Bjorn (ODDBear)
Slashers have it easy. Their target audience are among the most forgiving when it comes to actual quality and will take enthusiasm over competence into consideration more so than "real" film lovers. "Final Exam" goes for the "Halloween" (1978) vibe (a low-key piano piece is a dead give away as to inspiration) in that it is light on blood and gore and goes for honest scares and mood. Too bad it's also light on scares but the mood is above average. There's also a novelty in that the killer is clearly seen, never speaks and has no motivation known to the audience. But then one character clearly states that most killers have no motivation and that, in itself, is quite scary. The film has pretty decent actors, most of whom have never been heard from again, and the characters do have some personality. The biggest gripe the film has received is in it's very slow build-up. It's true that "Final Exam" takes it's sweet time until actual mayhem takes place but it goes by pleasantly enough. Photography and lighting is fine and, as said, the film has a certain mood that's undeniable. It's a mood that seems was only attainable in late 70's and early 80's and distinguishes these slashers. "Final Exam", for me, gets better with repeat viewings and it comes recommended; for slasher film fans. But make no mistake; this isn't the cream of the crop but enthusiasts should enjoy it.
lonysimbasa
Slasher movies first popped up in the 1970s. There was Black Christmas, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Alice, Sweet Alice, and Halloween. It was a fresh and exciting new drama for the masses. Nowadays, the genre's a joke. Nothing but, gore, nudity, and zero originality. Final Exam is completely unoriginal, and yet it's different. Plot - College students are taking their final exams, waiting for summer vacation. I can't say anymore, because that's it. The killer doesn't kill until the climax. I can't describe the climax. It's rare for these movies to be only suspense until the end. It's really lame. It's not bad. There's nothing dumb about it. 3/10 Acting - It's average. The girl and Mark are good, Radish and Gary are okay. The worst are Wildman and Courtney in the last 15 minutes. I was actually surprised at how the acting was better than I thought it would be. They seem like college students, making it all the more realistic. 7/10 Set Design/Location Shoot - It's a college. Very uninteresting. There's another location, but it's only shown for a few seconds. 5/10 Cinematography - Okay. Nothing noteworthy. 5/10 Soundtrack - The music sounds interchangeable. Mostly quiet. 0/10 Script/Dialogue - The dialogue's realistic, the dialogue sounds at times sounds like gossip. Whenever Radish speaks, it's about murder. He's probably got the best dialogue like Randy from Scream. Not the best actor though. 8/10 Characters - Courtney's kind, sweet, and envious. Lisa is a girl who's got the looks and can get by in life just fine with it. Courtney wants that, and it's up to Radish to cheer her up. Janet's a romantic. She's in love with Gary and that's the only thing that matters. Gary's a Gamma pledge, and he'll do anything the Gammas tell him to, even steal the answers. He is reluctant at first, showing that he will at least think about what he's doing before acting. He is also an a**hole. Janet has shown him nothing but love and he's got the audacity to call her a b****. Although understandably, he's tied to a tree with whipped cream and ice covering him in his underwear at night. Mark and Wildman are sociopaths. They pull a prank shooting, so Mark can pass his exam and his parents can pay for his car again. And everyone just brushes it off. The girls just laugh after seeing a Gamma sticker on the van, Coach finds it hilarious, and the Sheriff treats it as if it is a prank. Radish and Janet are the only ones to care, and Janet's only mildly surprised. Mark and Wildman deserve legal punishment. Radish is murder-obsessed. During the prank shooting and the climax, he says, "it's happening", apparently expecting both events to happen. He's even got a poster of Murder Is My Beat on his wall, further accenting his obsession. He's also got sense, as during both the prank and the climax he immediately calls the cops. He fails in the climax, because of the prank. We don't get any information on the killer. He's a discount Michael Myers, who is the most boring slasher villain ever. He is just awful. Believable characters, except for the killer. There's not much depth. There's no exposition background. 