Final Exam

8/5/2019

***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