Final Exam (1981)


A big problem with the majority of slashers is that the formula doesn't leave much room to develop the characters.  Typically they are archetypes - the horny jock, the prankster, the loner and, of course, all the sexually active girls versus the virgin.  It makes lines easy to write, but it also makes all of the chracters disposable.  

The early movies the influence the genre, however, were a bit different.  Black Christmas and Halloween took some time to get to know the victims so that the impact of seeing them killed registered.  There is a reason that Laurie Strode is remembered where few of the victims in the Friday the 13th movies are known outside of the name of the actress that played them.  This is something Jimmy Huston had in mind when he wrote Final Exam.  The problem is it is also possible to go too far in that direction as well. 

Finals are starting at a small university when news comes in that a couple from a neighboring institution were murdered.  This leads Radish (Joel S. Rice), a young genius with an obsession about murderers, to get excited that something may happen where he lives.  He has a crush on Courtney (Cecile Bagdadi), another serious student, although he is afraid of telling her.  Her other friends Wildman (Ralph Brown) and Mark (John Fallon) are members of a campus fraternity known for their pranks.  Gary (Terry W. Farren) is a pledge to the fraternity that is in a relationship with Courtney's roommate Lisa (DeAnna Robbins).

The other factor is the killer (Timothy L. Raynor), who has decided to target the college that particular day and carve up anyone he gets the chance to.  After taking out a number of her friends the killer targets Courtney, who finds herself alone on a campus where everyone has already started to depart for the summer.

Final Exam owes a lot to Halloween, as the killer, even though he doesn't wear a mask, often resembles Michael Myers in both strength and durability.  Perhaps the best thing Jimmy Huston does is not provide any explanation for the killings other than this guy just, for whatever reason, wants to exert his predatory instinct on a bunch of random people.  What this makes is for a great ending to the movie, with the kills and the chase all happening within the last 20 minutes, and an amazing non-simulated snatch of a flying arrow out of the air by Raynor.  The blood may be mild, nudity pretty much non-existent, but it is a thrilling ending.

The problem is to get to that ending one has to sit through the rest of the film.  The beginning sequence isn't bad despite it being as cliche as possible, and there is an elaborate prank that the fraternity plays that hints at what this movie could have been if Huston had the guts to go completely off the rails.  However, a good portion is like any college hijinx movie, just without the humor and without the nudity.  Imagine if Animal House was played as a straight drama, and that is the majority of Final Exam.  It is nice that Huston wanted us to care more about the characters.  However, the way the movie is written and paced, it feels aimless.  A little bit of development is okay, but ultimately these characters are bland and still the same slasher caricatures one gets in other movies of the type, only we don't have to sit around and watch them study and take tests for 45 minutes

With a better balance between getting to know the characters and the murders Final Exam could have pulled off something similar to Black Christmas, as both movies bear a lot of resemblance to each other.  The difference is Bob Clark knew when we needed drama and when we needed thrills, where Huston unfortunately frontloads the former.  

Final Exam (1981)\
Time: 89 minutes
Starring: Cecile Bagdadi, Joel S. Rice, Ralph Brown, John Fallon, Timothy L. Raynor
Director: Jimmy Huston

 

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