Sorry folks, not much terror here... "The Final Terror" is an interesting but eventually unsatisfying backwoods slasher that shows way too much mercy for the victims of the forestry killer and hence deeply disappoints the horror fans that were hoping to see some nasty violence and delightful 80's sleaze. This film was clearly inspired by the immense success of "Friday the 13th" and similar teenkill-movies, yet it almost ends up being an homage to "Deliverance" because of director Andrew Davis' exaggerated respect for the wildlife setting. Thank God the killer's identity is revealed (or is it?) during the atmospheric telling of a campfire-story, otherwise we'd had no clue what bizarre character, covered in a garment of weeds and moss, is hunting down eight twenty-something hikers in the dark woods near an old asylum. There's some cheesy mayhem to enjoy during the opening minutes, when a young couple gets inventively killed off screen, but the rest of the film is completely undermining all slasher-expectations. A lot of people mention the talented cast members as this film's biggest trump, but they're not worth the praise they're getting neither. Daryl Hannah hardly says a word throughout the whole movie and the acting skills of Joe Pantoliano are dreadfully underused. Don't bother...
Review of The Final Terror
