Line #6 FranchiseOriginalSin/FridayThe13th


1	!All spoilers will be unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!
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3	For all the hay made about the series more or less [[FranchiseKiller committing suicide]] in later installments, it's easy to overlook the fact that several of the wounds responsible [[FranchiseOriginalSin were first inflicted in earlier installments]].
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5	* A common criticism of ''Film/FridayThe13th2009'' is its prologue, which can almost be described as a short film where a ''Friday'' movie plays out in miniature before viewers get to the main story and characters. Yet the same complaint could also be lodged at the older films. ''Film/FridayThe13thPart2'' had a similarly lengthy prologue in which Alice, the [[FinalGirl last surviving character]] from [[Film/FridayThe13th1980 the original]], is [[SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome suddenly killed off]][[note]]The producers originally planned for Alice to play a larger role, but her actress Adrienne King had just had an ordeal with a LoonyFan stalker that ultimately caused her to retire from acting, and would only return if her part would be as small as possible.[[/note]], while ''[[Film/FridayThe13thPartIII Part III]]'' has not one, but two prologues, one of which is literally the ending of the prior film replayed to serve as a recap. It was even worse in the older films, as while the prologue of the 2009 ''Friday'' serves to provide motivation for Clay (who is searching for his sister Whitney, the FinalGirl from that prologue), the openings of ''Part 2'' and ''Part 3'' never come up again in the rest of their respective films except in passing, making the {{padding}} that much more noticeable. The difference was, the opening of the 2009 ''Friday'' was almost a complete SlasherMovie in its own right (albeit abbreviated), making it seem as if these characters will be far more important than they turn out to be.
6	* Another major problem that dogged the series during its original run was the fact that Creator/{{Paramount}} refused to spend all that much money on it, even as it became one of the biggest horror franchises of The80s. Even in earlier films, this problem was apparent with the generally low production values, but the filmmakers were generally able to cover for this by shooting in the woods and packing the films with [[{{gorn}} graphic violence]]. Two things happened, however, that brought this issue to a breaking point. First, the MPAA started [[{{Bowdlerise}} cutting later films to ribbons]], taking away the cheap gore effects. Second, the [[DuelingWorks/FilmHorror competing]] ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'' franchise actually ''did'' get real money and talent put behind it by Creator/NewLineCinema, meaning that there was now a far more lavish SlasherMovie franchise to compare it to. The nadir came with the [[FranchiseKiller franchise-killing]] eighth film, ''[[Film/FridayThe13thPartVIIIJasonTakesManhattan Jason Takes Manhattan]]'', where budget cuts meant the production had no money to shoot in New York for more than a week, leading to some very obvious cases of CaliforniaDoubling (UsefulNotes/{{Vancouver}} stood in for TheBigRottenApple) and NeverTrustATrailer (most of the film wound up set on a cruise ship).
7	* There was also the series' overreliance on [[DancingBear gimmicks]] rather than characters or story, which first became a problem with the sixth film, ''[[Film/FridayThe13thPartVIJasonLives Jason Lives]]''. The fifth film, ''[[Film/FridayThe13thPartVANewBeginning A New Beginning]]'', greatly upended the franchise status quo by having a JackTheRipoff of Jason Voorhees as the killer and setting up Tommy Jarvis, the film's protagonist, to [[RogueProtagonist become the killer in the next one]], and met a very negative reception from series fans as a result. When ''Jason Lives'' brought Jason back as a RevenantZombie, it helped to WinBackTheCrowd, and is still seen nowadays as a return to form after ''A New Beginning'', especially given its self-aware humor that, among other things, mocked its FranchiseZombie nature. Unfortunately, it also set a precedent for the use of gimmicks to lure in audiences. ''[[Film/FridayThe13thPartVIITheNewBlood The New Blood]]'' had Jason battling a CaptainErsatz of [[Literature/{{Carrie}} Carrie White]], ''Jason Takes Manhattan'' [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin had its gimmick right in the title]], ''Film/JasonGoesToHellTheFinalFriday'' turned Jason into a [[BodySurf body-surfing]] demon spirit, and ''Film/JasonX'' was ''Friday'' [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!]] -- all of these met diminishing returns with critics, fans, and moviegoers alike, especially since they lacked the meta humor that allowed ''Jason Lives'' to go down easier.
