Just Watched: The Final Terror (1983)

There's definitely some nice scenery

In the early 80's there was no shortage of slashers happening during camping trips or at camps themselves. Some of the most popular were the Friday the 13th series, The Burning and Sleepaway Camp. There were, however, several other less popular releases such as The Final Terror, a.k.a Carnivore. Does it deserve a place among the best or is it better off forgotten??

The Final Terror tells the story of a bunch of forest rangers and some female friends who end up camping in the wrong area and are terrorized by a killer decked out in forest camouflage. The cast included some rising stars such as Rachel Ward and Daryl Hannah.

Can't tell what's going on?? Exactly!!

This movie was shelved for a couple of years before it was released to take advantage of those rising stars, and it shows. Despite some interesting ideas this isn't a very good film. All the characters do throughout the film is fight with each other, and it gets old really fast. Really the highlight of the movie is probably the scenery itself: tall trees, rivers, some deer, it's all beautiful and adds at least something to the movie.

Much of the movie, even during the day scenes, is far too dark, making it difficult to see what's happening. Scene after scene like this sucks the fun out of it very quickly. Regardless of lighting The Final Terror is boring and uninspired, has no atmosphere, a low body count, very little violence and no nudity, usually sub-genre staples. Apparently they had difficulty picking a title for the film, which isn't a surprise since most of what's here is a few good ideas sloppily thrown together without a clear vision of what they wanted. The killer itself was an interesting idea, but barely appears in the film at all.

You'll see some familiar faces

Availability: While you can find it under either title on DVD they are very difficult to find and has a poor transfer, however, Scream Factory is releasing it on DVD/Blu-ray combo July 1st. It's an odd choice for them, but it should really help with the dark scenes for fans of the movie.

Unless you are a slasher completionist or wanna see some of these actors in an earlier role there really isn't a reason to watch The Final Terror. It's boring, the characters are annoying, there's not many kills, and it really offers nothing that hasn't been done better elsewhere other than an interesting killer that barely gets any screen time at all.

Feel free to comment on the movie and/or blog. Any constructive criticism or positive feedback is always welcome.