Friday the 13th / YMMV

Subpages by work:

Films

Other

Friday the 13th: The Game

The movies in general:

Alternative Character Interpretation:
- Jason Voorhees, a child stuck in a body of a revenant who misses his mother, or a sadistic killing machine who ends his victims in creative ways For the Evulz?
- The fifth movie inspired James Rolfe to speculate that the actual Jason never existed and all his appearances were simply a different man in a mask, since his actors and body shapes change so frequently across movies.
Ass Pull: The franchise has numerous examples, but the biggest might be Jason's mere existence. The first film ends with the twist that no, Jason wasn't the one killing people, it was his mother, but suddenly in the second film Jason's alive and well and he was living in the woods around Camp Crystal Lake for decades. How did he survive his supposed drowning? Why did no one notice until just then? Especially his own mother, who had also been stalking the woods in the same area for years? What are the odds he shares his mother's brutally homicidal tendencies? Why do people keep going back to Crystal Lake for him to kill, right after his latest killing spree in the area? How did he survive an ax being smashed into his skull? It's best not to think about it too hard.
Audience-Alienating Era:
- A New Beginning was widely considered a disappointment by series fans, especially coming right on the heels of a film that had been subtitled The Final Chapter. The Plot Twist that the killer this time was a Copycat Killer of Jason Voorhees went over particularly poorly, and while it was still a hit, it was easily the lowest-grossing film in the series since the second one; the franchise would never again reach the box-office heights it did before this. Notably, Jason Lives revived Jason as a Revenant Zombie and met a much better reception for it.
- The series really lost its edge when The New Blood was butchered by the MPAA to avoid an X rating, though the film itself still has some fans. The ultimate point of no return came with Jason Takes Manhattan the following year, which was a Franchise Killer that convinced Paramount (who had always been ashamed of the series' success) to offload the rights to the first film's director, who in turn sold them to New Line Cinema, who proceeded to churn out two very poorly-received installments that are viewed as So Bad, It's Good at best — one where Jason turned out to be a demonic entity capable of body surfing, and another where he went to space — before finally getting off their asses and making Freddy vs. Jason, which, by and large, ended the era. The 2009 remake is also generally regarded as acceptable (or at least, better than most other horror remakes), though not great. The only redeeming value that many fans can universally agree on from the era is that Kane Hodder, who played Jason from the seventh film through the tenth, was pretty damn awesome in the role.
Awesome Music: Has its own page.
Common Knowledge:
- Jason has never used a chainsaw, despite the fact that he is often depicted in parody work doing so, to the point of being half the inspiration for the Hockey Mask and Chainsaw trope. The chainsaw is instead the preferred weapon of Leatherface. Jason's weapon is a machete, and he is just as infamous for using the environment to spear, slash, and crush his victims.
- Some people think Jason only ever walks, which is true for the second half of his films; however, in the earlier movies he was shown running fairly frequently.
Creepy Awesome: Jason. He wears a cool mask, is in various stages of undeath, provides creative kills, has an instantly recognizable leitmotif, and his plain unstoppability is only rivalled by characters like the Terminator.
Critical Dissonance: Despite their box office success and cultural impact, critics generally don't take kindly to these films. The most highly rated film in the series is the original film, which hold a 63% on Rotten Tomatoes. The video game adaptation is the most highly rated work in the franchise overall, with a 64 on Metacritic.
Critic-Proof: Every single entry has been panned by critics, but that hasn't stopped all twelve entries from making back their budgets, usually several times over. Admittedly, this has a lot to do with most of them having minuscule budgets.
Crossover Ship:
- Jason is depicted in a lot of artwork (especially Japanese artwork) alongside Sadako, likely due to having similar origins (bullied as a child, raised by a single mother, dies by being thrown into a body of water).
- Jason is also sometimes paired with Carr ie Wh ite, due to similar reasons as Sadako.
- Unsurprisingly, Jason is also commonly depicted as best friends (or even lovers) with Michael Myers.
Draco in Leather Pants: A lot of people take Jason's Crazy Survivalist Knight Templar Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas angle and run with it. He has an astonishing amount of fanfiction where he falls in love with the one girl who he doesn't kill, frequently becoming a literate mentally sound gentleman who just happens to go on mindless merciless killing sprees every now and then.
Ensemble Dark Horse:
- A few minor characters proved quite popular among fans. Some examples would be Crazy Ralph from the first two films, and Violet from A New Beginning.
- The most popular Final Girl of the series, however, is Ginny Field. In fact, she's so popular she often places in "Best Final Girls Ever" lists.
