Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter is a 1984 American slasher film directed by Joseph Zito, produced by Frank Mancuso Jr., and starring Kimberly Beck, Corey Feldman, Crispin Glover, and Peter Barton. It is the sequel to Friday the 13th Part III (1982) and the fourth installment in the Friday the 13th franchise. Picking up immediately after the events of the previous film, the plot follows a presumed-dead Jason Voorhees (Ted White) who escapes from the morgue and returns to Crystal Lake to continue his killing spree. The film marks the debut of the character Tommy Jarvis (Feldman), who would make further appearances in two sequels and related media, establishing him as Jason's archenemy.

Much like Part III, the film was originally supposed to be the final installment. Mancuso Jr. wanted to conclude the series as he felt no one respected him for his producing work on it regardless of how much the films earned at the box office, while also wanting to pursue other projects. Paramount Pictures supported the decision, as they were aware of the declining popularity of slasher films at the time of its release. As a result, the film was billed as The Final Chapter to ensure it as such. Make-up artist Tom Savini, who worked on the first installment, returned because he wanted to help kill off Jason, whom he helped create.

The film was originally scheduled to be released in October but was pushed up to April 13, 1984. Upon its theatrical release, it grossed $33 million in the U.S. on a budget of $2.2 million, making it the fourth most attended of the Friday the 13th series with approximately 9,815,700 tickets sold. Though the film received negative reviews from critics at the time of release, it has retrospectively come to be considered one of the stronger entries in the series. Despite being billed as the final entry, its success prompted another sequel, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, one year later, followed by a further six sequels and a reboot.