That first film took place not in suburbia, but at a summer camp.
There was no masked killer, but rather a mystery.
In the third film, the hockey mask was introduced.
Image by Collider Staff
While still fun to watch, he began to get dangerously close to becoming a parody of himself.
In between wasThe Final Chapter, coming out in 1984.
Everything was on point, from the setting and the characters to the music and the kills.
Image via Paramount Pictures
He’s still human here, but no longer with physical limitations.
Every portrayal after was an attempt to replicate it.
Just as Ginny had been fascinated by Jason, so is Tommy, due to his love of monsters.
Image via Paramount Pictures
That knowledge, along with his special set of skills, will finally lead to Jason’s demise.
This one moment makes our heroine look dumb and has us screaming at the screen.
That strategy was used so often inFriday the 13thand other slashers that it became a running joke.
There’s no coming back from that!
That’s what makes the final scenes in the next two films so frustrating.
Because of this, it’s no surprise when Jason wakes up in the morgue inThe Final Chapter.
Image Via Paramount Pictures
This ending goes for broke.
Tommy thinks of a way to fight back.
Tommy urges Jason to remember who he is and what happened to him.
The blade plunges deep, and as Jason falls to his knees, it slices his brain in half.
See, that’s how you do it!
Tommy knew all about the double tap.
Heck, he did more of a two-dozen tap with how many times he swung the machete.
We don’t see where he’s aiming, but we know Tommy’s not going for a limb.
For one, why wasn’t the guy just cremated at the time?
Tommy unwittingly brings Jason back with a bolt of lightning, then it’s back to the clumsy endings.
If Jason dies, the franchise dies, so the filmmakers didn’t even try.
Instead, they only restrained him.
A smart, rewarding ending makes that possible.
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapteris available to rent on Amazon.
