I hear they're renovating and hope to open again soon. I'm sure it's fine.
Friday the 13th Part 4: The Final Chapter (yeah, right) (1984)This and Part 6 form the apex of the Friday the 13th movies for me. If I had to pick one over the other, though, it would be this one. It's got all the elements that make a classic Friday the 13th movie - teenagers in lust, Crystal Lake, Jason and - most importantly - Tom Savini. Add to that Matthew Star (sans powers), Doublemint twins, Crispin Glover (and his amazing dance skills), a Goonie and the best Jason death ever... well, that's winner, winner, chicken dinner. (A phrase I only learned recently and have resolved to use as often as possible.)
Another bunch of idio... er, teens, head up to Crystal Lake, including Glover and that kid from The Last American Virgin. They're once again thinly written stereotypes, but as with Part 2 the actors do their best with what little they have. A new addition to the pool of potential victims this time around is a family - Trish Jarvis, her mom and her little brother, Tommy. Why anyone would still be living on that lake at this point is an open question - but maybe they're just underwater on their mortgage. One other addition is Rob - a guy 'hunting bear' who's actually hunting Jason - seems he's the brother of Sandra from Part 2. (That's another nice thing about this film - the nods and references to the previous installments.)
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| Did I mention the dance, though? |
The teens do what teens do in slasher films - they skinny dip, drink, hook up, fight, stomp off alone to go swimming in the nude. Jason shows up because that's like catnip to a slasher and proceeds to impale, slash, stab, nail, crush and otherwise make mincemeat out of them. Winner, winner... you know, I'm done with that phrase already. (And just as an aside, who the hell is renting cabins on Crystal Lake to teens, anyway? That's like aiding and abetting homicide. In my head cannon it's now Vincent Price, laughing maniacally every time he gets some teens to sign the rental agreement.)
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| "Yes, this counts against your security deposit." |
The two main locations - the Jarvis house and the rental - allow for some interesting back and forth chase sequences and the kills in general are more interesting than usual. (I remember reading that some of the actors had to do their own stunts, and some of that stuff looks damn dangerous.) Tommy is a fun addition - having a kid that loves makeup and special effects is an obvious shout-out to Savini and it works much better for me than the 'have someone read a copy of Fangoria' placement in Part 3.
Part 4 also features the only moment of real horror in any of the Friday the 13th movies - as far as I'm concerned, anyway. Jason's already slaughtered the teens next door and both Rob and Trish are investigating. Rob descends into the basement - because being near Jason obviously causes IQs to drop sharply - and is attacked. He screams for Trish to run and as she does we can clearly hear him screaming in the background, "he's killing me! He's killing me!" That is a legitimately horrifying moment and the one time I'm actually not treating the whole film like a carnival thrill ride.
The final sequences with Jason chasing Trish and Tommy are great, as is the final confrontation with Tommy having made himself up to look like Jason as a kid. Jason's death is fantastically gory - especially considering the relative tameness of the previous attacks. There's no doubt - as he lands on the machete and slides down it, the blade biting deeper into his skull - that this is the end of Jason Voorhees. A real final chapter. No doubt in my mind. None.
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| Looks like you've got a splitting headache there, Jason! (sorry) |
In the general sense there's nothing special about Part 4 - it's full of standard Friday the 13th stuff - but in the details it succeeds at doing all those things in the best possible way. I know there are issues with the making of the film - Joseph Zito was notoriously difficult to work with and there were injuries, walkoffs and threats - but none of it comes through in the film itself. It's tense and fun and gory and would have been a great sendoff for a classic character.
But then it went and made a ton of money.
*Sigh*
Look, I'm trying to find something (anything) to enjoy in these films as I watch them, because otherwise it becomes an exercise in self harm. So, in that spirit, it's... mostly in focus?
Actually, let's give the film a little credit - they did try and do something different with this installment. The opening sequence - in which Tommy Jarvis (Corey Feldmen) watches two jackasses dig up Jason for... uh, reasons - is actually pretty cool. (So cool they'd make a whole movie out of the concept next time around.) When Jason comes to life and digs the worms out of his eyes (doesn't literally happen - but should have) you start thinking there might be something to this New Beginning idea.
Unfortunately, that's the last time you actually see Jason. And it's a dream sequence.
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| So's this. I kinda wish the whole movie had been a dream sequence. |
The basic setup is that Tommy is being sent to a halfway house for wayward teens (not a camp, it's different, see?!). Local neighbors Ethel and her son, Junior, are none too happy about the way the kids sneak on to their property and fornicate. The local sheriff tries to make peace, but he has his hands full with...
Geez, am I really going to try and write out this plot? Let's sum up - one of the kids goes nuts and hacks up another, setting off a series of killings that seem at least inspired by Jason. Tommy isn't certain if it's Jason, someone else or - due to his random way of losing it and kicking the shit out of people - himself. People are picked off one by one until a final confrontation with a guy who isn't Jason - or even believably threatening - and a 'twist' ending with Tommy, a mask and a knife.
