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"There's a legend around here. A killer buried, but not dead. A curse on Crystal Lake, a death curse. Jason Voorhees' curse. They say he died as a boy, but he keeps coming back. Few have seen him and lived. Some have even tried to stop him. No one can."
—Opening narration of Friday the 13th: Part VII - The New Blood
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"I told the others, they didn't believe me! You're all doomed! You're all doomed!"
—Crazy Ralph, Friday the 13th: Part 2
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Friday the 13th is a series of Slasher Movies, currently containing twelve installments (with a thirteenth in development).
This Villain Based Franchise is mainly based around the hockey-masked wearing, machete-wielding, Psychopathic Manchild of a zombie named Jason Voorhees. As a child, Jason allegedly drowned at Camp Crystal Lake due to the negligence of the teenage camp counselors. Decades later, the lake and surrounding campgrounds are rumored to be "cursed" and are the setting for a series of mass murders staged on or around Friday the 13th (Jason's birthday).
Though clearly inspired by the Halloween series of movies, Friday the 13th is the Trope Codifier for the slasher genre. The films typically start with a Developing Doomed Characters sequence: a group of teenagers - typically counselors or vacationers - have come to Crystal Lake for various reasons, but they usually involve sex and drugs. They (along with more than a few other minor characters along the way) are slowly hunted down and killed in a variety of ways, one by one, with none of the remaining members of the group being the wiser until the Final Girl (and occasionally a Tagalong Kid) discovers the bodies and forces a confrontation with the killer.
Though it is a series, and each movie follows the previous one (sometimes even starting directly after), there are few recurring elements besides Jason and the Crystal Lake location; the exception to this rule are installments 4, 5 and 6, as these films feature the character of Tommy Jarvis. As a boy (in 4), Tommy loses quite a bit of sanity after his mother is murdered by Jason (who Tommy ends up killing in turn), and when he grows up, Tommy dedicates himself to the destruction of Jason at any cost; ironically, Tommy's quest to eradicate Jason inadvertently becomes the catalyzing force for Jason's resurrection as a nigh-unstoppable zombie.
The franchise's name was slapped onto a horror anthology series - Friday the 13th: The Series - which had very little to do with the films. There was also a Nintendo Hard video game adaptation.
Jason's hockey mask is iconic enough to be part of the Hockey Mask and Chainsaw trope. (It should be noted that Jason never actually uses a chainsaw in any of the films.)
Here are some (very) brief synopses for each movie of the franchise:
Friday the 13th (1980)
They were warned... They are doomed... And on Friday the 13th, nothing will save them. |
Counselors are stalked and killed in cold blood at Camp Crystal Lake as they attempt to prepare the camp to be reopened.
As famously pointed out in the opening of Scream, this movie does not actually feature Jason as the killer; it's actually his mother, Pamela Voorhees, who blames the counselors at the camp's previous incarnation for letting her son drown (since they were too busy having sex to watch him). Despite what the sequels became, this film is surprisingly effective as a horror piece.
Friday the 13th: Part II (1981)
The body count continues... |
Counselors are stalked and killed in cold blood at Camp Crystal Lake. Sensing a pattern here?
Even though this film is pretty much a retread of the previous film, it features the first occurrence of Jason as the killer; his face is covered by a cloth sack instead of the iconic hockey mask, which he would gain in...
Friday the 13th: Part III (1982)
A new dimension in terror! |
Teenagers are stalked and killed in cold blood at a farmhouse near Camp Crystal Lake. You'd think they'd know better by now, wouldn't you?
Originally shot in 3-D, the film randomly features shots of popcorn popping and yo-yos coming toward the camera - along with a couple of (very cool) three-dimensional kills. This is also the movie where Jason gets the iconic hockey mask, and it's also likely that this the film where your sympathies start going towards the killer.
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
This Friday the 13th, Jason meets his maker. |
Teenagers are stalked and killed at a lake house near Camp Crystal Lake. The police really should be looking into this...
This film was a Series Fauxnale, as it was expected to be the last film in the series; it performed so well at the box office, however, that the series continued anyway. This film features Corey Feldman as the young Tommy Jarvis, Crispin Glover as one of the teenagers, a lot of gratuitous nudity, what is widely believed to be the best gore in the series (courtesy of Tom Savini), and a ton of Narm Charm. If you want a So Bad It's Good teen comedy that morphs into a So Cool It's Awesome horror movie, this is the one to check out.
Friday the 13th: Part V - A New Beginning (1985)
If Jason still haunts you, you're not alone! |
Teenagers and adults alike are stalked and killed at a halfway house for troubled teens located near Crystal Lake - and one of the teenagers staying at the house is Tommy Jarvis, who is still trying to recover from his encounter with Jason four years prior.
This film features a twist where the hockey-masked killer turns out not to be Jason, but a man who went insane after the death of his son, which occurred at the halfway house earlier in the film, and adopted the "Jason" identity to go on a revenge-fuelled killing spree. While it's considered one of the worst of the series in terms of the plot, it does feature some of the best death performances of the whole franchise. These kids know how to die!
Friday the 13th: Part VI - Jason Lives (1986)
If you think it's hard to keep a good man down... try keeping down a bad one! |
After Jason is accidentally resurrected by Tommy Jarvis, teenagers are stalked and killed in the town of Crystal Lake - all while Tommy seeks to stop the Crystal Lake Killer once and for all.
This film is noticeably less gory than previous installments, and it's the only one in the series to feature no nudity whatsoever (due to an upswing of Moral Guardians at the MPAA); even with these drawbacks, it's still regarded as one of the finest and most tightly-plotted films in the series by fans. This entry is probably most notable for being the turning point at which the series seemed to recognize how utterly goofy it was and started to include some Lampshade Hanging and self-deprecatory humor (until the remake tried to make things scary again, at least).
As an aside: this is the only film in the series where kids actually make it to a newly-reopened Camp Crystal Lake.
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
This Friday the 13th, Jason is back - but this time, someone's waiting... |
Teenagers are stalked and killed at a campground near Crystal Lake. Shocking change of pace, right? This time, instead of Tommy Jarvis, a young woman named Tina Shepard is the one to both awaken and confront Jason over the course of the film.
This was actually the first attempt to bring about Freddy vs. Jason; after negotiations between Paramount and New Line broke down, a girl with Psychic Powers (Tina) was turned into the lead protagonist, which resulted in the film receiving the Fan Nickname of Jason vs. Carrie. This was the first movie to feature Kane Hodder in the role of Jason, and many fans consider Hodder to be the best actor to play the role.
Friday the 13th: Part VIII - Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
New York has a new problem. |
Teenagers are stalked and killed on a cruise ship, before the slaughterfest then moves to Manhattan for the last twenty minutes. At least it's something different, right?
This film was actually filmed in Vancouver - and it shows. It's most notable for a scene where Jason punches the head off of one of his victims. The film is the lowest-grossing movie in the series and generally considered to be the worst entry, though fans have pointed out a few charms.
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)
Evil has finally found a home. |
Jason is finally killed by the government, but gets partially resurrected thanks to his evil heart. Now limited to jumping from body to body as an evil spirit, Jason seeks out his last surviving relatives so that he can kill them before they can kill him. Along the way, he kills a bunch of people.
