Runtime: 90 minutes
Directed by: Jimmy Huston
Starring: Cecile Bagdadi, Joel S. Rice, Ralph Brown, DeAnna Robbins, Sherry Willis-Burch
From: Motion Picture Marketing/Peninsula Management Productions
It wasn't the plan to see several 1981 horror movies as of late, but... this time, it just happened that one of the Shudder streaming channels was playing this film so that's the direction I went. It actually reminded me of 1982's Death Screams, which was also filmed in North/South Carolina. Both spend plenty of time w/ its young college characters so there can be LONG stretches between deaths yet I was at least entertained by those stereotypes & their wacky behavior. It would make for a great double bill for those that can get in the groove and not be upset by its milieu.
The film is not more complicated than “an anonymous killer arrives on a college campus to pick off the last students there finishing their final exams.” and most of those chaps fit archetypes: an introverted girl (who happened to remind me of a young Carrie Fisher), the jocks at a frat who might as well have been part of the Alpha Beta fraternity, a pledge wishing to join said frat, a girl clandestine dating her chemistry professor, etc. The highlight for me was the awkward nerd only known as RADISH. That character was not only hysterical, allegedly he was one of the inspirations for Randy in Scream. Even if that is not true, it paints a picture of his personality.
Final Exam is more concerned with our stereotypical leads so it's some time before the killing begins. Thankfully, like with Death Screams, I was amused by the people on screen and how they interacted with each other. The campus security guard, the coach, the sheriff... even the older men brought delight. The hulking brute villain is in the periphery during the first half; once the deaths ramp up, those aren't gory in the least. This does not mean that there weren't chilling moments or that the kills were lame. A knife is used and there is one creative death in a gym. This does subvert expectations in some ways... but no, not in The Last Jedi sort of subverting.
There are some wacky moments that are done for gags or chills that don't make 100% complete sense and the villain is of the Michael Myers variety; while at least some horror fans will scoff at Final Exam, those that were intrigued by my description may get something from it. For certain, this has a moment about 15 minutes in which hits differently in '23 and definitely would NOT be shown in a modern movie.
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