The Final
    Terror 

THE FINAL TERROR looks great. The credit, of course, goes to director Andrew Davis, who was also an acclaimed cinematographer and moonlit in those duties here under the pseudonym Andreas Davidescu. He went on to a number of high-profile action movies, such as THE FUGITIVE (1993)—but has repeatedly declared his lack of affinity for horror movies. An interesting aspect of the film—and one rarely seen in the subgenre—is its naturalistic, almost documentary-like approach, especially in its first third. Despite any attempt at characterisation, the cast actually largely feels like real people. The film also benefits from its unique-looking killer with a hooked blade attached to their arm, and who can unnervingly camouflage themselves to appear invisible amongst the foliage. It also features a tense scene where the killer attacks a bus full of teens at night. 

" ​Presumably buoyed by the mega success of THE AMITYVILLE HORROR and the feeding frenzy for horror in the wake of the runaway success of HALLOWEEN (1978), Arkoff was keen to get another slice of genre pie and hired producer Joe Roth (his then son-in-law) to make it happen."

However, where the film arguably stumbles is its structure. It is clearly both trying to ape slasher movies (primarily FRIDAY THE 13TH), but is also seemingly kicking against the formula. Unlike many other slasher movies that followed Sean S. Cunningham’s mega hit, THE FINAL TERROR deviates from the tropes some other films copied in a number of ways. Most obviously is the fact that the film features relatively few deaths (not withstanding the tacked-on opening scene added after principal photography was completed), and the first murder does not occur until well after the 30-minute mark. The original cut was deemed too slow for a teenage audience (its self-declared market) and necessitated a re-cut two years after it had been shot to try and inject some tension (more of which later). Also, it is one of the few slasher films from the period where the majority of the characters survive, and it is a group rather than a Final Girl (or Boy) left to fight to the death with the killer. The reason for this, perhaps, is that the accepted formula for the subgenre had not been formalised when this was being scripted and filmed. It seems that the project was in its embryonic stages even before the release of FRIDAY THE 13TH in June 1980, and it appears it was shot in the Fall of the same year, but not completed until later, which perhaps gives rise to the erroneous production date of Fall 1981.

The origins of THE FINAL TERROR are a little hazy, to say the least. However, the driving force was legendary producer Samuel Z. Arkoff (who financed the project and executively produced it). Arkoff was the co-founder of AIP (American International Pictures), who had produced a number of horror hits with everything from I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF (1957), BLACULA (1972) to his biggest hit THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (1979). However, Arkoff resigned from AIP in 1979 after it was sold to Filmways, which made their own slasher movie, THE BURNING (1981). He had received a settlement of $1.4 million, which he used to set up his own production company, Arkoff International Pictures, and partially bankroll this project. Presumably buoyed by the mega success of THE AMITYVILLE HORROR and the feeding frenzy for horror in the wake of the runaway success of HALLOWEEN (1978), Arkoff was keen to get another slice of genre pie and hired producer Joe Roth (his then son-in-law) to make it happen. 

" ​ The Fall 1980 principal photography timescale (as opposed to the widely reported Fall 1981 one) is borne out primarily by the dates shown on one of the clapper boards, clearly showing 1980 as the year of production."

The working and shooting title for the movie was BUMP IN THE NIGHT (as seen on clapper boards in production photos). The project has three listed writers. The original story credit goes to Neill D. Hicks and Jon George (the pair had previously written the Australian supernatural thriller HARLEQUIN (1980)). The other credited writer is Ronald Shusett, who was riding high on the success of ALIEN (1979) and who had already scripted the slasher adjacent thriller PHOBIA (1980). The presence of three writers perhaps suggests that the script was reworked a number of times, and it appears that an earlier draft concerned a group of rich kids getting into trouble in the woods.
 
Although shot in Northern California on the border with Oregon (amongst the distinctive Redwoods), the broad country accents of both Eggar and Zorich suggest a location elsewhere. According to director Davis, he was scouting locations deeper into Oregon and near Mount St. Helens in Washington State around the time of its infamous eruption—which would put it at no later than May 1980. Although not confirmed, it seems likely that the eruption would have forced a change in location. The Hollywood Reporter noted, in October 1980, that “cover model” Cindy Harrell had been cast in the film —and, at the time, she would have been the most recognisable face in the cast. 

The Fall 1980 principal photography timescale (as opposed to the widely reported Fall 1981 one) is borne out primarily by the dates shown on one of the clapper boards, clearly showing 1980 as the year of production. Also, by the schedule of Rachel Ward (who here gives another wonderfully bad performance). Apparently, Ward, who was at the time also an increasingly sought-after fashion model, was cast initially in THE FINAL TERROR in 1980, but made NIGHT SCHOOL first (perhaps because of any delays caused by the change of location due to the eruption of Mount St. Helens). In 1982, after her success in the Burt Reynolds thriller SHARKY’S MACHINE, Ward recollected in press interviews that she made the two horror films before taking acting classes and notes she returned to her native England for Christmas 1980 after thinking she had flunked her audition for the Reynolds film. However, much to her surprise, she got the part of the mysterious Dominoe that would start her ascent to super stardom in the 1980s. SHARKY’S MACHINE was shot in March 1981. Another visual clue that THE FINAL TERROR wasn’t shot in late 1981 comes from Daryl Hannah’s braided hairdo that was popularised by Bo Derek in the film 10 (1979)—and was unlikely to have been still popular. 