This is another Series Fauxnale, but this time, it goes completely off the rails thanks to the "body-jumping hell spirit" gimmick. In the final scene of the film, Jason's hockey mask gets dragged down to Hell by Freddy Krueger's bladed glove, setting up the crossover film that would come ten years later. Jason only shows up twice during the film (at the very beginning and at the very end).
Jason X (2001)
This Halloween, meet the perfect 10 in terror! |
Teenagers (and Space Marines) are stalked and killed on a spaceship after picking up Jason's cryogenically frozen body at an abandoned Crystal Lake. Then he fights a robot. Then he becomes a robot and kills more people.
This film is well-known by fans, not only for being extremely cheesy (to the point where it can be considered the most humorous entry of the franchise), but also for containing one of the best death sequences in the franchise (a woman gets her face frozen in liquid nitrogen before Jason smashes it to pieces) and the VR scene depicting the Camp Crystal Lake of the past (which pretty much defined exactly what the whole series was all about). It also features a brief appearance by David Cronenberg.
(Despite its name, it has nothing to do with the meme of pressing X to "Jason!".)
Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
When the son of a hundred maniacs battles an unstoppable killing machine, no-one will survive! |
Jason teams up with, and then turns on, Freddy Krueger; this leads them to stalk and kill a bunch of teenagers before fighting each other, but in the end, nothing is settled. If you consider the statistics, Jason technically won with over twenty kills to Freddy's one. Word of God also differs on who ultimately won and what the ending of the film means, depending on which "God" you talk to.
The film takes place after both Jason Goes To Hell and Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare; Jason X and Wes Craven's New Nightmare have no bearing on the film's story, though it could be considered a prequel of sorts to the former.
Friday the 13th (2009)
Prepare for the day everyone fears... |
This is a Continuity Reboot of the series; if you've read this far, then you don't even have to guess what the plot is.
This reboot film was created with the intent of giving Jason much more of a personality and emphasizing a "menacing survivalist" nature (does that mean his kill count gets rebooted, too?). There are plans for a sequel to this film - which would make it the thirteenth film in the franchise, if one counts Freddy vs. Jason as part of the franchise - but said sequel is currently sitting in Development Hell.
- 3D Movie: Part III, naturally.
- Aborted Arc: Part V's Sequel Hook.
- In the first movie, it seemed to imply that there was a relationship of some sort between Alice and Steve (the guy opening the camp), but none of this is explained further.
- Absolute Cleavage: Janessa in Jason X.
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: Screw katanas, machetes are the sharpest blades in the world!
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Apparently in Part VIII, New York has a big one.
- Agony of the Feet: Jason stabs Whitney's boyfriend through the foot from under the floor when they're checking his cabin in the remake.
- All Bikers Are Hells Angels: The three bikers in Part III.
- The Alleged Car: Ginny's car in Part 2, which works as a justification for the My Car Hates Me moment later on.
- Alliterative Name: Every '80s glam rock cliche combining JJ Jarrett in Part VIII.
- Alpha Bitch: The Rich Bitch Melissa in Part VII.
- ...And Show It to You: Hawes dies in Part VI when Jason punches through him, grabbing his heart in the process.
- An Arm and a Leg: Jason cuts Ali's hand off in Part III before killing him.
- Jason rips off Burt's arm when he takes his machete in Part VI. He also hacks Roy to pieces offscreen.
- Thanks to Azrael's bumbling, a frozen Jason falls and cuts his arm off in Jason X. Later, Jason literally loses an arm and a leg during his fight against Kay-Em.
- Artifact Title: Only about half the films are actually set on Friday the 13th.
- It's closer to three quarters, not even counting a couple of early entries that occur just prior to or just after the 13th.
- Asshole Victim: It's a slasher film, so it's to be expected. Dr. McCulloch from Jason Takes Manhattan is probably the strongest example, since every second he spends on-screen seems to be devoted to making you cheer when Jason finally drowns him in a barrel full of sewage.
- Melissa in Part VII.
- Trent in the remake.
- Ali, Fox and Loco in Part III.
- Lowe in Jason X.
- Attempted Rape: After arriving in New York in Part VIII, two muggers attempt to rape Rennie. She is saved by Jason in a Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work moment.
- Auto Erotica: Ben and Kate in the van in Part VII.
- Autopsy Snack Time: In Jason Goes To Hell, the second coroner who walks in on a Voorhees-possessed medical examiner is carrying a pizza, and was presumably intending to eat it right there in the autopsy room.
- Ax Crazy: Aside from the obvious, there's Victor in Part V, who hacks up Joey in a fit of rage.
- Axe Before Entering: No door can hold Jason out. Happens literally in Part III and The Final Chapter.
- An Axe to Grind: Jason uses an axe in Part III and The Final Chapter.
- Badass Normal: Brodski in Jason X. Seriously, he's the only man who could really take Jason out. Aside from Kay-Em, who's a robot.
- Barrier-Busting Blow: Provided the page picture.
- Batter Up: Alice, in the first film, grabs a baseball bat briefly to defend herself.
- Battle Amongst the Flames: Tommy grappling with Jason in the burning water in Part VI's climax.
- The climactic showdown of Freddy vs. Jason.
- Bear Trap: Richie, in the remake, gets caught in a bear trap set by Jason. Later on, Whitney uses a bear trap against Jason during the final confrontation.
- Beat Still My Heart: Jason's heart in Jason Goes to Hell.
- Berserk Button: After Jason supposedly drowned at Camp Crystal Lake, his mother Pamela killed most of the next counselors to inhabit Camp Crystal Lake years later.
- Jason has his own button: disrespect his later mother in any way, and it will not end well for you.
- Big Applesauce: Part VIII, obviously.
- Big Bad: Jason Voorhees in most of the movies, the exceptions being Pamela Voorhees in the first movie and Roy Burns in Part V.
- Big Damn Heroes: Reggie saving Pam in Part V with a tractor.
- Big No: Chili screams out one in Part III when she finds the corpses of Andy and Debbie. Chris does a rapid-fire variation when Jason refuses to give up chasing her.
- Big "Shut Up!": Lowe to the panicking students when Jason is closing in on them in Jason X.
- Billing Displacement: Alice gets third billing for Part 2 when she has less than 10 minutes of screentime and even most of that is just a flashback to the first film.
- Black Eyes of Evil: In the ending of The Final Chapter, after Tommy has killed Jason rather violently and hugs his sister with his eyes closed, he opens them to show us that there is something not right about him anymore...
- Black Guy Dies First: Averted in the remake. About eight people die before he bites it.
- Also, if one counts it in the franchise, Freddy vs. Jason has the lone African American character dying toward the end, long after nearly twenty people have bought it.
- Subverted in Part III. Ali survives being whacked over the head with a lead pipe by Jason, and then attacks him for killing Fox and Loco. Ali manages to buy Chris some time to escape, but gets sliced to pieces for his troubles.
- Blade on a Stick: Jason uses one to kill Tina's mom in Part VII.
- Blood Is Squicker in Water: The bloody clothes in the bathtub in Part III.
- Jason's face getting sliced up underwater by a propellor in Part VI.
