Final Examination

Plot synopsis:
A police officer fails in capturing a drug dealer in Los Angeles, so his boss Hugh Janus transfers him to Hawaii for disciplinary reasons. On the island some former female students are just gathering in a luxury hotel. The young ladies once belonged to the sorority "Omeaga Kappa Omega" and are now invited to an erotic photo shoot which is organised by Derek Simmons, the editor of the Cavalier Magazine. Shortly after their arrival, Terri Walker, one of the former students, is strangled in the pool while her friend William Culp is absent for some minutes. Detective Newman begins to investigate the murder together with his new colleague Julie Seska and the coroner Ferguson. Next to Terri's corpse they find a document which resembles a final examination certificate and has the imprint "Failed" on it. William tells them to observe Derek Simmons very closely.
In the following night, the next student dies. Amanda Calvin is lured outside to the pool by a phone call and falls victim to the unknown murderer. Later the cops find William in the hotel room of the student Megan Davidson, who also belongs to the group. They just had sex and now they are questioned. The cops get to know the background of the series of murders. Five years ago, Rachel Kincaid committed suicide by falling from a bridge in her car. At that time she was the favourite for the election of the sorority's speaker, but she was mobbed by her competitor Kristen Neal, who is also present in Hawaii now.
After Newman and Seska have clarified these connections, William wants to inform them about something. But before Newman meets him, the young man is killed by the murderer and can only indicate that there is some problem with Rachel. Newman again gets in contact with his colleague Rita in Los Angeles, who had already provided him with the file about Rachel, and asks for Simmons. Rita gets to know that the editor of the magazine is actually called James Derek Kincaid and that he is Rachel's brother. He has gathered the students in the hotel to take revenge for his sister's death.
Megan and Kristen, who are the only surviving people among the invited students, meet at the hotel room. It is the fifth anniversary of Rachel's suicide. Kristen suspects Megan and threatens her with a pistol. Suddenly the lights go out and she forces Megan to go into the hallway where she runs across the murderer. Kristen is able to expel the killer, but accidentally shoots at Seska. Newman just arrives in time to stop the killer who really proves to be Simmons alias Kincaid.
With the help of a photo, the detective realises that the case is not yet complete. As he has been intimate with the photographer Tayler Cameron before he recognizes her necklace. She is a sister of Rachel and Derek. Now she overwhelms Kristen and threatens to strangle her. When Newman intervenes, she escapes to a rock over the pool. She stabs a knife in her body and falls down into the water. The cop just wants to announce the next corpse, but she attacks him. Newman shoots Taylor in self-defense.
At the same time his colleagues in Los Angeles arrest professor Andrews, who was not only Rachel's study adviser, but also impregnated his student before she died. When they arrive at the police station, the cop Sam reveals to be another brother of Rachel. He shoots the professor.

Tags: revenge, murder

Review:
Final Examination is a murder mystery film and not what the front cover suggests.
No supernatural element here, just a good old fashioned who done it.Starring Kari "Sliders" Wuhrer we see a girl killed off during a hawaiian sorority reunion and a new cop transferred in from the big city is on the case.
Teamed up with Wuhrer who is a terrible actress but on better than usual form here, it plods along like a standard made for television movie and provides no surprises.For what it is it's not terrible, it looks solid, it sounds solid and the writing is competent.What let's it down is just the overwhelming unoriginality and just how predictible the whole thing is.If by the halfway point you haven't worked things out then I would find that all kinds of concerning.For fans of murder mysterys this is lackluster, for every else.........worse.The Good:All made competently enoughThe Bad:UnoriginalVery by the numbersThings I Learnt From This Movie:When a killer is loose within a resort it makes perfect sense to go off alone......at nightHugh Janus is a realistic name to use in a serious movie.
While there, a group of sorority sisters start being killed one by one, with the killer leaving what looks to be a term paper marked "Failed Examination" with the victim's name on it near the body.
Amy Lindsay and Debbie Rochon were my favorite actresses in this movie.
From the car chase scenes in the opening, it's apparent that this film had some sort of budget but it's never properly used.
The women who are supposed to be the hot ones are rather nasty about the face, they are completely made of plastic and couldn't act their way out of a paper bag.
(Listen for her phone conversation when she can't say the word "suicide.")This is a terrible movie.
If you want a great sorority girls thriller, rent Black Christmas instead..
