Final Exam

"Final Exam" is your typical cheesy 80's slasher flick. Not that that's a bad thing, but if poor production values and horrid acting aren't your cup of tea, than this movie probably wouldn't appeal to you.

I discovered this one a few years back when I was going through my "watch every college-based 80's horror movie"-phase. I thought that it had a decent title, and the coverbox was very reminiscent of an early "Friday the 13th" cover, so I figured that it would be worth the $1 that I paid for it. I won't go into the plot details since they are readily available anywhere, but I will tell you what I thought could have been better.

First on the list of faults is that there is no "whodunit" aspect to the picture. I'm not ruining anything for you since you find out after about five minutes that it isn't one of the students hacking people up, but just some random murderer that decides to put his skills to the test at a North Caroline college. That's why I chose "Leave your brain at the door..." as my one-line summary, since there is no thought needed as you watch the "plot" unfold.

As a few others already pointed out there is the opening scene involving two students getting sliced-up in a convertible, and then about an hour of dead time(pardon the pun). For about an hour following that we got some lame attempt at characted development that leaves out any murders. I don't mind some exposition in a movie, but these are all throw-away characters delivering horrible dialouge in bad situations. The final third of the film is when the rest of the students get dispatched of, and when they do there is absolutely no blood. I do tip my hat to the director because he throws in more suspense than your average campus murderer movie, but the payoff just isn't worthy of the buildup.

There were only two characters in the flick(and sadly, no, the lead isn't one of them) that were memorable at all. Radish, who reminded me a little of Randy from the "Scream" series, was our straight-guy, but was just too out-there to actually give you anything to care about. The same thing goes for the character of Wildman, a whacky jock who is somewhat likeable, but his character's actions are too erratic for him to really hold any solid ground on my care-meter.

"Final Exam" is a pretty unknown flasher film from 1981 that at the moment has the totally undeserved overall rating of 4.7/10, and I can't understand why! Sure, the acting isn't always top-notch and maybe the killer isn't really something we haven't seen before. But the movie still has some great things about it. Let's get to my positives.

I do really like that this movie actually focuses on its characters more than most slasher films because that makes some death scenes a little emotional. Speaking of the death scenes, "Final Exam" isn't really that blood-focused at all. It focuses more on the presence of this killer and the building tension before the killer strikes, which I really did like. I would say that it's bloodier than the movie "Halloween" (of course talking about the 1978 original), but not the same level as any of the "Friday the 13th" movies. The film also has some scenes in the first 40 minutes or so that nicely ties in to the third act and when people start getting killed, which I think the movie should get more credit for doing.

Also, when we watch slashers we want a good and scary killer. And for the most part, this one has all of that. He reminds me of an unmasked Michael Myers. But this movie isn't perfect, so let's get into some of my issues with it.

I'll be quick to get these out of the way: The acting isn't all that great, the Killer is good for the most part but I feel like he would have been scarier with a more detailed look (like a mask and a vest etc), some scenes during the first 30 minutes or so can be pretty boring & finally; Ralph Brown as Wildman can be pretty annoying.

I did have a good time watching "Final Exam" and I think that any Slasher fan should give it a chance. It's a fairly solid slasher flick from the 80s and if you can get a copy of the Scream Factory release then I highly recommend it because it's worth your money.

Horror: B- (Some Suspenseful Scenes and Good Scares Throughout)

Entertainment: B- (A lot of 80s Charm and fun Collage Pranks)

Acting: D+ (Not That Great, Although Some Were Pretty Decent)

Suspense: C+ (Good Build-ups for Scares, but the First act Lacks it)

Characters: B- (Better Than Average)

Script/Story: C+ (Pretty Basic)

Overall Rating: 7.4/10

The opening of final exam seems pretty promising, a couple making out in a car are stabbed to death by a killer, Now the rest is a bore. The killer shows up at a college campus stalking students. Why? Who is this man? these are never quite explained. This is slow paced, even for a horror movie. Check out happy birthday to me. Or madman. they are much better.

Certainly one of the most wretched slasher movies ever made.

Timothy Raynor as the killer could not be worse.

The real blame for this turkey must be attributed to Jimmy Huston.

There is no gore, no suspense and no intelligence.

And it is slower than paint drying.

the first 5 minutes of the film are great, but then there is no action for the next hour. a psycho going around killing college kids, no motive what so ever wich i think is cool cause it's more scary like that. the one thing the movie tried to do is character developement. not that it's a bad thing to do, but they did overkill in it. the other problem is there were too many kills mixed in, too much too fast, though not a bad slasher at all, it's just that the first hour is kind of a waste but if you're a true horror fan like me you will see the greatness in the movie. i give it 6/10. decent suspense and maybe a few scares.