- Bloodless Carnage: In Jason X, Jason crashes two future gamers in the middle of a VR gaming session, and does what he does best. However, they don't seem to be fazed by the machete-wielding maniac at all, and despite being hacked into pieces, they don't bleed, die or show any pain. Then they end the simulation in frustration, and Jason quickly realizes and rectifies his mistake.
- Bloody Hilarious: Depends on whether or not you find Jason's ever more elaborate killings scary or laughably over the top.
- Book Ends: A New Beginning opens and ends with Tommy going through a violent Nightmare Sequence, then waking up from it.
- Bond Gun Barrel: Parodied in Part VI.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Martin the Gravedigger chides the audience of Part VI for their Bile Fascination.
- Break the Cutie: An extreme version happens with Kinsa in Jason X, perhaps the most realistic depiction of how someone would react when trapped in a confined space with a mass murderer. After the deaths of her boyfriend and many others, she goes completely nuts and locks herself in the ship's only shuttle. Then she launches the shuttle without undocking it, killing herself and removing their only means of escape.
- Broad Strokes: The reboot. The events of the original film apparently happened, but Mrs. Voorhees' killing spree happened shortly after her son's "death", rather than 20 years later.
- Buffy-Speak: Azrael describing Jason's cryogenic chamber in Jason X.
Lowe: "Someone tell me what that is?" |
- Buxom Is Better: In the 2009 reboot, Trent can't stop talking about how perfect Bree's breasts are during their sex scene.
Trent: "Your tits are stupendous." |
- California Doubling: Most of the scenes in New York in Part VIII were actually shot in Vancouver, Canada.
- Crystal Lake is supposed to be in upstate New York. Which of course means that you shoot any scenes regarding Crystal Lake in places like California, Texas, Alabama, and Georgia. At least the first two movies shoot in New Jersey and Connecticut, respectively.
- The Cameo: Part VII's Director John Carl Buechler appears in the film's end as the fireman who picks up the halves of Jason's burned mask.
- Kane Hodder appears without the Jason regalia in Jason Goes to Hell as a morgue guard.
- Ken Kirzinger, the man who would play Jason in Freddy vs. Jason, as a worker at a diner who gets thrown into a mirror by Jason in Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan.
- Todd Farmer plays Dallas, one of the VR gamers Jason attacks in Jason X.
- Camera Fiend: Wayne in Part VIII.
- Camping a Crapper: Jason kills Harold when he comes out of the toilet in Part III.
- Happens to Demon in Part V.
- Nikki in Part VI, Jason grabs and kills her in the SUV bathroom.
- Car Chase: Megan and Tommy are involved in a short one with sheriff's deputies in Part VI.
- Car Cushion: Jason pulls Tina through second-story a window and throws her into a car on the ground in The Final Chapter.
- Car Fu: Rennie attempts to kill Jason with a police car in Part VIII.
- Used against possessed Robert in Jason Goes to Hell.
- Cassandra Truth: Tommy's past life in institutions is an obstruction to anyone to believe his claims of Jason's recent revival in Part VI.
- Cat Scare: A random cat scares Alice in Part II before Jason "picks" her.
- Diner's Cat scares Lana in Part V when she's about to go out with Billy.
- The random cat scaring Sandra in Part VII.
- Caught in a Snare: In Part II, one of the camp counselors is caught in a snare and killed by Jason while hanging upside down.
- The Cavalry Arrives Late: Happens in the first three and fifth movies.
- Chainsaw Good: Ginny in Part 2 brandishes a chainsaw briefly to defend herself. Then she runs away.
- Used again for defense in Part V, then the gasoline runs out...
- Averted by Jason himself - despite many MANY media references that combine the hockey mask with a chainsaw, he never used one as a weapon.
- Chairman of the Brawl: Ginny breaks a chair over Jason's head in Part 2.
- Character Development: Over the course of three movies, Tommy Jarvis goes from Tagalong Kid to Broken Bird to Zen Survivor. Definitely the exception, rather than the rule.
- Chase Scene: Lot of running will happen when Jason makes himself properly known.
- Closed Circle: The cruise ship in Part VIII.
- Combat Pragmatist: Jason's methods become much more creative than the ol' slash & stab in A New Beginning. Justified, as it isn't really Jason.
- Common Knowledge:
- Jason never used a Chainsaw Good, despite the fact that he is often depicted in parody work doing so. This is a case of Did Not Do the Research, mixing him up with Leatherface. His canonical weapons of choice are machetes and fire axes.
- To the point that one of the most in-character actions of Jason X is him hunting for his machete for the first third of the film and abandoning the futuristic machete he's been using up until that point when he retrieves it.
- In The New Blood, Jason did use a gas-powered weed whacker on one of his victims. Not a chainsaw, but still...
- To the point that one of the most in-character actions of Jason X is him hunting for his machete for the first third of the film and abandoning the futuristic machete he's been using up until that point when he retrieves it.
- Some people think Jason only ever walks, which is true for the 2nd half of his films. However, in the earlier movies, he was shown running fairly frequently.
- Jason never used a Chainsaw Good, despite the fact that he is often depicted in parody work doing so. This is a case of Did Not Do the Research, mixing him up with Leatherface. His canonical weapons of choice are machetes and fire axes.
- Compressed Adaptation: The reboot, which manages to mash the first four movies into one film. But seeing how similar they are to each other, it's not really that amazing.
- Contrived Coincidence: The events leading up to Jason's revival in Part VIII. Jimmy and Suzie are on a boat in Crystal Lake. Jimmy lowers the anchor, which lands on an underwater powerline. Jason's body is just coincidentally right next to it and when the anchor starts rubbing the powerline, electrifying Jason's body and bringing him back alive. Jimmy also just happens to have a hockey mask in his boat for Jason to put on.
- Cool Mask: Jason, all the way. Roy Burns has a variant with blue markings.
- Covers Always Lie: The poster and home video art of Part II show Jason's silhouette holding an axe. Jason doesn't use an axe in that movie.
- One version of the DVD cover for the first movie has a holographic image revealing Jason's mask. Not only is Jason not in the first movie, he doesn't even get the hockey mask for another two films.
- Cranial Processing Unit: Kay-Em is used this way after Jason knocks her head off in Jason X.
- Critical Existence Failure: When Jason swaps bodies in Jason Goes To Hell, the former one rots away.
- Curiosity Killed the Cast
- Cut Phone Lines: Jason cuts the radio communications from the ship Lazarus in Part VIII. Which is rather knowledgeable from one who has never been near the ocean in his life (or unlife, if you prefer).
- Danger Takes a Backseat: Happens to Pete in Part V.
- Dangerous Windows: Possessed Robert attacks Jess through a window in Jason Goes to Hell.
- A Date with Rosie Palms: Lawrence in the remake is about to have one when he is interrupted by Jenna and Clay.
- Dead Person Impersonation: Ginny impersonates Jason's mother to distract him in Part 2.
- Death by Irony: "Darling, you're gonna be the death of me... but what a way to go!" says Martin to his empty bottle in Part VI. Then he throws it away, Jason grabs it, breaks it and stabs Martin in the throat with it.
- Death by Mocking: The practical joker or bitchy Alpha Bitch character has a low chance of survival. The largest exception comes in Part II, where the joker stays at a bar drinking all night, managing to avoid the murders at the campground entirely.
- Death By Pragmatism: Subverted in the remake.
