Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter: The Bloody Thumb Review

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter: The Bloody Thumb Review

Jason’s Back, and this is the one you’ve been screaming for.

STATS

Friday April 13th is Jason’s Unlucky Day

PLOT

Finally, Peace has come to Crystal Lake.

Jason has gone on a rampage again. He’s killed countless teens, only this time, they got him. Jason Voorhees is dead. The Evil has left Crystal Lake.

Only… The body has disappeared. Well, not really  “disappeared”.  It has left. Jason has checked himself out of Crystal Lake Memorial and is on the rampage again.

This time, he’s realized, There are other houses on Crystal Lake, other places that have nothing to do with the Camp site. Some people, actually live on Crystal Lake, ignorant of the creature stalking the darkness around them.

Enter: The Jarvis Family. A mother, a daughter, and a son. The only thing they have to protect themselves from the devil that walks like a man, is well… Nothing.

CAST

Kimberly Beck plays the part of Trish Jarvis. California Native Beck, has been working on and off in films since age two. Her first few parts were nothing more then cameo’s.1964 she played the part of Kim Schuster in the television series Peyton Place. She’s also been on General Hospital and she played Nancy in the pilot to the series Eight is Enough.

Corey Feldman plays the part of Tommy Jarvis. Look for Corey under the name Kinky Finkelstien in the latest Troma Team production of Citizen Toxie. In it he plays Sarah’s Gynecologist.

Crispin Glover plays the part of Jimmy. Jimmy is a small, pretty unimportant role, but it is played by Crispin Glover, so that makes him worth bringing up.

CREW

Directed by Joseph Zito. He also directed the Action films Missing in Action, Invasion USA and Red Scorpion. Plus he did the film Bloodrage under the name Joseph Bigwood. Yeah, as far as pseudonyms go. Joseph Bigwood isn’t a great one. He did an okay job steering this movie away from the schlock levels of the previous two films.

Barney Cohen and Bruce Sakow get writing credits for this one. This is Bruce’s one and only writing credit, and Barney wrote The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington, Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Stunts, and he created the TV series Forever Knight.

FUN FACTS

Ted White (I), who plays Jason, refused to talk to the other actors on the set, because he thought it would diminish their fear of Jason.

Ted White has said he played Jason only for the money. In addition, he revealed that he had insisted his name be excluded from the film’s credits because he felt uneasy about having played the role.

The original German version of the film was heavily cut to avoid being banned like part 3 was. It did no good because the movie was banned in Germany anyway.

It has been said that the only reason Tom Savini worked as makeup artist on this film was so he could kill the character he created.

An extra scene of conversation between Sara and her boyfriend, cut out of the theatrical and North American video releases, is included in the television version of the film, put in to bring up the film’s running time

MISTAKES

Part 1 takes place on Friday, June 13th in “Present Day.” Mrs. Voorhees’ tombstone says “Pamela Voorhees 1930-1979.” But June 13, 1979 isn’t a Friday.

Rob says when he first meets Tommy and Trish that he is hunting bear, and Tommy says that there are no bears in the area to discredit his story. However, Paul gives a long speech to all the counselors in Part 2 about bear safety, saying that bears are wandering all over the woods – even though Part 2 takes place only a few days before Final Chapter.

During Doug’s shower scenes, when ever we see inside the shower, his hair is wet, but when we see in from outside of the shower, his hair is still dry.

SUMMATION

Okay. Theirs one really, really important lesson that one must take with them from this movie. This movie, has probably the single most important message of any horror movie ever made. The truths this movie speaks, all though they are simple, evident truths, speak volumes.

This movies Message? Simple. Polo Shirt + Jogging shorts = Dork. Remember that. Polo Shirt + Jogging shorts = Dork. If you take one thing from this movie, take that. I know this is an 80’s movie, but come on. The outfits are bad even for the 80’s. The really sad part is it’s one of the supposed “cool” kids walking around in the polo shirts and shorts. Maybe if he hadn’t tucked the shirt into the short shorts.

Enough of that though. Do we really need to go into a rant about the dork in the tucked in polo shirt and short shorts? No. We really don’t need to hear that, and believe me, I could go on about it for hours.

Polo Shirts and Shorts aside, I must say, I really enjoy this movie. In my opinion this is the single best sequel in the entire Friday the 13th Series. I’ve always preferred the “non zombie” Jason over the zombie Jason, and in this movie the “non zombie” Jason is at his best.

The funny thing is, I really can’t say why this is the best. It doesn’t have the best kills in the series. There are some fantastic kills, but not the best in the series. Its plot is kinda basic and uninspired. There are a few questions the movie leaves that never get answered.

But still. This is my favorite sequel.

This movie is basic. It’s the most basic of all the Friday sequels. It’s simple. This movie is really nothing more then Jason doing what Jason does best. Killing. There really is no need for that strong of a plot in a Friday the 13th film. Plot is always nice, but I think some of the later films prove that sometimes, in movies like this, plot can easily get in the way. In a simplistic take on the subject matter like this one, you don’t have to worry about that. All you have to do, is sit back and watch.

You could easily remove this film from the Friday continuity and it wouldn’t change anything. We do nothing to move the story back, and we do nothing to move the story ahead. All this movie is, is Jason set on the loose killing. I like that. I like that this movie doesn’t require much thought or effort to enjoy.

The effects are better then the third one. The story is better then the third one, every thing about this movie is better then the third one. This one also doesn’t feel as cheap as the two sequels before it. Part 2, and especially part 3 always felt a little cheap and rushed when you watch them. This movie feels like the people making it actually wanted to make a horror film.

This is a popcorn flick. It’s the very definition of a popcorn flick. You don’t have to ask to many questions, all you have to do is take the ride and enjoy it. (Holy Mixed Metaphors Batman!!!!!)

One question though, why don’t we see more cop cars in this movie? After the events of the second and third movies, you’d think we’d see more cop cars. Jason kills that many people in one and two, then disappears into the night… and there is not one single cop car patrolling Crystal Lake? That’s really my only complaint. A road block every now and then, or even a cop car stopping by to check on things, something.

Anyway, go see this movie if you want to see a light and entertaining popcorn flick that won’t take to much effort. I recommend this movie to any fan of the series and slasher films in general. I also recommend this movie to anyone whose just looking for a fun little bloody film.

Three and Three Quarters out of Five Bloody Thumb Prints.

Three Times Before You Have Felt The Terror, Known The Madness, Lived The Horror. But This Is The One You’ve Been Screaming For.

About kylethoreau 146 Articles
KyleThoreau is a time-traveling axe murderer from the 1800’s. He stopped in the 2000’s because he ran out of the secret time-travel juice that the cyborg clone of Abe Lincoln gave him. He must now find the clone of Abe to return to his time-travel duties. In the meantime he has decided to report on geeky news and read comic books.

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