I distinctly remember being a big fan of this one as a kid. I even had the paperback tie-in novelization, which I would have read in preparation for this, if I had been able to locate it in time. As I recall, it shed a bit more light on the killer's motivation (something about his sister having killed herself because of failing her finals- though you'd think that would make him go after the teachers, not the students, who were in the same boat), as well as developing the characters- even the couple at the beginning- considerably more than we see in the film.
Then again, one of the things that made a lot of slashers effective was actually NOT knowing a lot about a certain killer's motivation, or, at the very least, getting only a quick glimpse at it, either in the opening scene (Carpenter's Halloween, Terror Train, Prom Night, etc.) or at the end of the film (Psycho, Sleepaway Camp, Urban Legend, etc.). If anything, as Randy put it in Scream, "Motives are incidental."
Final Exam is basically the slasher stripped down to its essence. Most of the tropes are in full effect, and writer/director Jimmy Huston takes a no-nonsense approach to the material, albeit not without a warped sense of humor, particularly evident in the character of Radish, who is this film's version of the aforementioned Randy.
As such, the film has garnered a bit of a cult following over the years, ultimately leading to it getting a Blu-Ray release via Shout Factory back in 2014, complete with cast interviews, a commentary track and a solid new HD transfer from the original camera negative of the film. There's also a soundtrack- a rarity back then for slasher films, save John Carpenter's Halloween series- which is readily available for streaming on YouTube. You can listen to it here.
Let's break Final Exam down a bit, by tropes:
We have the ever-popular opening scene kill- in this case, the classic "couple making out in a car in an isolated locale" gambit. Also present is the whole "girl says no, guy persists, girl asks if the guy loves her, he says yes- clearly lying- they get it on and the killer strikes" rigamarole.
We then shift over to a new locale, as the unseen killer cases the next place he plans to strike- in this case, it's another college campus, Lanier, which is in the final week of exams, and thus relatively unpopulated, making for an easier situation for the killer to stalk his prey. If you've ever lived on a college campus, you know that, as soon as people finish their exams, they are long gone.
For some unlucky souls, however, they are forced to stick around later than others because their exams are dead last, in terms of scheduling. Such is the case here, which is why there aren't that many people on campus, save a few students, teachers and general staff. At night, there's even less, as the school virtually shuts down.
For the first thirty minutes or so, we get to know the remaining core group of students the film revolves around, a la Carpenter's Halloween. As per usual, there's the book-smart innocent type, in this case, Courtney (Cecile Bagdadi), who it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out will be our designated "Final Girl." Bagdadi, making her motion picture debut here, has an easy charm that brings to mind a 70's era Laraine Newman, of Saturday Night Live fame, but minus the whole "Valley Girl" schtick.
In addition, there's the usual grab-bag of archetypes: the "bad girl," Lisa (DeAnna Robbins, who looks a bit like Natalie Dormer, complete with that patented mischievous smirk), who's having an affair with her married teacher; the preppy jock type, Mark (John Fallon), who is sort of the leader of his frat boy pack, which also includes the self-explanatory Wildman (Ralph Brown), who I halfway expected to yell "Nerds!", a la Revenge of the Nerds' Ogre, every time he was on screen.
There's the character literally referred to only as Pledge (Terry W. Farren) in the credits, because that's exactly what he is- a pledge to the frat in question- and his fairly devoted girlfriend, Janet (Sherry Willis-Burch), who, like the girl in the opening scene, is somewhat reserved, but will go there if you make a commitment of some kind. In this case, the Pledge does so, in the form of "pinning," aka giving her his pledge pin to wear- a big no-no in frat circles, which comes into play later on.
Finally, there's Radish (Joel S. Rice, also making his film debut), the film's wise-cracking nerdy type, who also knows a little too much about serial killers and is, naturally, a hardcore horror buff. Note his posters of Born to Kill, The Toolbox Murders, The Corpse Grinders and Murder is my Beat. If all that isn't on the nose enough for you, eagle-eyed viewers will also note his dog-eared copy of Helter Skelter lying around in his dorm room. (I had the same one, and I'm pretty sure I still do.)
The first half hour also features a host of psych-out scares, including one that I should probably note will serve as a bit of a trigger- no pun intended- by those affected by gun violence at school, in which a van rolls up and a bunch of masked gunmen proceed to open fire on the students, much to the horror of everyone. It turns out to be an elaborate prank by the frat guys, but that sort of thing would never fly in today's political climate, obviously. (I'm not sure it would have back then, either, actually, since, as Radish notes, the Kent State thing had already happened.)
Once nightfall comes, the pranks subside and give way to actual scares, as the killer begins to stalk his prey in earnest, knocking off all those we've come to get to know, one by one. Will anyone survive to finish their final exams? I'll just bet you can guess which one.
That said, in this rare case, it seems that the killer is- spoiler alert- legitimately taken out at the end, which is one trope the film does resist. You know, the whole, "he seems dead, but when the camera cuts to where he was after the final showdown ends, he's nowhere to be found" thing.
