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Friday the 13th (2009)
Welcome to Crystal Lake
This movie is awesome!! I don't understand what people's issue is with this film, as I feel it is a love letter to fans of the early era of the franchise and Jason himself. It basically takes the best elements of the first four films and mashes them together to make a very solid reboot and one of the better horror reboots in my opinion. You get the classic story of Alice cutting of Mrs. Voorhees' head at the beginning, but this time showing Jason in the distance as a child watching. You get the classic camp crystal lake setting once again, with Jason acting much more like a hunter and survivalist. Derek Mears' portrayal of Jason is terrifying and I would not want this guy running up on me like he does to people in this film. He is my second favorite Jason after Kane Hodder. You also get to see Jason phasing from cloth mask to the iconic hockey mask partway through the film. You get the shot of Jason coming through a window at Jared Padalecki's character in the end, as well as the final girl Whitney tricking Jason into thinking she's his mother just as Ginny previously did in Part 2. I think the characters in this film are great and the cast has so many familiar faces such as Danielle Panabaker and Ben Feldman. The character of Trent is insufferable and it is so satisfying to see him taken out in the most brutal way by Jason. The kills in this movie are awesome and possibly the goriest of the entire franchise. The opening of the film is awesome and almost acts as its own short film of Jason murdering an entire group of people before the title of the movie even shows up. It's also interesting to see that the town knows about Jason and knows that people mysteriously disappear at camp crystal lake. You get everything you want out of a Friday the 13th film which is sex, drugs, and Jason tearing people apart. This is firmly my favorite entry of the franchise.
Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
Freddy Vs. Jason! Place your bets!
Finally, after 10 years of anticipation, the showdown between two slasher icons is depicted. This technically acts as a sequel to Jason Goes To Hell and Freddy's Dead, and it didn't disappoint. This is a badass action horror film and is definitely worth watching if you are a fan of these two franchises. First, the soundtrack to this movie is awesome, as are most 2000s horror soundtracks. I recommend watching the credits sequence for the music that plays through it. The cast is great with lots of familiar faces, including Jason Ritter, Kelly Rowland, and Katharine Isabelle. I thought the final girl Lori who is played by Monica Keena was awesome and her backstory was interesting. Both Jason and Freddy are great in this movie and it's cool to see the ending where they go at each other for like 20 minutes straight. It sucked that they didn't bring back Kane Hodder in the role of Jason which is where Jason fans have an issue with the movie, but I think Ken Kirzinger held his own in the role. Robert Englund is of course just as perfect as always in the role of Freddy. The kills were great in the movie as well. The script of this movie is actually pretty great and I found the reasoning for bringing both characters back from the dead to actually make sense. To sum it up, Freddy and Jason are both in hell after the endings of their previous movies. Freddy who is wanting to strike fear back into the children of Elm Street, resurrects Jason in the hopes that he will kill some people to make them think it's Freddy who is back. While Jason succeeds, he doesn't stop his rampage and so Freddy has to try to stop Jason himself. I do however think that this movie heavily leans towards Freddy's story more than Jason's which is why I have it in different places for both rankings of these franchises (7th in Friday the 13th, and 4th in my Nightmare on Elm Street rankings). Overall, there is great enjoyment to be had for fans of these characters and I highly recommend it.
Jason X (2001)
Evil Gets An Upgrade
I love this movie. I find it to be very underrated and over-hated in my opinion. After the godawful mess that was Jason Goes to Hell, this was actually a lot of fun to watch. I know it isn't a good movie, but it's one of the most re-watchable movies in the franchise, especially when you're with your friends and drinking alcohol. I thought the cast was entertaining, and while the characters weren't super interesting, I feel that they still had a good screen presence. The final girl Rowan was pretty good, but I think there was more that could've been done with her, especially with her being frozen in time with Jason for 455 years at the start of the movie. I think they could've fleshed out her character better in that respect, but otherwise she was pretty badass. It was cool seeing big time horror director David Cronenberg cameo in the movie as a doctor trying to study Jason. I thought the futuristic space setting was a nice change of pace for a franchise that was running on fumes at the time. The Jason in this movie is awesome and a significant step up from Jason Goes to Hell, especially when he is cybernetically enhanced near the end and becomes "Uber-Jason". The kills were awesome in this movie as well, with the standout being the liquid nitrogen kill. The ending with Jason plummeting to another Earth, implying that he will start a rampage once again on a new planet is neat too. I think the critics and fans that lambast this movie into the ground are taking it way too seriously. If you are looking for some dumb fun involving Jason in space, this is one of the more fun entries in this franchise and actually my second favorite.
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)
Evil has finally found a home.
