The Top 5 Jason Kills From the Friday The 13th Franchise

The Top 5 Jason Kills

Image Credit: Paramount Pictures

There’s only one Friday the 13th in 2022 and it’s in May, which just seems weird, right? Shouldn’t Friday the 13th happen in, like, the winter or the fall (preferably the fall)? That just seems more appropriate. Friday the 13th in the spring or the summer? That’s just wrong. It shouldn’t happen and there should be a law against it.

Okay, so, with the only Friday the 13th of 2022 happening this week I thought U would put something together to celebrate the day. I thought about watching and reviewing another Friday the 13th/Jason fan film as there are some new ones that I haven’t seen (like Jason Rising, which looks pretty good, and Roseblood, which is a “continuation” of Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood and features actual cast members from the original movie including Lar Park Lincoln, KEVIN Spirtas, and Terry Kiser). I didn’t have enough time to put something like that together, so I decided to instead rank the best five Jason kills in the Friday the 13th/Jason movies. It seemed like a fun topic to tackle, and what Friday the 13th nerd doesn’t like to talk about their favorite or “the best” Jason kills in the series?

They all like to do that. All of them. And if they say they don’t they’re lying. They really are.

So I thought about all of the Friday the 13th/Jason movies and came up with a list of what I thought were the Top 5 Jason kills. And that’s all. Just five. No “honorable mentions.” I thought about maybe doing one HM, but thought it was best to stick to the top five. Nothing but the best and all that.

So what do I think are the Top 5 Jason kills?

5-Spear through 2 people having sex- Friday the 13th Part 2: Friday the 13th Part 2 is, of course, the first movie in the franchise where Jason is the killer, not to mention the one where he wears a bag over his head. And while there are some terrific kills in Part 2 (the “machete to the head” of Mark is a real standout, not to mention one of the meanest kills in slasher movie history. Mark was in a wheelchair, man!), the absolute standout of the movie is the “spear through two people while they have sex” sequence. Taking out Jeff and Sandra (Bill Randolph and Marta Kober) at the same time is essentially killing two birds with one stone for Jason. It’s also incredibly messed up. Who would ever think that they would die in mid-coitus when a masked killer rams a spear through you and your partner? No one. Jason came up with the idea, though, because he’s a messed up dude.

Be sure to check out the unedited version of this sequence, which is officially available on Scream Factory’s Friday the 13th boxed set. Which version do you think is scarier?

4- Sleeping Bag- Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood: I don’t think I’m wrong in saying that the sleeping bag death of poor Jane (Staci Greason) by Kane Hodder’s Jason in Friday the 13th Part vii: The New Blood is the most famous Jason kill in the franchise, or at least the biggest “fan favorite.” We certainly wouldn’t have seen Jason X reference it if the sleeping bag kill wasn’t a big deal with franchise fans. And it’s such a simple sequence. Jason rips open a tent, grabs a woman who decides to hide in her sleeping bag (at that moment in time what the hell else was she going to do?), drags her out of the tent, and then slams her once against a tree, instantly killing her. The original version of the kill had Jason slamming the sleeping bag up against the tree multiple times, which is definitely nastier, but it’s much more badass to have Jason do the deed with one deadly movement instead of several. It’s also much more definitive. Once Jason gets a hold of you there is no escape.

3- Head Punched Off- Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan: This sequence takes place in New York City, on top of a building, with Julius (V.C. Dupree) deciding right then and there that he isn’t running from the pursuing Jason anymore. Instead, Julius is going to use his considerable boxing skills and fight his way out of his predicament. So he goes right at Jason and starts punching him. And punching him. And punching him. For a few moments there it looks like Julius’ strategy might pay off as he seems to have Jason on the ropes, knocking him back a bit with every punch. Julius might be able to punch Jason off the top of the building! But then Julius starts getting tired and his punches don’t land with the same force. Jason eventually stops moving back. Exhausted beyond belief, Julius, hands bleeding, tells Jason to take his best shot. And so Jason does. With one massive punch Jason decapitates Julius, sending his head down the side of the building and into a dumpster.

Jesus, that’s messed up. And kind of funny (the dumpster part, not the “one punch decapitation” part). But you have to hand it to Julius. He almost beat Jason with his bare hands. Who else in the series has come close to doing anything like that?

2- Triple Decapitation- Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives!: This sequence has three people participating in some sort of corporate team building paintball excursion, one woman and two men. The woman, Katie (Ann Ryerson), has just “killed” Stan and Larry (Mathew Faison and Alan Blumenfield), humiliating them because “a woman shouldn’t be able to take out two dudes in paintball. Paintball is a man’s sport, like business!” Stan and Larry are upset, but they don’t seem to be that upset. I don’t think they even wanted to do the paintball thing in the first place. And so Katie walks with Stan and Larry, making them wear their “Dead” headbands as they head back to wherever. Suddenly, Katie has them stop as she hears something. And then in the next second Jason drops down, takes out his machete, and decapitates Katie, Larry, and Stan in one deadly movement. All I can say now, which is what I said when I first saw it happen, is holy shit. A triple decapitation?

I wonder why this sequence wasn’t duplicated in Jason X, too. To me, it’s just as iconic as the sleeping bag kill. And Jason could have easily taken out three space marines on that ship with a machete. So what’s the deal there?

1- Face Pushed Into Liquid Nitrogen and then Smashed on Table- Jason X: This is the first Jason kill in space. After thawing out on the spaceship Grendel, Jason gets up and grabs Adrienne (Kristi Angus), drags the poor woman over to a sink (?) that has liquid nitrogen in it, then pushes her face into the liquid. Adrienne’s face freezes within seconds. Jason then smashes Adrienne’s face to smithereens on a nearby table. Messed up? Definitely. Mean-spirited? Of course (when isn’t a Jason kill mean-spirited?). Badass? In a way, yes. But then you have to remember that Adrienne was in the midst of dissecting Jason under the orders of Professor Lowe (Jonathan Potts). Could you argue that Jason was just defending himself from being further dissected? I mean, yeah, I guess so. Who wants to be dissected? But then he is Jason. If he’s up and mobile he’s going to keep killing people regardless of the reason. Now, do you think that Jason originally thought the liquid nitrogen was water and that he intended to just drown Adrienne before her face froze? Do you think he was surprised by what he just did? I think it’s possible. I’m not sure Jason would know what liquid nitrogen is.

How will a future Jason/Friday the 13th movie parody this kill? Do you think they will try?

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