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Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter (1984)
Seemingly ever year at some point there seems to be some big DVD release of the “Friday the 13th” films but up to this point most of them have been lackluster. The majority of these releases have the films but were always lacking in features, especially when it comes to the boxset of films that was released years ago. Considering the films have such a following in the horror community as well as the Jason character becoming a household name it was rather sad. But recently there have been another stab at it by the folks at Paramount and believe it or not they’ve managed to pull it off. This particular version of the fourth (and at one time, final.) installment in the series and it’s honestly one of the better ones as far as I’m concerned.
This entry into the series is the introduction to one of the biggest hero’s and opponents to the Jason character over the course of several films: Tommy Jarvis. In this film Jarvis is played by actor Corey Feldman when he was a young boy, with a rather interesting hobby of making monster masks. He lives with his mother and sister in a house in the middle of the woods and the recent exploits of Jason Voorhees lead him to the area. In the process he’s wreaking havoc and doing it in fantastic fashion. Then it all leads to a final (….or not.) confrontation between Jason and Tommy that is one of the most iconic scenes in the series history.
Another plus this entry has going for it is the fantastic special effects by the legendary Tom Savini. It would mark the second time he was in charge of the special effects on a film directed by Joseph Zito (the first being 1981’s The Prowler) and it was a match made in Crystal Lake Heaven. As I watched this movie for the who know’s how many time I have to say the effects still hold up and everything from Jason’s look to the actual on screen effects that it ranks among the best in the series as well.
Something else that I think should be mentioned is that the movie also features a great cast of characters to add to the backstory here as well. First off the group in teenagers that are staying next to the Jarvis house includes oddball actor Crispin Glover (Back to the Future, The River’s Edge) in quite the hilarious and entertaining role that includes a gutbusting dance sequence that has to be seen to be believed.
Overall I would give this one a pretty high recommendation as the DVD is loaded with special features like commentary tracks , Part 4 of the Lost Tales from Camp Blood series, excellent deleted scenes, an alternate ending, and much much more. So far I would easily crown this as the best release of Part 4 on DVD especially due to the picture quality as well. Even if you have this one on DVD, I would recommend picking this one up it’s actually worth it.
Rating - ***
-Ed Demko