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| And they didn't even get the mask right. Blue slashes? Seriously? |
Things I liked about the movie. The kid, 'Reckless Reggie,' has a brother named Demon (yes, that's his name). It's always nice to see actors from Return of the Living Dead in a Friday the 13th movie and he's pretty entertaining (Demon sure has a lot of fast food in his van). I really hated the 'comic relief' neighbors, so I liked when they were finally killed off. (For years I thought Ethel was played by the same actress that plays the first victim in the first Friday the 13th movie.) Violet's got some serious dance moves. Reggie has a pretty snazzy red jumpsuit. Umm...
You know, I dislike this movie a lot and as a Friday the 13th movie it's seriously lacking in... anything that makes it feel like a Friday the 13th movie, beyond teenagers getting killed. If it was another in a long line of imitators instead of a part of the franchise it might have been better received. Maybe. I still hate Part 3 more, though. This is at least TRYING. And they do kill a lot more people.
The movie is pretty clearly a setup for an adult Tommy Jarvis to become the new Jason. I imagine they had plans for a series of movies with that character that were pretty sharply derailed by the reception Part 5 got at the box office. You can ignore critics (and really, if you're a slasher film you kinda have to), but you cannot ignore the bottom line.
"Some folks sure got a strange idea of entertainment."
Part 6 was the first (and for a long time, only) Friday the 13th film I got to see in the theater. I don't even remember the circumstances, just bits and pieces of the film itself - particularly seeing Horshack (Welcome Back Kotter's Ron Palillo) in the opening sequence and the part where Jason climbs onto the top of the burning RV. I do remember loving it. For the longest time Part 6 was my favorite of the series, mostly because it's the most shamelessly fun entry.
I'm torn as to whether Part 6 ignores the entirety of Part 5 or just the particulars of the disposal of Jason's corpse (it's mentioned he's been cremated) and the ending with Tommy and the mask. I'll go with it all being in continuity with the discrepancies being down to Tommy's illness.
Jason Lives starts things off in grand style with Return of the Living Dead's Thom Matthews taking over the Tommy Jarvis role. He heads to the cemetery where Jason is buried (hauling along his poor, doomed buddy Hawes) looking for some kind of closure. Instead he ends up inadvertently bringing Jason back to life in the time-honored method of the corpse struck by lightning. "He's back," to quote from the Alice Cooper song on the soundtrack, "the man behind the mask!"
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| 80's lightning effects! Awesome! |
Jason's not really a man anymore, though. He's a supernatural creature, a rotting corpse with a desire to kill and a homing instinct that drives him back towards Camp Crystal La... er, I'm sorry, Camp Forest Green. On the way he'll kill a future president (Scandal's Tony Goldwyn) and slaughter members of a corporate paintball retreat. These scenes help reinforce the self-referential comedy aspects of the film ("I've seen enough horror movies to know any weirdo wearing a mask is never friendly.") and the supernatural strength of the revived Jason, who seems just as surprised as anyone when he tears a man's arm off.
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| These jokes just write themselves, really. |
Meanwhile, Tommy - having escaped from Jason (not Hawes, who ends up dumped in Jason's grave) heads to the sheriff's office to tell them what's happened. The authorities don't believe him however, especially when they figure out who he actually is, and end up running him out of town - though not before he meets the sheriff's daughter, Megan, and her friends, the new counselors up at Camp Bloo... Camp Forest Green.
Speaking of the camp - for the first time ever in a Friday the 13th movie the children's camp actually has children show up! Much fun (and significant tension) is had with Jason stalking around the buildings as kids sleep inside. Once things go (inevitably) wrong and Jason is murdering counselors and cops with equal enthusiasm the kids are forced to hid beneath their beds. "So," says one, "what DID you want to be when you grew up?"
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| I can't help but wonder - did their parents send these kids to Camp Blood on purpose? |
Tommy escapes with Megan's help. They arrive at camp too late to save any of the adults, but just in time to save the kids. Tommy's plan to chain Jason to the bottom of the lake in some half-hearted supernatural ritual almost doesn't work. Luckily Megan knows how to use an outboard motor AND do CPR. Leading to yet another "it's over, it's finally over" statement - this time from someone who should really know better.
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| No, yeah, sure, sure - he's dead this time. Of course. Totally. |
I know some Friday the 13th fans who absolutely cannot stand this movie, because they feel it's making fun of something they love, ridiculing it. To me, though, it manages to have its cake and eat it too. It works because it's still a Friday the 13th move - with teenagers, Jason, murders etc. - and it's also an action comedy that pokes fun at the ridiculous elements of its own mythology. It's a meta-comedy horror film years before Scream was a thing. It's just plain fun - something that's going to be sorely missing in the films that are to follow.
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