- Death by Sex: The first film probably made it a staple for slasher flicks.
- Decoy Protagonist: Fake Final Girl Jenna in the remake.
- Hell, try Decoy CAST! Everyone is killed 20 minutes into the movie, with the real story picking up 6 weeks later.
- The first film follows Annie at the start. She is then promptly killed off and Alice is the Final Girl.
- In The Final Chapter, Sarah seems like the quintessential final girl, but then Jason puts an axe through her face and Rob Dier, despite looking like The Hero, gets killed rather abruptly.
- Demonic Possession: Entirety of Jason Goes to Hell.
- Implied in Part V, especially in the ending.
- Destination Defenestration: Rick's body is thrown through a window in Part III.
- Same thing happens to Brenda in Part I, Rob in The Final Chapter, Grandpa George in Part V and Paula in Part VI.
- Tina in The Final Chapter, Robin in Part VII and Dr. McCulloch in Part VIII are an example of living people getting thrown through a window.
- Determinator: Jason, especially in Part VIII where he shoves off all the easy potential victims just to get the remaining protagonists.
- Developing Doomed Characters
- Don't Go in The Woods
- Dramatic Thunder: Thunder rumbles and lightning flashes when Jason raises his machete to kill Tommy in Part V's opening Nightmare Sequence.
- Same thing goes on in Part VI when Tommy and Hawes find Jason's grave.
- Dramatic Unmask: Usually in the climax of the movie, subverted in Part VI where Jason is seen without his mask when he's revived.
- Drop the Hammer: Jason kills Deputy Winslow in Part 2 with a hammer.
- When Jason grabs Tommy in The Final Chapter, Trish attacks him with a hammer.
- Early Installment Weirdness: Jason is not the killer in the first movie, and he doesn't don his iconic hockey mask until Part III.
- Eat the Evidence: When the protagonists of Part III spot two police cars (with blazing sirens and all) behind them, they promptly start eating their drug stash. After pulling over, the police just keep driving onward, much to their dismay.
- Electrified Bathtub: Tina in Part VII uses her powers to force Jason into a puddle and then breaks one of the power cables to fry him.
- Enforced Method Acting: The child in the first movie who played Jason was originally intended to only appear in a short flashback of him drowning. But the director decided to have him appear in the end as a surprise. He was instructed not to show anyone the mask he wore for the scene. The shock and fear on Alice's face is genuine.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Even though he is an undead killing machine, Jason still cares for his mother. He even has a shrine for her!
- It was going to be subverted in Jason X where he was supposed to kill the image of his mother in the holographic display showing Crystal Lake just to show how evil he has become. The idea was scrapped.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Word of God states that Jason never kills children or animals.
- He tried killing Tommy in The Final Chapter and Rennie in a childhood flashback in Part VIII, though. He might have killed Muffin the dog from Part II, the ending is somewhat confusing.
- On the other hand, in Part VI, he stands in the middle of a cabin filled with running, screaming children and never even takes a swing.
- Well, the current comics forgets about the "no animals" part, but this was a case of Comically Missing the Point since it makes Jason a Complete Monster rather than a normal (although deformed) child messed up by assholes.
- He killed a pregnant woman in Part III (although the lady in question didn't appear pregnant at all, being just two months).
- Actually, in Part II, it's mentioned that Jason killed wild animals for food.
- That was a necessity. He won't kill them out of general sadism like Michael Myers.
- He tried killing Tommy in The Final Chapter and Rennie in a childhood flashback in Part VIII, though. He might have killed Muffin the dog from Part II, the ending is somewhat confusing.
- Every Car Is a Pinto: After Rennie crashes the police car in Part VIII, it blows up.
- Everything Is Racist: Used twice by Lawrence (the lone black person) in the 2009 remake. The first time was in order to get out of pumping gas, and the second time was for joking around (He talks about making a music label to Chelsea, who automatically think it'll be for rap. Lawrence takes offense to this and says "Oh, because I’m black, I can’t listen to Green Day?" Chelsea then apologizes and asks what kind of genre Lawrence is going to do, to which he smiles and says that he actually is going to do rap).
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Gordon, the Jarvis family's dog, gets an awesome case of Get The Fuck Out when it senses Jason's presence in the house that Trish and Rob are investigating in The Final Chapter.
- And in Part III, there's an evil-detecting rabbit.
- Evil Laugh: Tommy laughs evilly after stabbing Pam in his second Nightmare Sequence in Part V.
- Heard when Jason's mask is pulled underground in Jason Goes to Hell.
- Evil Makes You Monstrous: The progression from a man to an unkillable undead demon.
- Exact Eavesdropping: In Part VII.
- Eye Scream: Hilarious version happens in Part VII.
- And there's Part III, with Rick getting his head crushed with enough force that his eye rockets out of his socket towards the screen (IN 3D!). Artistic License Biology? Probably. But also pretty damn amusing.
- Jason has also gotten his share of the damage:
- Machete across his face (and his right eye) in The Final Chapter.
- An ink pen (that was allegedly used by Stephen King) into the same eye in Part VIII.
- Freddy claws his way into them in Freddy vs. Jason.
- When he is lying supposedly dead and being examined by Adrienne in Jason X, she removes one of his eyes.
- In Part V, Tina gets both eyes gouged out with gardening shears.
- Her boyfriend's eyes are crushed with a belt around a tree, as well.
- And later in the same movie, Reggie's grandpa is found dead with his eyes gouged out.
- Her boyfriend's eyes are crushed with a belt around a tree, as well.
- The Faceless: Subverted. Jason is consistently masked, but in almost all the movies he appears in, he'll lose it for a good look at his face. Said face is not particularly consistent from movie to movie, however.
- Understandable, in that before his death, Jason took quite a few nasty hits to the head, and AFTER his death, Jason has spent many years rotting underwater.
- Face Palm of Doom: How Doug is killed in The Final Chapter.
- Fainting: Tina faints in Part VII when she sees the resurrected Jason.
- Fan Service: Nudity, in my slasher movie?
- It's more likely than you think.
- That said, the series' overall reputation for nudity is kind of overblown: there's none worth mentioning in parts 1 and 6, and only split-seconds of nudity in 3, 7 and 8. However, 2, 4, 7 and 10 have nice scenes, and 5, 9 and the remake are practically boobular.
- Filth: Ted finds a very old-school skinflick in the house the protagonists are partying in The Final Chapter. It's the nearest thing to him getting any action that night.
- Final Girl: In order, Alice, Ginny, Chris, Trish, Pam, Megan, Tina, Rennie, Jessica, Rowan, Lori and Whitney.
- Subverted a bit with Alice, who used weed in one scene, and Ginny, who has offscreen sex.
- It's also implied that Alice had a relationship with Mr. Christy. Not explicitly a sexual one, but there are a few references to "last night".
- Subverted a bit with Alice, who used weed in one scene, and Ginny, who has offscreen sex.
- Finger Wag: Dr. Crews does this to Tina when he is convincing her that he cares about her well-being in Part VII.
- Fingore: Happens to Jason during his confrontation with Freddy.
- Also happens in Jason Goes to Hell in a scene where Duke breaks two of Steven's fingers for no apparent reason.
- Wasn't that because Steven wanted information and Creighton said that he'd answer the questions 'for a price.' which in that case was working fingers?
