FINAL EXAM is one of those sluggish and slow-moving slasher films of the early 1980s that fails sufficiently engage with the subject matter and as such becomes humdrum and below par. Apparently the writer and director decided to go and focus on characterisation over suspense, violence and death, but as the latter are the main things this genre is known for, that wasn't going to achieve much. The film has an annoyingly spoofy feel to it and the characters are pure walking cardboard, without a sympathetic focus among them. Too much time is spent early on with random pranks and misbehaviour so that when the kills finally start happening you just can't take them seriously. I had always intended to buy a physical copy of this movie but never got around to it, so I'm glad I managed to catch Code Red's copy on Amazon Prime instead of wasting my money on it.

This 1981 horror film stars Cecile Bagdadi, Joel Rice, Sherry Willis-Burch, DeAnna Robbins, John Fallon, Ralph Brown, Terry Farren and Timothy Raynor. This begins with a college couple getting murdered at a lake by a mysterious killer (Raynor). Soon, he heads to Lanier University during final exam week where he stalks a group of students, Courteney (Bagdadi), Radish (Rice), Janet (Burch), Lisa (Robbins), Mark (Fallon), Wildman (Brown) and Gary (Farren). One of the things about this film that bothers most people is that the killer & his intentions are anonymous, but I think it's creepier that way. It isn't a bad 80's slasher flick following in the footsteps of "Halloween" with a decent cast & eerie score. I recommend this if you enjoy horror/slasher flicks.

The film is basically boring. Half of the film is non-action filler that does nothing for the film. The kill scenes are not gory, nor are they original or interesting. Killer has no persona or screen presence: just a guy in an army jacket with a knife. Guess he is supposed to be like a Mike Myers, but w/o the mask or the scariness. Also there is no story or motivation behind the killings: he is just your generic killer.The only good thing about the film is that the annoying students you have to put up with for half of the stupid film finally get offed. Ending is not interesting and is abrupt. It is like a film student project almost. Don't waste your time.

Take every worn-out cliché about slasher films, scrap up some truly horrible looking and terrible acting "kids", and blatantly steal pivotal scenes from much better done flicks - put them all in a blender and you have "Final Exam". Seriously, the only thing scary about this film are the terrible 80's outfits and even worse hair. The killer is just a killer with no motive, no backstory, nothing! Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but this man has nothing remotely threatening about him. There is ZERO atmosphere, ZERO gore, and ZERO interesting characters. Special Effects do not exist in this film. These are the lamest bunch of kids that make even the most mundane slasher films' cardboard characters look intricate. This movie will try even the most hardcore 80's Slasher Fan's patience.