Wow, I don't even know where to begin with this movie. I have no idea what the studio was thinking greenlighting this garbage. It is borderline unwatchable save for a few of the cast members that have a good screen presence (namely Leslie Jordan, Rusty Schwimmer, and Steven Williams). It was also cool seeing John D. Lemay in the movie, as he was previously in the Friday the 13th tv series that I actually enjoyed. The rest of the cast are forgettable including the final girl Jessica, who had little to no backstory and was just very uninteresting. The Jason in this movie is absolutely ridiculous and designed poorly in my opinion. However, the physical body of Jason is only in the beginning and the end of the film. Everything in between is Jason in slug form jumping from body to body possessing the person. I think it's definitely an interesting idea, but the script and story are absolutely atrocious. The premise of the movie is that Jason is blown to pieces in the beginning, and after possessing a coroner performing an autopsy on him, has to find someone in the Voorhees bloodline to possess so that he can regain his physical body. The character of Creighton Duke, who is this bounty hunter trying to help kill Jason, is an interesting character that was completely wasted as he was given nothing distinct to do at all and barely had a story arc. I think the kills were pretty gruesome and effective for the most part. The ideas involving Jason being a deadite and summoned from the book of the dead were pretty cool as I love the "Evil Dead" franchise. The ending with Freddy Krueger's glove coming out of the ground and dragging Jason's mask into hell was also an awesome addition, even if it did take 10 years for that showdown to happen. While the franchise had never taken itself too seriously, this movie just took it off the rails in a terrible way. I admire the director's passion for the movie and his defense of the movie in the commentaries and interviews he took part in, but it just isn't enough to convince me that this is not a terrible movie. By far, my least favorite of the franchise.
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
New York has a new problem
Yes, you read that right. I gave this movie 6 stars out of 10, and I actually have this right above the original 1980 film in my ranking (8th place out of 12 movies, and 9th place for the original). Hear me out, but I find this movie to be hated on too much as I do enjoy it and find it to be campy fun for the most part. Don't get me wrong, this is a garbage movie and indefensible, but I have a ton of fun with it. I love the soundtrack to the movie, with the song "Darkest Side of the Night" by the band Metropolis to be the highlight of the film which plays in both the beginning and ending credits. The kills are overall pretty decent as well, so it has that going for it. However, I can't bring myself to rank it much higher as the premise is completely wasted. Jason was only in Manhattan for the last 20 minutes of the movie, with the majority of the movie taking place on a boat whose destination is Manhattan. From there, when he's finally in Manhattan, you can tell the movie was shot in Vancouver and not actually Manhattan. I believe there is only one scene in the movie that was actually filmed in New York, and that was the scene of Jason in Times Square looking around. This version of Jason is a definite step down from Part 7, only saved by the fact that Kane Hodder is still in the role. He has this weird shiny glow to him the entire movie and is all slimy and gross. The characters are pretty uninteresting and the final girl Rennie isn't very memorable either aside from her fear of water. Her uncle is a total scumbag the entire movie and it is very pleasing to see him killed by Jason. The ending of the movie is incredibly bizarre where Jason is drowned in this toxic sludge in a sewer and turns back into a child? Really weird stuff. With all that being said, I still somehow find some enjoyment in the film and I never mind re-watching it.
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)
If Jason still haunts you, you're not alone!
After a creative high in the previous film The Final Chapter, this movie took a significant nosedive in quality. One of my least favorite films in this franchise. Why they didn't just end the franchise is beyond me, but money talks I guess. To begin, the character of Tommy Jarvis who was our heroine from the previous film and arguably the most interesting new addition, was completely destroyed in this movie both with the actor's portrayal and the way the character was written. Once again, the kills are shown from the killer's point of view, and because of this, they tried to make you think that Tommy was the new killer in the movie. They set up that possibility at the end of the previous film, where he is shown to have gone a little nuts after killing Jason. From there, we are taken to a new setting of this halfway house where a bunch of troubled kids live under psychiatric care. This would've worked had the characters been interesting even in the slightest, but only three characters even stood out which were Reggie the Reckless, his cousin Demon ("Those damn enchiladas" will always be an iconic line of his), and the crazy neighbor lady Ethel who is probably the funniest character in the entire franchise. Other than those characters, everyone else are just stock teenagers to be killed by Jason. Except here's the dumbest part, it's not even Jason! While the ending twist didn't enrage me as much as it did other fans, I just didn't think the replacement killer made much of an impact to the story whatsoever. The ambulance driver Roy Burns (who only appeared in two scenes in the entire movie) is revealed to be the Jason wannabe. This is due to the death of his son at the beginning of the film at the hands of another teen at this halfway house. Since Roy was barely a character in the film, this reveal made no impact at all. I didn't care who this person was because I knew nothing about them. Had he been more prominent in the film and actually been a part of the story, then the reveal of him being the actual killer would've been effective. The final girl Pam isn't all that interesting and spends most of the third act running away from Roy other than when she used a chainsaw against him which was pretty cool. The kill count in this movie is pretty high, however almost all of the deaths aren't even shown and instead we just see the weapon slashing at the person. On the other hand, the nudity is cranked up to 11 so if you're into that then this movie has more nudity than any other film in the franchise. This is because the director literally had directed hardcore pornography previously. The ending of the film once again sets up Tommy as the future killer and once again this is not paid off in the following film so the ending is pointless too. Overall, this is a really bad film and one you can skip over.
