Ah, sweet old Jason Voorhees. The mama's boy that was forced over and over to take revenge on horny teenagers that, for some reason, kept coming back to Camp Blood. Whatever film you watched, there was always that damn whisper that confirmed what universe you were in: the adventures of Jason, the ghost killer that was only following his mother's footsteps. Contrary to what people think, Friday the 13th isn't based on real-life events, and Jason isn't based on a real serial killer. However, the events that took place in Finland in the '60s, specifically in Lake Bodom, bear a resemblance to the many stories told in the franchise.
We won't get into the discussion of when Jason turned into the Jason, or who was the real killer in some of the films. We'll leave that Ghostface punishing poor Casey Becker for committing a horror cinema sin. The fact is the Friday the 13th franchise consists of a killing force that's awfully violent, seems to have no agenda at all, and has the ability to handle just about every device out there that can kill you.
While we wait for the drama of the Friday the 13th legal settlement to be cleared out, so we can get more of Jason's shenanigans, how about we take a trip through the Rotten Tomatoes ranking of the Friday the 13th movies?
12 Friday the 13th Part III (1982) - 7%
Friday the 13th Part III isn't the worst film in the series. There are worse, regardless of what critics say. This one is actually responsible for making the icon recognizable: it's the first film where Jason wears the hockey mask that made him what he is today. It's actually shot in 3D, so the story is the same as always, only with cool 3D shots of objects emerging from the screen.
11 Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) - 11%
The one in the franchise that's a scam. Plain and simple. The posters indicated Jason was in New York City, as well as the trailer, but he's actually on his way. He joins horny teenagers on a boat sailing to the city, and yes he arrives, and we get that glorious shot of Voorhees in Times Square. The story's weak, the kills are not very noteworthy, and the acting's terrible. The scariest thing about it is a shot of Jason as a boy covered in slime. That's about it.
10 Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993) - 16%
The one where Jason is a force and not exactly Jason. Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday tells the story of what would happen if Jason could survive as an entity going from body to body and not exactly wearing the mask and using the machete. Yeah, fans weren't sold on the premise either.
9 Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) - 18%
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning is the one that dared to make a change in the rules and failed while doing it. Jason isn't Jason this time. It's actually someone else that went crazy, grabbed a hockey mask, and started hacking people to pieces. Even the mask is different. It features Tommy Jarvis (the kid in The Final Chapter), trying to fight Jason again alongside other dumb characters. This one could actually be the worst of them all.
8 Jason X (2002) - 19%
Almost ten years passed since we had seen Jason get dragged to Hell by Freddy himself. But, his return wasn't exactly epic. Jason X is a sci-fi mess with a few hints of horror that features Voorhees destroying everything in his path but in a spaceship. Yes, the laws of space movies apply. It's so ridiculous it became a cult film very quickly. Yes, the enhanced Jason is cool.
7 Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) - 24%
As usual, every Friday the 13th film attempted to be the final entry. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter is also one of them, and it actually does a pretty good job of portraying Jason being defeated. This one features Corey Feldman as Tommy Jarvis, one of the most notable characters in the franchise. The story in Final Chapter is very, very basic, but it's also a very decent entry with incredible makeup effects and an interesting ending.
6 Friday the 13th (2009) - 25%
The 2009 remake of Friday the 13th, named simply Friday the 13th, isn't a bad film. It's just inconsistent and doesn't feature Jason as much as we would like. It's got a great introduction that immediately twists the usual concept of the franchise and instead goes for... something similar: young horny people being killed in very creative manners.
5 Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) - 29%
Friday the 13th Part 2 is Jason's presentation, sans the hockey mask. This one features a group of campers going back to Crystal Lake to a training camp, where they begin to get hacked by a mysterious killer wearing a sack on his head. Part 2 works very well in a double feature with the first movie because it shares the story of revenge after Jason's mom gets killed by Alice. The shot of Mrs. Voorhees' head on the table still makes people shiver.
4 Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988) - 35%
After Jason Lives, Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood tried to capitalize on the supernatural aspect by adding another element: a girl with telekinetic abilities that can actually fight Jason. The New Blood is the one where Jason awakes from being chained at the bottom of a lake in a well-shot sequence that made everyone think this one had a higher quality. Unfortunately, the story's too weak as the lack of Tommy Jarvis really impacted the franchise.
3 Freddy vs. Jason (2003) - 41%
Freddy vs. Jason is exactly what it sounds like, and nothing more than that. It's so 2000s that Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees feel out of place, and it has the nu-metal soundtrack that every film of the era had. It tells the story of Jason being used as a vessel for Freddy to come over and wreak havoc in our realm. Again, nothing more than constant fighting between the icons. Oh yeah, the shot of a floating Freddy in the docks is fantastic!
2 Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986) - 50%
Some people love Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, and some people hate it. The divisive film actually introduces the supernatural element in Jason's ability to survive over and over, and it all starts when Tommy Jarvis and a friend attempt to cremate Jason's body. They end up releasing the killer by opening his grave during a storm and letting lightning do its job. The kills on this one are great!
1 Friday the 13th (1980) - 63%
It makes sense that the highest-ranked film in the franchise is the one that inspired it all. 1980's Friday the 13th is a very scary film that runs on a storyline about revenge. What's good about it is that it makes sense in the end, and this is something that will never be repeated in the franchise when it went towards the supernatural and lost that grounded aspect that made this film about a mother's revenge a modern horror classic.
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