Exploring Final Exam - The Most Pure Horror Exploitation Film 

"They cut the stabbing down from 18, to 12, and that was enough to secure an R rating" THIS is why I have no respect for censors.

I could watch behind the scenes docs of VCR 80's movies for the rest of my days.

The guy playing the killer caught the arrow with his hands... holy shit they don’t make movies like this anymore. God bless the 70s and 80s

Stabbed 18 times?!?! Too shocking!! Stabbed 12 times??? Oh okay, that's cool.

So it took four days to shoot a dialogue scene? Roger Corman would have shot the entire movie in two days.

“She stabbed him 18 times, which was too much” *laughs in Varg Vikernes*

Actors. Set. Locations. Set. Jack Daniels. Set. Let's make a movie!

Love this "exploring" series. You hear the stories from the sets of vastly popular and canonized films, but minor and forgotten productions have their own little stories as well.

"They were location scouting, and found a school they could shoot in." PHRASING EDIT: Nevermind, they actually added a school shooting scene.

21:10 "The film subverts our expectations..." *Rian Johnson jizzes his pants*

..........at your review, I found "FINAL EXAM" on YT and man! What a movie! I can't believe what they did with $374,000.00........some film makers are MIRACLE WORKERS with shoe string budgets! I can't wait for your next recommendation! Thank you for promoting these low-budget gems! They need to be seen!

your channel is ENDLESSLY rewatchable! I love these vids!!!!!!

“Way to go, buddy; it took us four days to shoot that conversation. *FOUR DAYS!* ”

I love that you get all these details from a movie made so long ago. That Can’t be easy. Thanks Cecil. Another great video.

What a marvelous, in depth look into Final Exam. How the hell you gained all this info and background on the film's production, I don't know, but this has to be the most detailed study documented! I loved every second! You're a credit to your craft.

6 weeks is pretty short for a feature production, but Sleepaway Camp parts 2 and 3 were both shot in the same span. Each movie was shot in 3 weeks. Sleepaway Camp 2 wrapped on a Friday, the crew had the weekend for preproduction, and part 3 began on Monday. That's impressive, considering how many special effects that crew had to pull off, even if most of them were cut in post production.

Every time I see the “In search of Darkness” Documentary trailer, I feel happy and warm inside.

Can’t believe this was filmed at my college 😂

Excellent video Cecil you should definitely do an exploring video on Dog Soldiers.

You keep picking the kinds of movies I love, half I've seen, half I've got on my list to watch.

Your vids are done very professionally, and you put in a lot of effort with your research. I love this channel.

I just loooove the fact that this movie doesn't even bother with trying to give the killer a motive or backstory HE JUST FUCKING SHOWS UP

That phrase its fucking gold: "What you do you tonight, you enjoy tonight, but what you put on screen tomorrow is forever". PD. I fucking love your videos and your voice.

I've never watched a youtuber's videos over and over again like I do with GBF. You really got something special here man

My girl and I started an exploitation/cheesy/1980s movie night, because of your channel. I really enjoy your channel for the totally different movie genres you review. We had a blast watching Blood Diner, I sell the dead, Killer Workout, and we just started the Puppet Master series. So thanks.

Gotta love the MPAA. Big budget- graphically stabbed multiple times in the trunk of a car (Goodfellas) = R rating Small budget- stab a pillow multiple times = X rating

WHY HAVEN'T I HEARD OF THIS MOVIE!? I MUST find this! Honestly, that's one of the many reasons why I love the original Black Christmas and Halloween (1978), the killer doesn't have a motive! It brings more mystery to the character! And it actually makes it scarier! I love it! Thanks for introducing me to this movie, man! Now, I gotta watch it! : )

Brilliant. I love the detail, analysis and bits of industry insight. Keep it up!

I remember watching this without knowing too much about it and that school shooting prank shocked me.

Please do a video on My Best Friend is a Vampire. One of my favorite 80s teen Vampire flicks of all time.

I really like your work. You bring youtube's level up. Thank you.

Randy's death always gets me. Rewatched all the Screams recently...and, cried at Randy's death. It was so final. I remember laughing as a kid. WTF?

This is easily one of the most morbidly fascinating films you've ever discussed on the channel!

So glad to see you do a video on this film. It's one of my favorite guilty pleasure films. While going to college in the late 1980's, my friends and I watched "Final Exam" quite a few times. It was just a fun party film. "Conference time, four eyes!" "Come in, Igor!"

Hey man I'm just commentating to say I really appreciate your series. I'm beginning to become a little bit of a horror buff and I love all that you do on your channel.

Haha wow this really is a unique beast of a movie. I always love it when I get to find a new horror film here. Back then Cinemassacre's Monster Madness scratched that "horror recommendations" itch, now its your channel! Thanks for that.

Hell Night was released only 3 months after Final Exam

Thanks for the video! Learned a lot of neat stuff about this underrated little gem.

