Friday the 13th Part 4: The Final Chapter (1984)
- written January 2004
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We begin with visions from the first 3 films and all the audio to go with it. Jason is again carried off to the morgue, axe in his skull. Once at the morgue, he awakens and begins his slow return back to the Lake. At the lake, in a house ready to party are 6 young'uns. Their neighbors are a quaint fatherless household, the Jarvises. Once the party begins so does the girlfriend switching as the women seem to prefer to have sex with everyone. But Jason, back from the morgue, begins to exact revenge on the household. Only the neighbors, in particular young Tommy Jarvis, can seem to do anything to save themselves. Beware though for even hikers can be saviors since Rob, the hiker, is out to avenge his sister's murder from years ago. But is he and Tommy a match for Jason?
Overall: This is the first in the series not made immediately after its predecessor. Part 1 was 1980, part 2 was 1981, and part 3 was 1982 - this was 1984. What's up with that? :) The film typified the future sequels in that no fighting existed in this film, just a few shots of Jason and mostly only of his killing instrument, and of course implausible comebacks. Jason gets hung in this film and for good measure, a nice axe into his skull and brain. This film began the improbable supernatural means in which Jason was brought back to life. That is the major difference between " Halloween" and this series is that Michael Myers never was injured as great in his first 4 films as Jason was here. But in all horror genre, perhaps " The Omen" series was best because in the first 2 films, Damien never got even touched. Best to defend the comeback of the killer when he realistically survived the prior films. Jason's mask also differs from the prior films. Notice that Crispin Glover (best known as George McFly in "Back to the Future") and Corey Feldman were in this film. We also got our 3rd separate Jason actor of the 4 films. Only Rob in this film knows of Jason and again Jason is obviously making no attempt to go after Chris who tried to kill him in part 3, but instead goes back to the lake. But for the second straight film he gets lost and picks on party-goers. That means we have had no attempted camp openings in 2 films (which essentially takes place days apart - part 3 ended on the heels of part 2, and here also after part 3 - with the death counts of the prior 2 films being 22, you'd think there'd be more police. Death Count = 12, overall = 42 (written 1999) 12/26/04 - Ok, so I got the DVD box set for X-mas this year and I took the time to start watching everything. The "Chronicles" feature of this film has bunches of interviews regarding the making of this film. What's interesting was as it was being made, there was no intention of a part 5. This was "it." Unfortunately it didn't stay that way. The DVD also included a few new scenes that were not in the film, but of them nothing more significant to the overall lot. My Title: Friday the 13th Part 4: Jason is the Babysitter 06/23/2009: So I've seen the movie more than a few times, including owning the original box set. However this is the new Deluxe Edition DVD. Although the DVD for part 3 was sorely lacking with no commentary and other missing extras, we're back on track here. We get the 4th installment of the "Lost Tales" which is again 6-7 minutes of more footage designed to replicate the original films with victims being chased. We have 3 minutes of a "lost ending"...basically the next day after the original film ends...here its in the cabin, not the hospital. It's different. Finally we have the "Crystal Lake Massacres Revisited, Part 1" which is a mockumentary designed for fans as if the first four films had happened in real life. They put a lot of time into it and it was cool. |
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