Even The Worst 'Friday The 13th' Movies Are Saved By Just One thing
When one is asked what comes to mind when they think "horror movie," a common answer is Friday the 13th. The iconic horror franchise, which started in 1980 as a small film intended to cash in on Halloween fame, currently has 12 films including one crossover with A Nightmare on Elm Street and a remake. It's hugely financially successful and was even the highest-grossing horror franchise for a long time. The series is often thought of as a great introductory horror film because of how recognizable it is, but it does suffer from one pretty big problem. As a whole, the movies are pretty underwhelming in terms of quality. When watching them for the first time, it's kind of confusing as to how they can be so popular because they really are pretty bad. Its big redeeming quality though is so great, it makes up for a lot of the problems.
The first film features a group of camp counselors who are getting ready to work at a summer camp called Camp Crystal Lake. There was a previous tragedy at the camp, where a boy accidentally drowned and since then the place had been shut down. As the group of teens is getting ready for its reopening, they start getting killed off one by one. At the end of the film, the killer is revealed to be the unhinged mother of the drowned boy. People are sometimes surprised to learn this, because Friday the 13th is so synonymous with the main killer of the franchise, Jason Voorhees, and he isn't even in the first movie. That is, until the very end when the young boy emerges from the water and grabs Alice, the film's final girl, in a surprise jump scare ending. This sets the film up for its eventual sequels, where Jason takes the reins as the primary antagonist.
Ultimately, Jason Voorhees feels like the main reason these films have remained popular. He really is such a good character, and a great villain. Of the three big silent slasher villains of the '70s and '80s (Michael Meyers, Leatherface, and Jason Voorhees), Jason is probably the most recognizable. His iconic hockey mask and machete are well known to people who haven't even seen the films. His theme song, the menacing "ki-ki-ki-ki....ma-ma-ma-ma" playing in the shadows as he spies on his prey, is parodied in pop culture all the time. People who haven't seen the films before, watch them because they know about Jason. People who have seen the films and enjoy them, enjoy them because they love Jason. Fans are extremely passionate about him, with millions of dollars of Jason merch being sold throughout the years and many viewers having favorite Jason actors. Even the fan films have been massively successful, specifically the Never Hike Alone series.
Jason goes through quite a lot of development throughout the series. The transition from him being nonexistent in the first film to the main antagonist of the series with a very distinct look and weapon was a gradual one. Despite being the killer in Friday the 13th Part 2, he doesn't actually put his iconic hockey mask on until Friday the 13th Part III. His character really is quite complete, as he gets stronger and more unbeatable until reaching status as a spirit who possesses people to kill in Jason Goes to Hell. Throughout this, though he's silent, Jason has some very funny as well as touching moments. Even though he's a murderer, viewers can kind of feel for him on a human level. He also was introduced as a child, and throughout the series seems kind of childlike in general which provokes some protective instincts. It's fun to root for him and he's a very well done character as a whole.
What comes with Jason Voorhees and his hockey mask and his machete are a lot of creative kills. The series has an incredibly high body count and, as messed up as it might seem, the reason people watch slasher films is to see these kills. Jason has a pretty distinct way of murdering his victims. It's often pretty gruesome, but also pretty quick, and often there's some element of humor or irony. The films suffer because they don't have characters that are very well written or easy to write. However, this does make it kind of satisfying when they get killed, because the only person the viewer is left to root for is Jason.
If a first-time viewer of the series doesn't like Jason Voorhees and isn't interested in his kills, there isn't a chance that they'll enjoy the films. Even as a slasher fan, even as a Jason fan, some of them are so ridiculous that they're painful to get through. The aforementioned Jason Goes to Hell is a really terrible watch, there's also one installment called Jason X where the character is basically a super soldier in space and there are aliens and androids involved. And the ones that aren't super ridiculous, are basically just more bland copies of the first film and can be really boring. Friday the 13th as a whole just isn't as well made as some of the other big horror series, but Jason is so good it does kind of make it worth the watch.
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