The Final Terror

At one point after the group of forest rangers escapes the night bus attack, Rachel Ward exclaims "I can't see a thing". Ditto for the viewing audience, because even the daytime scenes are so poorly lit that you will have little sense of what is taking place on screen. It's pretty difficult to scare people, when you can't see what is supposed to be scary. Technically "The Final Terror" is a disaster, and it's really a shame, because hunted in the woods films are one of my favorite genres. After seeing (or rather not seeing) "The Final Terror", I will stick with "Hunter's Blood", which is a great film of this type. Other than a strong opening and a surprisingly good conclusion, there is very little entertainment value here. Don't let the name actors get you excited either, because Rachel Ward and Darryl Hannah are just faces in the crowd, with zero character development. My advice, skip it. - MERK

The problem with The Final Terror is that the characters are too smart and the writers aren't smart enough. When danger descends upon their large group, they decide not to split up, but to stick it out together in case the killer tries something again. It leaves the finale without much tension since you never really feel like anyone's in danger. The music score is great and the forest atmosphere is haunting at times, but it can't help much when the film lacks suspense and danger.

It's easy to make the mistake of dismissing The Final Terror as just another instantly forgettable, derivative backwoods slasher: the characters are your usual array of one-dimensional psycho-fodder; the setting is the standard 'spooky woods located miles from civilisation'; there's the corny campfire legend that sets up the back story for the killer; and the film features several cribs from other similarly themed horror movies (most obviously John Boorman's Deliverance).

However, I think this film is a more important addition to the genre than it is given credit for: not only did it give director Andrew Davis (of The Fugitive fame) and several future Hollywood stars (Daryl Hannah, Rachel Ward, Joe Pantoliano, and...errr... Adrian Zmed?!?) a step up in their careers, but—and you can call me mad if you like—I am also convinced that The Final Terror was a big influence on the excellent Arnold Schwarzeneggar sci-fi/action movie Predator!

As Lloyd Grossman used to say in Through The Keyhole, 'Let's take a look at the evidence...'

The group of friends stranded in the wilderness; the strange creature who hunts them one-by-one; the pivotal moment where the hunter finally becomes the hunted; and the final showdown in which the killer is lured into a booby-trap made from a huge tree trunk. Let's face it.... all that's missing is a mini-gun!!!

Anyway, regardless of whether you subscribe to my Predator theory or not, The Final Terror is still a reasonably enjoyable way to pass the time, with some effective jump scares, a fair amount of atmosphere, and some lovely cinematography. I'd liked to have seen a bit more gore, some nudity from the ladies (this is a slasher, after all!), and Adrian Zmed get slaughtered (I still remember T. J. Hooker), but I suppose you can't have everything!

6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

More well known for its soon-to-be star cast than for the film itself, The Final Terror kinda came and went in theaters and was dumped onto video via a terrible, washed out and impossibly dark transfer where you couldn't tell what was what.

Thankfully, Scream Factory have found a print that looks half way decent and released it on Blu-Ray. For the first time, one can actually see that there was some talent involved here, even if it was in service of a less than exciting narrative.

While the story seems like your average "young hot people getting killed in the woods" flick, The Final Terror does offer some fairly inventive twists. For starters, the killer is a genuinely unnerving presence, blending into trees and shrubbery using camo gear. Also, the cast of characters, while slightly undefined, are smarter than your usual lot. When they get the first inkling of danger, they don't split up or start humping each other - they actually stick together and work as a team.

The only downside to these smart characters is that there are only two murders before the gang catches on (unless you count the completely unrelated prologue), so it doesn't leave room for a lot of isolated attack scenes or extra murders to brighten up the pacing and keep the danger alive. If only one or two of them had to go pee or something...

Susan Justin's score is pretty cool, too, and keeps things exciting.

(**1/2 out of *****)

Produced by Samuel Arkoff, this is one of those low-budget (albeit tolerably directed) jobs with several different titles ("The Campsite Murders" and "Forest Primeval" to name a couple) and two or three different release dates between 1980 and 1985 (I split the difference and went with ‘83, although the original release date is most likely ‘81, for those who care.) It's of interest mainly for featuring Darryl Hannah and Rachel Ward (not to mention Joe Pantoliano, from "Memento" and "The Sopranos") in early roles. The gals play the girlfriends of forest rangers out on a work detail in the woods who run across an unseen, homicidal maniac. There's a refreshingly low body count, but, given the number of potential victims who have little else to do but run around and whine, maybe the cast should have been reduced by two or three actors. Other than a couple of minor shocks here and there, there's also a lack of action and suspense. Come to think of it -- no gratuitous nudity, no excessive violence -- who exactly was this movie made for? The last third, with the survivors paddling down river in a big raft, starts to resemble a tame "Deliverance" (as well as other forest/slasher movies too numerous to name). There are pretty good killer-in-the-woods flicks ("Just Before Dawn") and there are really bad killer-in-the-woods flicks ("Berserker"), and this one sits somewhere just south of the border. Davis went on to direct big-budget action movies (including "Under Siege" and Harrison Ford's "The Fugitive").

HIGHLIGHT: I'm being generous to go with a highlight for this one, but I kinda liked the part where the killer was hit with a giant, swinging log studded with sharp spikes. It reminded me of a Road Runner cartoon.