The Friday the 13th franchise has delivered over one hundred kills throughout its 40-plus-year history. With ten entries in the original lineage, a crossover with a nightmare-inducing villain, and a reboot, there are plenty of fun, creative, and gory kills to choose from when determining what was the best. After all, Friday the 13th was his lucky day.
Whether at Camp Crystal Lake, in the streets of Manhattan, New York, or even in space, Jason Voorhees has terrorized people of all ages. Starting as an independent film, the franchise's budget would keep expanding, providing more creative kills from one of the greatest slashers of all time. Here we will look at the innovation of each kill and the terror or humor that was evoked by the murder.
7 Mrs. Voorhees - Friday the 13th (1980)
Just because it's Jason's franchise doesn't mean he owns all the best kills. The first entry on the list goes to Alice, the final girl of Friday the 13th. Jason wouldn't be revealed as having survived his drowning until the film's end, with the big reveal being that his mother, Pamela Voorhees, had been killing all the campers. This was an act of vengeance for her son's alleged death at the camp years ago.
Alice would be the only counselor standing when Pamela revealed herself, and the chase would commence. Alice wouldn't go down without a fight, repeatedly knocking Mrs. Voorhees down. As Mrs. Voorhees attempted to end the conflict with a machete, Alice would wrestle the instrument from the older woman's hands and chop Mrs. Voorhees' head clean off. This scene was stunning to viewers at the time, especially considering a large number of kills had happened off-screen, but here we see the head flying, almost comically, through the air.
6 Mark Jarvis - Friday the 13th Part II (1981)
In the second film, Jason appears as a fully grown adult, albeit with an immature mindset. There are theories within the film that Jason didn't fully understand the concept of life and death, only knowing that someone had killed his mother and that he was angry about this and had begun lashing out at anyone that dared enter Camp Crystal Lake.
Mark Jarvis is a young man with paraplegia who would be left behind at the camp with a select few other counselors while the rest of the camp went into town for some fun. Jason would take this as an opportunity to strike. As Mark got out of the house to check for Vickie, Jason would lash out with a machete. The force of the blow would cause Mark to roll backward down a long set of stairs. The cinematography for this scene took what could have been just another kill and made it memorable. Whether they intended it to be so funny is up for debate.
5 Coroner Axel Burns - Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1983)
Jason has a bad habit of coming back from fatal blows. After being struck in the head with an ax by Chris in Friday the 13th Part III (1982), Jason's body would be brought to the coroner's office, leaving the counselors with the belief that his reign of terror would finally end. He would be revived while being placed in cold storage and seek to return to his home at camp.
But first, Jason needs to shake off the rust. Setting the tone for this film, Jason commits the most gruesome murder to this point. Sneaking up on the coroner, Jason would take a hacksaw and begin to cut into the man's throat. If this bloody display weren't enough, Jason would then use his superhuman strength to twist the man's neck around, severing his spine and leaving him to lay among the rest of the dead.
4 Adrienne - Jason X (2001)
The U.S. government has finally captured Jason. And while the government attempts to kill Jason in numerous ways, he continues to be revived. Eventually, a decision would be made to cryogenically freeze Jason to ensure that he wouldn't be able to kill anyone for the rest of his undead life. Over 400 years later, Earth became too polluted to sustain human life, with humanity moving on. However, a scientist thought it would be a good idea to bring a bunch of his students on a field trip to not just a polluted planet but to the facility that houses Earth's greatest killer.
The group would be forewarned of Jason's abilities, but, believing him to be nullified, begin to perform a dissection. Adrienne would be left alone with the monster, and Jason would reawaken. Using futuristic technology at his disposal, the kills would become even more creative. Jason would take Adrienne's face and freeze it in liquid nitrogen, smashing it into bloody pieces.
3 Shack - Freddy Vs. Jason (2003)
While Freddy Krueger would get a good number of kills, Jason has to be credited for his endurance. Freddy worked to manipulate Jason into killing people for him so that youths would fear the name Freddy Krueger again. This would backfire when the teens would attend a rave party in a cornfield, and Jason would begin slaughtering them before Freddy could kill them in their dreams.
The best kill during this scene would come when Shack attempts to fight back against Jason. Using fire against Jason would work to set the undead man on fire, but Jason wouldn't stop. As they were in a cornfield, Shack fled, with Jason's pursuit consequentially setting the whole field ablaze. When Shack escaped the cornfield, hoping to find shelter, he would be struck down when Jason threw his flaming machete with expert precision.
2 A.I. Campers - Jason X (2001)
After receiving a few upgrades, Jason would continue his assault on the students, looking like a cross between himself and the Terminator. The students would attempt to distract Jason while they tried to repair the docking door. To do this, they lured Jason to the holodeck, where they would recreate the image of Camp Crystal Lake, Jason's home.
Initially displaying gorgeous women at the campfire, one thing was on Jason's mind. In a callback to the seventh film, Jason would trap both women in separate sleeping bags and proceed to batter one with the other, killing them both. While these women are just artificial intelligence acting as human beings, the kill is still listed highly for the practical creativity and the humor behind it.
1 Julius Gaw - Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
Ghostface is set to go to New York, but Jason was the first to take his killing spree to the big city. The film's first half takes place on a boat, with Jason sneaking on after being revived by an electric shock. While there would be plenty of creative kills, the best in the film and the whole franchise takes place on one of the roofs of Manhattan.
Featured throughout the film is Julius Gaw, a champion boxer. When cornered by Jason on the rooftop, Julius fights the only way he knows how, with his fists. The audience is treated to an extended scene of Julius proceeding to punch Jason with repeated heavy blows. Even more impressive is the fact that Julius appears to stagger Jason as the killer steps back with every impact. Putting his all into the fight, Julius eventually tires, his endurance nowhere near the level of Jason's durability. Jason would only need one punch for the most epic Mortal Kombat-Esque kill in the franchise, decapitating Julius with one uppercut.