Part IV: The Final Chapter- the most blatant case of fraudulent advertising since "The Neverending Story"
Wow, 4 movies in 4 years. That's quite a little money machine they had going with this series. Hey, umm, I'm completely confused. Exactly how big is Crystal Lake? How many campsites, resorts, and houses are crowded around the perimeter? Help me understand. It's explained that Part II takes place 5 years after Part I. OK, fine. Then at the beginning of Part III, we see a news report detailing the murders from Part II, that took place the night before. Part III all occurs in one day. At the beginning of Part IV, the police are picking up the bodies from Part III...Jason is taken to the county morgue ('cause he's "dead") and escapes- we see the newspaper headline referring to this, so it can't be more than a day or so later. I guess I'm not confused, exactly- I just never realized that the 3 movies (Parts II-IV) take place in the span of about 4 days. Huh.
People tend to cite Part IV as a favorite when talking about the series, and as I watched, I tried to figure out why. I also think it's one of the stronger entries-probably 3rd after I and II- and about the last one that's better than OK (which means I've got a looooong night a-comin'). So why Part IV? Well, the characters are slightly more fleshed out and likable here. Jason is seen, until the very end, very seldom- it's more fleeting long shots than lingering shots of him...well...lingering. He's much scarier here than in Part III. But we all know what it really comes down to: Corey Feldman. We all like Corey Feldman in this one. As Tommy Jarvis, he's a nerdy little cutie who's into horror movies and has the voice of a 45-year-old female chainsmoker...then he shaves his head and saves himself and his sister Trish by killing Jason with a machete. And then he flips out completely- when he sees Jason twitch, Tommy grabs the machete and hacks and hacks at Jason's body...
They really like throwing people through windows in this series, don't they? There were 3 people, both dead and alive, and a dog defenestrated in this installment. Yay, SAT words. Defenestrate is to Friday the 13th as mint chocolate chip ice cream is to Stacie. Total body count is a whopping 13. The silhouetted killing that takes place during a lightning flash is a nice effect, and Jason's head sliding down the machete is pretty damn gross. Oh, and during the opening credits, the hockey mask EXPLODES when the Friday the 13th logo flies through it. I LOVE exploding credits. They're completely pointless, yet awesome.
Time no longer has meaning.
6 comments:
For some reason I really like it when Jason gets the knife in the thigh in this one. It really stuck with me as I haven't watched it in 10 years.
Though the timeline is semi-confusing, the most confusing part is how, five years after Part 1, Jason morphs from an eight year old leaping corpse to a 35 year-old stalking zombie. That, to me, makes no sense. But I like your review.
Thanks, Brennon! The rapid aging of Jason has always been a sore spot. That's why I've decided to go with the Ginny Theory of Part 2: Jason DIDN'T die in the lake and has been living in the woods around Crystal Lake all those years. Alice most likely had a dream when she got pulled under at the end of Part 1. It explains Jason's adulthood perfectly!
personally i like Corey Feldman(http://www.most-wanted-movies.com/star/Corey-Feldman.aspx). See his filmography at Most Wanted Movies.
One of the things that I love about this film over the rest is the brother that has come out to the lake for revenge. Along with TCM2 and Dennis Hoppers weird preformance, it's kind of weird to see something like this. I guess Nightmare on Elm Street 3 counts in this department as well.
I think you're right about Corey Feldman, but it's also the fact that he is playing the first reoccuring character besides Jason in the flicks with Tommy.
It's also the first time Jason actually gets killed as far as continuity goes.
Besides, it's also got anohter weird preformance from Crispin Glover which just goes to show that he's always been a freak.
as i mentioned yesterday, i just really like this one over all the others.
i just felt that they really TRIED to make a more mature movie with this one. The characters came close to more realistically portrayed, as opposed to the cartooney goofyness of especially part 3.
but i have to agre with you. The way jason was portrayed in this one really kept ramping up more and more until the decent ending.
my biggest gripe with this movie has always been the very end, after corey impales jason with the machete, and he falls to the ground, pushing the machete thru his skull, the whole jason-mask moves around like the rubber fake-face it is. It just looks EXTREMELY fake.
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