FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER (1984) d. Joseph Zito (USA)  One of the most influential modern horror films, 1980’s surprise hit from producer/director Sean S. Cunningham, FRIDAY THE 13th, spurred a spate of sequels and imitators. By 1984, however, interest in the slasher genre seemed to be fading (only to be reinvigorated by a certain resident of Elm Street, but that’s another show), and so the executives at Paramount decided to put their “disreputable” cash cow, Jason Voorhees, out to pasture. While admittedly low on realism, The Final Chapter That Wasn’t is high on shock value and good jumpy scares. Director Joseph Zito takes the helm delivering exactly what devotees of the series craved: an attractive cast, ample nudity, decent acting, adequate storyline, hockey masks, and most importantly, lots and lots of brilliantly bloody deaths, brought to sanguinary life by makeup wizard Tom Savini, displaying some of his finest work outside of George Romero’s Dead series. Screenwriter Barney Cohen’s able script provides the characters with less-than-painful dialogue, and the unsuspecting hedonists are up to the task. Tonight, AC and his awesome panel of guests (Jessalyn Abbott, Fraser Coffeen, Dave Kosanke, Lawrence P. Raffel, Larry Sternshein) celebrate Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter: 40 Years Later. A fitting send-off that could have been a satisfying omega to the series… if it hadn’t ended up making oodles of money, leading Paramount to revive the series the very next year. But, again, that’s another story. -------------------------------------------- JESSALYN ABBOTT is a writer, producer and editor. She produced and edited LIKE ME which premiered at the 2017 SXSW Film Festival and was nominated for a grand jury award. Her most recent effort, PuLL: A Dark Comedy, is currently in preproduction. FRASER COFFEEN is the co-host of Creepy History, a podcast dedicated to all the creepy stuff you wish they taught you in High School. He’s been published in Horror Homeroom magazine and How to Analyze and Review Comics. DAVE KOSANKE wrote, edited, designed and published Liquid Cheese fanzine for 25 years. During that time, he also freelanced for HorrorHound and Ultra Violent magazines, and currently writes for Late Night Snack, a fanzine dedicated to cult cinema. LAWRENCE P. RAFFEL started Monsters at Play in 2000, a DVD review site that started out as an experiment that grew into a thriving genre community. He joined with FEARnet (a multi platform horror network) in 2006, and oversaw editorial and all digital assets for FEARnet.com until 2014. LARRY STERNSHEIN is a lifelong movie fan in Colorado and host of the movie memories podcast "Reel Early." Not only does he love talking about horror and action cinema, but is also a big pro wrestling fan. ---------------------------------------------- Keep Searching, Keep Exploring, and, most importantly, Keep Sharing the Scare!