Shock Till You Drop’s contributing writers are ranking the many incarnations of horror’s most popular icons, franchise by franchise. Last week, John Squires tackled Leatherface and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre series. This week, it was only apropos that I scrutinize Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th seeing as, well, there’s a Friday the 13th this month.
Earlier, I ranked the franchise’s installments, from best to worst – you can read about that here. With this piece, I’m breaking down the many interpretations of Voorhees and ranking them, again, from best to worst.
I encourage you to weigh in with your own ranking using the comment board below – definitely want to hear your thoughts on this! And, if you’re heading to Cinefamily in Los Angeles for the “Jarvis Trilogy” be sure to say hi!
Best to Worst - Jason Voorhees
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#1
I hate to break it to you, gang, but Friday the 13th Part 3's incarnation of Jason Voorhees is the best of the bunch, in my opinion. Kane Hodder may be the fan fave for his Jason's brutish nature, but Richard Brooker did it first. Here, Jason has moved on from being duped by Amy Steel's Ginny and I feel he just has a remorseless "fuck it" nature about him. Check out the way he saunters off the deck after harpooning Vera...or the way he leers at Chris Higgins after being temporarily unmasked. This Jason is a thug and a creeper. And I especially love his look. He's top-heavy and he wears this ill-fitting shirt. The key word here is "menace." This Jason is menacing.
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#2
My favorite entry in the series - Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives - doesn't necessarily yield my #1 favorite Jason, but he's close. In this entry, we basically have "worm face" from Lucio Fulci's Zombi all dressed up with a hockey mask thrown on him. In terms of design, I definitely favor this undead look over the Hodder years. I like the addition of the gloves and belt, too. Utility belt Jason is pretty damn cool. Like Batman.
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#3
The Jason of Friday the 13th Part 4: The Final Chapter amplifies the "no fucks given" nature of Jason in Part 3. He kills the hitchhiker with the banana and he'll crucify a dude in a doorway if he's feeling spry. Clearly, he's got a lot to be angry about at this point. It shows. Jason's an unstoppable locomotive that will not let a closed door or getting smashed in the head with a television slow him down. He lost the thuggish look of Part 3, but I still respect what Ted White brought to the table.
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#4
The EC Comics Jason - as I like to call him - first appeared in Friday the 13th Part 7: The New Blood. Not a great film, but an effective Jason whose revived corpse has now suffered a tremendous amount of decomposition because of spending so much time anchored to the bottom of the lake. Hodder's a great Jason, don't get me wrong here. The level of aggression he brought to the character is great. I've just never been as crazy about this incarnation as some of you out there are.
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#5
Say what you will about the 2009 Friday the 13th reboot, you have to admit this Jason was lean 'n mean. The dead-eyed stare he gives to the camera as he takes out Julianna Guill's Bree is some cold shit, man.
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#6
Our first glimpse of Jason in Friday the 13th (2009) is when he's in "baghead" mode. I actually think this look is just as powerful as the hockey mask.
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#7
Yeah, we get some more Hodder/Jason in Friday the 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? He's a little bit mucky in this one. He's still doing the heaving chest thing he does well. Jason's look just started getting a bit too cartoony for my tastes at this point.
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#8
I've never been a fan of Friday the 13th Part 2's "baghead" Jason. Maybe it was the overalls. Maybe it was malformed hippie look he had when he was unmasked. I like the film quite a bit. This incarnation of Jason is just not as memorable to me.
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#9
Faux Jason. Eh. The new mask always looked like he had big blue whiskers to me.
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#10
Hodder's last run as a regular ol' Jason before he went all cyber-Jason on us later in Jason X. I'll hand it to the design team for doing something a little bit different. I like the "spotty hair" look as if the Jackass gang attacked him with a pair of clippers.
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#11
No offense to Ken Kirzinger, but his Jason Voorhees by way of the Frankenstein monster in Freddy vs. Jason approach always irked me. With skin as dark as oil and a lopsided, pointy ear that gives him an Orc-like quality, Jason here was too goddamn stiff.
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#12
Oh, you want me to comment on marshmallow Jason of Jason Goes to Hell who is, thankfully, barely in the film?
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#13
Like the film, this is just too silly for my tastes. And damn right I owned the McFarlane Toys action figure anyway...
