El terror final

The problem with The Final Terror is that the characters are too smart and the writers aren't smart enough. When danger descends upon their large group, they decide not to split up, but to stick it out together in case the killer tries something again. It leaves the finale without much tension since you never really feel like anyone's in danger. The music score is great and the forest atmosphere is haunting at times, but it can't help much when the film lacks suspense and danger.

2020, found this movie on Tubi, along with Grizzly, The Crazies (Code name Trixie), Without Warning (retitled The Warning) and Madman. I remember watching this. Scared me when I was a teen. 80's was the era of great slashers. One scene freaked me out. Surprised me to learn Joe Pantolino (Goonies, The Matrix, Sopranos and Bad Boys trilogy) stared in it. As well as Daryl Hannah (Kill Bill 1 & 2, Splash, Roxanne and Blade Runner) Very rare to find a movie that uses natural lighting instead of artificial lighting to capture details. Makes the scenes scarier. Watching the film as I'm watching this. Check it out.

Young forest rangers and their lady friends take a trip into the wilderness and are terrorized by a woodsy maniac.

Yet another slasher in the wake of Friday the 13th (1980), this one being OK as it tries to be a little different from the rest of its kind. This film tries to focus a little more on mood and suspense, rather than on gore and sex, although it does have it's share of that too. With the help of a decent cast, featuring some latter-day stars like Hannah and Ward, The Final Terror manages to be an entertaining enough effort. There's a few shocks, a good rock music score, and a creepy villain that also help carry the movie.

It's a far cry from the superior likes of Just Before Dawn (1981), but it certainly beats the lesser efforts of movies like Don't Go in the Woods (1981) or The Prey (1984).

** 1/2 out of ****

(**1/2 out of *****)

Produced by Samuel Arkoff, this is one of those low-budget (albeit tolerably directed) jobs with several different titles ("The Campsite Murders" and "Forest Primeval" to name a couple) and two or three different release dates between 1980 and 1985 (I split the difference and went with ‘83, although the original release date is most likely ‘81, for those who care.) It's of interest mainly for featuring Darryl Hannah and Rachel Ward (not to mention Joe Pantoliano, from "Memento" and "The Sopranos") in early roles. The gals play the girlfriends of forest rangers out on a work detail in the woods who run across an unseen, homicidal maniac. There's a refreshingly low body count, but, given the number of potential victims who have little else to do but run around and whine, maybe the cast should have been reduced by two or three actors. Other than a couple of minor shocks here and there, there's also a lack of action and suspense. Come to think of it -- no gratuitous nudity, no excessive violence -- who exactly was this movie made for? The last third, with the survivors paddling down river in a big raft, starts to resemble a tame "Deliverance" (as well as other forest/slasher movies too numerous to name). There are pretty good killer-in-the-woods flicks ("Just Before Dawn") and there are really bad killer-in-the-woods flicks ("Berserker"), and this one sits somewhere just south of the border. Davis went on to direct big-budget action movies (including "Under Siege" and Harrison Ford's "The Fugitive").

HIGHLIGHT: I'm being generous to go with a highlight for this one, but I kinda liked the part where the killer was hit with a giant, swinging log studded with sharp spikes. It reminded me of a Road Runner cartoon.

Terrifying and unsettling movie plenty of thrills , chills , lush outdoors and passable acting. In the opening scene, a young couple loses control of their motorbike and fall to the ground when they hit a fallen tree laying on the track through a forest where they are riding. The guy, Jim, is badly hurt, and the girl, Lori, runs to find some help. She runs back to Jimmy where she finds him hanging upside down from a tree, terrified she runs back to a cabin . Then a group of rangers go camping on unfamiliar forest grounds. All's well until the group members start getting killed by a cunning killer in the woods. But there's some sinister in the woods. They suddenly become desperate when occurs a chain of nightmarish events . He has found you. Screaming won't help anymore. It's too late...Can anyone survive?. Without knowing they have awakened an unknown force. If you go down to the woods today you're sure of... The final terror. Daryl Hannah and Rachel Ward - Trapped In A Web Of Madness And Terror!. Don't See It Alone. A ghoulish tale of murder and the macabre from the creator of Alien. Without knowing they have awakened an unknown force. Can anyone survive?. He Has Found You. Without knowing they have awakened an unknown force!.If you go down to the woods today you're sure of...

The film displays thrills , chills , cardboard horror , tension and lots of blood and gory scenes for nauseating execution. The concept of the movie is plain and simple, the typical series murderer who proceeds an astonishing massacre. Scary and eerie with abundant gore, including nice make-up and adequate special effects. As always, a series killer makes an authentic slaughter with gruesome and bloody assassinations using some forest traps and other murderous instruments . After successes as John Carpenter's Halloween and Sean S. Cunningham's Friday the 13th expanded a lot of rip-offs or imitations and one of the best ones resulted to be this ¨The burning (1981)¨, following this ¨Final terror¨. The Final Terror is notable for the presence of some soon-to-be stars appearing some familiar and young faces as who subsequently to be continued decent cinematic careers: Daryl Hannah, Rachel Ward, Joe Pantoliano, Lewis Smith, Adrian Zmed, John Friedrich, Mark Metcalf . To minimize costs, the production wasn't insured and the actors did their own stunts , for instance, some actors actually climbed the hills risked landscapes in order to save costs . Apart from a couple of minutes of mayhem at the beginning and end, the nearest of the film gets to dealing with the deranged slasher plot is to have it told, midway, as a camp-fire spook story. Undermining genre expectations, director Davis reveals an affectionate respect for the woods and likes his roles enough not to line them up as Slaher Victims. Surprisingly, the women aren't on board to be decorative nude figures , nor simple rape victims. ¨Deliverance¨ is the inspiration, but finally this film rafted down a different stream.

The motion picture was professionally directed by Andrew Davis, but nothing special, he's a filmmaker with a reputation for directing intelligent thrillers. Director Davis provides this film with great plot strength since he himself is an expert in physics and engineering. He has made good and boxoffice films, such as ¨Above the law¨, ¨The final terror¨ , ¨Chain reaction¨ , ¨Collateral damage¨ , ¨The Package¨ and Davis went on to direct 1992's top grossing picture, ¨Under siege¨ (1992), for Warner Brothers, a classic action film teaming Steven Seagal with Tommy Lee Jones. Being his greatest hit ¨The fugitive¨, this film received seven Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and earned Tommy Lee Jones a Best Supporting Actor award. Andrew Davis frequently casts 'Ron Dean', Chelcie Ross, Joseph F. Kosala, Joe Pantoliano and his father 'Nathan Davis' . He often directs in his city : Chicago. Rating The Final Terror(1983): 5.5/10. Passable and acceptable but inferior than other Andrew Davis films.