And the car chases are good for a film of its budget.
The very pretty Kari Wuhrer is a good actress, but the rest of the cast seem to be delivering their lines in their sleep.
The movie could have been good, if it wasn't a watered down porn, there was way too much sex and boobs (silicone being the leader there) and water scenes like the shower scene or the hot tub scene, not to give anything away, but who gets naked in a hot tub at a resort in the middle of the day?
I'm sorry that I wasted the $4 on renting a movie as unrealistic as Final Examination..
My all-time favorite Scream Queen, Debbie Rochon delivers the goods here, although that is the only reason to watch this stinker.
Rochonoholics need to watch American Nightmare, and not this, as she wasn't used to her full potential.The plot, which revolves around a group of sorority sisters getting murdered at a Hawaii resort, constantly becomes sidetracked by numerous sexual encounters, which is basically the main draw for this film.Although my loyalty to Debbie Rochon and Kari Wuhrer feels the impulse not to write this, I found very little value to this film.
Granted Kari has a very steamy swimming pool scene, in a barely there bikini, and Debbie unveils her assets, this film was aimless and sophomoric.
I enjoyed most of all the last 15 minutes of the movie with the climax at the waterfall scene.
It was fun seeing Kari in the movie too, I enjoy most of her films.
I thought the actress in the opening scene driving the car off the bridge was beautiful.
It provide absolutely nothing to the plot or movie whatsoever (The 10-votes are probably a result of these scenes).
This god-awful turkey is one of those flaccid b-movies which is half b-thriller and half soft-core pornography.
Actually, pretty much the entire film seems like filler material in terms of execution and development.The fact lead actress Kari Wuhrer is in the position of the actress considered respectable enough to not have at least one gratuitous boob shot is indicative of the quality of the film given her oeuvre and work ethic.
Pretty much everything about this movie is bad and every scene incompetently staged in terms of script, direction, acting and editing.
Obviously this isn't a subgenre that sets high standards, really only existing to provide a few cheap thrills and some T&A but this movie, and most others like it are just painful to watch, failing to provide any real entertainment on any level, even in providing those simple elements.
The only bits that work on a so bad it's almost entertaining level are the car chases, which are quite obviously mostly footage from another far higher budget movie clumsily spliced with shots of characters from the movie we're watching.
What makes these particular scenes even dumber is how little they have to do with the rest of the movie- both chases are possibly even more gratuitous than the numerous sex scenes.
The tone and amount of in jokiness is indicative that the movie is not meant to be taken seriously and only meant to be a bit of fun but the problem is that it isn't.
The inclusion of character called 'Hugh Janus' and the way the movie clumsily brings attention to this lame and rather childish joke is indicative of the level of script there is here.
This movie is one of the worst films I have seen in several years.
Though this movie clocks in at only 98 minutes it seems like an eternity and nothing really happens or even tries to grab the viewers attention.
Even if you find this movie at your local megastore's bargin bin (and you likely will) its still best to keep walking..
It has the same dreadful acting, unconvincing plot, poor filming, continuity and awful sets.It was better than 'Titanic' because it was much shorter.
I'd recommend it as a good film to watch when under the heavy influence of alcohol.I did like the idea that sending somebody to Hawaii was a normal form of punishment - it probably is a horrid place to be, but most people don't realise that!If you do watch it, look out for the bloody handprint on the lift - it is obviously supposed to be some sort of clue, but it is completely ignored by everybody..
That is, if you like terrible movies!.
There was no point of this scene in the film as it did not advance it in any way.
If you are looking for a great movie to make fun of, this is it.
He didn't know anything about the movie but he assured me that it was a horror/thriller.
It took about a half an hour for both of us to realize that this movie was soft core porn.
I think the minute long shower scene in which the girl doesn't even use soap or shampoo gave it away.
I can't really say anything more because I didn't watch the entire movie.
Lousy horror flick with lots of soft core sex..
The only saving grace in this movie is Debbie Rochon.
The plot was a bit contrived and the sex scenes lousy, and the ending predictable.
Final Examination is billed as a horror/thriller but could be best described as a very poor crime drama.
The film largely follows the perspective of a recently reprimanded detective (following a badly-filmed car chase that has little relevance to the movie, a recurring problem) transferred to Hawaii who stumbles into a murder spree.
