Summary
TheFriday the 13thfranchise has experienced many ups and downs, with varying directors and writers taking on the iconic killer: Jason Voorhees. As a result, Jason Voorhees himself has seen numerous revisions, with every movie doing something different for him, from his kills to his looks to even the way the actors play him.
Fans ofFriday The 13thhave enjoyed Jason for various qualities, but in the end, the slasher villain is intended to incite fear in the viewer. With so many variations of Jason sinceFriday The 13thfirst started in 1980, some have gone down as iconic for how scary they are, thus enhancing the films they were featured in.
10Hell Jason
The Strangest Version Of Jason To Date
AlthoughJason Goes To Hell:The Final FridaytakesFriday The 13thin a weird direction that feels more akin toHellraiser, the concept of Jason being this dark demonic slug that can transfer from host to host is creepy. There is even an attempt to explain that Jason was brought back to life by the Deadites fromSam Raimi’s famousEvil Deadmovies, setting up a shared universe.
Jason’s real form is completely deformed now with the mask embedded into his skin and the attempt to turn random people into avatars of Jason after his body is destroyed is unique. It also helps thatJason Goes To Hellfeatures some of the most over-the-top gory kills in the whole series, which often makes up for the movie’s shortcomings.
9Part 2 Jason
The Original Jason Was A Clumsy Killer
Oddly enough, despite Jason Voorhees beingthe poster child of the iconic slasher franchise, he did not have the greatest debut as the killer. InFriday The 13th Part 2, Jason, played by Warrington Gillette, is a clumsy killer who constantly trips, stumbles, and falls in his attempt to kill all the counselors, particularly the film’s final girl: Ginny.
Jason also did not debut with his favorite hockey mask, but instead wore a bag mask that only had one eye which doesn’t come off as that imposing in certain scenes. However, the killings Jason executes and the times he can be seen stalking in the background are memorable. However, Jason would get a total redesign, since even the creators felt the bag head version was lacking.
8Part 7 Jason
This was the first time Jason Voorhees was played by Kane Hodder, the only actor to play Jason in multiple movies.Friday The 13th Part 7: The New Bloodfeatured Jason with his most zombie-like design yet, with bones and rotting flesh exposed that added to Hodder’s physicality, as he did all the stunt work and made Jason a more intense villain.
InThe New Blood, Jason is an intense figure who just takes damage and keeps going, breaking through doors, and throwing people around with ease. Sadly, this version of Jason was a victim of the MPAA being overbearing, with his brutal kills being heavily reduced in the editing room.
7Part 5 Jason
The Mystery Copycat Left Fans Divided On The Fifth Film
Arguably the most divisive version of Jason because there was no Jason inFriday The 13th Part 5: The New Beginning. Instead, Tommy Jarvis and the other characters are being stalked by a copycat who wears a blue-chevron-adorned mask to commit murders,adding a whodunit murder mystery aspectthat leaves the audience guessing who is continuing Jason’s work.
The fake Jason inThe New Beginningwas a more methodical killer who stalked from the shadows and waited for the right moment to strike. What tends to make or break the fifth entry is the reveal of the paramedic Roy being the man behind the mask, with some fans considering it a weak twist because he was barely in the story and his reasoning for dressing as Jason is never explained.
6Part 1 Jason
The Nightmare Jumpscare That Traumatized Moviegoers
WhenFriday The 13thcame out in 1980, Jason Voorhees was not the killer, but the catalyst for his mother Pamela to go on a killing spree at Camp Crystal Lake. Jason was presumed to have drowned in the lake, leading to Pamela’s descent into madness and pursuit of revenge for her child.
However, Jason made his first on-screen appearance at the very end, even if it was only a dream sequence. After Alice kills Pamela and escapes on the lake, audiences were given an unexpected scare of the deformed corpse of Jason emerging from the water to pull her into the water. That one scene was enough to terrify audiences and set up the potential of Jason being a killer.
5Crossover Jason
Fans Loved When Jason Finally Met Freddy
BothFriday The 13thandA Nightmare On Elm Streetwere kings of the slasher genre back in the 80s and 90s, soFreddy Vs. Jasonwas in development for years. Finally, the hockey-masked killer met the Springwood Slasher in 2003, resulting in a story that was more about the spectacle of seeing two icons battle, but it’s not without its scares.
While many fans wanted Kane Hodder to return, Ken Kirzinger took over and his take was much more of a towering behemoth. He was slower-paced, but he was given plenty of iconic kills, from using a bed to fold a person to killing Freddy Krueger with his own claw arm. Ken’s version was a nice balance of doing the character justice while still putting on his unique stamp.
4Part 3 Jason
Jason Finally Found His Hockey Mask And For The Better
The third entry of theFriday The 13thfranchise established the visual template of Jason Voorhees that most fans think of. No longer was he a clumsy, long-haired feral. Instead, Jason was depicted by Richard Brooker as a cold hunter with a bald head, giving him a hulking lookthat inspired other horror gamesand movies, and it was the first time he wore his signature hockey mask.
Brooker’s version of Jason inFriday The 13th Part 3is also more efficient. Gone was his clumsiness and now Jason Voorhees was killing counselors and other victims left and right with expertise. He is fierce, intense, and fast in his kills, as it is one of the few movies to show Jason Voorhees running. The sight of the unmasked Jason charging at Chris left an impact on viewers.
3Part 6 Jason
Turning Jason Into A Zombie Changed The Franchise Forever
C.J. Graham took on the role when the choice was made to resurrect Jason Voorhees from the dead inFriday The 13th Part 6: Jason Lives. The fifth movie tried to do something different, so they needed to draw fans back with a proper Jason return and the result was a zombie slasher villain who cannot be killed.
Embracing the campier side of horror with a bit of gothic horrorinspired by classic Universal monsters, Jason Lives turned the titular villain into an unstoppable force. This led to more outlandish kills while maintaining him as a menacing presence, especially now that he was immortal.
2Part 4 Jason
Perfected The Formula For The Intended Finale
InFriday The 13th Part 4: The Final Chapter,one of the more loved horror sequels, Ted White took over from Richard Brooker as the last time Jason was depicted as a deranged human killer. Given that it was intended to be the series' finale, the filmmakers went all out to make Jason into a killing machine, continuing to make him more ruthless than ever.
Throwing people from top-story windows, mutilating others, crashing through doors, and even attacking children,The Final Chaptermade Jason scarier than ever. Had it been the true final movie, it would have been quite the movie for Jason to go out on with small tweaks to his design and wielding his famous machete to create what most fans think of when they think of Jason Voorhees.
1Reboot Jason
Going Back To Basics Made Jason Scarier Than Ever
Jason Voorhees was rebooted in the late 2000s when many slasher movies were being rebooted.Friday The 13thwas considered one of the better attemptsand a large part of that had to do with Jason himself, played by Derek Mears, who was brought back to the style of Part 4 but updated to be far more aggressive and able to sprint after his victims.
The entire movie takes elements of the first three appearances of Jason Voorhees and fuses them, from finding his hockey mask to being an effective hunter who can turn anything into a weapon. However, they do add new things like Jason having underground tunnels to explain how he appears everywhere and a bit more development to show that he’s not just a mindless killer.
