Best/Worst "Friday the 13th" movie?

[Fat Freddy]

"HI KIDS!"

 

The American Movie Classics (AMC) channel has been running a marathon of the first 9 "Friday the 13th" films all this week as part of their annual "Fear Fest" Halloween horror celebration, so I've been catching them in bits and pieces as they appear. During my teenage years I was a massive "F13" fanboy, I owned all of them on VHS and went to the theatre to see each new installment on opening night for a number of years. Yea, I know. I was a geek.

 

Anyway, looking back on the "Friday" series obviously some films were better than others. My personal favorite has always been "Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives," much of that is likely due to nostalgia as it was the first "F13" I saw in a theatre. Aside from that, though, "Part VI" is certainly the most well-made film up to that point in the series. The previous 5 films all had the same scuzzy, grindhouse, ultra-low-budget look to'em, whereas "VI" had slicker production values, cooler stunts, and even a theme song by Alice Cooper!

 

Picking a "worst" F13 film is a tough call between the 8th ("Jason Takes Manhattan") and 9th ("Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday") because they're both equally awful. For a film sub-titled "Jason Takes Manhattan," very little of the 8th film takes place in New York City, and "Jason Goes To Hell" suddenly tried to cram in more mythology and back story to Jason's life and family than all of the other eight films combined. Even worse, Jason suddenly developed the ability to "possess" other people's bodies in that flick, so he was jumping from body to body for 3/4 of the movie and therefore wasn't really "Jason" in it except for the opening scene and the closing scene. I remember being suckered into that flick by a killer looking trailer, and by the end of it I actually wanted to ask for my money back.

 

A lot of people will probably vote for "Jason X" as the "worst" of the bunch but I actually get a huge kick out of that movie, it's so over the top and ridiculous that you almost have to love it. As I've said many a time, that flick works better if you treat it as a parody of the "F13" films rather than another legit entry in the series.

 

The 2009 "remake" or "reboot" (whatever you want to call it) of "F13" seems to get a lot of hate from series fanboys as well, but I have yet to see it so I can't comment on it one way or the other.

 

Soooooo, anyway:

My picks:

BEST: "Part VI: Jason Lives"

WORST: "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday"

 

What sayest thou, fellow horror geeks? Which is your "Best" and "Worst" of the many "Fridays?"

 

Yes, I'm bored.

[zacharyamelie]

Loved part 6, by far the best of the lot. Hated 8 and 9, picked 8 because the title was even worse than the film itself. I'm not a big Friday fan like Keith is, but I do agree with his view on them. I'll be honest I haven't seen any of the newer ones, the last one I saw was 9, way back when.

[Dark Star]

Ok Best?? Gotta be part VI.. Just LOVED that one.. Maybe cause that blonde was SMOKIN Hot.....

 

Worst?? Hmmm.. Probably part VIII.... Not that I HATED it, but it spent WAY too much time on that damn boat, and not enough time in NYC... Though alot of it was filmed in Vancouver BC and not in NYC......

[Fat Freddy]

Worst?? Hmmm.. Probably part VIII.... Not that I HATED it

 

How could you NOT hate that movie? Oh, wait, I forgot... you like everything.

[MButt]

my favs are 1, 2, 4, & 6, I voted for #1, and I am one of the few people that liked the new remake, the worst would have to be jason goes to hell....the best part of that movie was the setup for freddy vs. jason...jason takes manhatten should have been entitled, "jason has a 10 minute layover in NY" I can't believe they called it that...

[All Nights Reserved]

My votes:

 

Friday The 13th Part II

Jason X

 

Btw I haven't seen the 'remake' it's probably the worst I guess...

[whiplash1972]

Loved Part VI and consider it the best as well, but also really enjoyed part VII, "The New Blood". The showdown between Jason & Tina is classic, especially the ending.

[66 mustang]

I think it is funny how if you ask random people you know about who was the killer in part #1 a lot get it wrong

[Fat Freddy]

also really enjoyed part VII, "The New Blood". The showdown between Jason & Tina is classic, especially the ending.

 

I dig that one as well. I tuned into it on AMC the other night just in time to watch the telekinetic chick start kicking Jason's ass all over the woods. Those scenes are some of my favorite bits in the entire "F13" series. She puts The Big J. through the freakin WRINGER don't she?

 

I think it is funny how if you ask random people you know about who was the killer in part #1 a lot get it wrong

 

My wife started watching the original on AMC a few nights ago while I was out walking the dog. When I came back in she sez "Did you know Kevin Bacon was in Friday the 13th? I've seen this a bunch of times and I never knew that." I sez "Of COURSE I knew that. You're married to Friday the 13th Fanboy Numero Uno, remember?"

 

Then a little while later when one of the characters was cowering in a closet or whatever my wife sez "Too late, he's already in the house." I sez "Don'cha mean SHE's already in the house?" She looks at me like "?" and I sez "the killer is Jason's Mom in this one. Are you SURE you've seen this before?" She sez "I THOUGHT I did, but now I'm not so sure anymore"

[heaven&hell]

Fav: Part 6. It was the first one I saw(I think I was 12) and it's still my fav plus as Keef says it's the best quality of all of the films up to that point plus the Coop song was great to. I also loved parts 1, 2, 3(a close second), 7 and for some reason I actually dug "Goes to Hell". The remake was okay but nothing that I'd call great.

 

Worst: Jason X - Just plain horrible and that's all I can remember about it. Manhatten wasn't great either but at least it wasn't in outer space.

[Kim_Hp]

Have not seen them all but I like the first two parts and "Goes To Hell".

 

"Jason Takes Manhattan" is not that good but on the other hand it has really good music on it. Opening theme is a Stan Meissner song (later recorded by METROPOLIS) and collectors of obscure AOR will recognize the song "Strike" by THE KOO which is featured in one the last scenes in the movie. Really cool!

[RichieZ]

I voted Part II as best/my favorite and Jason X as worst.

[Leykis101]

My vote went to Part 6! this is bad, but me and my best friend Travis, saw Part 6 in the 3rd grade,I wasn't aloud to watch an of them, so I had to sneak to watch them, but we used to role play the movie on his trampoline, in his back yard, taking turns laying down(in the grave) then lightning resurrecting us, climbing out of the grave, sticking our hand through the others stomach(to rip out our guts) and from there it was a true reenactment of each scene of murder to the end of the movie, Part 6 just had that something, that set it apart from the by the book formula FT13th had followed in nauseating fashion! it's to this day my fave, and I voted for worst was the remake, I wont even wast my time or money watching it, I just know Hollywood couldn't remake a 4 minute short subject, they should be bound and shot for what they do to movies they remake, so my blind vote for worst is the remake Ive never seen to hate!

[Faron]

I still really the original with Kevin Bacon, this was one of the first videos I saw back in 1982, my mate at school kept raving about this film etc, I still like it now, though a little dated.

 

Part 2 i quite liked and maybe 3, the rest i can`t remember too well so for that reason they`re all my leadst favourites.

[Geoff]

Haven't put a vote in because although I like them all I don't remember which was which enough to vote. I did always enjoy all of them to be honest and I would rate 'Jason X' as the worst by far, as I hate sci-fi stuff. As for the best, I always remembered liking 'Jason Goes To Hell' but when you spoke of body switching there, Keef, I was all like WTF? I can't remember that part, and that is not cool... so maybe I don't like it as much as I recall.

 

Anyway, can't vote yet because I dare say I'll be one of the few who loves the new one... possibly even the best of the lot?