The story continues with Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, which as the title proclaims, was to be the last entry in the series (as was Part 3). However, it made a ton of money and that idea was laid to rest. What's interesting, first of all, is that If you break down the timeline of the films, you realize that films
2 through 4 take place over the course of about a week in different locations in and around Camp Crystal Lake. Insane, really. Do these people not watch the news or listen to the radio? Surely they must have heard about what's going on by now. Mass murder is usually big news, you know. Nevertheless, it's the typical fare for the series up to this point. New director Joseph Zito takes over the reins from Steve Miner with Tom Savini returning to finish off Jason... or so they thought. This time around, the effects are superb, but like the previous film, with lackluster story and no real visual direction. It does have those cliche'd visual horror movie moments, but nothing that distinguishable. This is also the last of the all around 'classic' Friday the 13th films before Jason was reinvented and reimagined in later sequels. After this film, Jason was no longer human and had superhuman strength, only making the death sequences in later films more intense and violent. This film, however, was due to be his final send-off. He really dies this time, and there's no playing with the audience that he might not be dead. He wouldn't be killed off again until 5 sequels later, only to be resurrected, yet again, but I'm getting off topic here. Overall, this movie is a solid entry in the series, but for me, it's missing what made Part 2 work so well: character development and visual style. It's not a bad entry, just a lackluster one. It's a shame because most fans hold this entry up as the best of the series, which I disagree with. It's good, but there isn't enough here to keep me as interested as before.
March 25, 2007
