After seeing "Friday the 13th The Final Chapter" for the first time on DVD (after countless TV viewings and VHS rentals), it suddenly dawned on me that none of three previous movies were directed by professional motion picture directors. No offense to Sean S. Cunningham, who went on to produce such classic fare as the teenage horror spoof "My Boyfriend’s Back," or to Steve Miner, director of "Forever Young" (a Mel Gibson romantic vehicle from the mid-90’s) and "Halloween H20" (ay vay!). But back in the early 80’s these two were greener than The Incredible Hulk after eating spinach, and it showed in the unevenness and unfulfilled potential the first three "Friday the 13th" movies had (particularly "Part 2"). So, with a year-long hiatus between productions, "The Final Chapter" bowed into theaters on Friday, April 13th of 1984. It was directed by Joseph Zito, who had a massive blockbuster hit the same year directing Chuck Norris in his "Rambo"-inspired action vehicle "Missing In Action."

After a minutes-long recap of where the Jason Voorhees saga stood up to that point (using footage from the three prequels as a ‘greatest hits’ sort-of remembrance) the credits roll and we’re treated, for the very first time in a "Friday the 13th" movie, to an active police investigation by many law enforcement officers (including a helicopter) checking out Jason and his handiwork. There were a few token police officers looking puzzled in the first three movies, but director Zito establishes early in "The Final Chapter" that he’s taking the reality of this movie’s characters seriously. Which doesn’t mean this is a stuffy and grown-up flick. Far from it, a few minutes later and the horny hospital worker that’s more interested in screwing his nurse girlfriend (or watching exercise videos to stimulate his sex drive) gets his perspective on life twisted about 180 degrees counterclockwise. Ditto for the somewhat-eager nurse, which gets dispatched without us seeing what Mr. Voorhees is doing, only the path of death that he leaves behind.

Then it’s time to introduce this movie’s version of the sacrificial lamb: the vacationing group of friends driving toward a rented house next to Crystal Lake (NOT the Camp Crystal Lake from the first movie). We watch in disbelief as Jason mindlessly cuts the throat of a hitchhiker. Three complete strangers already dead and the movie hasn’t even introduced the full cast of characters yet? WOW, Jason’s on a tear! When we finally meet the gang they appear to be a slightly better-looking and more appealing bunch of white folks than the corn-fed Caucasian people from previous films. Crispin Glover (as Jimmy) and Lawrence Monoson (as Ted) establish themselves early as the lovable clowns of the group, although everyone’s attention (including these two) takes notice of the identical twins Tina & Terri (Camila & Carey Moore) when they become eager participants in the gang’s skinny dipping, boozing, snuff watching and promiscuous sex activities. There’s a catch to this predictable-by-default "Friday the 13th" formula though: the rented house these tourists are renting is next to a private residence in which Mrs. Jarvis (Joan Freeman), her daughter Trish (Kimberly Beck) and younger son Tommy (Corey Feldman) are spending the summer.

The set-up is casual and unobtrusive; it doesn’t feel like director Zito is passing time until the killing spree begins, but establishing characters that we can relate to on a basic human level. I know many of you are thinking ‘WHO THE HELL CARES ABOUT CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT IN A "FRIDAY THE 13TH MOVIE?.’ Well, I do. When some bad actor playing an unlikable character gets what he/she has coming I expect it, so I get no relief or vicarious joy from seeing this fictitious character suffer. But when an actor/actress makes me care about what will happen to him/her (like actress Amy Steel in "Part 2" of this saga) because they act like I would if I were in the same situation then I become more involved, and the movie takes on a more personal significance. When Tommy Jarvis (Feldman) spies on his next door neighbors and goes nuts on his pillow when he sees a naked girl across his bedroom (Ch.5), I could relate to it completely as a member of the human species (and former 12 year-old boy that lucked out on a similar situation). When Jimmy (Glover) gets jiggy with it and dances with what appear to be muscular spasm moves that would break anyone’s back (Ch.7) I’m reminded of what a terrible dancer I am.

Director Zito and his production crew made me care and feel something toward these characters: titillation from the naked chicks (who are plentiful and gorgeous in "The Final Chapter"), disdain for the twins (one of them at least), moral support for Rob (E. Erich Anderson) the hiker that happens to be the brother of one of Jason’s female victims, etc. When the massacre begins in earnest it piles such a nasty assembly of deaths and blood baths on this likable group of kids that I couldn’t help but be genuinely sorry to see someone I liked eat the glass separating him/her from where Jason is hiding (or get cleaved over the face with a kitchen instrument). They’re nowhere near as off-putting as the counselors and campers in the first three "Friday the 13th," but the rules of the genre (get naked = death; have sex = death; go outside the house alone = death, etc.) dictate that they die. This is the kind of horror that’s hard to pull, where the audience sees the characters on the screen not as the manipulative mannequins of a genre formula, but as people one would like to hang out with or at least meet at a social gathering (preferably behind the bushes, but hey!).

Of all ten movies the series has accumulated so far "The Last Chapter" hits paydirt, and does it well. Then the end of the movie pulls a death scene that is the nightmare of every parent that’s asked by a young kid if h/she can watch an ‘R’ rated movie: a young person mindlessly butchering another human being while displaying all the traits and characteristics of the animal he’s putting away for good. Cautionary tale or just another well-developed mother of a black joke? Nah, just the inevitable set-up for the inevitable sequel. But it’s nice to see a movie that can be so nasty (in a lovable horror genre sort-of way) toward its characters that it involves the messed-up life of another little child (the same way Jason Voorhees was once an innocent boy) in order to continue living into the next sequel. Sordid, gory, violent, sexually titillating, well-shot, nicely-paced and leaving one hungry for more of the same. Is it any wonder this was the last good "Friday the 13th" movie ever made? L

BODY COUNT: 14 (seven men, including Jason, and seven women; one of them, Mrs. Jarvis, apparently dies off-camera). ANIMALS KILLED: one (a dog is thrown out a broken second-floor window, although the shot makes it seem like the dog jumped on its own). MOST GRUESOME DEATH: the first one, when a poor male nurse trying to get off watching exercise videos (!) has his head sawed off and twisted 180 degrees as if he were Linda Blair! A close second would be the guy who gets speared by Jason in the ‘package’ (YIPES!) and then lifted up in the air, but the visible cables lifting this dude up kind-of destroy the illusion.