SLASHERS – Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

Published on: 13th September, 2009

SLASHERS - Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter  | read this item

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When Friday the 13th Part 3 was released in 3D on August 13 1982, earning an impressive $9,406,067 on its opening weekend in the US, there was little doubt that another sequel would soon follow. The third movie had introduced the world to Jason Voorhees with his new trademark hockey mask and had marked the beginning of an era for horror fans everywhere. By the end of its theatrical run, Part 3 had grossed a staggering $36,690,067 (by far outdoing Part 2’s total of $21,722,776), and even though the producers at Paramount were unimpressed with the film itself, discussions soon began on a fourth entry in the series, although it was unanimously agreed that this would be the last. The franchise had enjoyed three successful ventures, fuelled by extensive marketing, word-of-mouth and moral panic, but finally the filmmakers had decided to lay both Jason and Friday the 13th to rest.

Stephen Minasian, one of a group of Boston businessmen whose production company had overseen the franchise to date, had been impressed by a low budget slasher he had seen entitled The Prowler, a stylish thriller in which a soldier embarks on a killing spree decades after being rejected by the love of his life whilst away fighting in the war. The film had received positive feedback but had failed to generate the same kind of interest as many of the other slashers of the era, yet Minasian saw the potential of its director, a man named Joseph Zito. Minasian had made a promise to him… if Friday the 13th Part 3 was a hit then they would produce one more sequel, and he would be allowed to make it. Sure enough, $36m later, Zito received a call and he immediately accepted the job.

It was October 1983 and serious talks had begun on the next (and last) Friday, with Zito, Minasian and his partner at Georgetown Productions, Phil Scuderi, conference calling meetings to discuss possible storylines. To help during the early stages of development, Zito had brought in Bruce Hidemi Sakow, whom he had previously hired to pen a horror flick called Quarantine. The project would never move passed the writing stage but Zito had presented the script to Frank Mancuso Jr., who had been in watching over the franchise on behalf of Paramount, and had been suitably impressed enough to invite him to take a shot at penning Friday 4. Another screenwriter that Zito had approached was Barry Cohen, whom he would eventually work with throughout the writing process once Sakow had left the movie.

One direction that Sakow had been given from the director that had stuck for subsequent rewrites was that there had to be exciting and gory deaths every seven or so minutes, never allowing the viewer to become distracted or bored. Cohen would work extensively on the teenage characters, attempting to flesh them out in greater deal than husband and wife team Martin Kitrosser and Carol Watson had with Part 3, as well as helping to fashion the action packed finale, which Zito was determined would bring the series to an impressive and satisfactory conclusion. One character in particular that Cohen had to work extensively on was Tommy Jarvis, the twelve-year-old protagonist who would become Jason’s most dangerous adversary.

Although Part 3 had boasted several inventive death scenes (the spear in the eye in particular was impressive), they lacked the intensity and brutality of the first movie, and so it was imperative that the new script, subtitled The Final Chapter, included as many memorable kills as possible. For this, the filmmakers would require a special effects artist with the necessary experience to kill of countless characters in a variety of gruesome ways. Mancuso Jr. had settled on Greg Cannom, whose previous work had included being a protégé of Rick Baker on such classics as The Incredible Melting Man, It Lives Again and The Howling. This decision would anger Zito somewhat, who had hoped to bring in Tom Savini, his FX artist on The Prowler, which had boasted his most impressive work to date. Savini had, of course, played a significant part in the success of the original Friday the 13th movie so it seemed rather apt when Cannom eventually walked from the project, allowing Savini to take his place.

To handle the cinematography, Zito would draft in the talents of João Fernandes, whom he had built a steady working relationship with through the likes of Abduction, Bloodrage and The Prowler (the would later work together on Missing in Action, Invasion U.S.A. and Red Scorpion). Fernandes had enjoyed a career during the seventies lensing adult movies, often using the pseudonym Harry Flecks. It would be on one of these features, Jonas Middleton’s 1976 flick Through the Looking Glass, that his name would first appear alongside composer Harry Manfredini, who had been responsible for the score for every Friday movie to date. His work on The Final Chapter, however, would be minimal, as the majority of the music would be sourced from the previous three films.

Whilst Part 3 would feature a cast of amateurs who had literally been plucked from the streets of Los Angeles, The Final Chapter would feature a selection of promising and relatively experienced actors. Twenty-seven year old Kimberly Beck, who would portray Tommy’s older sister, Trish Jarvis, had been in the industry since she was just two years old and had appeared in the likes of Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie, The Munsters, Peyton Place and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. The role of Tommy would go to Corey Feldman, who would soon become one of the biggest child stars of the decade with roles in Gremlins, The Goonies, Stand By Me, The Lost Boys and The ‘burbs launching him into a star.

One actor who had already previously appeared in a slasher flick, who had co-starred alongside cult actress Linda Blair in Tom DeSimone’s 1981 thriller Hell Night. Other cast members would include E. Erich Anderson (Missing in Action), Lawrence Monoson (Mask), Bruce Mahler (Police Academy) and Judie Aronson (Weird Science), although arguably the finest actor of the entire cast was Crispin Glover, one year away from his breakout role in the hit science fiction flick Back to the Future (appearing alongside his High School U.S.A. co-star Michael J. Fox). This unique and underrated character actor would later take a role in the acclaimed drama River’s Edge before making an ill-advised decision regarding Back to the Future Part II that would almost ruin his career.

Principal photography would take place around Topanga Canyon and Solvang in California, between October 1983 and January 1984. For the role of Jason, Zito eventually settled on Ted White, a successful actor and stuntman whose prior work included Rio Bravo, Planet of the Apes and Tron. Disgusted by the way in which the young cast were treated during the shoot, particularly Aronson, who was required to lie naked in a raft late at night in the middle of winter. Concerned for her wellbeing, White refused to continue filming unless Zito warmed her up, and was later so annoyed by the experience that he demanded his name be removed from the credits. Despite this, White would keep his distance from his co-stars during filming in order for them to seem genuinely unnerved by his presence.

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter was released on April 13 1984 (the second film of the series to debut on an appropriate date) and would earn almost $33m during its run. The New York Times gave a surprisingly positive response to the acting talents on display, stating that, ‘While not exactly an actress picture, ”The Final Chapter” takes pains to make its characters a little more personable than the horror- movie norm. This is unfortunate, since there is nothing to do during the second half of the film but watch them die.’ Whilst the film’s title may have promised this to be The Final Chapter, the box office performance of the movie would result in Paramount desperately finding a way to bring the franchise back. Thus, the next entry in the ongoing series would appear on March 22 1985, less than one year after its supposed cancellation.

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