Ranking the Friday the 13th Movies

[G-type | 2,482]

I recently watched the entire Friday the 13th series for the first time. This series was one of my movie viewing blindspots (I'd only seen part 3 before). I think the reason for that is that Jason has been so engrained in pop culture and the lore so well known, that I'd never really been that curious about them, and thought I had a pretty good idea of what to expect.

I realize these movies helped establish the slasher tropes, but at times it felt like watching a show when they parody a slasher movie. There's a template they follow, down to the character archetypes and the story beats, and these movies seldom deviate from it. But in a way, that can be a part of the charm. They become the cinematic equivalent of comfort food. If you are able to accept them for what they are, you can have a really good time watching. After each movie, I have been listening to the corresponding podcast episode of “In Voorhees We Trust With Gourley and Rust” which has made it even more fun.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2Fz2Bqbh7saYMtzMeeYAM4

I was told that the even numbered movies were the better ones (following the Star Trek movie rules I guess), and I would tend to agree, but other than a few missteps, the others aren’t far behind.

I'd rank them: 6, X, 2, 3, 4, 2009, FvJ, 1, 7, 8, 5, 9

some thoughts on each installment:

• Part 1: Tries to be a whodunnit, but it doesn't play fair in giving you any clues, so there's no way you could ever guess it on your own, (assuming it hasn't already been spoiled for you.)
• Part 2: Jason has a bag over his head. Not the iconic look, but still kind of cool. I dig the classic summer camp setting here (and in part 6).
• Part 3: Jason gets his hockey mask! I had forgotten about all the gratuitous 3d shots, which I found hilarious: yo-yo’s, juggling balls, bats, poles, harpoons, even an eyeball held out directly for the 3d camera. 
• Part 4: The Final Chapter. Nothing can top Crispin Glover’s mesmerizing dance moves.
• Part 5: A new beginning. A misguided attempt to return to the whodunnit aspect of part 1. The Scream franchise proved it can work to have a new killer in each installment donning the costume, but the set-up is handled too clumsily here. (This one and part 9 are generally the least popular installments.)
• Part 6: Jason Lives. Getting back to basics, with Jason and a summer camp. This time Jason is established as supernatural, eliminating any doubt about why he's so hard to kill. This one is more overtly campy (no pun intended) than the previous ones.
• Part 7: The New Blood. This is basically "Jason vs Carrie", but her powers are only used minimally.
• Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan. More like "Jason on a Boat." If not for the false advertising and the muddled finale in the empty back alleys of Vancouver, this would have been a lot more palatable.
• Part 9 Jason Goes to Hell: Starts off strong, with Jason blowing up in the first few minutes. But instead of going to hell, we end up with a series of characters getting possessed by Jason's spirit / devil snake. Talk about a bait and switch! Jason hacking and slashing his way through hell could have been cool. I liked the easter egg implying Jason's mother used the Necronomicon to bring him back.
• Jason X: Jason in Space is a ridiculous premise, but this movie still has fun with it and fully delivers on the concept, including one of the more memorable kills.
• Freddy vs Jason: More of a Freddy movie, but again, it delivers exactly what is promised. The justification to bring these franchises together is about as coherent as you could hope for.
• 2009 Reboot: Synthesizes elements from parts 1-4 into a single movie, while attempting to make it feel a little more grounded.

I also really loved this music video "Wolfie's Just Fine: A New Beginning" which faithfully recreates one of the kills from Part 5, as the singer recounts his traumatic first experience seeing this movie as a young boy. It's also just a fantastic song in its own right.

Edited January 31, 2022 by G-type

[Tulpa | 3,500]

I liked part six the best, because it was in on the joke. And it had some great lines.

"So, what were you gonna be when you grew up?"

[Reed Rothchild | 9,530]

IV, and then I and II, and then a random jumble of the rest movies somewhere distantly behind.  

Goes to Hell and Manhatten are probably the worst.  5-7 are also pretty bad.

 

 

[TDIRunner | 2,740]

Funny thing about the 2009 reboot is that I share a name with one of the actors (first and last name spelled the same).  Obviously, that isn't all that unusual since lots of people share their names with others, but since I have a relatively uncommon last name, it's always funny to see it appear in the credits of any movie.  