However, he basically plays out like any generic stock law enforcement/expert protagonist from a cheesy Syfy Original movie.
It begins with what looks to be a suicide via an insane driving stunt, followed by something that looks like a drug deal which ends up turning into a car chase and is in turn followed by an office scene leading into the transfer.
Basically it eats up a good ten minutes without really ever going into the plot.
In fact, the whole suicide in the beginning (which any horror fan would assume to be a central plot point to the movie) isn't even addressed until quite a ways into the movie.
Frankly, the film would've been better off WITHOUT the opening scene given how it was handled and it could have been worked into the a flashback (or, if the director was competent, he would have used it as one of the detective's former cases).
Instead we're given an incredibly nebulous plot that keeps working in minor characters and returning to other minor supporting irrelevant characters as the movie goes on.
And although the acting was pretty lousy, I blame it more on the script and direction than the cast themselves.A dismal soundtrack, terrible dialogue, a complete lack of focus, etc, all make Final Examination difficult to watch.
The *only* upside in the entire movie might be a few nude scenes.
"Final Examination" starts off with a prolonged sex sequence in a hot tub.
Then Kari Wuhrer shows up as a cop and ruins the movie as "Final Examination" segues into a tedious cop movie.
Kari and her partner hunt for clues as the viewer yawns and rewinds the movie to see that hot tub sex scene again.The one good thing about this one is the abundant nudity.
Three flags in the first twenty minutes of the movie.
Sometimes when you're watching a movie, you see or hear something - a badly-said line, a stupid joke, a predictable plot "twist" - and think to yourself, "Now is time to consider hitting 'stop'/walking out".
Three flags in the first few minutes of this movie that will tell you all you need to hear about Final Examination.1) "Hugh Janus." The main plot of the movie is a cop (Brent Huff) being transferred to Hawaii as punishment (huh?) for reckless work.
Flag 1 goes up.2) The shower scene.Meanwhile in Hawaii, a sorority is holding its 5-year reunion at a lovely, extra-expensive-looking hotel (complete with hula girls lounging idly as part of the scenery...
I wind up fast-forwarding, and estimate the whole scene was 10-14 minutes long.A beautiful girl for one or two minutes?
Flag number two went up about the time I started fast-forwarding.3) I yawn three times in the same minute.So we cut to a boring sex scene with the irritating couple I mentioned earlier.
At this point I was so irritated with this girl and this movie that I cheered.Enter cop from the beginning, with a partner.
The 'conversations' are actually hollow droning of insipid lines written by the same hack who had the brilliant idea to have these two 'detectives' wander around the hotel aimlessly, playing boring-cop/boring-cop with sorority girls, rather than split up to cover more ground.Right about the time I realize this, I also realize I just yawned three times in the same minute.
Well, so much for that.If you want a good movie out of Artisan Entertainment...
It's on my top ten list of "funny movies that were actually MEANT to be horror", along with "Jeepers Creepers".
Apparently, people do not care what a movie actually is before pretending to review it under the wrong genre.The first gag, to reveal the low level of humor in this charade, is the name of the police chief, "Hugh Janus" (Huge Anus).Another gag near the end is when it is implied that all of the brothers and sisters of Rachel Kincaid, a Caucasian, have had their revenge, then, at the last moment, a male who is obviously not Caucasian, yet is supposedly another brother of Rachel's that no one had known about, shows up to shoot the professor.
A lame attempt at comedy, but slightly funnier than the "Huge Anus" joke.The only part we actually laughed at was the police woman routine where she and Shane Newman went into the empty apartment after a very strange entrance, which was so amusing, we had to watch it four times.The storyline involves a few sorority girls and their deaths with nearly everyone being a lunatic.
The nature of the "failed" final examination left with each victim is not really that funny either, and falls flat.After the actual killer is shot (after the police woman is accidentally shot around the same time by the would-be victim as the killer is doing some sort of slapstick routine while the cop is being helped by the would-be victim - what a ridiculous scene), along come more killers out of the woodwork to avenge the girl who committed suicide or had her brake lines cut, or whatever was going on since it is too ambiguous to make any sense.
Part slasher, but mostly a detective thriller with some rather tame soft-core sex, from director Fred Olen Ray(..under the pseudonym Ed Raymond)regarding a serial killer hunting down models who were all part of a Sorority 5 years ago when a girl supposedly committed suicide driving off a curb near a bridge.