- Flare Gun: Dr. McCulloch in Part VIII grabs a flare gun when he goes looking for the deckhand.
- Flashback Echo: When Tommy sees Jason's corpse in his open grave in Part VI, he flashbacks to the events of The Final Chapter, grabs a pole and starts impaling Jason in rage.
- Flashback Nightmare: Part 2's opening shows Alive having nightmares from the first film's events.
- Follow the Leader: The original is one of the first slasher films that came in the wake of Halloween. It also inspired lots of Slasher Movies set in summer camps and backwoods.
- Foot Focus: The opening of Part 2, which starts with a kid jumping in rain puddles and the starts following Jason's footsteps as he closes in on Alice's apartment.
- For Doom the Bell Tolls: Used on the teaser trailer for Part VI.
- Foreshadowing: Part V's hockey mask has blue markings on it instead of red ones, foreshadowing that the real killer wasn't Jason at all.
- Fountain of Youth: Toxic waste in the New York sewers does this to Jason... for some reason.
- Frying Pan of Doom: Alice defends herself with one in the first film.
- Gainax Ending: In Part VII, Tina manages to temporarily revive his father, who then drags Jason down to the bottom of the lake, and in Part VIII, Jason gets covered in toxic waste and the water is lowered to reveal Jason as a child. All of the films tend to end on a bit of ambiguous insanity, however.
- Gender Blender Name: Chris and Shelly in Part III.
- Robin in Part V.
- Genre Savvy: Lizabeth in Part VI:
Lizabeth: "I've seen enough horror movies to know any weirdo wearing a mask is never friendly!" |
- Also Steven in Jason Goes to Hell
Luke: "We're going to Camp Crystal Lake." |
- Jason X also Lampshades this, with the virtual reality simulation.
- Thoroughly averted by the parents of counselors in every movie, assuming they don't want their kids dead...
- Gone Swimming, Clothes Stolen: Scott does this to Terry in Part 2.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: Julius tries to bring Jason down with his fists in Part VIII, but it doesn't end well.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Paula's death in Part VI.
- Grave Robbing: Both Part V and Part VI openings has two guys disturbing Jason's grave.
- Grievous Bottley Harm: Jason kills Martin the Gravedigger in Part VI with a broken bottle to the throat.
- Grievous Harm with a Body:
- Played for laughs in Jason X when Jason is lured into a holographic simulation designed to provoke him. By the time, we cut back to Jason and a pair of (virtual) bubble-headed sexually promiscuous drug-and-alcohol-abusing female campers, Jason has somehow forced them back into their sleeping bags and is furiously using one to bludgeon the other.
- Freddy vs. Jason also had Jason impaling Freddy with his own severed arm.
- Groin Attack: In Part III Andy's walking down the hall on his hands and Jason cleaves him in half from the crotch downward, plus Paul in The Final Chapter gets speared in the groin with enough force that he's lifted off the ground and it bursts out his back.
- Was originally going to happen to one of the female victims in Part V, and was actually filmed, but they realized the MPAA would never let it through, so they re-filmed her death with a new method.
- Steven tries it against Jason in Jason Goes to Hell, to no avail.
- Half the Man He Used To Be: Andy's corpse in Part III is found cut in half.
- Happens to Kicker in Jason X.
- Hallucinations: Tommy Jarvis in Part V hallucinates about Jason standing around menacingly a few times.
- Tina hallucinates Jason killing Michael and her mom in Part VII.
- Rennie in Part VIII has hallucinations of Jason as a child.
- Harmful to Minors: Events of The Final Chapter messed up Tommy Jarvis bad.
- Harpoon Gun: Jason shoots Vera in the eye with a harpoon gun in Part III.
- Jason impales Paul with one in The Final Chapter, through his crotch. And as if that wasn't enough, he then pulls the trigger.
- He impales Suzie with one in Part VIII.
- Healing Factor: Jason, according to Jason X. That would explain why he looks different in every movie, but we all know better. This also explains why he retains his eyes and eyesight after being stabbed in the eye a few times.
- Hearing Voices: Mrs. Voorhees in the first film.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In the climax of Jason X.
- Borders on Stupid Sacrifice: Brodski was in a spacesuit with maneuvering jets, while Jason is free-floating in space. Brodski could have just set him on course for Earth 2 (or the nearby star), then flown back to the shuttle unharmed. Even though Jason had demonstrated an uncanny ability to fling himself from explosions to his targets, he wouldn't have been able to escape unaided.
- Space Does Not Work That Way: Brodski couldn't just push Jason into the atmosphere - that wouldn't incinerate him. He had to apply a constant acceleration to generate enough speed to cause Jason to burn on re-entry. Besides, Jason makes a wonderful heat shield, no?
- Hollywood Darkness
- Hope Spot: Mrs. Voorhees in the first film.
- Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: A double-whammy, as the first movie takes place on the titular day and Jason's birthday.
- It's Michael's birthday during the first night of Part VII.
- Hostile Weather: It starts raining and thundering midway through The Final Chapter and Part V.
- There's thunder and lightning in Part VI's opening sequence.
- Hot Scientist: Rowan in Jason X.
- Human Popsicle: Jason X.
- I Shall Taunt You: Tommy resorts to this to lure Jason into the Crystal Lake in Part VI.
- Immune to Bullets: Jason has been shot so many times he's practically Made of Lead.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The part with tractor harrows in Part V.
- Impending Doom POV: Used in the first few films.
- Implacable Man: Guess who. In the earlier films in the series, he'd at least feel some pain when struck or stabbed, but once he got resurrected in Part VI, all bets are off.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: For a backwoods mutant, and later zombie, Jason is an extremely good marksman.
- Well, keep in mind the fact that Jason has probably been hunting his own food to survive on for years. He's had time to develop some major skills.
- Impromptu Tracheotomy: Chewie, in the remake, gets a screwdriver into his throat.
- Infernal Retaliation: Freddy vs. Jason.
- Instrument of Murder: Jason bashes JJ's head in with her own guitar in Part VIII.
- Intercontinuity Crossover: Freddy vs. Jason and its comic book sequel Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash.
- Other comics also had crossovers with Satan's Six and Leatherface.
- It Was Here, I Swear: Tina about the tent spike that Jason stuck on the porch in Part VII.
- Jack the Ripoff: The entirety of Part V, where "Jason" is revealed to be ambulance driver Roy Burns, who donned a Jason costume to kill the teenagers (and other random people) after his son's death.
- Sheriff Garris believes Tommy to be one in Part VI.
- Jason becomes one for Freddy Krueger as part of the latter's plan in Freddy vs. Jason.
- Joisey: Camp Crystal Lake - and therefore, the bulk of the series - takes place here, which may explain why the big class trip in Part VIII was to New York.
- Jump Scare: The movies almost always contain a particular Your Princess Is in Another Castle version at or near the end, involving someone leaping into frame from an unexpected location (usually underwater) and grabbing someone else.
- Just Hit Him: Jason probably could have punched Steven's heart out during the finale of Jason Goes to Hell, but he seemed to enjoy throwing him around and hitting him with a stick instead.
- Just Think of the Potential: In Jason X, Jason is finally captured by the Feds after having killed a couple hundred people over the years. Some military folks actually want to keep Jason alive so they can figure out how to reproduce his invincibility. Slaughter ensues. In their defense, they did try executing him a dozen times first.