[G-type | 2,482]

34 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

5-7 are also pretty bad

6 is at least having fun with it. Gotta love that James Bond opening. Plus its got the dude from Return of living Dead who I think is a pretty charismatic lead.

 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,530]

2 minutes ago, G-type said:

6 is at least having fun with i

I've got the big deluxe box set and am due for a revisit

[Jeevan | 8,911]

haven't seen a single one.  never seen the nightmare on elm streets either.

[Tulpa | 3,500]

12 minutes ago, Jeevan said:

haven't seen a single one.  never seen the nightmare on elm streets either.

Gloves, you forgot to switch accounts.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,530]

7 minutes ago, Tulpa said:

Gloves, you forgot to switch accounts.

I know for a fact @Gloves has seen Friday IV.

...of course he's probably never seen any other Corey Feldman movie, somehow.

[guitarzombie | 924]

My favorite is 4, as is mostly everyones.  I also love 7, because of Jasons look.  I hate 5 and X. 6 is fun.  8 is so stupid but Jason looks cool.  9 makes Jason look cool but the rest is embarrassing.  Id have to go with

4 7 3 6 2 1 8 9 5 X

Id like 2 a bit more if it wasnt bag head/human Jason but they didn't know where the series was gonna go.  The remake to me doesn't count, and Freddy vs. Jason is its own thing.  I watched FvJ recently again after haven't seeing it since I saw it in theaters.  I HATE HATE HATE HATE how dated the first half is, but by the halfway point on, im ok with it.  I can't describe how MUCH i hate dated early 2000s movies.  This and Halloween 8 come to mind.  Filled with pop culture references that only exist in that early 2000s era.  

[Reed Rothchild | 9,530]

Haha, I think about any horror film from the early 2000s, and numetal starts immediately bludgeoning my head.

[Gloves | 11,779]

1 hour ago, Reed Rothchild said:

I know for a fact @Gloves has seen Friday IV.

...of course he's probably never seen any other Corey Feldman movie, somehow.

Gremlins, TMNT, Fox and the Hound. That's it. 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,530]

13 minutes ago, Gloves said:

Gremlins, TMNT, Fox and the Hound. That's it. 

Someone mail him The Burbs and The Lost Boys, stat.

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

6 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

IV, and then I and II, and then a random jumble of the rest movies somewhere distantly behind.  

Goes to Hell and Manhatten are probably the worst.  5-7 are also pretty bad.

 

 

GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE WITH THAT COVER DUDE

 

You just blew my damn mind. Why did I not know of this?

[guitarzombie | 924]

That reminds me horror geeks... does anyone know if the unrated version of F13 part 3 actually exists?  I heard there was a german version that was uncut or something but I could never find any info on it.  

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

I can't believe there are 12 of these. I've seen the first and FvJ and at least five minutes of the butchered cable versions from each of the others. Can't say I have much desire to watch the whole series, but I appreciate that people out there dig it. Nice write up.

Edited February 1, 2022 by DoctorEncore

[G-type | 2,482]

2 hours ago, DoctorEncore said:

I can't believe there are 12 of these. 

I'm more shocked they haven't made the 13th!! I mean they're SO close!!!

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,056]

The big slasher franchises are my favorite movies. They are the cheeseburger and fries of movies. Don’t go in expecting gourmet at a diner and you’ll enjoy it. I consider FVJ its own thing and it by far is my favorite of both Freddy and Jason and wished they had done more with it. It could’ve kept adding characters with each installment and became the Smash Bros Deluxe of horror movies. No, I don’t expect for it to have been good if it ever happened. But I digress.

Of the core franchise I don’t have a particular favorite. X is the most memorable just from the setting. 9 is the only one I find to be REALLY rough. The remake I saw at a movie theater on Valentines day with my girlfriend at the time in new hampshire. It was the same weekend that I first went to Fun Spot. It was also the first time I had seen/been to a movie theater that served food like a diner. It was called either Checkers or Chubbys or something similar 

Edit: I forgot to mention the first movie! That one does hold special to me only because it was filmed about 20mins down the road from me and I can recognize the few town shots you see at the beginning of the movie.

They lake they filmed it on is a boy scout camp that runs “tours” of the site to raise money for the scouts. Ive never been because its pretty expensive and from what I heard not really worth the price. 

