Preceded by: Friday the 13th Part 3; Proceeded by: Friday the 13th: A New Beginning

Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter was one of the best Jason films of the original films according to cridicts. Although it was titled the "Final Chapter", it was actually followed by seven more films.

Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

Plot

After Chris' confrontation with Jason in the barn at Higgins Haven, Jason's presumably dead body is taken to the Wessex County morgue. Jason escapes, kills an attendant and a nurse and makes his way back to Crystal Lake.

Friends Paul, Jimmy, Ted, Doug, Samantha and Sara are on their way to a lakeside house they've rented. On the way they pass a hitchhiker, who is soon killed by Jason. Next to the rental house lives Mrs. Jarvis, her teenaged daughter Trish, and her twelve year-old son Tommy. Trish and Tommy meet the renters, and run into them the next day skinny-dipping at Crystal Point with local twins Tina and Terri. When the Jarvis' car breaks down, Trish and Tommy are helped by Rob, a passing camper.

That night there is a drunken party at the rental house. When her boyfriend Paul starts dancing with Tina, Samantha goes for a swim - and is killed. Paul has second thoughts and goes out looking for her. Terri goes after Jimmy, and Jason kills Paul. While Tina is sleeping with Jimmy, Terri leaves for home and is killed. When Mrs. Jarvis returns home after jogging, she finds the house empty. The lights go out, and when she goes outside to look for the kids she is killed. Trish and Tommy come home and Trish goes to look for her mother but only finds Rob in his tent.

At the rental house, Tina goes to freshen up while Jimmy heads downstairs to gloat to Ted. But when he goes into the kitchen to find the corkscrew... Jason hands it to him. Tina is soon thrown out the window and Ted is stabbed while Rob tells Trish about his sister Sandra, who Jason killed (in Part 2). Doug is killed in the shower, as is Sara when she tries to escape after discovering the body. Returning to the Jarvis house, Trish and Rob try to call the police, but the line is dead. They go next door where Rob goes into the basement - and is killed by Jason. Trish escapes back to her house, where she and Tommy prepare to face Jason. . .

In the end, Jason is distracted by Tommy and Trish knocks his hockey mask off. Tommy hits him in the head with his own machete and, seeing that he's still alive, hacks away at him repeatedly with his machete, finally killing Jason Voorhees.

Trivia

• This is the first of three films to feature Tommy Jarvis, the first of two to put him against the real Jason Voorhees, and the first of three to feature Jason's death.
• Though the ending of this film (as well as the next) gives the impression that Tommy might become the next killer after Jason, he never does, instead being the one to fight the next killer (Roy Burns) and Jason himself once he returns.
• This is the first time Jason's face has been shown to be demon-like.