Put the mask on buddy!
Time to kick off my review blog with a review of the immortal classic “Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter.” Ahem. I seem to have let the word “classic” slip into my review here. Could the word “classic” be applied to any “Friday the 13th” movie? Could a series that has stretched over 10 movies (counting “Freddy Versus Jason”) be a classic series or simply a completely shallow hull of a desperate capitalistic money grab? Even in the rather undemanding realms of horror movies, could this movie be deemed a classic?
The answer is: well, kinda. This series (which began in 1980) can perhaps be blamed more than any other movie for starting the “slasher” genre of horror films in the 80’s. Although it was very far from the first, it exemplifies the genre to many people: no plots, a hulking mass murderer who only occasionally has a reason, lots of gore, lots of tits and stupid jump scare endings. By 1984, the genre had received a complete beat down. Even the great “Halloween” series had suffered two immortally bad sequels by 1984. However, they kept getting made and kept making money.
The sad thing about the success of these movies is that they influenced a legion horror movie makers to think all you needed for a good horror movie was some horny teenagers, tits and a few garden utensils. This belief has influenced horror movies far more than the artful dreaminess of Dario Argento or the mild political commentary of George Romero.
Watching the series now, it’s hard to see what kept them going so long. My best guess is the utterly beguiling popularity of Jason Vorhees. I can understand the popularity of Freddy Krueger: he’s charismatic, funny and at one point was truly terrifying. Jason never speaks, never acts, never displays humanity or anything that would draw a person to his character. He seems without charm.
My best guess towards what has made him popular lies in his back story. He was a disfigured and slow young boy who drowned while at summer camp. He comes back to life (or never drowned in the first place, it’s hard to tell) and has been avenging the death of his mother ever since. Perhaps people view him as an innocent, somebody with a childlike mentality simply acting out in a blind rage in murderous ways. Maybe it is his iconic mechanic outfit and hockey mask (a joke the costume designers threw in during the third movie) that has kept audiences engaged.
I’d like to make one more point before moving on. Apparently, this really was supposed to be the last movie in the series and Jason was truly supposed to die. However, dollar signs were always more important than whatever art there was in these movies (essentially, the gore effects, handled by king of gore Tom Savini for the first and fourth movies) so Jason eventually came back to kill. Watching this movie now is an interesting mental exercise. Imagine if the movie bombed: we’d never have had “Jason X.”
I refuse to discuss the plot of this movie. Why would I do that? There really is no plot. Kids come to a cabin in the woods (not a summer camp) next to a small family and smoke weed, drink beer, make awful jokes, dance like idiots, have sex and get killed until only the girl from the family (and in this case Corey Feldman) are left.
Wait a minute, Corey Feldman? Yes, a very young pre-fame Corey Feldman is in this movie. He plays a horror obsessed boy who creates his very own Tom Savini masks. This was just before he starred in “Goonies” or “The Lost Boys.” He’s perhaps the best actor in the movie.
Except for maybe one other actor: Crispin Glover. Yes, THe Crispin Glover of “Clowny Clown Clown” fame. Oh and that little time travel movie. What was it called, back to the something-something. Oh that's right: "River's Edge." This is pre-fame Crispin, so a lot of the weird, intense twitchiness and odd acting he brought to his roles is sadly missing here. Except for one dance scene that defies description. Just watch it.
Still here? Good. The theme of the movie is as follows: have fun and you die. Harshly. Don’t have sex, drink, smoke pot or otherwise have fun. Poor Crispin takes a cork screw to the hand and an axe to the head seconds after having sex with one of the Double Mint twins. Throats are slit, limbs chopped and the brave, non-descript hero I failed to mention due to blandness dies in a hilarious scene, screaming “He’s killing me!” over and over, as if we somehow failed to miss that fact. Even the damn dog gets in the act, jumping out the window in slow motion while his tail furiously wags, apparently having a hell of a great time leaping to his death.
The gore and special effects (including the fake tits) are essentially the stars here, with lots of top level Tom Savini gore sequences making this movie much more gruesome than it deserves. It is this gore and the joy of seeing two young 80’s actors embarrassed even before they were famous that helps me get through the movie.
Well, that and the ending. In a weird twist Corey Feldman shaves his head and pretends that he is Jason. This confuses Jason (and the audience) giving Feldman’s sister enough time to hack Jason in the head with a machete. He falls to the ground, with the machete sliding deeper into his head all the way. He makes hilarious pissy faces as he goes. Feldman and sister hug, Jason twitches and Feldman goes ape shit, hacking Jason to bits. He then stares into the camera rather creepily.
I gave away parts of the film because I knew most of you had probably already seen it. However, I hope you enjoyed my little jabs at it and will be willing to come back for reviews of movies you may not have already seen a billion times. Until next time, Happy Slashing!
