Any film fan knows that throughout the late seventies and eighties, the slasher craze set forth to overtake governments and ransack young minds. During this time, slasher films flooded the film pool - blood, tits, and gore was the order of the day, starting a trend that would burn like a beacon for six years, before slowly fizzing out to burnt embers.

In this period, a number of lesser known slasher films escaped through the sewers of celluloid. Whether by shoddy distribution or marketing campaigns, films like 'The Burning', 'Just Before Dawn', and 'The Final Terror ' slipped through the cracks.

'The Final Terror' stands alone in the sub-genre - not because it strays away from clichéd formulas, but because of the number of survivors at the end of the film. Usually, we have a group of young people being stalked by some unknown specter, stealthy and brutal. We usually have one surviving heroine at the end, who defeats the proverbial monster by will and grit. 'The 'Final Terror' isn't much different than a lot of cookie cutter slasher movies, except for the fact that there at least five survivors at the end.

Our moss covered killer manages to snuff at least two of our group of forest rangers while doing the nasty. Upon finally realizing they're being stalked and slashed, the remaining (rather large) crew ban together taking things into their own hands. They do exactly as they should - being logical and examining other possible scenarios. They don't split up and get hammered one by one while one goes for help and the other 'stays put'.

While being somewhat cheesy - the way the survivors paint up their faces and use twigs and leaves as camouflage, is kind of comical, but, in all reality, was the smart thing to do.
It almost turns into some minimalist army film - an ex Viet Nam squad leader ushering commands to our surviving troops. Zorich is a no holds barred woodsman. He's right at home in the woods - communing with nature and ingesting forest primeval amongst wild psychedelic mushrooms and marijuana.

Again, spawning from Friday the 13th, we have a film about a boy with a mother complex. Egger is a disgruntled bus driver taking a load of forest rangers into the woods. From the get-go, Egger has problems. He's edgy and grumpy, and tries to sway Mark from allowing their trip into the woods, (which by all means was a chance for him to get some free time in the woods with his girl.) Nothing that's deserving of the fates they got.

Shift: Fade from white ....

Anyway, this post isn't a base for a review, but for one of the actors in the film. It's pretty much well known what happened to the rest of the actors, but what ever happened to John Friedrich? (Zorich)

Playing the army minded woodsman in 'The Final Terror', Friedrich also had some other memorable roles in such films as 'The Boy in the Plastic Bubble', and 'Joey' from the adapted cinematic 'masterpiece', 'The Wanderers'.

'The Final Terror' is Johns last noted movie/tv appearance. After this, he simply just seems to disappear. There's been rumors of Friedrich becoming a surgeon. There's talk of him becoming co-star Ken Wahl's live-in gardener. There's rumors of Friedrich dying of AIDS - A young star having so much going for him, then, capooey! But does this constitute a basis for AIDS?

My wife also thinks the AIDS theory is the most logical, which, in terms, actually is. But, I'd like to think positive and go with the doctor theory. Hell, even the gardener theory is better than an AIDS related death.

Stepping back into the world of 'The Final Terror' for a second; John Friedrich portrayed a man with some hidden issues. A marijuana dependent being, who definitely carried some baggage home with him from the jungles of Viet Nam. He's a loner - sitting alone in the back of the bus while the rest of the crew makes asses of themselves up front singing a cheesy rendition of 'Three Blind Mice' - which incidently was an alternate title for 'The Final Terror'

He taunts the bus driver in a confrontational spat on the way to their destination - giving prelude that Egger comes from an old mental institution by making him the brunt of a joke in front of everyone. Deservedly so, leaning on the opening sequence of the movie. He's a take charge kind of guy, and gave a lot of presence to the film. He holds no qualms on demeaning women , and saying what's on his usually ill tempered mind.

The rest of the crew in the film are fodder. In a nutshell, 'The Final Terror' is a good, if not depressing film that will leave you in a 'certain' mood for the rest of the day. Zorich's untimely death is kind of funny, considering his army background and his knowledge of homemade booby traps. A simple push from a large log and he breaks his neck. Not a very glorious death, but the film itself isn't very glorious either. More of a gritty outlook on survival, doused with the ever so evident truth of death and how it can weave itself among us through people and places we take for granted.

Now, I'm through with 'The Final Terror' for a second, although, future posts on the subject are merely incidental. So, again, what happened to that John Friedrich?