- Karma Houdini: In Part V, Roy never went after Vic, the guy who actually killed his son, though Vic does get arrested.
- Kick the Dog: Averted. Jason was supposed to kick a barking dog at some point in Part VIII, but Kane Hodder (the only actor to play Jason multiple times) decided it wasn't in-character.
- Kill It with Fire: When Tina confronts Jason in the cabin basement in Part VII, she uses her powers to dose him with gasoline and set him on fire. This somehow causes the whole house blow up too.
- Kill the Cutie: Mostly averted, as the cute one is usually the Final Girl. Played completely straight though, in Jason X.
- Violet in Part V and Jenna in the remake.
- Kneecapping: Chris stabs Jason's knee when she is finally forced to confront him in Part III.
- Kubrick Stare: Brodski to Jason in Jason X.
- Lampshade Hanging: The virtual topless teen girls in Jason X in a Funny Moments.
VR teen girl #1: "Hey, do you want a beer?" |
- Leitmotif: Chi-chi-chi... ha-ha-ha... ≠ Ki-ki-ki-ki... ma-ma-ma-ma...
- The strange thing about Jason's Leitmotif that it's really his mother's in the first movie where she hears her son saying "Kill 'em, mommy!", which turns into "Kill for Mother" once Jason takes over.
- This makes it a Bootstrapped Leitmotif.
- This sound has become so associated with Jason, that one of the major criticisms of the remake was that, for some asinine reason, it was removed.
- The strange thing about Jason's Leitmotif that it's really his mother's in the first movie where she hears her son saying "Kill 'em, mommy!", which turns into "Kill for Mother" once Jason takes over.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: After the ship's captain is found dead in Part VIII, Julius organizes a hunt-down for Jason.
- Lighter and Softer: Part VI was a little less mean-spirited and more of an Affectionate Parody of the series and slasher films in general. It is also the only film in the series not to have any nudity.
- Lightning Can Do Anything: Mostly resurrect people.
- Lightning Reveal: Done when Jason is stalking David in Part VII.
- Losing Your Head: In the original ending of Part II, Mrs. Voorhees' head was supposed to wink at the camera before the credits start to roll.
- Kay-Em in Jason X, justified because she's a robot.
- Freddy does this in Freddy vs. Jason.
- Lunacy: Steve and the Sheriff discuss about this in the first movie.
- Machete Mayhem: Trope Codifier
- Mad Oracle: Crazy Ralph in Parts I and II. Who could forget that line? "It has a death curse!".
- Abel in Part III.
- The Deckhand in Part VIII.
- Made of Iron: It's amazing how much punishment Jason has gone through. He arguably progresses into Nigh Invulnerability at some point, becoming Made Of Diamond. In Freddy vs. Jason, it's outright stated that he's immortal.
- First of all, he drowned in Crystal Lake.
- Then, he took a machete through his shoulder.
- After that, he was hanged.
- Shortly afterwards, he took an axe to the head.
- Moreover, his own machete is lodged halfway through his head vertically. Though to be fair, this actually did kill him, he just came back.
- His face gets mangled by a motorboat propellor.
- He was shot numerous times.
- He was caught in an explosion.
- He got covered in toxic waste.
- Then he got blown apart by mortars.
- He got sent to hell by a magical dagger.
- ATMOSPHERIC RE-ENTRY
- Part VII gets the biggest load, with Jason getting shot at and electrocuted. Then he gets several plant pots chucked at him, a roof collapsed on him, a light smashed into his head, sending him smashing through a staircase, nails chucked at him and even being set on fire and a house exploding around him. AND EVEN THEN, he still chases the final girl, only to be sent back to the bottom of the lake.
- And the list goes on...
- Made of Plasticine: It's amazing how little punishment Jason's victims can take...
- Subverted with one particular character in Freddy vs. Jason, who takes quite a bit of damage from Jason, before meeting his doom at the hands of someone else
- Male Gaze: Part 2 and The Final Chapter have pretty infamous examples.
- Mama Bear: Pamela Voorhees, a psychopathic example.
- Also the most plausible explanation for the otherwise more improbable feats seen in Part 1, such as arrowing a grown man to a door a good six inches off the ground, and hurling a body through a window.
- There's also Jessica Kimble in Jason Goes To Hell, and Joey B. Joey refuses to hand over baby Stephanie back to Jessica because she's with Steven, who at that point was suspected of murdering Jessica's mother.
Joey B: (aiming a gun at Jessica) "No one's laying a fucking hand on that fucking ray of sunshine!" |
- The Man They Couldn't Hang: Chris attempts to dispose of Jason by hanging him in Part III.
- Menacing Stroll
- Mighty Glacier: Jason is one against Freddy Krueger's Fragile Speedster.
- Averted before he dies and is resurrected. In life, Jason was very quick on his feet.
- Mirror Scare: The first Jason hallucination in Part V manifests itself this way.
- Rennie has a hallucination where she sees Jason as a child inside her cabin's mirror just before the real Jason attacks in Part VIII.
- Subverted in Jason Goes to Hell.
- Mobile Menace
- Mugging the Monster: Attempted in Part VIII; he scares them off just by lifting his mask.
- Mummies At the Dinner Table: Jason keeps his mother's head around in Part II.
- Murder by Mistake: After losing his glasses, Wayne shoots the unnamed shipmate in a fit of panic, thinking he is Jason.
- Happens in Jason X, where Jason accidentally causes a destruction of an entire space station.
- Musicalis Interruptus: In Jason X, Jason's defeat at Kay-Em's hands uses this. After she clearly has the upper-hand, his theme music plays each time he gets back up, and immediately stops when she puts another hole in him.
- My Car Hates Me: Some of the movies has a scene where a car refuses to start, or at least takes long enough to build tension.
- Mythology Gag: Jason X in the 1980 Crystal Lake simulation. See Lampshade Hanging.
- Nanomachines: These things fix people up in the future in Jason X. By the end of the movie, they go haywire and give an unconscious Jason Artificial Limbs and a metallic mask.
- Neck Lift: Jason lifts Nurse Morgan up against the wall before gutting her in The Final Chapter.
- Same thing happens to Violet in Part V at the hands of Roy.
- Neck Snap: Sissy dies in Part VI when Jason grabs her through an open window and snaps her neck.
- New York Subway: Jason chases Rennie and Sean into it in Part VIII.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Tommy in the 6th movie. In his defense, the producers would have found some way to bring back Jason whether or not Tommy was involved.
- Nightmare Sequence: Parts I through III end with a nightmare sequence, although it is clear from the third film that Jason survived Part II.
- Part V opens with one, and another one takes place before the ending.
- Night Swim Equals Death: For anyone who skinny-dips at night in Crystal Lake.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: In Jason X, Jason's essentially a Cyborg Zombie Serial Killer IN SPACE!
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Jason X. Kay-M does quite a number on Jason.
- Nonchalant Dodge: Jason, when he is bombarded by propane tanks sent flying by Freddy in Freddy VS Jason.
- Non-Linear Sequel: Jason X (2002) takes place after Freddy vs. Jason (2003).
- Not Quite Dead: And how!
