RETRO-REVIEW: THE FINAL TERROR (1983) (Scream Factory Blu-ray Review)

THE FINAL TERROR (1983)

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 82 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Andrew Davis
Cast: Adrian Zmed, Daryl Hannah, Rachel Wood, Mark Metcalf, Ernest Harden Jr., Joe Pantoliano, John Friedrich

In the previously obscure backwoods slasher The Final Terror (1983) a group of troubled youth head into the wilderness to help clean-up the woods and enjoy some naughty good times with minimal adult supervision and a demented bus driver. As the day wears on the teens smoke some grass and get in a bit of skinny-dipping, before settling down for the night for the around a campfire, spinning tales of an escaped female mental patient and her incestuous offspring, of course with the prerequisite jump scare right at the end. What these teens don't know is that there is actually a killer lurking among the trees, one with an uncanny ability to blend into the surroundings and to stalk without being seen. It's not long before the teens begin to realize that certain members of the group have wandered from the camp into the forest and have not returned, and that's when the heads start to roll. The creepy killer stalks the woods using a unique bladed weapon to dispatch the horny teens one teen-libido at a time to great effect - even if the kills themselves are not super-gory the set-ups are quite decent and suspenseful.

Set in the majestic redwood forest the film has some fantastic wooded views captured with some skillful cinematography - it's a better shot film than most of the slashers of this era. The film is a kindred spirit to other survival-horror films Just Before Dawn and Rituals and is on par and maybe slightly better than either of those, I would put this right up there with Madman as backwoods slashers go. Director Andrew Davis performed second duty as the cinematographer on set and would go on to direct the mega-blockbuster The Fugitive with Harrison Ford years later, but even at this stage of his career you can see the quality of his craft.

The flick is an eerie and slow-burn peppered with some solid moments of violence, but apparently the producers thought it was a bit so slow so they put it on a shelf for a few years. When Daryl Hannah eventually made it big with the release of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner the producers sought to exploit the star's minor role in this entry by tagging on an unnecessary prologue which bumped up the body count by two. The handful of remaining deaths are not gory in their execution but the set-ups are tense and quite effective. One scene that stands out for me is the assault on the bus with the killer smashing in the windows in an attempt to get at the teens inside, making for an atmospheric and tense situation.

The cast is top notch with a slew of first-timers and future stars including a pre-Blade Runner Daryl Hannah, Joe Pantoliano (Memento) plus the douche from Animal House, Mark Metcalf. Everyone turns in a solid performance even if most of the young ladies don't get meaty roles. The standout here is Pantoliano as the agitated bus driver who seems a bit off from the beginning and only gets worse before disappearing for a large chunk of the movie.

Audio/Video: The Final Terroir arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory in 1080p HD framed in 1.78:1 widescreen. The original negative and film elements are thought to be lost so what Scream Factory have done here is stitched together a new HD master from six different prints of the film, all sourced from private collectors. Keeping that in mind I found the image to be surprisingly consistent throughout though marred by flickering and other imperfections such as vertical lines,, cigarette burns and speckling. Whatever digital manipulation used to clean-up the film we are left with a fairly consistent grain structure with some minor depth and fine detail in certain scenes. The only audio option is the DTS-HD Master Audio Mono which is clean and does a good job of exporting the dialogue and Susan Justin's eerie synth score including a great main title theme. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided on the disc.

Extras on the disc include an audio commentary with director Andrew Davis who speaks at length about the cast and location with a few fun anecdotes about the production such as how the prologue added by producer Samuel Z. Arkoff ended up paying for his wedding. There are also new interviews with actors Adrien Zmed and Lewis Smith plus the husband and wife duo of production supervisor Allan Holzman and composer Susan Justin.

The Final Terror (1983) is strong backwoods slasher with an interesting killer and a creepy vibe set in the gorgeous redwood forest, there's a lot here to love for slasher fans. This gets a definite recommend for fans of the kindred flicks  Rituals and Just Before Dawn who are looking for an above average slasher entry with some strong survival-horror elements.