Again.

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

It may not be relevant, but it's certainly entertaining, to consider that The Final Chapter was photographed by João Fernandes, the same cinematographer who, under a pseudonym, shot the porno classics Deep Throat and The Devil in Miss Jones. Fernandes also shot the original adaptation of Children of the Corn. In the early Eighties, when the Friday the 13th franchise began, splatter films were still considered one rung above pornography, so that professionals easily circulated between the two worlds. Today, of course, graphic horror films have gone mainstream (and, arguably, so has porn).

Warner/Paramount's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray of The Final Chapter represents a high-quality presentation of the film's low-budget aesthetic. Colors are strong but not overly assertive. Grain is natural but well controlled for much of the film, although it becomes heavy in some shots. The good news is that the grain is consistently natural in appearance, neither artificially smoothed nor frozen in place. Detail is relatively good, although the image reflects the softer look of an Eighties film production and sometimes disappears in the shadows (which, as far as I can tell, is by design). The black levels look right, and so does the contrast. I wouldn't say that the image has "depth", but then again depth is not a quality I associate with the photography of the Friday the 13th series.

Probably because it has so many extras, The Final Chapter resides on its own BD-50, whereas a number of films in The Complete Collection are double features. The average bitrate is a healthy 25.95 Mbps, and compression artifacts were not an issue.

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Final Chapter's original mono soundtrack has been remixed for 5.1 and is presented in lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1, but it's a conservative remix that remains front-oriented. The dialogue is clear, and the essential thwacks, crunches and other assorted sounds of lethal injury that accompany Jason's handiwork register with sufficient impact to make their point. Harry Manfredini's signature score plays with decent stereo separation and good dynamic range, although the top end can get a bit shrill. That may be by design, though, since those Psycho-style violin strokes aren't there to make anyone comfortable.

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentaries
• With Director Joseph Zito, Screenwriter Barney Cohen and Editor Joel Goodman: The three filmmakers provide a nuts-and-bolts overview of the film's creation, focusing on technical challenges, story points and a few items they wanted to do differently (e.g., having Jason's head explode).


• With Fans Adam Green and Joe Lynch: The childhood friends, self-confessed horror geeks and, currently, stars of Holliston, the FEARnet horror comedy, discuss why The Final Chapter is their favorite entry in the series and its influence on their lives and work.



• The Friday the 13th Chronicles, Part IV (480i; 1.33:1; 13:16): Director Zito discusses his additions to the series, and Corey Feldman recalls how he became involved.



• Secrets Galore Behind the Gore—Tom Savini on Part IV (480i; 1.33:1; 13:30): Savini talks about returning to the series that he helped to create. He describes the process of developing Jason's death scene, creating Tommy's room full of masks and devices and various other effects.



• Lost Tales from Camp Blood—Part 4 (1080p; 2.35:1; 6:22): This short continues the tale of an axe-wielding killer begun on the first three Friday the 13th Blu-rays.



• Slashed Scenes with Commentary by Director Joseph Zito (1080p; 1.78:1; 15:20): These are recently discovered raw dailies that have no audio. Almost all of them involve makeup effects, and Zito explains how the rigs and gags were designed. In their original form, the deaths were much bloodier than what ended up in the film.



• Jason's Unlucky Day: 25 Years After Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1080p; 1.78:1; 11:03): This retrospective documentary from 2009 includes contributions from Zito, Savini, screenwriter Barney Cohen, and actors Ted White, Kimberly Beck, Bonnie Hellman and Erich Anderson.



• The Lost Ending (1080p; 1.78:1; 3:22): Another recently found outtake, without audio. Subtitles have been added, and Zito and Beck provide commentary. The sequence would have expanded the film's ending with a scene portraying the morning after Jason's death (after a fashion).



• The Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited, Part I (1080p; 1.78:1; 18:10): A mock TV documentary.



• Jimmy's Dead Dance Moves (1080p; 1.78:1; 2:09): Outtakes of Crispin Glover's unique dance stylings.



• Original Theatrical Trailer (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 1:56).

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The original Friday the 13th remains my favorite in the series. I remember when it first came out, and I rank it with Halloween among modern horror classics. But The Final Chapter ranks a close second. It has a style and a sense of invention that one rarely finds in sequels. People often do their best work when they think they're winding up a long-running story, and Zito and his team were clearly inspired after being told that The Final Chapter would be the end of Jason. They were so inspired that, for better or worse, they reinvigorated the franchise. Highly recommended.