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
On Friday the 13th, Jason is back. But this time, someone's waiting!
Jason vs. Budget Carrie is a goofy concept to watch that one would think wouldn't work. I actually think it works pretty well and is one of the entries in the franchise that I enjoy to watch. This is by far my favorite version of Jason in the entire franchise. The look, mannerisms, and sounds that Jason makes in this movie reflect the fact that he was chained underwater for a long period of time. This is also Kane Hodder's debut as the character and he is the definitive Jason in my mind. Not only did he bring the most distinct new qualities to the character, but he returned for the next three movies in the franchise to give us even more of his awesome unique take on the character. I also think that this is the scariest version of Jason that we had gotten up to this point in the franchise. The characters are okay, nothing that stands out too much but good enough in my opinion. Tina is a pretty cool final girl, but she is in full on meltdown mode this whole movie so it is sometimes hard to like her as a main character. Otherwise, I enjoy seeing her using telekinesis and kicking Jason's ass at the end of the movie. Dr. Crews is a horrible character who is the main reason Tina is so broken, so it's nice seeing him get taken out by Jason. The kills in the movie would've been cool had they not been cut so badly by the MPAA. This movie does have one of the coolest kills of the franchise though with Jason grabbing a girl in a sleeping bag and slamming her against a tree. Overall, I think it is definitely a good movie in the franchise and one that I enjoy re-watching.
Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI (1986)
Kill or be killed!
A huge step up in quality from the previous film. This is on par with The Final Chapter as being one of the better entries from the 80s era of Friday the 13th films. C. J. Graham's portrayal of a now zombified Jason was well done and creepy. The opening scene of Jason's resurrection by lightning bolt reminiscent of Frankenstein's monster coming to life, I thought was very effective. The characters are pretty decent and Thom Mathews' portrayal of Tommy Jarvis was much better and more likable than the character was in the previous film. The final girl Megan was cool and her and Tommy had good chemistry together. Megan's father Sherriff Garris was another good character that had an interesting dynamic with Tommy and it was really sad seeing him killed by Jason later in the movie. I thought it was interesting how the town tried to distance itself from it's past with Jason and renamed the camp "Forest Green" so that people weren't scared to travel there. I also thought it was cool how they incorporated children being in the camp for the first time while the murders were taking place, as it adds an interesting dynamic to the film that hadn't been seen in previous entries in the franchise. There were also some really cool scenes with Jason such as when he was stalking a counselor outside of a cabin that she's walking around in as well as the scene with RV where he stands on top of it after it crashes. The kills were overall pretty good especially when compared to the previous film. I enjoyed the meta angle that director Tom McLoughlin brought to the film and thought it fit the franchise very well, as it never really took itself seriously anyway. The soundtrack to the film was a standout for me as well with both the score and the soundtrack of Alice Cooper's music both in the film and the end credits was really cool. The end fight between Tommy, Jason, and Megan was also well done. Overall, I don't really have any negatives that come to mind and I definitely think it is one of the best of the franchise.
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
Jason is back, and this is the one you've been screaming for.
While it's far from being the last, The Final Chapter is definitely one of the best of the franchise and a big step up from Part 3. Out of the early 80s era of the franchise, this is easily my favorite. Ted White's outing as Jason is one of the best, who brings a distinct flavor to the character that hadn't been seen before. Jason is certainly more brutal and is way faster in this entry. I also think this installment offers up the best batch of characters in the entire franchise, with a very likeable group of teens that you actually can relate to. The standout character is Tommy Jarvis played by Corey Feldman, who would become Jason's biggest nemesis in the franchise and become a recurring character. The Jarvis family as a whole bring a breath of fresh air to the franchise, especially after the boring characters that we got from Part 3. Other memorable characters are the twins, Tommy's sister Trish who is also a great final girl that gives Jason quite a beating, and Jimmy who is played perfectly goofy by Crispin Glover. The kills are pretty cool and memorable as well with legendary special effects supervisor Tom Savini returning to provide us with some more realistic and gory kills. The ending of the movie would've been a pretty badass way to end the franchise with Jason's "death" being perfectly brutal and satisfying to watch. Tommy shaving his head and acting like he is young Jason to trick him is one of the most memorable scenes in the whole franchise. I don't have any negatives that come to mind when thinking about this film. This is a horror classic and still holds up great today.
Friday the 13th Part III (1982)
A New Dimension In Terror...