- Tommy Jarvis from Parts 4-6 is also fairly loved by fans, mostly for being the only recurring character in more than 2 films and is shown to be quite resourceful in his efforts against Jason.
Evil Is Cool: Jason Voorhees. The 2009 reboot also deliberately tries to invoke this by making him a Genius Bruiser with elements of Rambo.
Fanon Discontinuity:
- Not as severe as other franchises, but depending on the fan the most widely ignored entries tend to be Part V (for using Roy as the main killer instead of Jason), Part VIII (for not living up to its premise of Jason killing teens in Manhattan) and Jason Goes to Hell (for changing up the mythology of the franchise by trying to answer why Jason’s an indestructible killer, only for it to create even more questions).
- Some fans go as far as to say that only the first 4 films happened and pretend the zombie-Jason stuff never happened.
  - This works both ways too, as other fans prefer the zombie-Jason movies and ignore the earlier films altogether.
Fandom Rivalry: A mostly-friendly one with A Nightmare on Elm Street. Fans of one tend to be fans of the other, though also tend to prefer one or the other, and can gleefully debate whether Freddy or Jason is the better slasher (or which one turned in more entertaining movies).
Franchise Original Sin: Has its own page.
Friendly Fandoms:
- With Evil Dead and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Each franchise references the other at one point or another, and there were so many fans of all three franchises that they even had a three-way crossover.
- With Halloween fans as well considering both slasher villains are similar in concept (unstoppable monster in a mask slaughtering teens).
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Jason is just as much a pop culture icon in Japan as he is in America. This is because Japan was going through a horror boom when the franchise was at its peak in the 80s, and the films became popular imports to theaters as a result. Jason's backstory also happens to neatly slide into various Japanese horror tropes, adding to the appeal. To date, every film in the series has been released in Japan with dubs and there's even exclusive merchandise and home releases. The Japanese VHS release of Part III, in particular, was a very sought after import, being the only way to see the film 3D-formatted at home for a time.
Iconic Character, Forgotten Title: While the "Friday the 13th" title is hardly forgotten, people do have a tendency to refer to the movies as "the Jason films" more often than their actual titles, which makes things interesting as Jason isn't even the killer in Parts 1 or 5. Not helping is the fact that the New Line Films, barring the reboot, do explicitly have Jason as part of the main title for each movie rather than "Friday the 13th."
Iconic Sequel Outfit:
- While Jason is the Trope Codifier for Hockey Mask and Chainsaw, he didn't get his hockey mask until the third film, where he takes the mask after killing Shelly and it has been a mainstay ever since.
- Jason's dark pants, black shirt, and heavy jacket worn in Freddy vs. Jason has served as the basis for his design in most following Friday the 13th media, including the remake, Mortal Kombat X, and Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle. It's even used for the franchise page image.
It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Parts two to four can come off as this, as they all have very similar plot structure. Later films get more creative with their presentation, though some of them are disliked for getting too creative.
Jerkass Woobie: Jason. Yes, he's a psychotic murderer, but the man is only acting out because he almost died from drowning as a bullied/ostracized child, grew up on his own in the woods, and then witnessed the death of his mother, the only person who cared about him.
Most Wonderful Sound: Jason's leitmotif (ki-ki-ki-ma-ma-ma).
My Real Daddy: In light of Victor Miller’s ownership lawsuit causing the cancellation of future content for the Friday the 13th: The Game and putting potential future films and the intellectual property of the series in jeopardy, some fans have turned on him and have begun to point towards the contributions of other people in the first film and the sequels as being responsible for the series’s legacy. Namely, Sean S. Cunningham and Tom Savini are cited for the dream ending with Child Jason and the actual finished product, in addition to encouraging the survival of the franchise into the present day. However, others are sympathetic to Miller over the fact he reportedly did not get any revenue from the franchise that ensued and want him to get ownership of the full franchise, at least so that he could potentially hand it off to someone else. Sean S. Cunningham's apathetic approach to the New Line Cinema installments also polarize fans, as Jason Goes To Hell and Jason X are widely considered some of the worst films in the series.
Narm: Has its own page.
Narm Charm: The majority of Jason X, if not the series as a whole.
Newer Than They Think: Jason nowadays is almost always portrayed as wearing a jacket of some sorts, but he only started wearing one in Jason X ^note and didn't have one at all in the films produced during the series' heyday in the 80s.