The "suicide", which for a while seems unrelated to the rest of the film, is linked to the murders as transfered LA detective Shane Newman(Brent Huff)and his Hawaii partner Julie Seska(Kari Wuhrer)seek the find who is behind the homicides at a posh resort.
Could it be mysterious photographer Taylor Cameron(Debbie Rochon)who is to shoot the girls?
The film alternates between Hawaii and Los Angeles, as Sam gets some much needed assistance from his former co-workers back home who themselves discover some interesting evidence regarding the suicide victim, Rachel Kincaid(Jen Nikolaisen), a pregnancy, and a college Professor in hot water, Andrews(Robert Donavan).The slasher element is rather uninspired as the attacks are very uneventful(..a strangulation, a drowning, the aftermath of a stabbing), but Olen Ray does what he can with developing the detective crime drama portion of the script.
Olen Ray vet, Jay Richardson has an amusing cameo as Sam's LA superior, Hugh Janus(..say it a few times and you'll get the joke).
The film has multiple endings as characters under aliases are discovered, correlating with Rachel, the victim in the opening of the movie.
Final Examination starts as Rachel Kincaid's (Jen Nikolaisen) car taking a dive off the end of an unfinished freeway, unfortunately she was in it at the time...
Jump 'Five Years Later' & Los Angeles Detective Shane Newman (Brent Huff) has just trashed half the city during a high speed car chase involving drug dealers, collapsing under the weight of all the lawsuits Lieutenant Hugh Janus (pronounced 'Huge Anus') (Jay Richardson) has had enough of the uncompromising Newman & transfers him to Hawaii, damn it's alright for some!
Detective Newman & his new partner Detective Julie Seska (Kari Wuhrer) are on the case & quickly deduce it was murder, soon after Amanda is murdered & it becomes clear that there's a aerial killer on the prowl...Directed by Fred Olen Ray, on the version I saw under the pseudonym Ed Raymond, I though Final Examination was a pretty poor film.
The script by Sean O'Bannon is terrible, the pacing is all over the place & after a very promising start with a really cool car chase through the streets of Los Angeles it slows down to an absolute snails pace, only three people are murdered throughout it's duration until the lame, poorly thought out, predictable & utterly stupid 'twist' climax that's as obvious as the nose on your face.
To give Final Examination a bit of credit there is another excellent car chase to complement the one at the start but these two truly cool (I'm not joking either) sequences are genuinely exciting & impressive which is strange as the rest of this sorry attempt of a film is anything but exciting or impressive, it's almost as if these car chases are from a completely different film & have been randomly spliced into this one.
Anyway, apart from those two char chase scenes there is nothing remotely good about Final Examination, it's boring, predictable, is full of annoying teenagers, clichéd & has one of the lowest body counts in slasher film history at a measly three.
What more can I say, this is definitely one to avoid folks.Director Olen Ray films with surprising competence & the Hawaiian locations are truly beautiful, who knows maybe he just wanted an exotic holiday & wasn't going to let the little matter of actually trying to make a good film get in his way.
Final Examination has some nudity & there is one scene in particular in which someone answers the phone topless for no reason whatsoever, after the conversation is over she puts the phone down walks off screen & the next time we see her she's fully clothed.
I'm sorry but that pool would be red in no time & wouldn't remain PERFECTLY clear, would it?Technically the film is actually quite good considering it went straight to video apart from a glaring continuity error during the car chase at the start, it rains between shots!
The acting is pretty bad from everyone involved.Final Examination as a slasher film is rubbish, there are so many better ones out there but it has two fantastic car chase sequences which save it from being a complete turd.
Before watching "Final Examination" I thought it would be a porno movie; the cinematography and cast truly looked like were taken out from a porno.
But when I saw Fred Olen Ray's name, I knew I was going to have a great time.This movie deals with a serial killer (is it?) that is after a group of hot ex-graduates.
The first victim, the hot Amy Lindsay is murdered in a jacuzzi; then her other friends are killed in different ways.
By the way, one of the detectives is the always beautiful and sexy Kari Wuhrer who looks really pretty.Well this movie has the occasional sex scenes; not very steamy or great but still deliver.
But don't expect a straight soft core sex movie.Watch this for what it is : an entertaining but cheap b-movie with beautiful women and an easy to follow plot.Delivers expectations.