The Final Terror

The inspirational for this sub-standard, low-budget woodland slasher/survival horror is obvious ('Friday the 13th'and 'Deliverance'), but even then it took the hackneyed clichés and kind of added its own messy slab to the well-worn formula. Was it for the better? I don't know? What fell by the wayside was the overall pacing due to there being too little to the transparent story and simply having the characters going through the motions. Too much dead air with a small body count and not enough thrills. When they were inserted, it was feeble. Other then a decent opening (with that smoking theme song) and thunderously outlandish closing, in between was a lot of repetitively aimless parading. It's easy through those parts because of the beautifully authentic setting that was fluidly photographed. Although the nocturnal scenes are poorly lit. Director Andrew Davis (who would go onto to be a pivotal action deliverer with titles like 'The Package' (1989), 'Under Siege (1992) and 'The Fugitive' (1993) and many more) does a quite passive, if workman-like job without the setting the world alight. There's true grit, but the attacks are telegraphed and rushed leaving it struggling to sustain any sort of momentum in its attempts of suspense. Atmosphere on the other hand, breathes some starkness and the environment moodily blends well with Susan Justin's eerily unhinged music score and penetrating forest sounds. The cast is more interesting to look at on paper, than actually watching their performances. Really the material doesn't allow much room for growth and makes them all unappealingly disposable. Too many I guess. Daryl Hannah, Adrian Zmed and Rachel Ward are fine. Joe Pantoliano in a short role makes the most in an over-exaggeratedly on-edge turn and Lewis Smith's unpredictable character kept one amused. It has its moments, but fails to really come out of first-gear.

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

Young forest rangers and their lady friends take a trip into the wilderness and are terrorized by a woodsy maniac.

Yet another slasher in the wake of Friday the 13th (1980), this one being OK as it tries to be a little different from the rest of its kind. This film tries to focus a little more on mood and suspense, rather than on gore and sex, although it does have it's share of that too. With the help of a decent cast, featuring some latter-day stars like Hannah and Ward, The Final Terror manages to be an entertaining enough effort. There's a few shocks, a good rock music score, and a creepy villain that also help carry the movie.

It's a far cry from the superior likes of Just Before Dawn (1981), but it certainly beats the lesser efforts of movies like Don't Go in the Woods (1981) or The Prey (1984).

** 1/2 out of ****

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.

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.