Back home

Final Exam

126 votes

In a small college in North Carolina, only a select few students are left to take mid terms. But, when a killer strikes, it could be everyone's final exam.

Status: Released

Released Date: 1981-06-05

Runtime: 90 mins

Director: Jimmy Huston

Writer: Jimmy Huston

Spoken language: English

Genres: Horror

Original title: Final Exam

Production Companies: Motion Picture Marketing (MPM), Peninsula Management Productions

Production Countries: United States of America

Cast

Cecile Bagdadi

Joel S. Rice

Ralph Brown

DeAnna Robbins

Sherry Willis-Burch

John fallon

Terry W. Farren

Timothy L. Raynor

Sam Kilman

Don Hepner

Mary Ellen Withers

Elijah Perry

Shannon Norfleet

Carol Capka

Reviews

Wuchak

***The first college campus slasher*** A select number of youths at a college campus in North Carolina prepare to take their finals, but a mysterious killer is loose on campus who wants it to be their final exam. “Final Exam” (1981) is the first slasher to take place at a college campus, not counting “Black Christmas” (1974), which focused on a sorority house. It beat two other campus slashers to the theater by a few months: “Night School” and “The Prowler.” The Euro-slasher “Pieces” debuted the next year. These flicks paved the way for college slashers of the future, such as the “Urban Legends” trilogy (1998, 2000 & 2005). Some people don’t like “Final Exam” because it focuses on mundane University drama for most of its first hour before the killer finally attacks. But I didn’t mind this as it helped you to get to know the characters, which consist of the usual types: the smart virginal girl, the nerd, the bully jock, the hot babe who knows it and uses it to her advantage, the dumb blonde who’s obsessed with love, the pathetic pledge and the born leader. Another criticism is that the killer doesn’t have a mask and is without personality or motivation. But the lack of disguise makes the movie more realistic since a cumbersome mask wouldn’t be practical for an effective killer. Also, if you pay attention, one of the themes of the picture is the psycho killer that appears out of nowhere and seemingly slays at random, like the real-life Texas Tower Sniper at the University of Texas in Austin on August 1, 1966. Last weekend there were two massacres in El Paso and Dayton. How do you prepare for such an attack and how do you improve your chances of survival and victory if there is one? “Final Exam” addresses such issues. “Final Exam” cost $374,000 in 1981 and therefore comes off as a TV movie, albeit with overt murders, some gore and a little nudity. The film runs 1 hour, 29 minutes, and was shot at Isothermal Community College, just south of Spindale, North Carolina. GRADE: B-

2019-08-05

Recommendations

1.8

Slashers Gone Wild!

2006-08-11

There is a contest. The prize is immortality. To win, all you have to do is kill! A demon with the p

3.8

Halloween

1978-10-24

Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween Night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a menta

3.4

The Devil's Rejects

2005-07-22

The murderous, backwoods Firefly family take to the road to escape the vengeful Sheriff Wydell, who

Nightwatch

1997-01-31

A law student takes a job as a night watchman at a morgue and begins to discover clues that implicat

3.1

Amsterdamned

1988-02-11

A mysterious diver hiding in Amsterdam's canal system embarks on a rampage of gruesome murders, terr

3.5

213 Bones

2025-08-24

In the Pacific Northwest of 1993, the sky is black, the night is wet, and the Grunge Monster stalks

Dernier Mandat

2.6

The Females

1970-12-22

A young woman joins an exclusive women's health clinic only to discover it's run by feminist canniba

3.3

Funny Games

2008-03-14

When Ann, husband George, and son Georgie arrive at their holiday home they are visited by a pair of

2.5

Prom Night

2008-04-10

Donna's senior prom is supposed to be the best night of her life, though a sadistic killer from her

2.7

Lady Frankenstein

1971-10-22

When Dr. Frankenstein is killed by a monster he created, his daughter and his lab assistant continue

2.5

Big Monster on Campus

1998-01-01

A student receives a serial killer's brain in a transplant after being thrown into a pool with no wa

Love Is a Stranger

1994-03-11

Scream Queens Illustrated's Christine Cavalier stars as a young woman who breaks away from her abusi

2.4

Playing with Dolls: Havoc

2017-07-12

When serial killer Havoc escapes from his prison, there is no holding back. He descends upon unsuspe

Axeman at Cutter's Creek 2

2023-09-05

When the town sheriff is murdered, Deputy Darlene Whitfield is suddenly in charge of finding the kil

1.8

That's a Wrap

2023-08-25

A film cast arrives at a wrap party, but someone has dressed up as the slasher in the movie and begi

3.4

Bad Samaritan

2018-04-19

A thief makes a disturbing discovery in the house where he breaks in. Later, when he returns to the

Blut für die Götter

1992-01-01

The author Stefan König has writer's block. This changes when he witnesses the murder of a prostitut

2.4

Night Time

1998-05-20

Thomas Krömer follows the traces of a brutal murder in werewolf-manner out of personal interest. Aft

Drops of Blood

2011-01-01

Anhology of surprises and a couple of curiosities made by the brothers Adrián and Ramiro García Bogl