7/10 Gore/Nudity - No creativity whatsoever. No murders except opening scene, for 50 minutes! Brief nudity. 0/10 Overall - One of the worst slasher in existence. Worse than Death Nurse 2. Decent movie though. Jimmy Huston was attempting something different. We replace gore with characters. It works more as a failed thriller/college drama. I have a theory about the killer. When watching movies, you want to feel immersed in the story. We'd like to feel we're around the characters. So my theory is, that Jimmy Huston wanted us to feel as if we are characters. That's why we spent those long 50 minutes with no murders. We're characters in the movie. Suddenly, this psycho killer shows up out of nowhere and now the characters are confused as to who he is and why this is happening. That's why we never find out the killer's name, motivations, and switch in campuses. It's because the characters have no idea who he is and why he's here. We're not supposed to know, because we are the characters. We're confused, just like the characters. I think that's what people didn't get when they saw it, and it's a shame too. It's a sh**** slasher movie, but an okay movie. I will admit, I found it strange how this killer seemed to have supernatural powers for no other reason than to be a rip-off of other, more well-known killers. I will still bump the movie up 1 point, just for that reason. Also, this movie has no sense of continuity. When, Gary goes to steal the answers, it's nighttime. When he comes back out of the office, it's still night. But then, we see him taken to be treed, it's clearly daytime. Just thought I'd give it a mention. It's an okay movie. I don't understand the 14% on Rotten Tomatoes, just because it's boring. Did they pay attention to the other things the movie has in it. I give it a 5.375/10, rounded is 5.38, rounded is 5.4, rounded is a decent 5/10.
dien
Being an 80s slasher fan, I've seen a lot of them. The good, the bad, the classics and the garbage. This one is somewhere between boring and uninteresting.I read on Wikipedia that the director wanted to do a different slasher. One that focuses on character development rather than kills. While it may have sounded great as an idea, the outcome is poor.If we don't count the first kill, the movie takes more than 50 minutes before anything slasher-related happens. The film spends so much time on the characters that it feels almost like a teen comedy. And one can only wish the characters were somewhat interesting, but they're not. They are as generic as they get. There are the obnoxious jocks, the computer nerd, the dumb blond who has an affair with a teacher and the "not so attractive, yet strong" final girl.The killer is a chapter of its own. We never learn his motivation, or who he is. But we can clearly see his face from the very beginning. Also, he would absolutely need to have "serial killer super powers" in order to appear at certain places where there is no way he could get without someone noticing him. Simply impossible. I understand the writer wanted to go for something else in his film, but this decision was poor.This film fails on pretty much every level. It's only recommended if you're a die hard genre fan.
BA_Harrison
If I were to grade writer/director Jimmy Huston on his 1981 slasher Final Exam, he would get a big, fat 'F': not just because he has clearly cribbed most of his ideas from a certain Mr. Carpenter—after all, plenty of other horror directors are guilty of that particular crime—but because he has made absolutely no effort to disguise his plagiarism, and displays a total lack of understanding of the genre.His film features the usual bunch of disposable college teens (Joel S. Rice as death obsessed nerd Radish; Ralph Brown as jock Wildman; DeAnna Robbins as flirtatious blonde Lisa), a virginal heroine (Cecile Bagdadi), a carving knife wielding killer who refuses to run (Timothy L. Raynor), and a Halloween-style staccato rhythmic soundtrack, but delivers none of the atmosphere or tension necessary to make these components work together to create a satisfying horror experience.The film takes an age to get going, with far too much time spent on juvenile frat pranks; Huston's formulaic script is so lazy that it doesn't even bother to offer a motive or identity for its uninspired maniac; and worst of all, the director ignores the 'Golden Rule of Slashers': if your material stinks, at least give viewers loads of nudity and creative gore to enjoy. With virtually no blood, and only one brief moment of nekkidness from Robbins, this Exam just ain't worth sitting.