Nightmare Retardant: Jason's status as an often referenced pop culture icon has turned him into this. Kind of ironic, really. Think about it: if, in Real Life, you found yourself being pursued by a relentless, pissed-off, virtually indestructible mass murderer who was built like a pro athlete and wanted nothing more than to bury a machete in your head, wouldn't you be just a little bit scared?
Only the Creator Does It Right: While Victor Miller wrote the original and most positively received film in the franchise, the iconic adult version of Jason Voorhees and his hockey mask were created in the sequels without his involvement. Additionally, the fourth and sixth films are more popular than the original among some circles, somewhat weakening this stance. However, Victor Miller incurred the wrath of the fan base when he filed a lawsuit over his contributions to the franchise and his ownership of characters in it, which prevented future films from potentially being made and causing Friday the 13th: The Game to lose DLC support. This subsequently caused some fans to turn on him and point towards the contributions of others on the original film and the sequels as having the true lasting impact on the series over him. However, others are sympathetic to Miller over the fact he reportedly did not get any revenue from the franchise that ensued and want him to get ownership of the full franchise, at least so that he could potentially hand it off to someone else.
Pop Culture Holiday: Naturally, any actual Friday the 13th that rolls around (especially in the summer months or in October) is a time of celebration for fans. For fan artists in particular it's become something of a "Draw Jason Day", in either the scariest or goofiest ways imaginable.
Rooting for the Empire: Most of the protagonists in these films are too boring or unlikeable to care about, so who wouldn't want Jason to kill them all off? This typically comes into play from the fourth film onwards. The third film has elements of it, but they're still a minor compared to the relatively decent, likeable protagonists — we have three random bike gang scum types, and one obnoxious practical jokester (who admits he only does so because he's a fat nerdy loser type and it's the only way he can think of to make people like him), compared to a pregnant woman and her loving boyfriend; two friendly, quiet-natured hippies; and a traumatized girl with her boyfriend, who tries to understand why she's such a wreck. And in the first two films, the counselors are generally pleasant, affable folk, who only count as jerkasses because they see nothing wrong with smoking, drinking or premarital sex.
Sequel Displacement: Friday the 13th (1980) has the best ratings of the franchise on review sites like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb, but in pop culture, the franchise is best known for Jason, who makes his proper debut as the main slasher in Friday the 13th Part 2. For that reason, people generally recommend to watch the sequels, since the original movie doesn't follow the formula.
Sequelitis: With 10+ films, it was bound to happen. Amongst the individual films, Parts V and VIII, Jason Goes To Hell and Jason X are usually the most commonly cited to be among the worst of the series.
Star Trek Movie Curse: Before the series entered its late-period Audience-Alienating Era, the quality of the movies was all over the place. The first two films both enjoy good reputations as '80s slashers despite some Early-Installment Weirdness, though most fans would say that the series didn't come into its own until the second, which introduced Jason Voorhees as the series' iconic villain. The third, despite introducing the hockey mask Jason the series is best known for, is remembered as a mess that relied more on its gimmicky 3D effects than plot, characters, or actors, but the fourth film, titled The Final Chapter and intended as a Grand Finale, was a near-perfect distillation of everything the series represented and a film that could've ended the franchise on a high note. The fifth film, A New Beginning, is remembered as one of the worst films in the series, with the sleaze cranked up to ridiculous levels and a climatic twist that the killer wasn't actually Jason that infuriated fans, while the sixth film, Jason Lives, is remembered as one of the best, as a more self-referential take on the franchise that introduced the most popular Revenant Zombie version of Jason. After that, however, the series went through a long stretch of films that ranged from middling to outright bad ^{In order...} before Freddy vs. Jason became the first Friday in sixteen years to more or less meet the approval of fans. The 2009 remake is also regarded as a surprisingly not-terrible Adaptation Distillation, even if it's not as iconic as the earlier films.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: A New Beginning (for Jason being replaced by a copycat killer), Jason Takes Manhattan (for changing the setting to a cruise ship and then to a big city), Jason Goes to Hell (for turning Jason into a body-hopping demon), Jason X (for sending Jason to a campy adventure in space), and the 2009 reboot are often victims of this.
Took the Bad Film Seriously: Kane Hodder's dedicated performance as Jason made him arguably the most popular actor among the many who have played the hockey masked killer. Unfortunately, the films where Hodder portrayed Jason were the ones during the franchise's Audience-Alienating Era. ^note
Woolseyism: In Latin America, the series is known as Martes 13, or Tuesday the 13th, as that date holds similarly unlucky connotations in Latin American folklore.