Edited February 1, 2022 by LeatherRebel5150

[JamesRobot | 5,800]

They're all pretty great with 4 and 5 being the best followed by X.  I'm a sucker for "In Space" movies.  Jason, Leprechaun, Hellraiser... are there any others?  And how the hell did Freddy and Chucky not go into space yet?  Probably too late on both counts.  That genre is long dead.

[G-type | 2,482]

X was just one that I had a lot of fun watching. Über Jason looks cool. The virtual reality scene and the freeze kill are two of the best scenes in the the whole series. Is it derivative of Alien? Yea, (but didn't this whole franchise start as a Halloween rip-off/cash-in) Does it look a bit like a sci-fi channel movie? Sure, but these movies have always been low budget. Are some of the quippy lines cringeworthy? Yes. ("This sucks on so many levels" "He's screwed") But I can forgive those because I loved "Guys, he just wanted his machete!" so much!! Is sending Jason to space ridiculous? Of course, but this movie knows how to have fun with it, which is something I appreciate. And given that they were trying to squeeze this one in before Freddy vs Jason, and actually concerned about not screwing up the continuity, (hence the reason they set it in the far future), makes me appreciate it even more. They actually cared about continuity! Which is a lot more than I can say for some (like 8 & 9)

[NostalgicMachine | 235]

3, 4, 2, 1, 5, 6, 7, 9, 8, X, FvJ.

[JamesRobot | 5,800]

24 minutes ago, G-type said:

The virtual reality scene and the freeze kill are two of the best scenes in the the whole series.

Those are the two scenes I mention everytime someone says they don't like Jason in space.  Def my two favorite kills of the franchise.  And they re-use the sleeping bag kill in the 2009 reboot. 

Edit: Got that wrong.  The sleeping bag kill is an update from part VII.  The 2009 kill he sets her in the campfire while trapped in the sleeping  bag.

Edited February 1, 2022 by JamesRobot

[G-type | 2,482]

Part 9: Jason Goes to Hell: The final Friday is the one I put as last on my list. It had a few redeeming qualities, but mostly a misfire. if I had the power to fix any of them, that's the one I'd pick:

The poster, I actually think is actually pretty rad, even if it does scream early 90s. It looks right in place along side Mortal Kombat.

the look of Jason here is  pretty cool too. I kinda dig the idea of the mask has begun to grow into his head. Harry Manfredini (the original F13 composer), is generally underrated, and I think his work is a large part of why this series was so successful. I'm not a fan of what he does here though. It sounds like the cat walked across his keyboard:

I can respect the desire to extend the lore a bit, and adding more occult stuff is cool, but the idea of the body jumping Jason was just bad. I thought they had learned their lesson from the imposter Jason in part V. The director from part 1 Sean Cunningham is back as the producer here.. I get why he has no attachment to the mask since it was introduced after his involvement, but I think it was a serious miscall to demand they get rid of it. Jason in a hockey mask is scary. The husband from Desperate Housewives with a little dark makeup under his eyes is NOT SCARY.

I liked the beginning with the Jason task force... I would have maybe liked to have even learned a little bit more about them and get some more background on setting up the Jason trap. If you want to preserve the surprise of the opening scene (which I liked) maybe have the first time not work. Jason gets away, and the task force has to regroup so that next time they'll get him for sure.

Give more backstory on Pamela Voorhees. Show her making deal with the devil to bring Jason back (prior to her death). Make the bounty hunter guy more of an occult expert

when the occult ritual is performed, Actually show him go to hell! Don't make that promise in the title and not deliver. I would love to see Jason in Hell. They could have done what the Preacher comics did with the Saint of Killers. Hell freezes over when Jason arrives because his heart is so cold. The devil tries to break him and make him feel something (pain) to get the fires started again (the gates are frozen shut and no new souls can get in). Jason is whipped and flayed but unfazed, and the devil is exhausted and gives up. Jason then kills him and walks out of hell and back to the real world to leave the door open for a sequel.

 

Edited February 2, 2022 by G-type

[Reed Rothchild | 9,530]

The scene with the broken fingers is probably one of the dumbest in cinematic history

[G-type | 2,482]

and the homoerotic mustache shaving scene is just weird for the sake of being weird. It might fit in some other horror movie, but it's completely incongruous in f13.