Final Examination (2003)

Why so much hype?

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

This is a bland comedy (not what I would call a dark comedy) without any substantial jokes or gags as with others like it (such as the "Naked Gun" movies, which are miles above it). I have no idea why it is listed as "horror" (there is no horror whatsoever) or "thriller" (there are no thrills). Apparently, people do not care what a movie actually is before pretending to review it under the wrong genre.The first gag, to reveal the low level of humor in this charade, is the name of the police chief, "Hugh Janus" (Huge Anus).Another gag near the end is when it is implied that all of the brothers and sisters of Rachel Kincaid, a Caucasian, have had their revenge, then, at the last moment, a male who is obviously not Caucasian, yet is supposedly another brother of Rachel's that no one had known about, shows up to shoot the professor. A lame attempt at comedy, but slightly funnier than the "Huge Anus" joke.The only part we actually laughed at was the police woman routine where she and Shane Newman went into the empty apartment after a very strange entrance, which was so amusing, we had to watch it four times.The storyline involves a few sorority girls and their deaths with nearly everyone being a lunatic. The nature of the "failed" final examination left with each victim is not really that funny either, and falls flat.After the actual killer is shot (after the police woman is accidentally shot around the same time by the would-be victim as the killer is doing some sort of slapstick routine while the cop is being helped by the would-be victim - what a ridiculous scene), along come more killers out of the woodwork to avenge the girl who committed suicide or had her brake lines cut, or whatever was going on since it is too ambiguous to make any sense. Ridiculous, but ridiculous in all the wrong ways for an attempted parody.

Final Examination is billed as a horror/thriller but could be best described as a very poor crime drama. The film largely follows the perspective of a recently reprimanded detective (following a badly-filmed car chase that has little relevance to the movie, a recurring problem) transferred to Hawaii who stumbles into a murder spree. Had said detective been a comical half-wit instead of just a flat-out moron, there could have been room for entertainment. However, he basically plays out like any generic stock law enforcement/expert protagonist from a cheesy Syfy Original movie. And the movie, which exploits any number of horror tropes, suffers for centering on this character and his investigation.The other big problem with this movie is a lack of focus. It begins with what looks to be a suicide via an insane driving stunt, followed by something that looks like a drug deal which ends up turning into a car chase and is in turn followed by an office scene leading into the transfer. Basically it eats up a good ten minutes without really ever going into the plot. In fact, the whole suicide in the beginning (which any horror fan would assume to be a central plot point to the movie) isn't even addressed until quite a ways into the movie. Frankly, the film would've been better off WITHOUT the opening scene given how it was handled and it could have been worked into the a flashback (or, if the director was competent, he would have used it as one of the detective's former cases). Instead we're given an incredibly nebulous plot that keeps working in minor characters and returning to other minor supporting irrelevant characters as the movie goes on. This sort of amateur production is completely unacceptable for a director with a number of credits under his belt. And although the acting was pretty lousy, I blame it more on the script and direction than the cast themselves.A dismal soundtrack, terrible dialogue, a complete lack of focus, etc, all make Final Examination difficult to watch. The *only* upside in the entire movie might be a few nude scenes. Otherwise the film is basically bereft of any entertainment value.

Before watching "Final Examination" I thought it would be a porno movie; the cinematography and cast truly looked like were taken out from a porno. But when I saw Fred Olen Ray's name, I knew I was going to have a great time.This movie deals with a serial killer (is it?) that is after a group of hot ex-graduates. The first victim, the hot Amy Lindsay is murdered in a jacuzzi; then her other friends are killed in different ways. Even one of the boyfriends is killed.So it's up for two detectives and a forensic doctor to find who is behind the murders. By the way, one of the detectives is the always beautiful and sexy Kari Wuhrer who looks really pretty.Well this movie has the occasional sex scenes; not very steamy or great but still deliver. The hot tub sex scene, and some bedroom sex sequences are the highlight. But don't expect a straight soft core sex movie.Watch this for what it is : an entertaining but cheap b-movie with beautiful women and an easy to follow plot.Delivers expectations.

This movie was terrible. My friend works at a video store and decided on a whim to pick this up. He didn't know anything about the movie but he assured me that it was a horror/thriller. Well he was wrong and I will never let him live it down. I can't even talk about the plot because we stopped watching it 40 minutes in. It took about a half an hour for both of us to realize that this movie was soft core porn. I think the minute long shower scene in which the girl doesn't even use soap or shampoo gave it away. I can't really say anything more because I didn't watch the entire movie. 2/10