The Final Chapter, it seems so... Final! It was thought that the previous installment in the Friday The 13th franchise was to be the final movie, because there's something we like about trilogies, but this time they meant it because they put it in the title. It was the final chapter too, until the following year when someone felt a new beginning was in order. The title was somewhat accurate, from a particular point of view, because things would be different after this. This is the one where Jason Voorhees actually dies at the end. In fact, he was so dead, he didn't even appear in the next film. When Jason does return a couple years later (several years in film time) it's a whole new ballgame.
By this time, the slasher genre didn't have quite the same impact it once did. There wasn't a whole lot of ground to cover, and each film was basically just more of the same. The unstoppable killer needed to be stopped. Jason was human, after all. Regardless of what was to come later, killing off Jason was the right move. It was also wise to break from the "final girl" trope and have Jason's death come by the hands of a young boy about the same age as the young boy who was thought to have drowned in the lake all those years ago.
Unfortunately, everything else in this film is just a rehash of the previous movies. The same dull characters are in the same dumb situations, with the only mystery being the creative way in which they be killed. With few exceptions, the kills aren't even all that creative. It was time for a change and Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter ensured that a change would come. The Final Chapter circled back around to the beginning, and for better or worse, set the stage for the future of the franchise.
This film picks up the evening after the events of Friday The 13th Part 3, with dead bodies being carted off and the body of Jason still lying on the ground in the barn after taking an axe to the head. We can see this is still the same, bald headed look for Jason as in the previous film; this is the first time that's happened. As far as continuity goes, this film does a decent job all around. Even though different actors played Jason in the two films, the portrayal is consistent. The only place it falls apart a little is during the unmasking, but I'll talk more about that shortly.
There is a continuity link back to the second film in the character of Rob Dier. He is the brother of Sandra Dier, the girl impaled by a spear along with her boyfriend while they were in bed. He comes to Crystal Lake seeking to avenge his sister's death, and ultimately fails, as he himself falls victim to Jason. Rob is really on the case too, as this is all happening a short time after the events of Friday The 13th part 2. It's supposed to be the following evening, on Saturday, that Jason steals his new clothes from Harold, and the events following appear to occur the next day. That would make it Sunday that the kids in Part 3 are supposedly taking a weekend trip, and I don't know about you, but I don't often begin weekend trips on a Sunday. If we go with that timeline, that makes The Final Chapter pick up on that Monday evening, and the rest of the events happening on Tuesday. So if Sandra's body is discovered sometime on Saturday, that gives Rob three days between getting the news and hiking out to Crystal Lake. I find it more plausible that maybe a week lapsed between the second and third films, but it's not really important.
There is also a link back to the original Friday The 13th in the form of a headstone bearing the name Pamela Voorhees. This raises the question of who paid for the burial of Mrs. Voorhees. As I mentioned in a previous article, there is a theory of an unseen person with a connection to Pamela and Jason. The character of Jason's father, Elias, was almost introduced in a later installment, and it would have been implied that he was responsible for financing his wife and son's burials. Of course, this was never officially established, but it adds a little depth to an otherwise two-dimensional story.
As with the previous installment, none of these characters give you much cause to care about them. Jimmy and Ted are slightly interesting, providing some of the comic relief, but I'm just as glad to see them dispatched as the rest. There is an attempt to give all of these characters some depth, but it simply doesn't work. Honestly, I don't even buy the fact that these kids are hanging out together. The only way they're bringing Jimmy and Ted along is if Ted has the weed and he brings Jimmy with him. In the end, they all die. Good riddance.
We are left with Tommy Jarvis and his older sister. This begins a trilogy of Tommy Jarvis vs Jason movies, though Tommy is portrayed by a different actor in each one. Here he is played by a young Corey Feldman. As Jason is pursuing Tommy's sister, Tommy gets the idea of shaving his head in order to resemble Jason, based on an artist's sketch of what Jason looked like as a boy. His plan is successful and Jason is distracted long enough for Tommy's sister to whack Jason in the face with a machete. This is where we get to my biggest issue with this film's continuity.
Tom Savini designed the original face for Jason in the first film. Tom returned to kill off his creation and went back to the original to make this design. While this version of Jason looks similar to two of the three previous versions, it still looks like a Tom Savini creation more than anything else. As I stated in another article, I mean no disrespect to Tom Savini, and he is a true master of his craft. However, he has a signature sort of style that is immediately recognizable. Unfortunately, his style detracts from the realism of his creations. Jason's face looks really weird and freaky, but it doesn't look very human. He looks more like a burn victim than someone with a severe facial deformity. This Jason looks like a prop and not like a person, is basically what I'm saying.
So Jason gets chopped in the side of his head with a machete that cuts into his eye socket, and then Tommy gives him many additional whacks to make sure he's dead. We are left with a final shot of Tommy with a creepy look on his face suggesting this might have driven him over the edge and he will become a killer himself. While the following film played with this idea a little, it was not to be. It was a good note to end on, as it provided a mystery for the next film, which was something the franchise was lacking over these last couple installments.
Now we bid a fond farewell to Jason Voorhees as a mortal being. Many a young person died at his hands, but in the end, a young boy took him out. If only that young boy could have left well enough alone. The Tommy vs Jason story will continue on the next Friday the 13th for A New Beginning.