Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

“
Three times before you felt the terror, known the madness, lived the horror. But this is the one you've been screaming for.

”— Tagline
***Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter*** (also known as ***Friday the 13th Part IV***) is a 1984 slasher film written and directed by Joseph Zito, and the fourth installment in the *Friday the 13th* film series. Following the events of *Friday the 13th Part III*, Jason Voorhees returns to Crystal Lake an embarks his killing spree on a family and a group of neighboring teenagers after being revived from his mortal wound. The film stars Corey Feldman, Ted White, Kimberly Beck, and Crispin Glover.

Like its predecessors, the film was a commercial success, despite the film's received negative reviews. Much like *Part III*, the film was initially supposed to end the series and was billed as *The Final Chapter*, however the film's success produced a sequel, *Friday the 13th: A New Beginning* (1985). Over the years, the film has obtained a cult following, with many fans of the series praise the film for Ted White's portrayal of Jason, the brutal gore effects from Tom Savini, and the film's dark atmosphere.

## Plot

The night after the previous film's events took place, paramedics clean up the remains left by psychopathic killer Jason Voorhees and deliver him to the county morgue where the attending mortician Axel fails to notice signs that Jason is revived. After escaping cold storage, Jason slits Axel's neck with a hacksaw and stabs Morgan, Axel's love interest, with a scalpel.

The next day; a group of teens: Paul, his girlfriend Sam, Sara, her crush Doug, Jimmy and Ted encounter a hitchhiker while looking for a cabin they had rented for the weekend. The hitchhiker is killed shortly after by Jason, who has returned to the area. The teens find the cabin finally and meet neighbors Trish Jarvis her brother Tommy and their dog Gordon. While going for a walk, the next day they meet two local girls; twins Tina and Terri, and they decide to go skinny dipping with them. Trish and Tommy happen upon the scene and before they leave, Trish is invited to a party to take place that night. Afterward, their car breaks down and Trish and Tommy meet Rob Drier; who claims to be hunting for bear in the area. They take him to their house where Tommy shows Rob several masks he had made himself before he leaves to go camping. At the party that night, Tina makes a move on Paul, which makes Sam jealous and she leaves for a swim, but Sam is stabbed through a rubber raft. Feeling guilty, Paul goes after Sam to make up and discovers her body just before he too is killed with a harpoon gun into his groin.

Terri rejects Teddy's advances and wants to leave, but Tina moves onto Jimmy and the two go upstairs to have sex. Frustrated, Terri leaves, but is impaled. At the Jarvis house, Mrs. Jarvis returns home to find the power out, and when she goes out to investigate, she is startled before getting killed. Teddy finds an old stag film and brings it up on the projector while Sarah hints to Doug that she wants to have sex with him, and they go upstairs. Jimmy comes downstairs and settles a "dead fuck" status with Ted who had earlier said he can't satisfy a girl in bed and goes to get a glass of wine to celebrate. Jason appears, jams Jimmy's hand with a corkscrew and slams a cleaver into his face. Upstairs, Tina notices Terri's bike is still there before she is grabbed through the window and thrown to her death atop the teens' car. Proceeding downstairs, Jason then stabs Ted in his back skull through the projector screen. Jason moves upstairs, crushing Doug's skull in the shower. When Sara returns and finds him dead she tries to flee the house, but a double-bit axe is hurled through the door and into her chest. Meanwhile, Trish and Tommy return from town and discover the power outage while Trish decides to go look for their mother, she orders Tommy to fix the lights. Trish comes across Rob's camp site who is convinced that Jason is still alive, which worries Trish and they return. Running next door, they discover the bodies of the teens and Rob is caught and killed by Jason as Trish runs home. They barricade the house, but Jason breaks in and chases them into Tommy's room. Trish lures Jason out of the house while Tommy escapes. She runs through the teens' house, then out the upstairs window when he corners her. Returning, she is devastated to learn that Tommy is still there. She senses Jason behind her and tries to kill him with a machete but she misses and he attacks her.

Tommy; having made himself up to look like a portrait of Jason as a child, distracts him long enough for Trish to hit him with the machete, in which she misses. As he turns back, Tommy takes the machete and jams it in the side of Jason's skull and he collapses to the floor. The two embrace, but Tommy notices Jason's fingers twitching and he takes the machete and begins to attack at his body, screaming "Die! Die!" while Trish begins to screams his name.

At the hospital, Trish insists on seeing her brother who was traumatized by the events. He rushes in and hugs her, but gives a disturbed look while staring into the camera, as the screen fades to white.

## Cast

* Ted White as Jason Voorhees (uncredited)
* Kimberly Beck as Trish Jarvis
* Corey Feldman as Tommy Jarvis
* Erich Anderson as Rob Dier
* Joan Freeman as Mrs. Jarvis
* Clyde Hayes as Paul
* Judie Aronson as Samantha
* Lawrence Monoson as Ted
* Crispin Glover as Jimmy
* Peter Barton as Doug
* Barbara Howard as Sara
* Camilla More as Tina
* Carey More as Terri
* Bruce Mahler as Axel
* Lisa Freeman as Nurse Robbie Morgan
* Bonnie Hellman as Hitchhiker

## Reception

### Box office

*Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter* opened on Friday, April 13, 1984 on 1,594 screens to a then record-breaking weekend box office gross of $11,183,148. The film would ultimately take in a total of $32,980,880 at the U.S. box office. It placed at number 26 on the list of the top grossing films of 1984.

### Critical response

The film received generally negative reviews from critics upon its initial release. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 28% of 21 film critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 4.3 out of 10.

## Soundtrack

The film's music was composed by Harry Manfredini, who composed the scores to all of the series' previous installments. On January 13, 2012, La-La Land Records released a limited edition 6-CD boxset containing Manfredini's scores from the first six entries of the film series. The release was sold out in less than 24 hours of availability.

**Films:** *Friday the 13th* • *Part 2* • *Part III* • ***The Final Chapter*** • *A New Beginning* • *Jason Lives* • *The New Blood* • *Jason Takes Manhattan* • *Jason Goes to Hell* • *Jason X* • *Freddy vs. Jason* • *Friday the 13th* (2009)
**Characters:** Jason Voorhees • Pamela Voorhees
**Comics:** *Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash* • *The Nightmare Warriors*
**Games and TV:** *Friday the 13th* (1985 game) • *Friday the 13th* (NES game) • *Mortal Kombat X* • *Friday the 13th: The Series*
**Related topics:** *A Nightmare on Elm Street* • *Mortal Kombat* • *Evil Dead*