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Final Exam (1981)
One of the things I love about the 80s was the over abundance of slasher films that were made from 1980-1985. Not that there weren't better slasher's made prior to or after, but this time seemed to be the magical period in the 80s were slasher films hit it big at the box office. In 1981 when "Final Exam" was released the slasher craze if you will was just getting started as films like "Friday the 13th Part 2" and "The Burning" were released that same year. Needless to say at this point there were quite a few quality slasher films being made on a regular basis. So with there being a large amount of these films hitting the market in 1981 it's easy to miss a solid slasher film because many managed to fly under the radar. For example that same year a film called "Nightmare" or "Nightmares in a Damaged Brain" was made (although it would go largely unseen although it gained a reputation being involved in the UK Video Nasties scandal) and is quite the underrated slasher film in and of itself. Considering I had never seen "Final Exam" prior to it's release by the folks at BCI/Deimos I was honestly wondering if it would be another lame slasher flick or if it would be another one that managed to fly under the radar.
"Final Exam" takes place at Lanier College as the school semester is wrapping up with final exams. One of the college's fraternities pulls a prank in which some of their members act as terrorists gunning down students right on campus, causing panic. The local Sheriff gets called to the scene only to find out it's not a joke and is rather upset over the whole fiasco. Obviously this is the perfect distraction so that a maniacal killer can go on his rampage on the campus.
When you go into a movie like "Final Exam" you have to think that if you've seen a lot of slasher films (and if you're watching this film, you probably already have seen most of them) this one would be more of the same. Considering the setting of the film you can already compare it with other 80s slashers like "Splatter University", "Slaughter High" or even "Strange Behavior". Regardless of the time period in the 80s there were always slasher films made in schools. It's really the perfect setting considering the audience they were attracting with these films. But sometimes these films work tremendously well under these pretenses (like "Slaughter High") and some don't ("Splatter University" anyone?) but I have to say that I thought that "Final Exam" is one of the better examples. Sure it's not perfect, but it does have its high points and one of them is my most important rule for a slasher film. You need to have a cool killer and although the one in the movie is pretty plain, is still cool yet effective. The kills may be a little bland compared to other films I named in this review, but the movie has some scares and jumps scenes that I found to be better than expected as well.
The acting in the film is bad as I was expecting it to be, but you do realize what you're dealing with here don't you? You're not watching this type of movie to get an Oscar award willing performance; you're watching it to see idiots that annoy you get killed. Unfortunately this one doesn't feature too much on screen violence, but I've seen slashers that carry their gore card proudly yet can't manage to grab me with anything else. This one managed to keep me interested and one thing about the movie that helps it is the way it's paced out. The movie does move quickly and doesn't really give you much time to blink. That's good because it helps you miss the paper thin plot and lame characters. It allows you to kind of wallow in the fun of itself, which is something that you usually don't see in slasher films that are this bloodless. I guess that says something about the movie in general or at least the fact that director Jimmy Huston managed to create effective atmosphere and kept it simple after that.
Overall I would RECOMMEND "Final Exam" as it was a movie I wasn't expecting a whole lot of, but was actually taken back a bit by. It's a solid little slasher flick that won't reinvent the wheel but does manage to entertain and that's all I really ask from a movie. Obviously in closing it's only fitting that I work that movie tagline in the way I feel about the film. The poster reads "Some may pass the test…..God help the rest." And I think it's safe to say that "Final Exam" gets the passing grade from me.
Rating - ***
-Ed Demko
