The Final Terror (1983) - Blu-ray Review

Details: By Loron Hays; 05 July 2014

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The Final Terror - Blu-ray Review

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A fun-filled weekend for some park rangers and their girlfriends turns deadly when they find themselves on the wrong side of a killer’s blade in The Final Terror. Long out of print and available only in the dingiest of VHS rental dives after a super quick theatrical release, this B-movie slasher gem gets new life thanks to Scream Factory, the horror genre arm of Shout Factory!, and its Summer of Horror campaign. And, oh, how thankful we are. This is an above average slasher flick that deserves to be rediscovered by a whole new legion of fans chomping at the bit for some seriously solid thrills.

Directed by Andrew Davis (The Fugitive, Holes), the film is remarkably intense for its low budget. It was filmed in the Redwood forests of California and the dense location provides for some seriously epic scenery and tension as abandoned shacks are found, traps are set off, and teens are killed. Starring Rachel Ward, Daryl Hannah, Adrian Zmed, Mark Metcalf, Joe Pantoliano, and Buckaroo Banzai’s Lewis Smith, the slasher flick owes its continued life to their rising stars.

Originally filmed in 1981, it was a project that was long in search for a distributer and only finally secured one due to the naked freshness of a certain member of its cast. Sure you could argue that Ward, Zmed, and Pantoliano (who is awesome here) were on the rise, too. But imagine the surprise a producer would have when he realized – in 1983 – that he has Daryl Hannah on the shelf somewhere. Splash anyone? Guess who is not going to sit on those reels for very much longer? That’s exactly what happened. Add some kills to make it fresh for the teenagers and release that film!

This Friday the 13th meets Deliverance isn’t entirely unique but the script is well-acted with believable dialogue and the entire feature is expertly shot. There are several unique sequences that show some real ingenuity at the helm of this production in spite of screenplay that isn’t as fully realized as it could have been. Locations are properly utilized – at the beginning of the excursion the forest looks inviting but by the end it is slimy and anything but welcoming - and the camera is an engaged part of the slasher experience. Several times, in the years before the Steadicam, the camera gives us solid POV shots that are fresh and inspired and may leave you asking exactly how that shot was captured in the first place.

The gore – in spite of an opening reshot to make it bloodier for the kill-hungry teenager of 1983 - is more off-screen and creates a sort of Hitchcockian effect in the mind’s eye. Less seems to be more. This is most true when a deranged woman’s shack is found and inspected by the Park Rangers who are not quite aware of the danger they are facing. Turn the creep factor up to nine. The Final Terror might have you wincing and flinching as personal objects and random jars are inspected for their contents.

With more atmosphere and suspense then the average drive-in flick, The Final Terror is a forgotten gem of horror genre granted new life with this Blu-ray/DVD Combo from Scream Factory.

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MPAA Rating: R.
Runtime: 82 mins
Director: Andrew Davis
Writer: Jon George, Neill D. Hicks
Cast: John Friedrich, Adrian Zmed, Ernest Harden Jr.
Genre: Horror
Tagline: If you go down to the woods today you're sure of...
Memorable Movie Quote: "If you people want to survive, you better start looking and thinking like the forest."
Distributor: Comworld Pictures
Official Site:
Release Date: May 1, 1983
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: July 1, 2014
Synopsis: A group of forest rangers go camping in the woods, and trespass into an area where a backwoods mama likes to kill people who come onto her turf.

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The Final Terror - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - July 1, 2014
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD); DVD copy
Region Encoding: A

The last time I saw this film it was on a ratty VHS that had been wrinkled and warped and made everything look like a gooey blob. The new Blu-ray of The Final Terror is not the same film I recalled from my youth. The excellent 1080p transfer is a revelation despite the introduction apologizing for the transfer being a composite from six different prints – occasional discoloration actually adds to the rugged nature of the film. The film’s cinematography comes alive, with director and cinematographer Andrew Davis’s eye for the moody lighting and atmospheric tones of the forest much more readily apparent. Blacks are solid. Colors are a bit murky with blues and greens being primary. The lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono mix does the mandatory job. Scream Factory’s release is a perfect example of what an upgrade can do for a film.

Supplements:

Commentary:

None

Special Features:

Once again, Scream Factory does not disappoint. Post-production supervisor Allan Holzman, appears in an interview on the disc talking about the changes he made to the film after it had been sitting on the shelf for a few years. He also talks about being under the Roger Corman school of filmmaking. Composer Susan Justin also appears in the interview talking about her work, and her score is certainly a large component of the film’s success as well. There also a couple of news interviews with Zmed and Smith, both of whom discuss their overall careers as well as making this film. The disc also includes the original trailer and a still gallery.