I don't even enjoy watching movies but hearing how they were made etc will always be interesting.

I really loved this one. Great job Mr. GoodBadFlicks

Don Hepner (aka Mr. Hepner ) was my English teacher at Franklin High in LA in 1986/7. He was cool. Played us cool music and films. He did his stand up which was great and encouraged us to improvise and be creative.

That day 1-4 sequence is the most fun I ever had with your videos. More of stuff like that :D

muh boi Cecil ! I freakin' KNEW you were gunna cover this film at some point LOL! Back in the day when I was on my slasher film craze, I come across this film . Imagine how much backlash there would be on social media regarding that college campus "shoot out prank" scene if this movie came out nowadays....very different times

Another great video! Thanks for all the hard work you put into these. And thank you for doing Final Exam. I really love this movie. No one ever talks about it. Radish rules!!

The best slasher film from the early 80's is NIGHT SCHOOL. At the time of its release, Night School was panned for being too violent and was classified as a Video Nasty in the U.K. Nowadays though, most critics have changed and Night School is considered a standout in the slasher genre. Cutting Class is also a good slasher but it seems a lot of people don't remember it, which is kinda crazy considering it's one of Brad Pitt's first films.

Love your videos!!! I am so glad your channel is growing, you are really talented man.

So odd that I just reviewed this and some of the things I said ended up being right. I wasn’t a fan overall but loved that the killer has absolutely no motive or name.

Very informative video. Keep up the good work!

Brilliant research as per usual. Your videos are showing up in my feed every Monday, strange, RU-vid's algorithms must be working!

Recently watched it on Amazon Prime it was pretty good.

This was a great video, I'd never heard of this movie but after watching your breakdown of the film I'll have to check it out. Thanks. :)

Damn dewd! The music at the start with the 80sHorrorDoc sounds incredible! Always listen to it like 5 times before watching a video.

don't know how many times i've seen this review... and when RU-vid says "hey, this is something you might enjoy" it's correct, and i watch it again.

Simply EXCELLENT! Many thanks for this video! :)

I absolutely love the idea of no motive in horror movies. It does make them scarier.

Boy, is that 4-day shoot of a single dialogue relatable (although first four days of my debut feature film which has taken 11 years to make already had much more useable footage then 2 minutes, thankfully). Also here I was coining a term "unexploitation" which I used as an epigraph for my short film (which is a slasher, of sorts, but more of a giallo) and thinking I was the first one to give such an approach a conscious effort! Well, at least there are fewer films like that. I am truly interested in Final Exam now thanks to this outstanding episode by Cecil and will hopefully give it a go during the Halloween Marathon of this month... If I'll ever catch up with this thing! Busiest October ever!

13:10 I'll say, that scene is AWESOME I would pay so much money to see a modern audiance react to this

This is one of the funniest movie background story I have ever heard. It's even funnier than the story behind The Room. Maybe they should make a movie about the making of Final Exam too.

He's killing because he's been banned from baseball. I always enjoy your Exploring videos.

Amazing vid as usual!

Another great exploration of one of my favorite genres when it comes to movies! I wonder if a Danish slasher that came out in 1995 was inspired by Final Exam as well as it takes place in a high school and has a similar title. Definitely has to watch this one!

I swear about half of my movie collection are recommendations from this channel

Every time u put that trailer for in search of darkness I get more pumped

Final Exam holds a very special place in my heart. I saw it in one of the best summers of 80's slashers films. Every summer i'd watch as many as I could that I hadn't seen before!

I heard so much about this movie, but I never got a chance to see it yet!! Thanks for the Video!!

I feel strangely accomplished when I have seen a film before it hits your review board!

When the sheriff calls mpm as the license plate 😆 great video man your exploring series is awesome and very informative you really do your research 👍😎

“Everything will be fine,” is the worst thing to have someone repeat over and over again.

You made it more interesting then the movie itself. Well done as always GBF. "Ever seen Hearts of Darkness? Way better than Apocalypse Now.” - Abed

Another awesome video man :D

Jimmy Houston's draft of the Running Scared script was about two older NYC detectives who are retiring in thirty days, but before they do, they want to bust a big time drug dealer. Paul Newman and Gene Hackman were the top two choices for the pic. However, a lot of the jokes and situations that ended up in the final movie stemmed from his draft. It's a great script. Then, the studio brought in screenwriter Gary DeVore who, at director Peter Hyams request, changed the locale from NYC to Chicago and made the main characters twenty years younger!

I'm back again and damn, gotta hit that bell so I can catch up with all the videos you share

I recently discovered this on Amazon Prime U.S. and wondered if it was any good. Your recommendations always carry a lot of weight for me

Most Pure Horror Exploitation Film? About time you started exploring wholesome family friendly films on here

I'd just like to "clarify" some things said in the preview of "Final Exam". Don't know exaxtly why things were said as they were but here's the real story on some....First of all as the stunt/fight choreographer I had no participation in the "Van Terrorist" scene! The guys involved did "their own thing" in that scene and I did not choreograph it nor did I ever hear of anyone hurting themselves afterwards! Secondly - the scene in which the "killer" (Me) kills "Wildman" was done very safely and professionally. Ralph Brown had never done any type of stunts or fight scene before this film and he did very well for the first5 time! The "accident" that is mentioned happened when they wanted to do another take of Ralph being slammed up against the weight machine - I was not aware of that because I was across the room talking to some local reporters who wanted to inview me. Ralph had put the cable around his neck and twisted it several times and when he slumped down it tightened around his neck choking him instantly! I happened to notice it from across the room and rushed over to him - pushing everyone out of the way because they thought he was just acting! I knew something was wrong - rushed in and picked him up and lay him down on the floor where I revived him! Another few seconds and it could have been much worse! Again - I did not choreographe that "extra" scene - it was the "Producers" and "Director" that decided to do it without telling me! Next is the Sherry Willis-Burch scene in which she was supposedly slammed up against the wall and injured! Not so! In the scene Sherry had to run along the wall to where I would grab her and snatch her out of the scene. She injured herself by running and tripping several times and falling on her face because of the weeds and shrubs that were along the wall! Gene Pool and the other grips finally removed the stuff and it was the final take that she actually made it to me and I grabbed her and whipped her around out of scene and safely and "gently" on her feet off camera! I thank you for the great review - but you should "actually" talk to the person doing the scene and stunts before you believe the hype Myron and the other producers say to make it sound more "dangerous" and me being "inept" of my duties as a stunt/fight choreographer and actor! Thank you.

I saw the movie long time back, I remember hating it. Maybe I should watch it again.

GBFlicks guy must have an Amazon Prime subscription. First 'Killer workout' and now this. I had never heard of these 2 until I stared watching movies on Prime about a month ago.

It's amazing how much our cultural climate has changed since 1981, due to circumstances, incidents, technology, and a better general understanding of the human condition. Back then, a "prank" with guys rolling out of vans with fake guns was completely innocent, but yeah, no way something like that goes down in a film nowadays. Some other things that are unlikely to happen in films nowadays: C. Thomas Howell's character & storyline in "Soul Man" (also completely innocent, I believe) and Kim Richards as a child actress getting shot and killed in the original "Assault on Precinct 13" (an act that set that film's plot events in motion, and if something like that happened in any film AT ALL, it would probably be done differently. Also, that film was remake, and that event was totally removed).

This is one of the few 80's slashers I just could not bring myself to rewatch. It drags soooooooooooo much.

I rented this from the video store back in 1991. Forgettable and just plain dull, but still holds a place in my heart from my video renting days.

This movie's production is the *embodiment* of the phrase "Getting blood from a stone."

I’ve had this in my Amazon cart for months & you finally convinced me to pull the trigger!🔪

Amazing video my dude

How the hell did they get a scene shot at Bob Jones? Noticed the Limestone campus, too.

One of the most underrated little slasher films. It’s got likable characters, an early 80’s cosy vibe, and a unique approach to its killer.

I pass that movie studio in Shelby everyday on my way to work, it's always empty these days...

Wow, even by this channel's lofty standards, this was a fascinating video. The background of the actor who played the killer sounds like the backstory for an old-school Batman villain, except in that case he'd have gotten lost in his role or perhaps decided to use deeds of the killer in the film as inspiration for his real-life criminal misdeeds.

Also, another great video mate.

Just watched this after DVRing it from Turner Classic Movies last night. Decent flick. But couldn't help but thinking every time I saw the killer in action. His look and demeanor reminded me of Will Sasso from MAD TV doing his Steven Seagal impression.

This movie reminds me of "slumber party massacre" where it's a random killer with no real motivation besides wanting to kill. Sometimes that's the way to be to contrast the big name slasher where you know so much about the killer but in some ways it can damage the longevity of the "nameless" killer franchises.

This was a good exploring GBF

this channel NEEDS to break the 200 000 subs this year!

You sure paid good attention to the commentary track on the Katrina's Nightmares Dvd. That guy was very thorough in detailing how the movie was made, but it sure is a shame he didn't have a better interviewer.

Thanks GBF, for showing Final Exam some love. I cannot believe that I still have not seen this film. Where can I watch that awesome In Search of Darkness horror doc??? 😃😄

Final Exam was a good slasher. I liked all the characters and found their chemistry to be pretty good. The watered down kills are the only real misstep.

Thank you for expanding my movie knowledge.

Kudos for doing an in depth review of this, its is easily the okayest horror film I've ever seen. The history behind it was very interesting though, great job.

I really like these longer videos

Now I know what happened to Anton Chigurh after "No Country for Old Men." Thanks!

*$2.34? Holy Shit, time to build a time machine.*