- Ali recovers from being bludgeoned with a pipe by Jason and attacks Jason. This time, Jason finishes the job by hacking him to pieces.
- Nothing Is Scarier: What the hell did Jason do to Paula in Part VI that would leave an entire room covered in blood?
- Numbered Sequels: Parts II & III and V through VIII.
- Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo: Parts IV through VIII have the subtitles The Final Chapter, A New Beginning, Jason Lives, The New Blood and Jason Takes Manhattan. Sequels after Part VIII dropped the Friday the 13th moniker and were called Jason Something for a while until the remake restored the original title.
- This was because Parts I through VIII were produced by Paramount, who then sold the franchise, but not the "Friday The 13th" moniker, to New Line Cinema. The next three films were not allowed to use "Friday The 13th", until New Line acquired those rights too, in time for the reboot. Right now, the franchise and title are owned by New Line, who also own the "A Nightmare On Elm Street" franchise, which was the only reason Freddy vs. Jason could have been made at all.
- Offscreen Teleportation: Jason, from Part VII onwards.
- Off with His Head: Many, many times. Part VIII has a memorable example.
- Part VI has a triple decapitation.
- Once Is Not Enough: Plenty of examples, most egregiously in the first movie where the Final Girl has not one but THREE chances to finish off Mrs. Voorhees, but runs away each time. Jason himself averts it of course, as he keeps bludgeoning Ali when he knocks him out in Part III. Ali lived through it, though, so Jason finishes the job by cutting him to pieces with a machete later on.
- Averted with Tommy hacking Jason's corpse at the end of The Final Chapter, when he sees his fingers twitching.
- One Steve Limit: Averted between movies. When you have that many installments, you're bound to have a few repeated names. One notable example: The girl who gets killed with gardening shears to the eyes in Part V has the same name as the Final Girl in Part VII, Tina.
- In Part VIII, there are even two characters with the same first name.
- Orifice Invasion: This is how Jason changes bodies in Jason Goes to Hell.
- Paintball Episode: Jason runs into bunch of office workers playing paintball in Part VI. He kills them.
- Papa Wolf: Sheriff Garris goes into this mode when Jason threatens his daughter Megan in Part VI.
- Peek-a-Boo Corpse
- The Pen Is Mightier: Jason gets stabbed in the with an inkpen in Part VIII.
- Porky Pig Pronunciation: Jake in Part V.
- Powerful Pick: Jason's very first kill in the second movie is the Final Girl of the first movie, who he kills with an icepick.
- Prolonged Prologue: The remake's prologue is over twenty minutes.
- Prop Recycling: Necronomicon from Evil Dead and The Crate from Creepshow make an appearance in Jason Goes To Hell.
- Jason's heart from the same movie was later used in From Dusk till Dawn.
- The set for Part III was later reused for In the Light of the Moon, a movie about Ed Gein.
- Psychic Powers: Tina in Part VII exhibits telekinesis, telepathy and pyrokinesis.
- Possibly Rennie in Part VIII too; she had weird visions whenever Jason was near (or something like that).
- Psychopathic Manchild: Jason.
- Tommy's implied to be this at a few points, though he goes back and forth Depending on the Writer.
- The Quiet One: Tommy in Part V.
- Quizzical Tilt: Done by Jason in Part VI when he encounters Cort and his girlfriend "rocking" inside her dad's SUV.
- Jason does it when he sees a hockey billboard in New York which has a mask similar to his in Part VIII.
- Rain of Blood: Debbie discovers Andy's body in Part III when his blood drips on her.
- Ravens and Crows: A random crow flies on the scene just before Tina, Eddie and Raymond are killed in Part V. After the deed is done, it leaves.
- Real After All: Someone makes it look like Jason came back to life in Part V. In Part VI, he really does come back to life.
- Recycled in Space: Jason X, again.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Jason has a pair when turned into a cyborg in Jason X.
- Red Herring: Jason himself in the first movie. This is only in hindsight, even- While there's mention of a "young boy drowning" once, this isn't emphasized until Mrs. Voorhees comes in, and by the time she mentions Jason, her demeanor all but reveals herself as the killer
- Hints that Tommy is doing the killings in Part V.
- Robot Girl: Kay-Em in Jason X.
- Sarcasm Mode: Lizbeth's response on Darren's attempt at scaring Jason off the road in Part VI.
Lizbeth: "That really scared him." |
- Say My Name: There are plenty of moments when characters call out each others names. Murder usually ensues.
- Scare Chord: Spammed mercilessly in Jason Goes to Hell.
- Scary Black Man: Sgt. Brodski, and HOW.
- Scooby-Doo Hoax: Part V
- Screams Like a Little Girl: Reggie in Part V.
- Series Continuity Error: In Jason Takes Manhattan, Jason as a kid was perfectly normal, despite being shown in the original movie to be an incredibly deformed and highly mentally retarded child.
- Shadow Discretion Shot: Combined with Lightning Reveal in The Final Chapter, when Jason kills Terri.
- The sanitation worker's death in Part VIII.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: Various.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Maddy in Part VII.
- Shirtless Scene: Rick gets one in Part III, when he hauls hay to Chris' dad's barn.
- The first movie was sure to add in a scene with the counselors swimming in the lake, and the guys wearing speedos.
- Shout-Out: Part VI has a little girl called Nancy who claims that she had a nightmare about a monster trying to kill her. It also has a store named Karloff General in it, highlighting Jason's Frankensteinian resurrection.
- Various Alien references in Jason X, and Bree's death in the remake is an apparent nod to Silent Night, Deadly Night.
- Marcie's murder in the first movie and Mark, Jeff and Sandra's deaths in Part II are a Shout-Out to - or a rip-off of - the 1971 thriller Reazione A Catena, also known as Bay Of Blood, Twitch Of The Death Nerve and Carnage.
- One can't help that KM-14's dismantling of Jason in Jason X is a reference to Monty Python and The Holy Grail and its Black Knight.
- In the remake, there's an argument about Heineken and Pabst Blue Ribbon.
- Shovel Strike: Jason is whacked with a shovel in Part III, Part VI and Jason Goes to Hell.
- Shower Scene: The Final Chapter has one with Sara and Sam making out in the shower. Naked.
- Significant Birth Date: Surprise surprise, guess who was born on Friday the 13th.
- Sink or Swim Mentor: Dr. McCulloch is a quite literal one in Part VIII.
- Skinny Dipping: Lots. Samantha in Part 4 and Sandra in Part VII are killed during one.
- Slashed Throat: Plenty of deaths.
- Slasher Smile: Kay-Em really enjoys dispatching Jason.
- Slashers Prefer Blondes: Alice is actually a rare subversion and one of the few blonde Final Girls there are. Played straight with her death in the sequel, though Final Girl Ginny is also blonde.
- Smoking Hot Sex: Jack lights a cigarette after having sex with Marcie in the first film.
- Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome: Tommy is played, in succession, by a 13-year old, an early twenty-something, and a 28-year old, in an in-universe time period of about four years.
- Space Is Noisy: Jason X.
- Spikes of Doom: In A New Beginning, Roy Burns dies by being knocked onto rows of tractor harrows.
- Split Personality: Mrs. Voorhees definitely suffers from this in the original movie. At one point, her voice alternates between her son's and her own and it's surprisingly creepy.
