Jason 4

Is this the end of Jason?

In my ongoing review of the Friday the 13th movies we are onto Part IV: The Final Chapter. On the plus side I just received Part V in the mail from NetFlix so this really isn't the final one. On the negative side, I believe these movies start getting real bad real soon.

So Parts II through IV all occur within a few days, so in a way this is the final installment in the trilogy. It picks up right where Part III ended, with paramedics carting off a dead Jason and bringing him to the hospital. Of course Jason escapes from the hospital and returns to Crystal Lake to create havoc on another unsuspecting bunch of teenages. They are the usual mismatch group going away for a week(end?) and end up drinking, drugging, and screwing. In this movie, there are neighbors - a recently separated mother with her teenage daughter and 10 year-old son. Jason comes to this area, kills almost all in gruesome detail and then faces off against the final few. In this case, it's the teenage daughter and the 10 year-old son.

The Final Chapter may be remembered more for featuring Crispin Glover and Corey Feldman than anything else. Glover gives a memorable turn as a sad-sack teen who's quite nerdy and afraid he doesn't have what it takes to satisfy women. More on him later. Corey Feldman plays the 10 year-old who goes toe to toe with Jason. It's the images of him at the end I remember more than any other Jason movie. See, they ran into some guy who said he was camping. But when all hell is breaking loose, Corey opens his bag and finds articles and pictures about Jason. He decides them to shave his head to look like the picture of Jason. Somehow this confuses Jason so he can get a knife through the head (and out the eye). Then, Corey starts going crazy and hacking up Jason - is Corey the next Jason?

I was looking forward to this movie, as I remember this being my favorite one from adolescence. I have to admit though, it was a little bit difficult to rate. The reason for this is the darkness and brutalness of Jason. While never happy movies, the other movies had moments of levity that broke the tension. There is no letup here. And the killings are especially brutal - Jason has really honed his craft at this point. He's like Jordan at his prime, except when he gets to the final siblings (inexplicitly he struggles with them). Even when the lighter scenes occur, there is more dread hanging over them. Take the group skinny dipping scene. It should be lighthearted, but instead you have the prude being coerced into the water and Crispin Glover anxiously hoping they stop it soon before they force him to get naked.

Given all that, this movie really delivers. I will have to give it a Horrorific rating (I'm holding off creating a new level until after Part V). And I will place it as the second best - 3, 4, 2, 1.

Onto the fun stuff:

• Was Jason really dead? This raises so many questions, especially as how we are to view him. In theory it's possible he was human and survived at the end of all these movies. And that's how I'd like to view it. You'll see what I mean starting with Part V, but I think at the end of this movie Jason finally dies a human death. After that, you have to consider him some otherwordly monster. As far as the trilogy goes, Jason is one super strong and deformed human man-child. But this just raises a question - why did the paramedics or doctors not notice he was alive?
• How does Jason get back to Crystal Lake from the hospital? Later in the movie it's mentioned that 2 were missing at the hospital. These are the 2 deaths we witness. But how does Jason leave the hospital without being detected or having to kill? I assume someone in a hockey mask would be noticed, especially if it was believed you were responsible for a rash of murders. And if he left with the mask off - let's just say his deformed face might cause even more alarms.
• Why are the bike riding sisters wearing the same outfits? Clearly they look alike but just as clear they are not twins. This caused me great discomfort - I was so happy when one was finally murdered.
• Who goes for a swim in the lake when it's dark? And who decides to go naked? This occurs in I believe every single one of these movies and it makes no sense. To make it worse, they usually decide to go swimming after an argument with a boyfriend/girlfriend. I've never argued with someone and then thought - boy, I sure could use a shower right now. Maybe this is the secret to the movie - Jason hates the extremely ridiculous and stupid.
• Crispin Glover's dancing...WOW!!! This is worth the price of the movie itself. I'm not even going to try to describe it as it's now the 8th wonder of the world. Was this brought up when he appeared on Inside the Actor's Studio?
• It turns out the camper dude is actually hunting Jason since he killed his sister in Part II. He has all these press clippings - I know, it doesn't make sense from a timeline standpoint but that's not my concern. Here's my concern. He's done all this research on Jason so he's aware that 95% of the killings happened at night. But is that when he's hunting Jason? No, at night he sets up his tent with a big fire, basically daring Jason to kill him. It's like he wanted Jason to kill him. What an idiot!!!
• When the mother comes back from a run, she can't find the kids. She screams for them and searches all over the house for them until Jason kills her. So where were the kids? Not sure, but they were using the car. Since there is not a garage, she would have seen the car was gone. Yet somehow it didn't cross her mind that her children were using the missing car. What an idiot!!!
• Jason is an idiot. Let's see, he's a nearly unstoppable killing machine most of the time. But if you catch him in the right mood, he can be easily and foolishly tricked. In Part II, it was the woman wearing his mother's sweater. In Part IV, it's Corey Feldman shaving his head. Somehow this tricks Jason into thinking Corey is really a younger him. The morale of the story - don't run away from Jason but rather try to convince him you're related. Once he believes you, he'll let down his guard long enough for you to knock him out. Maybe all this time Jason is really looking for a family. He just doesn't know how to express himslef so it comes out in murderous rampages.

Well, I believe it's about to get ugly. I really want to put parts III and IV in a separate class than I and II. Unless Part V belongs in a new class, that will reflected in the next rankings. So until we meet again, stay away from Camp Crystal Lake.

Horrorific

Part III

Part IV

Part II

Part I

Tags:
* comedy * humor * funny * silly * entertainment * pop culture * Friday the 13th* The Final Chapter
* Crystal Lake * horror * scary * Halloween * Crispin Glover * Corey Feldman * Jason * movie * hollywood * actor * actress