The "Final Chapter" huh? Well, at least until the film made mucho dinero at the box office and Paramount decided to run this cash cow into the proverbial ground. But, hey, who can blame em, really? This fourth entry is all more of the same, sorta like AC/DC albums, but what did you expect? The "Friday" series ain't exactly high art my friends. One thing is funny to me as I go about doing these "re-reviews" of the series, this being I find myself actually going "easy" on them so to speak. Sure, it's all really pretty bad film making, but I think nostalgia is really playing a role in my enjoyment of re-watching them after about 8-10 years. Maybe I've softened in my old age, but your rabid host is really having a hard time coming to grip with the fact these films are going on being over 25 years old. Wow. So, while they are still really shitty movies, I'm having a good time reliving some childhood memories and seeing Jason doing his proverbial "thang", slicing and dicing some of the most annoying characters to ever grace the screen.

Things pick up directly after part three's barnyard massacre. Jason's body is hauled off to the local morgue while the cops are cleaning up the mess of bodies he left behind. Jason, being Jason, shows that it will take more than an axe to the head and a hanging to keep him down, as he quickly "comes back to life", offs some hospital attendants and heads, presumably, back to the Crystal Lake area. As Jason struts the warpath back home, we're introduced to the Jarvis family who lives all alone out in the big bad woods. There's little Tommy (Corey Feldman) a twelve year old f/x whiz, his older and very leggy sister Trish, and good old Mrs. Jarvis rounds out the family. A group of kids have rented the cabin next door to the Jarvis family for the weekend, so I'm sure you can see where that leads, right? Sure enough, Jason shows up to fuck em' up, and we're treated to some standard eighties slice and dice with a little bit of a mean streak and some Tom Savini fx thrown in for good measure.

If anything, you gotta give credit to this one for being what it is, a standard teen kill/snuff flick that wears it's badge with pride. The Final Chapter takes everything found in the previous films, amps it up a tad, and gives you would have have been, what should have been, a fairly decent send off had things ended here, with emphasis on the "had things ended here". I will say one thing in defense of those involved, it seems that all involved truly believed this to be the end of all things Friday. Tom Savini returns to finish what he started special effects wise, and, in spite of the various cuts by the MPAA, delivers the goods. Jason is ultra pissed off in this one, delivering the typical stabbings, head smashings, impalement's and the like with gleeful abandon. He even gives a little vocalization to efforts as you can hear him give an enthusiastic grunt as he's gutting various teen fodder. The end scene as Jason "get's his" via a machete through the noggin is just a terrific piece of Savini special effects wizardry and still looks awesome after all these years.

In summary, and as stated above, it "is what it is". Final Chapter sorta rolls the three first films into one big greatest hits package. Most fans like this entry and it's proved to be one of the better films in the series through the years. Now, how can Paramount continue the series after they "killed" Jason? Gee, I wonder....