Here we go again. Jason the mad slasher squares off against another pack of young smartasses who won’t live to see parachute pants go out of style. To its credit, this fourth part of the series throws some curveballs at us. For example, the first three made it obvious almost right away who would be the film’s Jamie Lee Curtis-style survivor. THIS movie, on the other hand, gets a touch unpredictable on that matter and it gives us a little kid (a 12 year old Corey Feldman, already looking crazy). Let’s also mention the backpacker guy who’s on the hunt for Jason to avenge his sister from one of the previous movies. All of that plus Crispin Glover and Lawrence Monoson (who was one of the great 80s teen movie sad sacks in The Last American Virgin) in early roles help make this a standout of the series. Tom Savini is back on gore effects and the director is Joseph Zito, who previously made one of the movies’ great blood-drenched college graduations in The Prowler.
They intended this to be the conclusion of the series, but Jason still packed the theaters so much—this film earned over eighteen times its small budget—that the producers had to lie to us and keep it going. People of my generation haven’t trusted the movies ever since.