Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
File:Fridaythe13thPart4.jpg
Directed by	Joseph Zito
Written by	Barney Cohen (screenplay) Bruce Hidemi Sakow (story) Victor Miller, Martin Kitrosser, Ron Kurz, Carol Watson (characters)
Produced by	Frank Mancuso Jr. Tony Bishop (co-producer)
Starring	Kimberly Beck Erich Anderson Corey Feldman
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	April 13, 1984
Running time	90 min
Language	English
Budget	$1,800,000

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter is a slasher film. It is the fourth film in the Friday the 13th film series. Though it was billed as "The Final Chapter," as of 2006 there are seven (including Freddy vs. Jason) further film in the franchise. The popularity and financial success of the film kept Paramount Pictures from retiring the franchise. Because of the finalness of this film's plot and title, the next film, "Friday the 13th: A New Beginning", attempted to give the franchise a new face.

Plot summary

Template:Spoiler Police and paramedics are busy cleaning up the mess Jason Voorhees left at Higgins Haven during Friday the 13th Part 3, including the defeated hockey-masked killer himself. Once delivered to the Wessex County morgue, Jason rises again, kills an attendant and nurse, then makes his way back to Crystal Lake to continue his bloodshed.

A group of friends (Paul, Samantha, Sara, Doug, Ted and Jimmy) have rented a house on Crystal Lake. On the way there, the group passes a hitchhiker, who is Jason's next victim. Next to the rental house is the cabin of Mrs. Jarvis, her teenaged daughter Trish, her twelve-year-old son Tommy, and their dog, Gordon. The group meets Trish, Tommy and Gordon. The next day the group befriends twins Tina and Terri, who live in the area, and they all go skinny-dipping at Crystal Point. Trish and Tommy, driving by, stop to see who's at Crystal Point and the group invites Trish to a party that night. Trish's car breaks down a bit further along the road, and they are helped by Rob, a hiker with mysterious reasons for visiting Crystal Lake, who soon becomes good friends with Trish and Tommy, and camps out in their yard.

The group, along with Tina and Terri, are enjoying their drunken revels that night when Samantha, who's dating Paul, becomes infuriated when Paul doesn't turn down advances by Tina. Samantha leaves in a huff and decides to go for a midnight swim, where she is easy prey for Jason. Paul has a change of heart and goes out to apologize to Samantha, encountering Jason instead. Meanwhile, Tina takes an interest in the virgin Jimmy, and Ted strikes out with Terri. Terri decides to leave for home but never quite makes it. Sara and Doug get cozy and decide to retire upstairs together.

Next door, Mrs. Jarvis has just returned to an empty home. As a storm rages, she looks for her family outside; unfortunately the scenes of her encounter with Jason were cut. Trish and Tommy return to find their mother missing, so Trish goes to Rob for help. Rob explains that he's looking to get revenge for the death of his sister, Sandra (killed by Jason in Friday the 13th Part 2).

Back at the rental house Jimmy goes downstairs to brag about his conquest to Ted. He goes to the kitchen looking for a corkscrew to pop some celebratory wine and Jason gives it to him. Jason then sends Tina home in his own inimitable way, and then interrupts Ted's movie-watching. Doug and Jason have a Psycho moment in the shower and Sara's discovery of Doug's body sends her running...right to Jason.

Trish, Rob, and Tommy discover that Jason kills phone lines as well as he kills people, so Trish and Rob take Gordon next door to see what's going on. Tommy is left at home, and finds Rob's newspaper articles about Jason (it's unclear how a family living in Crystal Lake could possibly have been unaware of Jason and his exploits). Rob finds out why it wasn't such a good idea to go hunting for Jason and Trish flees back to her home, intending to warn Tommy. Tommy has come up with a plan to save his sister and himself, but what lasting effects will killing Jason have on this young boy?

Notes

• Ted White refused to be credited for his role as Jason, saying he believed that many of the young actors were being horribly treated and often felt bad about what he had to do to them, even after production. One particular instance was when young actress Judie Aronson was out on a raft in the lake, naked and freezing to the point where she was crying. Fed up, White stepped in and demanded that she come in to warm up or he would quit, and director Joseph Zito complied. Despite his disdain for the film (though he says that it came out better than he expected), he was asked to reprise the role, but turned it down saying, "I had played Jason once and once was enough."
• The character of Rob Dier is the brother of Sandra who was killed in Friday the 13th Part 2 during the double-impalement scene. This creates a continuity problem, given that the second, third and fourth films in the series are set only days apart, and Rob has clearly spent a lot of time researching Jason.
• It has been said that Tom Savini only returned to contribute to the franchise to kill off Jason whom he helped create in the original Friday the 13th.
• The character of Tommy Jarvis is interpretated as an homage to Tom Savini. Aside from sharing a similar first name and an affinity for designing monster masks, both in their own right kill Jason off in the film.
• The film was released on a Friday the 13th.
• Among the many scenes cut was one in which Trish finds her mother drowned in the bathtub, which would have explained her disappearance in the film.
• During filming, actress Kimberly Beck experienced strange occurrences of a man watching her while she ran in a park, accompanied by phone calls at all hours. They oddly stopped once production of the film had stopped.

External links

• Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter at IMDb
• Film page at the Camp Crystal Lake web site