8	* The [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels biker gang]] in ''Part III'' were the first characters in the series who felt like they were written as {{Hate Sink}}s, acting like jerks just so audiences [[RootingForTheEmpire wouldn't feel bad about watching Jason slaughter them]] -- a problem that would grow throughout the rest of the series. However, the films up through ''Jason Lives'' still made an effort to [[DevelopingDoomedCharacters give at least some of them enough development]] that their deaths still left an impact on the viewers, demonstrating that they were good friends and had people who cared about them even if they were dicks overall. Furthermore, the bikers were outsiders to the main group, harassing them at the convenience store and then planning to burn down their barn before getting killed off early in the film, before they [[TheScrappy overstayed their welcome]]. By ''The New Blood'', however, just about every character, even the one who we’re supposed to like (aside from Tina, Nick, Maddy, and Tina’s mom), was [[AssholeVictim stupid, snarky, and mean-spirited]] to the point where [[EightDeadlyWords it’s hard to care about anybody who dies]].
9	* Jason has always seemed to have powers of OffscreenTeleportation, to the point where fans sometimes jokingly call it the "Voorhees Unreality Engine". ''VideoGame/FridayThe13thTheGame'' even lampshaded it by making it a game mechanic, and ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle'' had to seriously discuss whether or not he had it when breaking down his abilities.[[note]]They did the same for his opponent in the episode he was featured in, [[Characters/HalloweenMichaelMyers Michael Myers]], but to a lesser degree since Michael had fewer blatant instances. They ultimately played the battle under the assumption that neither could teleport, even though Wiz was thoroughly stumped to explain some of Jason's movements.[[/note]] Earlier films, however, took place in campgrounds and forests that were fairly large and spread out, so it was easier for either the characters to get lost or for Jason to circle around his victims. Plus, before becoming as a zombie, he was shown to be fully capable of running. ''Jason Takes Manhattan'', however, is set well after his resurrection (after which he was almost never shown moving faster than a walk on-screen, implying that, being a zombie, he couldn't), and mostly on a cruise ship or in tight alleyways, where that reasoning doesn't work nearly as well. Jason is never seen climbing a ladder to grab Miles, nor is he shown entering the building he throws [=McColloch=] out of, but he does so anyways. Of course, actually confirming that he had the in-universe ability to teleport wouldn't be any less realistic than turning him into a super-strong zombie, but the films never did, and if he actually had that ability, [[StoryBreakerPower he could have averted almost all his defeats and easily killed the protagonists,]] confirming to many viewers that him always appearing in front of his victims was just bad editing or lazy writing, and possibly an attempt to make him like [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger]] in this film. [[TooBleakStoppedCaring Knowing that Jason will catch the victim regardless of speed or environment also makes it hard to get invested in any of the franchise's signature chase scenes.]]
10	* The fourth film, ''[[Film/FridayThe13thTheFinalChapter The Final Chapter]]'', produced a minor one of these. The ending hinted that Tommy Jarvis, the adolescent boy who defeats Jason at the end, had undergone a StartOfDarkness and would follow the same path as Jason into becoming a murderer. As a film meant to close out the series, this was a nice, ominous note to end it on, and ''The Final Chapter'' is still regarded as one of the better ''Friday'' films in no small part for it. However, [[FranchiseZombie the series did not end with its so-called final chapter]], and the following film, ''A New Beginning'', built on the ending of its predecessor by trying to make Jason a LegacyCharacter, the ending showing Tommy as having gone mad and taken up Jason's machete and hockey mask. This twist met such a negative reception that the producers hastily abandoned it when they made the next film, ''Jason Lives'', which retconned the ending of ''A New Beginning'' as having been AllJustADream.
11	* Jason's NewPowersAsThePlotDemands. It's easy to forget, but the series starring one of the toughest and bloodiest slasher villains ever [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness began]] with a middle-aged, single mother as the killer, who gets KilledOffForReal during the climax. Jason being a somewhat mystical entity, however, was foreshadowed both by Alice's ImagineSpot of him jumping out of the lake as a zombie, and the implication that he was still alive. ''Part 2'' further mystified him by never actually explaining how Jason was alive after his apparent drowning and [[FridgeLogic why, if he was, Pamela killed so many to avenge him]]. ''Jason Lives'' made Jason explicitly superhuman by [[BackFromTheDead rising out of the grave]] after being [[LightningCanDoAnything stuck by lightning]], but as noted above, this was a deliberately [[RefugeInAudacity crazy move for a previously somewhat grounded horror series]], and done in a tongue-in-cheek manner. ''The New Blood'', however, gave the now-supervillain a rival superhero in the form of the telekinetic Tina, and ''Jason Takes Manhattan'' implied that he really could teleport. By the time of ''[[DemonicPossession Jason Goes to Hell]]'' and ''[[WeCanRebuildHim Jason X]]'', he'd practically become a walking parody of the slasher villain, but these two films weren't always in on the joke, creating tonal issues.
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Context FranchiseOriginalSin / FridayThe13th