" ​ ​ This original—and potentially more explicit—cut has never been seen."

At some point, the production changed its name to THREE BLIND MICE (the nursery rhyme that the cast sings in an unlikely turn of events on the way to the woods). Arkoff showed a ‘production reel’ at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1981 to attract buyers and probably fund post-production. Although not entirely clear, it looks like work ceased probably because of a lack of interest from distributors due to a saturated market for low-medium budget slasher movies. Money was found over a year later, and post-production was completed in July 1982, and the title changed once again to THE FOREST PRIMEVIL. It was probably around this time that the extra sequence of the young biker couple being killed in the prologue was added without any involvement from Andrew Davis. Perhaps understandably, those involved were concerned that there were so few murders in a film that was struggling to stand out in the marketplace. However, the sequence glaringly does not match the rest of the film. The location looks completely different (it was shot in woods just outside LA), and there is an obvious mismatch between the stuntwoman on the bike (who has longer, darker hair) and actress Lori Butler (who sounds dubbed). Even more ludicrous is the scene where she presumably meets her fate in a lethargic booby trap that would have struggled to give a graze let alone a certain death—made worse by the fact that they recycle a static shot of Butler screaming from footage shown just 15 seconds earlier. Strangely, a TV version of the movie contains a more graphic murder scene, where the woman is lying on the ground being stabbed repeatedly by the killer. This version also has a scene where the two are seen on the beach and getting ready to go on their motorcycle. Check out Movie-Censorship.com for more details.

Sam Arkoff brought in Allan Holzman as executive in charge of post-production to dust off and rescue the picture by recutting it. Holzman had worked for Roger Corman on FORBIDDEN WORLD (1982) and had a reputation for saving movies that were perhaps otherwise deemed unreleasable. He recognised it was a horror movie, but without a lot of kills—hence the addition of the opening sequence to try and make it fit better with other post-FRIDAY THE 13TH slashers. He noted that the film played too slow and amped up the tension by cutting between characters. Paradoxically, he also cut shots showing what they termed as the ‘monster’ early in the film to create a sense of mystery and cut what he termed excessive torture scenes. This original—and potentially more explicit—cut has never been seen. Holzman met his future wife on the re-edit after she was hired to provide the haunting electronic score. Composer Gary Scott had been hired in 1981 to score the movie, but it is unclear if that ever happened before the production was mothballed. Scott had made his debut that year with FINAL EXAM. 

" ​ ​ ​ In a final twist, in 1985, distributors Aquarius Releasing threatened to destroy all the prints they held of the movie over some unspecified legal dispute."

Surprisingly, given that both Ward and Hannah had been in hit films (SHARKY’S MACHINE and BLADE RUNNER respectively), it still struggled to secure domestic distribution in late 1982. Once again, it was retitled and sold for theatrical distribution in the UK in September 1982 under the title CAMPSITE MASSACRE (where it usually played second fiddle on double bills, most notoriously with a female mud-wrestling documentary HELLCAT MUD WRESTLERS). However, the video in the UK was released under its better-known title in 1986 (albeit with almost 30 seconds of cuts). Arkoff tried to put a brave face on it and claimed that the delay was not because of the saturated market for slasher movies nor that it had perhaps been misjudged, but because he was waiting for the right time to release it to capitalise on the new box office clout of some of the cast. Settling on the largely nonsensical final title THE FINAL TERROR, the film secured a regional rollout distribution deal through Comworld Pictures from October 1983. Incidentally, Comworld’s president Charles Sellier went on to direct the Santa slasher SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT (1984) soon after.
 
THE FINAL TERROR was mostly promoted with a poster showing an illustration of some of the cast running from some unseen threat. It seemed designed to disguise the fact that it was a slasher movie at all—and the new title was particularly ludicrous given what the movie’s threat turns out to be. The fact that the title is shaped like a light shining from above (suggesting a UFO tractor beam) perhaps hints that Comcast were thinking that a sci-fi horror film might be more appealing to audiences in late 1983. Even the trailer for the Comcast release teased an “unknown force alien to this world”, which was, presumably, designed to play up the writer’s connection to the film ALIEN. Conversely, a release through 1984 (this time through Aquarius Releasing) actively promoted the movie’s slasher movie credentials, with advertising showing a hand grasping a knife with a tent in the background (although the tagline, which partially says “He has found you”, suggests whoever came up with the advertising campaign hadn’t actually watched the movie). It seems that the film was given a further push in 1984 to further capitalise on Ward and Hannah’s continued ascent. Although a full-page advert in Variety amusingly attributes the wrong names to each respective actress.