It's finals week at Lanier College. Most of the students are studying while the Gama Delta fraternity are planning their latest prank. Several frat members unload from a van clad in ski masks and stage a campus shooting. Everyone is horrified at first until they discover the elaborate jest. Everything seems alright. However, unknown to the students, they are being stalked by a mysterious man.
So lets talk about this killer, shall we? This guy want's to be Michael Myers so bad but apparently he left his mask at home. He quietly walks around at a slow pace with a kitchen knife. He has the same emotionless way that he carries himself. He can grab an arrow thats being shot at him right out of the air. The guy even survives a fall that appears to be from several stories. But who the hell is this guy even? He just sort of shows up and starts killing people. Maybe he really is Michael Myers and he really did just leave his mask at home. The film offers absolutely no explanation for this guy so I guess go ahead and use your imagination. He fits the profile.
Final Exam takes a lot of cues from Halloween actually. It is rather goreless but still has a way of making it's killings seem brutal and it's score during the final chase is a pretty obvious rip off. It's biggest and probably best Halloween influenced element is it's characters. Final Exam spends most of it's run time establishing these characters so we can get to know them before they all get cut down. The cast is all pretty cliche. We have the nerd, the jock, the frat leader, the pledge, and your typical final girl among others. Despite being your typical college movie stereotypes, all these characters manage to stand out. The nerd is actually quite likeable, the jock is one of the jockiest jocks in recent memory, and our final girl has a slight love story developing with the nerd. It's all good fun and games until the bodies start to pile up.
It's got good characters and a great atmosphere. Utilizing several techniques that Carpenter did in Halloween helps. Still, there's no denying the genuine tension and suspense during key scenes. The final chase sequence is probably the best I've seen all month. It makes good use of it's environments which are actually pretty unique to the genre. It's not perfect(some gore definitely would have helped.), but if you're looking for a slasher film you wouldn't go wrong by selecting Final Exam. It has several entertaining moments but ultimately fails to really do anything to separate itself from those that preceded it.
Side Note:Apparently this is referenced in Scream 2 alongside other college slashers I mentioned above. Also mentioned is Graduation Day. But thats a High School slasher.
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