After Part 2 showed a slight improvement in quality, I had higher expectations for this film and I was left disappointed. I do think there are things that work in this film, but I think there is an equal amount of things that do not work at all. The main positive is the portrayal of Jason by Richard Brooker. As most fans know, this is the film where Jason finally dons his signature hockey mask for the first time. Jason's mannerisms are improved with Brooker's performance and the history between him and the final girl Chris is interesting. I think Chris is a decent final girl who puts up a good fight against Jason, but not as interesting as Ginny from Part 2. Another positive of this movie is the score by Harry Manfredini who introduced the famous disco theme of the opening credits which would become one of the best pieces of music in the franchise. The kills were alright since they finally stopped using the killer's point of view the whole time, but the ones that relied on 3D looked horrible. Overall though, I just find this movie to be slow and boring. Even with a brisk 95 minute runtime, the movie felt like it dragged along at a snail's pace because the characters are quite forgettable. The only interesting character in my opinion is Shelly, who although disliked by most fans, I don't mind and I thought he was a standout. I thought the setting of the barn was pretty lame and actually annoying every single time a character would have an excuse to waltz into there. The biggest negative to this film in my opinion are the 3D effects and the overreliance on 3D to the point where it is incredibly distracting to watch. I understand that it was the early 80s and 3D wasn't what it is now, but it just looks ridiculous. I may be biased as I have never liked the concept of 3D in general anyway, but I have to acknowledge it in my review. There are several shots in the movie where people are unnecessarily shoving items directly into the camera just to show off the effect and it is incredibly annoying to watch. There is a character that gets killed near the end of the film whose head gets squeezed and when his eye pops out (into the screen of course), you can literally see the spring attached to the back of the eye to pop it out. Apparently this is a hot take to have on this film, as many think it is one of the best of the franchise solely because of Jason getting his hockey mask. For me, that isn't a good enough reason to look past the many faults this movie has. I don't think it is a total trainwreck of a film, but when I am in the mood for a Friday the 13th film, this is nowhere near the one that I would pick. This is only one of three movies in this franchise that I would give a mixed to negative review.
Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
The body count continues...
A definite improvement over the first film. This film introduced the world to one of the most iconic slashers of all time in Jason Voorhees. The characters were a lot more interesting this time and the final girl Ginny is arguably the best in the entire franchise and my personal favorite. She is smart, resourceful, and we find out partway through the movie that she is actually studying to be a psychologist. Because of this, I found her character to be more fleshed out and more interesting than Alice from the first film. The final act of this film, with Ginny finding Mrs. Voorhees' head and donning her sweater to fool Jason was brilliant and made for a great ending to the film. The expanded mythology introduced in this movie surrounding Jason would become a mainstay in the franchise. Once again, I love the aesthetic of the film and think the campground setting is just as effective as the first. The kills were also drastically improved in this film compared to the first. However, there were a couple of downsides with the film. Once again, for about half of the movie, we are put into the killers point of view. While I found it effective in the original, I don't think it was very effective this go around because it's incredibly obvious that it's Jason. I just didn't see the point of using this tactic when the movie basically set up Jason as the killer with Paul's monologue at the campfire. I have also never been a huge fan of the sack mask that Jason uses in this film as I just thought it looked more goofy than scary. Other than that, this is a solid film in the franchise and would recommend horror fans to watch it.
Friday the 13th (1980)
"They were warned... They are doomed... And on Friday the 13th, nothing will save them."
There is no question how iconic this movie is as it started one of the longest running horror franchises of all time. The mythology surrounding the curse of Camp Blood and how Jason Voorhees drowned is very interesting, and putting the audience in the killer's point of view until the end is also pretty cool. Harry Manfredini's score of the film has become one of the best horror scores ever. I find it interesting that he cued up music whenever the killer is around, and kept it silent when the killer is not around. I love the look of the film and the 70's aesthetic, as well as the campground setting which would become a mainstay of the series. However, I find that it doesn't really hold up as well now than other big slashers of the time. The filmmakers have openly admitted that this film is a blatant ripoff of John Carpenter's Halloween which had released two years prior and was extremely successful. It is also the only movie where Mrs. Voorhees is the killer. While I enjoy her character and Betsy Palmer's performance, it is just an odd entry in the franchise when compared to the next 11 films where Jason is the main villain. The other characters are nothing to write home about and are not that memorable besides seeing a young Kevin Bacon. None of the kills in the film really stand out either minus the beheading of Mrs. Voorhees. I don't find the final girl Alice to be all that interesting either as we don't really know much about her except a couple bits of information. When looking at the Friday the 13th franchise as a whole, this entry is not my favorite and certainly not my go-to. With that being said, there is some enjoyment to be had, and I do recommend every horror fan to check this movie out at least once as it is a classic of the genre.