Only one installment in the entire Friday the 13th film series has been perfect, and it wasn’t the first movie. Launching in 1980 in an attempt to ape the success of John Carpenter’s Halloween, Friday the 13th started the ’80s slasher boom in earnest. The summer camp setting and violent kills helped set the standard for countless imitators.

As the Friday the 13th series progressed, it went through a number of peaks and valleys. Jason Vorhees became the star, he donned a hockey mask, and he began hacking his way through Sєx-crazed campers in sequel after sequel. It took a while, but Friday the 13th was perfect when it finally hit its stride.

Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives Is A Perfect Horror Movie

When a horror movie franchise stretches on into its sixth film, it’s usually time to throw in the towel. However, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives is actually where the тιтular franchise finally found its winning formula. The tongue-in-cheek installment introduced supernatural elements that completely shifted the tone of the franchise for the better.

Jason is revived as an unᴅᴇᴀᴅ monster, which explains how he can have superhuman strength and be everywhere at once. This allows for some truly fun kills, and some gruesome monster effects too. Beyond the surface level, Jason Lives is also the most competent screenplay in the bunch, building characters like Tommy Jarvis to actually have emotional weight.

The sixth film also does something no other Friday the 13th movie dared, and that’s actually open the camp for young campers. Jason Lives has fun with the basic concept of the franchise, embracing the wild goofiness of slasher films. It isn’t bogged down like other unnecessary sequels, and gave the franchise a path forward with a new, zombified Jason.

The First Friday The 13th Movie Is A Flawed Masterpiece

While Part VI is the only perfect film in the entire franchise, Friday the 13th is still a flawed masterpiece. Considering how far the movies progressed in a few years, the original is a quaint little slasher flick with fun twists. However, it is certainly guilty of chasing trends, which means it spends too much time copying its predecessors.

The characters are flat, but the kills make up for the hollow script. The finale twist is iconic, but it poses far more questions than it answers in the long run. Friday the 13th will always be the defining film in the franchise, but Jason Lives is the ideal result of years of trial and error in the blockbuster series.

Friday the 13th

Movie(s)

Friday the 13th (1980), Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981), Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982), Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984), Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985), Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives, Friday the 13th Part 7: The New Blood, Friday the 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993), Jason X (2001), Freddy vs. Jason (2003), Friday the 13th

First Film

Friday the 13th (1980)

Latest Film

Friday the 13th

First TV Show

Friday the 13th: The Series (1987)

Latest TV Show

Friday the 13th: The Series (1987)

Upcoming TV Shows

Crystal Lake

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