Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

How many times do you have to stab Jason Voorhees before he dies? Apparently many times, because he returns yet again. This time a family (mother, son, daughter), a house full of teenagers, and a hunter (who happens to be the brother of a prior Jason victim) are the unfortunate ones to be in Jason's path. Is this, as the title suggests, the "final chapter"?

Many people give this film a low rating, and maybe they're looking at it differently than I do. To me, you can make only so many movies of a guy hacking up teenagers before the idea gets a little stale. Part four (this film) is when the crew realized you could break up the monotony with a little humor. So now in part four you have a fair amount of laughs, some improved gore (compared to the first few films) and the same old formula of killing kids.

You also have two key guest stars: Corey Feldman and Crispin Glover. You cannot play down the Feldman power here. Sure, he's young. But he really steals the show and watch his expressions when he finds some neighbors doing something naughty. Feldman's absence from this film would likely have lead to dullness and the premature death of the series.

Glover, meanwhile, is the humorous aspect. Well, okay, not just Glover -- the whole opening scene with Axel the Coroner is morbidly amusing (and really anticipates part nine's coroner). But Crispin Glover is fun to watch, and his "white boy dance" is pretty amusing.

The inclusion of character Rob Dier (brother of part two's Sandra Dier) is a good move, adding some continuity to the movie, further connecting it to the previous films. And for horror fanboys who like nudity (and you know you do), this is the episode that contains by far the most nudity in the series. For some people, that's all it takes to sell a picture.

So I understand if people rank this film lower because they think it's getting stale or if the humor makes them think the creators aren't taking the series seriously anymore. As for me, that's what makes this one of my favorite episodes in the series (probably in my top three out of eleven films). We have a crew that just wants to have fun, and if we go along for the ride we have a little fun ourselves. Seems fair.