Creeptober Day 17: Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

Forty years ago, Jason Voorhees was killed. People tried to kill him before, but this time it was for real. At least, that was the idea. We all know that more sequels followed the fourth entry in the Friday the 13th franchise, but at the time of its making, it was supposed to be the end. Maybe that’s why it’s so good. For day seventeen of Creeptober, we’ve picked one of the best movies in the series, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984).

Read on for our thoughts on Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter as well as a recap of the movie, and join the conversation on our Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram!

Reacting to Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter is one of the best entries in the Friday the 13th franchise. No question, no debate. Is it THE best? That’s debatable. I can see why people would think so. I can also see a good case for Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives being the best. And, of course, everyone will have their own personal favorites which is also totally valid. For me, the original Friday the 13th from 1980 is the best in the series. Not because I’m a “first is always best” person, but because it is a legitimately great slasher. The Final Chapter is an extremely close second place for me.

One of the things that makes The Final Chapter so good is that it is basically two movies made into one. The two movies can be represented by the two cabins where most of the action takes place. One one side of the yard, you have the teenagers having a weekend getaway. This half of the movie delivers slasher-movie thrills at their most fundamental. You have partying, sex, nudity, comedy, strained interpersonal relationships, and a series of violent murders happening as clueless people isolate themselves in the middle of the night. It’s simple, it’s exactly what people expect from a typical slasher movie, and it’s a ton of fun.

Then, in the other cabin, you have the Jarvis family. In 1984, it was still somewhat unique to see a family like this in a slasher movie. They are made up of a single mother with a teenage daughter and preteen son (and a dog). They are all well-adjusted, they love each other, and they all seem happy. Their story, driven by the arrival of Rob (the camper) and Jason, is what really moves the film forward. This is where the true drama comes from. The Jarvis family barely has any direct contact with the partying teens, and none of that contact is particularly meaningful. If the teens weren’t in The Final Chapter, very little would have to be adjusted to make the main plot of the movie work in the same way it already does. So, it’s like two movies in one. One is trashy fun, the other is dramatic and pushes the lore of the franchise forward. It’s the best of both worlds. Plus, the body count would be much smaller without the teens.

There are some moments in The Final Chapter I find humorous in a non-intentional way. I doubt Rob shouting “he’s killing me” over and over is meant to be funny, but I laugh at the on-the-nose ridiculousness of it every time. Also, Trish trying to escape Jason but refusing to run around a dead body on the porch is goofy to me. But the giggles I have when I watch aren’t meant as nitpicks. I truly enjoy these moments. And they go well with the intentional laughs like Jimmy’s dance moves. I adore everything about slasher movies like this.

I should also mention that The Final Chapter is great thanks in large part to the return of special effects artist Tom Savini. As many fans know, he did the effects for the first Friday the 13th as well, but he chose to move away from the franchise and do movies like The Burning (1981) instead of the Friday the 13th sequels. He returned for The Final Chapter because he wanted to kill Jason, a character he helped create. Savini’s work elevates any movie, and some of his designs in The Final Chapter are iconic. Jason sliding head-first down a machete is certainly up there as one of the greatest effects of any era.

Also, The Final Chapter is the beginning of the Tommy Jarvis trilogy. The saga of Tommy Jarvis might be the best part of the entire franchise. His story isn’t perfect, and the middle movie in his trilogy (Friday the 13th: A New Beginning) isn’t great, but Tommy is a fantastic character. He starts off strong in The Final Chapter, essentially being a conduit for all the horror-and-video-game-loving kids watching. Kids who are told they’re too young to be seeing a Friday the 13th movie, and who are watching it anyway and loving it.

It’s rare that I’ll watch a single Friday the 13th movie without feeling the need to rewatch the entire franchise. I’m feeling that need pretty strongly right now, but I’ll have to resist. Creeptober is just past the halfway point, and we have a lot of movies still to watch.

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter – A Recap

After a recap of the previous three movies, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter begins shortly after the end of Friday the 13th Part 3. It is night, and Jason’s body is still in the barn where he was last seen in the previous film. Apparently dead, Jason Voorhees is taken to a nearby hospital so his body can be processed in the morgue. Jason comes back to life and kills two hospital staff members.

The next day, a carload of teenagers/young adults drive towards Crystal Lake where they plan to stay at a cabin. On the way they pass a hitchhiker whom they don’t pick up. The hitchhiker is then killed by Jason.

Arriving at their destination, the teens’ cabin is next to a cabin occupied by the Jarvis family made up of Mrs. Jarvis, her teenage daughter Trish, and Trish’s preteen brother Tommy. The teens try to befriend Trish that night and the next day, but she doesn’t pay them much attention. Instead, Trish is attracted to a handsome backpacker/camper named Rob. Rob claims to be at Crystal Lake to hunt bears, but Tommy knows that is a lie. Regardless, Trish and Tommy take Rob to meet their mother before he goes back into the woods to camp.

That night, the teens across from the Jarvis family are having a party. As the teens isolate themselves from each other, they are slaughtered by Jason, one by one. Meanwhile, Trish and Tommy’s mother arrives at her cabin and is surprised by someone (it must be Jason, but he isn’t shown on camera) while searching for the family’s dog. Trish and Tommy arrive home shortly after. They can’t find their mother anywhere, so Trish leaves to search for her while Tommy stays behind to fix the power outage at the cabin. In the woods, Trish finds Rob’s tent. Rob tells her the truth, that he is searching for his sister’s killer, Jason Voorhees. He convinces Trish that Jason is still alive, and the two of them rush back to the Jarvis’s cabin where Tommy is alone.

Seeing that Tommy is safe and the power is back on, Trish, Rob, and Gordon go over to the neighboring cabin to see if Jason is around (leaving Tommy alone again). They discover that all of the teens are dead, and Rob is killed by Jason in the basement. Trish rushes home again and begins locking the doors and windows. Jason easily breaks in and chases Trish and Tommy upstairs. Trish smashes a computer monitor onto Jason’s head, knocking him unconscious. After Trish tells her brother to run away, Jason wakes up.

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