- Staggered Zoom: Used in Part VIII when Rennie decides to ram Jason with police car and we're shown that she's once again seeing a hallucination of younger Jason.
- Stalker Shrine: Jason has one for his mother, which also doubles as a Trophy Room in Part II.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Burt's feelings towards Katie's involvement in paintball in Part VI.
- Stealth Hi Bye: Jason does this to Edna twice in Part III before killing Harold and her.
- Stock Footage: The first three sequels open with footage from previous movies.
- The Stoner: Various, the hippie couple Chuck and Chili in Part III is a memorable example.
- Stopped Numbering Sequels: Did it twice, for both "final chapters".
- Straight Edge Evil: Jason
- Strip Poker: Brenda's "Strip Monopoly" in the first movie.
- Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: The two surviving characters of the first movie (Alice and Crazy Ralph) get offed early on in Part II.
- Summer Campy: First two and the sixth film.
- Super Window Jump: Jason performs it in the end of Part II. Or did he?
- Trish evades Jason in The Final Chapter by jumping through a window.
- Take My Hand: Rowan to Janessa in Jason X, when she's being sucked into space.
- Taxidermy Terror: Lawrence tries to masturbate in the living room, but finds himself too creeped out by a big stuffed moose head staring right at him to go through with it.
- Teleport Spam: Part VIII is an infamous example. To the point where the only thing that got in the way of some of the people survive was Jason's teleporting escapades.
- Thirteen Is Unlucky: And how!
- This Cannot Be!: McCulloch's reaction when he sees that Jason survived the police car crash in Part VIII.
- This Is Gonna Suck: On so many levels.
- This Was His True Form: Happens to Jason when he's washed by flood of toxic waste in Part VIII.
- There's also Jason Goes to Hell where Jason gets blown up at the beginning and spends almost the entire movie afterward as a little sludgy black eel monster, which Creighton Duke implies is his true form.
- Throwing Your Sword Always Works
- Token Minority: One black dude is seen among the counselors in Part 2.
- Too Dumb to Live: Many, many characters. Such as the girl who gets her hands on a chainsaw, hits Jason with it - then, when he falls over, she drops the chainsaw and hits him with a chair instead or Joey from Part V who is quite literal example of this trope.
- Town with a Dark Secret: The people of the nice town of Forest Green wouldn't want you to know that you're actually in the town formerly known as Crystal Lake.
- Trailers Always Lie: The trailer for Part VIII is fully made of this stuff.
- Trailers Always Spoil: Especially in the one for the first movie.
- The Remake's trailer mimics the style of the first one with similar results.
- Trope Codifier
- Tunnel King: Jason has dug a tunnel network under the Camp Crystal Lake and its surroundings in the remake.
- Twist Ending Jason Goes to Hell. Never expected for him to show up, did you?
- Unrated Edition: The original film and Jason Goes to Hell have uncut versions with more explicit violence and gore. The 2009 film has a longer (but still R-rated) cut.
- Unwitting Pawn: Jason in Freddy vs. Jason, though the plan doesn't go as well as Freddy hoped.
- Use Your Head: When Chris traps Jason's hands with a car's side window in Part III, he headbutts the glass to free himself.
- Jason breaks the window to Rennie's cabin with his head in Part VIII and attacks her.
- Vertigo Effect: Used in Part V when Pam goes looking for missing kids and camera lingers on those who are staying in the Pinehurst Cottage.
- Victory by Endurance: Jason uses this in Part VIII, where he faces against a teen boxer in Good Old Fisticuffs. Jason never even throws a punch and soaks up punishment upon punishment until the boxer gets tired. Then Jason decapitates him with one punch.
- Villain Based Franchise
- Villain Protagonist: Later movies start to treat Jason as this. He's definitely preferable to all the stoned, screwing, generic teenagers...
- Villain Song: "He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)" sung by Alice Cooper.
- The Voiceless: Jason
- Part III has Jason opening his mouth for the first time in the whole franchise (as an adult, at least):
Jason: (gets stabbed in the hand) "Ow!" |
- Near the end of Jason Goes to Hell Jason possesses a character and pretends to be them for a bit, actually speaking one line.
Jason: "Freeze! Get the Hell away from her, Ed!" |
- Volleying Insults: Tsunaron and Janessa spend the beginning of Jason X trading barbs.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: When Jason sees the toxic waste flood heading for him in Part VIII, he starts vomiting.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Established between the captain Robertson and his son Sean in Part VIII in their initial scene. He shows regret over it later on and tells Jim to avoid putting too much pressure on his own son.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Exact fate of Paul in Part II and Mrs. Jarvis in The Final Chapter (though a deleted scene shows Trish finding the latter's body in a bathtub).
- Abel in Part III showed some of the characters an eyeball he found "with other parts of the body". The victim may have been Paul.
- White Mask of Doom: Jason being a poster child for this trope an' all.
- Who Wears Short Shorts?: Steve Christy does, much to dismay of the male audience.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Freddy vs. Jason reveals that Jason had hydrophobia (a fear of water) as a kid. It doesn't affect him as an adult, but when Freddy gets his claws on his inner child, things get ugly. Part VIII's protagonist also suffers from it, due to a childhood trauma.
- Window Pain: Plenty of windows are shattered throughout the series.
- Willing Suspension of Disbelief: The only way any of the movies after the first one would be even possible would be if the audience just accepts that somehow Jason didn't actually drown as a child, ran away to live in the woods for some reason, and everyone just assumes that the missing kid drowned without looking for a body, including his own mother.
- An alternative is explored in that Jason's body was possessed by that little black eel monster you see in Jason Goes To Hell. You still need to give your suspension of disbelief two weeks off at Christmas though...
- A Wizard Did It: At the end of Jason Goes to Hell, Jason is in Hell. At the start of the next movie release, Jason X, Jason has been captured by the government, and displays a healing factor that had never been shown before. Then comes Freddy VS Jason, where Freddy brings Jason back to life, revitalizing him from a rotted corpse back to his old self, in better physical condition than in Part VI (he'd been getting more and more damaged since then), and at the end of the film is still walking around. This fixes the plot hole between Hell and X, as well as giving a possible explanation to Jason's healing factor.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Jason is one of the most notable slashers in horror history, but somewhere deep (very deep) inside is a Momma's Boy that deeply misses her and feels he has to please her. Also, as a dream sequence in Freddy vs. Jason showed, the campers were pretty relentless in picking on him when he was just a small, deformed boy.
- There's Draco in Leather Pants fanfiction about him.
- The World's Expert on Getting Killed: The Serial Killer hunter Creighton Duke, who has to do a Heroic Sacrifice to slow down Jason in Jason Goes to Hell.
- Deputy Winslow in Part II is only there to deliver exposition on how people should stay clear of Camp Crystal Lake, and is then murdered by Jason in Jason’s shack.
- Who can forget Crazy Ralph?
- The deckhand from Jason Takes Manhattan.
- Wrench Whack: Jason kills the sanitation worker with his own wrench in Part VIII.
- You!: Chris' reaction when she sees Jason unmasked and recognises him in Part III, as he is the one who attacked her two years ago.
- You Have Got to Be Kidding Me!: The reaction by Rowan when she sees Jason approaching the escape shuttle. Then Brodski intervenes.