Although, since the camera never shows us that last shot, I suppose he still could be, but given what Courtney does to him, it seems unlikely, unless there's some supernatural angle we weren't aware of. But there's nothing to suggest that, so I'm going with legitimately dead, though he does provide the patented "one last scare" before Courtney goes all Tommy in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter on him.
Beyond that, we also have the creepy locale- much of the film was shot in an abandoned dormitory in North Carolina near Isothermal Community College, which was somewhat refurbished for use by the filmmakers. It certainly looks run-down and creepy in places, especially Courtney's first scene, and the location of the final showdown, which I believe are one and the same. Other scenes were filmed in the more stately-looking Limestone College, in South Carolina.
The whole thing was shot in a mere six weeks, and locals were often used as extras, as were members of the crew, including dolly grip Gene Poole (who also crops up in House of Death, aka Death Screams- read my review here) as the bearded lunchroom worker, producer Lon Kerr as a student, and, most prominently, dialogue coach Sam Killman (also in Return to Macon County) as the grumpy Sheriff, who hasn't got time for all these college shenanigans.
As for the rest of the cast, as tends to be the case with a lot of these films, none of them are particularly well known, and only a few of them did much after this film. Notably, Joel S. Rice went into producing, having executive produced over 90 made-for-TV films to date, as well as one series, Bounty Hunters, and a miniseries, Tut, starring Ben Kingsley, for the Spike network in 2015. He also crops up briefly in Carpenter's adaptation of Stephen King's Christine.
The sexy DeAnna Robbins probably fared the best of the bunch, acting-wise, cropping up on a fair amount of episodic TV, including turns on Eight is Enough, Hotel, Mr. Merlin and Silver Spoons. She also had prominent roles in several Waltons-based TV movies, and an extended supporting role in the daytime soap Santa Barbara, in which she appeared for 17 episodes.
Others worth a mention include Sherry Willis-Burch, who was also in the fun Killer Party (that's her on the top left in the pic), which I hope to review here eventually; and Timothy L. Raynor, who played the killer, also did the killer honors in the movie Drop Off, and crops up in the Sexplotation tribute Viva, episodes of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and My Name is Earl, and wrote, produced, directed and starred in several episodes of the TV series Neo Plasticity.
Meanwhile, Elijah Christopher Perry, who played the Coach, had a decent run of films that included roles in movies like Whiskey Mountain, Wise Blood, the underrated Carny (with Jodie Foster), The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia (based on the song of the same name), Dogs of Hell, Mutant, Marie, The Fix, Black Rainbow and another slasher favorite, A Day of Judgment. Beyond that, most of the actors only have a few, if any, credits to their name beyond this film.
Writer/director Jimmy Huston had a brief career that included writing the Billy Crystal/Gregory Hines buddy cop vehicle Running Scared, writing and directing the TV movie The Wharf Rat (with Lou Diamond Phillips and Judge Reinhold), and directing the movies Dark Sunday, Death Driver, Buckstone County Prison (aka Seabo) and the fun little genre flick, My Best Friend is a Vampire, which features a young Robert Sean Leonard (Dead Poets' Society, TV's House) and a solid genre cast that includes David Warner, Kathy Bates and Cheryl Pollak (Night Life, Pump Up the Volume).
All in all, Final Exam is nothing that ground-breaking. It doesn't have much in the way of gore- though it almost got an 'X'-rating, on account of that final scene with Courtney stabbing the killer, which had to be toned down somewhat, even though its virtually bloodless- and some of the scenes are clumsily shot, robbing the film of some of its suspense.
That said, several of the characters are endearing, notably Courtney and Radish, both longtime favorites of slasher movie aficionados, and the film is not without its hardcore fans, thanks to some memorable scenes- the ones in the gym are admittedly pretty cool- and some quotable dialogue, especially Radish's serial killer know-it-all spiels.
Indeed, Radish was an obvious source of inspiration for Randy in the Scream movies, and the series both name- drops the film and pays homage to a particular scene (the one in which the pledge is tied to the tree and tormented for giving up his pledge pin) in Scream 2, so writer Kevin Williamson is clearly a fan.
So, while the film hardly reinvents the wheel, it does have that lived-in 70's vibe- though released in 1981, it was actually shot in 1979- that I love in some Golden Age slasher films; as well as decent characterization that it doesn't mind taking its time with, and some good stalk-and-slash kills that should please non-discerning fans of the subgenre.
Though I would hardly rate it as one of the best slashers ever, it certainly has its fans, and, as I mentioned, I just loved it as a kid. While I wasn't as enthralled by it as much as an adult, it was still a fun watch, and I'd have to say that Rice, leading lady Bagdadi (who sadly never made another film) and bad girl Robbins (who has a memorable nude scene) made it worth another watch for me, personally.
By all means, check it out, if you like this sort of thing, and if you do dig it, that Blu-Ray commentary is well-worth a listen. 😉
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