The NES video game:

Character Tiers: The counselors are easily divided up in terms of utility, and the game rewards speed over every other trait they might have. That, by itself, puts Mark and Crissy right at the top of the list, with Laura trailing behind them since she can't jump as high. George, Paul and Debbie will count themselves fortunate to be used by any players who aren't specifically making a point to actually use each counselor's individual strengths, or who aren't playing a Self-Imposed Challenge.
Complacent Gaming Syndrome: Most players stick to either Mark or Crissy like glue, since they're the fastest runners and the highest jumpers.
Cult Classic: To a certain extent. The game's reception has not improved over the years, but it has developed a following of fans who view it as an interesting curiosity. The cryptic gameplay, bizarre visuals and the very fact that something as morbid as Friday the 13th got a licensed game on the NES during the height of Nintendo's reputation as good clean family fun all make for quite the spectacle if nothing else.
Once Original, Now Common: At the time of its release in 1989, it was taboo for video games in the United States to make references to death, due to games still being seen as children's toys. Player characters were never "dead", just "knocked out", "defeated", "finished", or similar euphemisms. So for this game to explicitly inform the player that "You and your friends are dead" was a big deal in its heyday. Nowadays, it's pretty normal for video games to tell a defeated player that their characters are dead (although some games avoid using "dead" to refer to a character with no hit points left to distinguish from a permanent Plotline Death), making the once shocking element completely lots.
Paranoia Fuel: Jason could occasionally show up unannounced inside one of the cabins that you were investigating for items and notes. And once you're inside with him, you're locked in until you face him.
Retroactive Recognition: This was one of the very first games developed by Atlus. Yes, that Atlus.
The Problem with Licensed Games: It's very difficult, it's very easy to get lost, and Jason constantly pops up to kill off counselors and children when you're in the middle of doing something.
Watch It for the Meme: Play it because it's one of the few 80's games released outside of Japan to actually say "dead".
WTH, Costuming Department?: Jason's bizarre blue and purple color scheme has developed this reputation among fans.

Black Flame Novels:

Complete Monster: Caleb Carson, the Big Bad of The Jason Strain, is a Corrupt Corporate Executive whose pride and joy is Xtreme Elimination 2, a reality show in which Condemned Contestants are pitted against each other and "special guest" Jason Voorhees in the jungles of South America. After Jason is kidnapped from the "set" and unintentionally given the ability to spread a zombie plague by a group of scientists, Carson becomes psychotically obsessed with salvaging his series, going as far as having his mercenaries massacre the facility that had developed a cure for the virus so that he can abduct Jason and the other remaining competitors from it and start over in America, not caring that Jason was still highly contagious and could potentially end all life on the planet if not given the vaccine. Carson afterward reveals that he had framed "star contestant" Butch Malone for the double homicide that landed him on death row, knowing that the only way he could get Malone to agree to compete on Xtreme Elimination 2 was by ruining his life and leaving him with no other option, with the worst part being that Butch never had a chance of winning anyway and was set up from the start to die a "dramatic" death in the final round of the game.
Hilarious in Hindsight: One of Jason's victims in Hate-Kill-Repeat is named Michael Rosen.

YMMV / Friday the 13th

Edit Locked

Subpages by work:

The movies in general:

The NES video game:

Black Flame Novels: