Scarecrow suggests | Like 'Shrek Forever After'? Try other franchises' so-called 'final chapters'

Most of the advertising for "Shrek Forever After," the fourth installment of the series, refers to it only as "Shrek: The Final Chapter."

It's a promise to the world, but is it one that DreamWorks will be able to keep? Let's examine previous so-called final installments to find out our chances.

The previous benchmark for a Part Four claiming to be "the final chapter" would have to be 1984's "Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter." One of the more enjoyable of the series, it features Corey Feldman as a young horror-movie enthusiast who uses his hobby of special-effects makeup to psyche out Jason Voorhees and make him fall on his own machete.

It seemed pretty final, but there have been six more sequels, a crossover with "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and a recent remake.

The third installment in the "Walking Tall" series was released as "Final Chapter: Walking Tall" (1977). Bo Svenson stars as Buford Pusser, the real-life sheriff of McNairy County, Tenn., who was played by Joe Don Baker in the original.

Svenson has a laid-back tough-guy charm that makes the film enjoyable even as it exploits the life and death of the real Pusser in a standing-up-to-crime story without much basis in reality.

Technically, this really was the final chapter for the big-screen exploits of Pusser, but Svenson played him again for a short-lived TV series in 1981, and the "Walking Tall" name was revived for a loose remake starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and two straight-to-DVD chapters with Kevin Sorbo.

"Puppet Master 5" also used "The Final Chapter" as a subtitle, but it was really just the final numbered sequel. It has so far been followed by "Curse of the Puppet Master," "Retro Puppet Master," "Puppet Master: The Legacy," "Puppet Master vs. Demonic Toys" and the upcoming "Puppet Master: Axis of Evil."

"Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare" made a bold effort to kill off the long-sequelized Elm Street slasher, even making you put on 3-D glasses to commemorate the occasion. The poster showed his tombstone and New Line Cinema even held a funeral for the character.

But they couldn't keep him in the ground. Freddy returned in "Wes Craven's New Nightmare," "Freddy vs. Jason" and the recent remake.

To be fair, "New Nightmare" revived him in a clever postmodern way that acknowledged the previous movies as fictional but brought their killer into the "real world" to haunt director Wes Craven and star Heather Langenkamp, playing themselves. But then he was back to his old fictional self again when he crossed paths with Jason.

The obscure 1990s martial-arts sequel "Tiger Claws III: The Final Conflict," starring Cynthia Rothrock, did stick to the promise of its subtitle.

The same cannot be said for 1981's "The Omen III: The Final Conflict," which was advertised as "The final chapter in the Omen trilogy." It was followed 10 years later by the made-for-TV "The Omen IV: The Awakening" and by an "Omen" remake in 2006.

The list goes on. The 1984 miniseries "V: The Final Battle" was followed by many other battles spread across 19 episodes of "V: The Series" (not to mention the new version that's currently airing).

"Children of the Corn II" (1992) was called "The Final Sacrifice," but there were other sacrifices to be made in five more sequels and a remake.

Last year's "The Final Destination" (part four in the "Final Destination" series) already has a sequel in the works.

Some of the few "final" films that really are the last in their series are "Mortal Kombat Conquest: The Final Battle" (a European video release taken from a syndicated TV series) and "Dead or Alive: Final" (but that's part of a trilogy where the stories aren't actually connected).

Still up in the air is "Godzilla: Final Wars," which was heavily hyped as the last Godzilla film (although it's unlikely that a single human being on Earth believed that). It was released in 2004, the 50th anniversary of "Godzilla."

Director Ryuhei Kitamura ("Versus," "Midnight Meat Train") and Japan's Toho Studios went all out in making it a spectacular alleged finale.

The Earth Defense Force has to deal with giant monsters attacking major cities all around the world, an invasion of humanoid aliens who are obviously lying about coming in peace, and an approaching asteroid. Things get dire enough that they're forced to unfreeze Godzilla and set him loose on Earth's foes.

The movie includes 15 of the classic giant monsters of the Godzilla series, including the silly-looking King Caesar (not seen since 1974's "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla"). It's crammed full of ludicrous fun, but it's most notable for the scene where Godzilla battles and easily kills the iguanalike CGI Godzilla from the much- hated American remake.

Of course, now they're talking about bringing Godzilla back in another (presumably improved) American version. Never say never ...

Therefore, in conclusion, "Shrek Forever After" will most likely not be the last time we see the corpulent Scottish ogre. So don't cry. History tells us there will be sequels, TV shows and remakes. Shrek will be back for new beginnings, for more chapters, wars, conflicts and battles.

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