"God, I'm horny."
That line is the key to Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, since this is the first entry in the series where it looks like the characters are getting killed because of their obsession with sex. In Part 3, all the guys were randy, but by adding the girls to the mix, it makes for a lethal combination. It doesn't help that Jason is severely pissed off. The picture opens with the campfire scene from Part 2, in which a character tells the supposed legend of Jason Voorhees. The whole sequence is inner cut with the murders from the first three pictures, basically as a way of saying if this happens to be your starting point, now you'll be caught up. If you're watching the Friday the 13th movies strictly for the violence, you should be pleased. But if it's subtext you're seeking, then I doubt it will do much for you.
After the obligatory recap, the action moves to the farmhouse where Jason took an axe to the head. An ambulance ships him off to the morgue, and the scene ends with a lingering shot of the the setting, an ominous sign that Jason's life is far from over. It is in the morgue that the picture's key theme about the danger of sex is introduced. A doctor shamelessly pushes himself onto a nurse, all the while watching a cheesy women's workout program to help set the mood. As soon as they begin getting into it, Jason's hand twitches. It's as if their promiscuity brings him back so he can punish them for it, and punish them he does!
I talked in the last essay about why Jason kills. Is it fun for him, or is it a chore? It's hard to tell in The Final Chapter, because when Jason comes back, he's obviously not happy that a potential victim was able to get the upper hand. Convinced this will not happen again, he ups the stakes by killing in the most horrifying ways possible. While the first three pictures were all about quick kills, this time he makes them last so he can witness the victim's agony. The nature of what he's doing is so extreme if it ever was fun, it's probably past that point. At the same time, it feels like he doesn't want his role to be without enjoyment; all the kills in the picture are sneak attacks, except instead of saying "boo," the surprise is a sharp object. If you do happen to see him coming, you're not going to get far. Jason is finally on the fringe of becoming a completely unstoppable force (wait until you see him smash straight through a wooden door).
It's clear to me that the adolescent phase is over for Jason. The clumsiness and lack of confidence he showed in the earlier movies has been replaced by sheer determination. He knows what he's alive to do and failure is not an option. What's interesting, though, is how his kills become a reflection of the sexual behavior of the people he's killing. Critic Alex Jackson describes it as "rape by steel," since the flesh is being pierced. There are number of scenes in The Final Chapter that display this idea to the fullest extent. The most sexually active character in the movie is shot in the crotch with a spear gun, an image that illustrates the parallel, but takes full context once Jason pulls the trigger. Equally as apparent is a murder where Jason stabs the victim over and over in heavy thrusting motions.
The girls are just as itchy in the pants as the boys this time out. Even so, the boys are still the ones that approach women as if they are nothing more than strange beings that exist just to fill sexual desires (notice how one male character equates treating a girl right to sexual satisfaction). Two of the guys have girlfriends already, but the other two are single and desperate. There's Ted (Lawrence Monoson), who thinks he's a smooth operator because he talks a lot of game; and Jimmy (Crispin Glover), the insecure loser who's meant to mirror Shelly from Part 3. Yeah, he mopes and complains, but Jimmy is not seen as pathetically as Shelly, even though Ted constantly makes fun of his libido by calling him a "dead fuck." Of course, the irony of all this is the fact that director Joseph Zito decides to reward the nice nerdy guy and humiliate the trash talking wannabe stud. To our surprise, Jimmy does get some action, and it's a good thing since we know his demise will be right around the corner. Same for Ted, who naturally gets overlooked by the girls, finds an old stag film, and has to get his rocks off by watching a series of unattractive women dance naked.
The pattern that has been consistent in all four Friday the 13th movies so far is that the sole survivor is the virginal teenage girl. They may not be sane when the whole thing is done, but they are still alive. The one in this entry is probably the least interesting thus far, although her character really bares little importance. Instead, the picture spends a good bit of time on her pre-teen brother, Tommy (Corey Feldman), who's interests show that he's somewhat of a kindred spirit to Jason. The early scenes with him fascinate; his mother comes off as a bit overbearing, which reminds of Mrs. Voorhees's behavior from the first picture. He makes his own creature masks, proving that, like Jason, what's normal lives within you and is not based on what other's can see. Interesting then that Jason hides his hideous face with a plain mask while Tommy covers his regular features with ugliness.
Tommy's connection to Jason comes full circle during the climax when he has to save his sister from being slashed. The way Tommy's retaliation is shot turns out to be quite chilling, as it shows him stabbing Jason over and over but the camera only focuses on the aggressor. Jason's demise in this picture is his most gruesome yet, appropriate given how uncompromising the rest of it is. This is the first movie in the series where I can say I found the violence genuinely disturbing. Tom Savini came back on board, only because he was told Jason was getting killed off for good (I wonder how he feels now), and his gore effects are top notch as expected (Savini and director Joseph Zito previously teamed up on the equally viscous The Prowler). You never feel truly sorry for any of the characters; how could you? If a Friday the 13th movie were to create sympathetic characters, it would defeat the purpose of watching it in the first place and in essence, Jason would have no reason to exist.
So, the movie was said to be "the final chapter" and yet, another surfaced soon after. I think Jason's hand continuing to twitch after he's taken down should be a good enough indicator that he's not ready to die. Having finally reached his peak (and having been killed twice), Jason's cynicism is certain to only grow deeper. What's more intriguing, though, is to see what the series will do with the Tommy Jarvis character. Being that he is the first pre-teen to come along, there's a lot of potential to continue the development of his and Jason's "relationship." And with the assumption that Tommy's mother is dead (she disappears and is not seen again), a whole other door of connections are opened with ways to push Tommy over the edge. The possibilities are as exciting as they are unpredictable, and Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter is the best entry the series has offered so far.
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