Friday the 13th: Worst Kills in the Franchise

Another Friday the 13th is upon us, which means it’s time to watch and celebrate the Friday the 13th franchise. Here on Arrow in the Head, we’ve previously talked about the best kills in the Friday the 13th films, and there are some all-time greats in this series. With weapons as varied as bladed implements, liquid nitrogen, and his own bare hands, the legendary Jason Voorhees has made blood spray, eyes pop, and bones shatter, tossed around that dream stalker from Elm Street, and even punched someone’s head clean off their body… But with this article, we wanted to do something different. Going in the opposite direction from the kill celebration, we’ve now compiled a list of what we consider to be the Worst Kills in the Franchise. Check out our picks, then let us know which kills you consider to be the worst by leaving a comment below!

AMANDA (FRIDAY THE 13TH 2009)

Kicking off this list of the worst kills in the Friday the 13th series comes one from the series reboot. Within the confines of the 2009 version of Friday the 13th, the death of Amanda – left to roast to death in a sleeping bag that Jason hangs above a campfire – isn’t a bad kill. But it can be jarring for some fans, as this is the first indication that the Jason of this movie is more cunning and sadistic than we’ve seen before. In earlier films his kills were always quick. Brutal, but usually over in seconds. He gives Amanda a slow, torturous death simply so he can get her boyfriend to come running in to help… and step in the bear trap that has been set up for him. For the woodsman survivalist Jason of the ’09 film, this works. Compared to previous films, it’s somewhat out of character.

THREE BONE CRACKERS IN A ROW (JASON X)

When Jason breaks Azrael’s back over his knee and drops the body on the floor, it looks cool and the stuntwoman playing Azrael in that moment did a great job. Dallas getting his head smashed against the wall immediately after isn’t as cool, but the stuntman got injured filming that moment. So we’ll give those two a pass. But then the next kill in the movie is another weaponless, bone-cracking death. Now this has gone on too long. The sound effects may be nice, but Jason twisting the head of the Sven character until his neck snaps is one of the least interesting, most uneventful kills in the franchise. Thankfully, there are some better kills on the way right after this.

SUZI (FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN)

Jason stabs Suzi in the chest with a spear (taken from a speargun) when he finds her hiding in a storage area on a boat. The problem isn’t the method of murder itself. A character getting stabbed with a spear is fine. The off-putting thing about this kill is the fact that Suzi simply kicks her legs, waves her hands, shakes her head, and repeats “No, please, no!” while Jason lowers the spear toward her chest. There’s no attempt to escape or fight, she just figures that eventually the cry of “No, please, no” is going to convince him to stop and leave her alone. And the audience is left thinking, “What an idiot.”

DAVID (FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD)

Some of the kills are lacking in Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood because the ratings board removed the gore from the movie almost entirely. One scene that suffered from the removal of blood and guts was the death of Dr. Crews. But another kill that wasn’t even good in the uncut footage was the death of the stoner David, who grimaces and drops dead as soon as Jason sticks a kitchen knife in his stomach. This is an issue in some slasher movies, where characters die immediately just because something has pierced their skin. David’s death is a good example of how ridiculous this is, with the look on his face as he dies making the scene even more laughable.

RAYMOND (FRIDAY THE 13TH: A NEW BEGINNING)

Since the death of David in The New Blood has been called out, we also have to look at the death of Raymond in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, because it’s the same death. Caught creeping on Debi Sue Voorhees (that’s the name of an actress who has a popular role in the film, not somebody related to Jason), he gets a blade shoved into his stomach, he grimaces and groans, then falls down. Dead by the time he hits the ground. It only takes him about five seconds to die from getting stabbed in the stomach. Not the heart, not the brain. Just the gut. And sure, we see people dying from stomach wounds a lot in slasher movies, but it’s more satisfying when they’re hit with an axe or stuck with a pitchfork, something like that. Simple knife wounds just don’t cut it.

GANG BANGER #1 (FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN)

Okay, killing a gang banger with the syringe he has just used to forcefully inject the heroine with cocaine (apparently not heroin, because he talks about getting “more ‘caine”), that’s a great idea for a death scene. The execution, however, looks absurd. Somehow Jason impales the gang banger with the syringe. He sticks it in his back and we see the needle poking through the front of his shirt. Of all the ways Jason could have killed this guy with a syringe, we get the most disappointing option. The same could be said of this movie in general. Of all the ways Jason could have “taken Manhattan”, this is what we got.

ROBIN (FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD)

Before the ratings board hacked into The New Blood, Robin had a completely different death. Jason originally cornered her and swung a machete into her stomach. That effect didn’t look good in the uncut footage, but at least it was a little better than the death Robin gets in the theatrical cut. There, Jason grabs her and tosses her through the second story window of a house. She hits the ground dead. Even Jason actor Kane Hodder has complained about how underwhelming this kill is, and said the stunt performer was supposed to make the fall from the window look more impressive. Instead we get an unimpressive fall and a shot of a person on the ground.

KIA (FREDDY VS. JASON)

Freddy vs. Jason is an over-the-top movie. It’s about Freddy Krueger fighting Jason Voorhees, it was expected to be over-the-top. But one moment in which it goes too far over-the-top is the death of Kia. Jason uses his machete a lot in this movie, and before this moment we’ve seen him slash several people with it. We’ve even seen him cut a person in half, one of the best effects to be found in a Jason movie. The ratings board didn’t usually let us see things like that! But for some reason, when he slashes Kia with the machete, she doesn’t just get cut open. Instead, she’s sent hurtling several feet through the air and smashes into a tree. Definitely not the expected result.

ADMIRAL ROBERTSON (FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN)

There is no blood flow to be seen when Jason slashes the throat of Admiral Robertson. How do you make a bloodless throat slitting even more disappointing? Present the moment in slow motion, and as we see the guy’s throat splitting open (with no blood flow), put the sound of him groaning – slowed down and deepened – on the soundtrack. That groaning sound might even make you laugh, if you’re not too distracted by how lackluster the slit throat effect is. The ratings board may be the reason for why the throat slitting isn’t impressive, but in that case cut away quickly, don’t make us stare at the thing in slow motion and turn it into comedy with the groan.

OFF SCREEN KILLS (ANY MOVIE)

This doesn’t go for every single off screen kill in the franchise, because sometimes having a character find the bloody corpse of a character we didn’t see get killed can be an effective moment. But there are also moments where off screen kills are disappointing – like when we know someone is going to get killed in seconds, but then the movie cuts away to a different scene instead. It’s even worse when we see the body later and it’s not clear how the person died. Examples: Brenda in Friday the 13th and Terry in Friday the 13th Part 2. Worst of all is when the death is never even confirmed with a body sighting, like Mrs. Jarvis in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. We’re here to see cool death scenes, so don’t hold back on that.

Do you think these are the worst kills in the Friday the 13th sage? Sound off below!

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