Ranking the Best Friday the 13th Kills
Friday the 13th, a date that strikes fear into camp counselors, and a day that delivers joy to horror movie fans. This is due entirely to the Friday the 13th series, which has Jason Vorhees as the killer, who has become one of the most recognizable horror icons. But after featuring in 10 Friday movies, with two other killers in two other movies, there has been a huge body count across all 12 movies. So, what are the best kills in the series, in my opinion?
13. Eddie’s Tree Belt (Friday the 13th: A New Beginning)
Starting out this list is a kill not committed by Jason himself, that being Eddie’s death from A New Beginning. This kill is just brutal, having Eddie’s head being crushed slowly as the belt twists tighter and tighter around his eyes.
12. Nikki’s Nightmare Wall Slam (Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives)
While this death may not be particularly gory, but the lead up and execution of this kill is what really gets it. First of all, Nikki is trapped in a small RV bathroom with Jason Vorhees himself, getting choked while her boyfriend is oblivious to the fact. Then, Jason decides to take a page out of Freddy’s book and slam her face into the thin metal wall, which would completely crush her skull. And the noise it makes even further accentuates the uniqueness of this kill.
11. Sleeping Bag Slow Roast (Friday the 13th 2009 Reboot)
The Friday the 13th Reboot helped to establish its own identity due to its new Jason. Rather than the slow and less intelligent Jason we knew from the originals, reboot Jason was a force to behold. Reboot Jason can run, set up traps, and has actual drawn out kills, as opposed to the originals style of quick kills. That is shown best here, where Jason ties up his victim in a sleeping bag over a fire, cooking her just like she’s in an oven. This also acts as a trap, allowing another person to get caught in a bear trap. Jason shows he’s much more intelligent now, and doesn’t even have to be fully active on one kill, allowing for more maximum kills.
10. Virtual Sleeping Bag Kills (Jason X)
While this may technically not count because it’s two kills, and these are virtual people, but it’s too good of a kill not to include. This features Uber Jason, which is essentially just a cyborg version of Jason who’s a lot more powerful. But here we see Jason back at a virtual Camp Crystal Lake, with virtual camp counselors to boot. And so he does his Jason thing and gets to killing, this time by beating the two of them to death in their own sleeping bags.
9. Original Sleeping Bag Slam (Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood)
And finally, the sleeping bag kill that inspired them all. This one is great because of just how strong it makes Jason seem. All he does is hit the sleeping bag against the tree once, and then the sleeping bag’s inside is full of blood. It’s a simple kill, but effective none the less.
8. Jason Gets Blown to Bits (Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday)
Jason seems to die at the end of most of the movies, only to be shown that he’s still alive, because money. However, Jason really did die at the beginning of Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday, but his heart still lives on. Look, that’s not important, but this kill sure is. It features Jason getting absolutely destroyed by the FBI, until he eventually explodes from all the gunshots. Although, it does have Jason grunting, which is something nobody wanted.
7. Melting Deputy Josh (Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday)
Remember how I just said Jason heart was still alive? Well, a doctor ate it and basically became possessed by Jason, and then a bunch of transfers happened, including to Deputy Josh. The transfer of Jason out of them kills them, and Deputy Josh has his entire body melt. It looks really great and creepy, especially when his jaw gets stuck to the floor. While this would feel out of place in any other Friday movie, this Friday movie feels out of place in the series.
6. Mark’s Wheelchair Stair Roll (Friday the 13th Part 2)
Friday the 13th Part 2 was when Jason made his first appearance, but he didn’t look very much like the Jason we would all come to love. However, this kill incorporates his iconic weapon, the machete. Jason swings his machete into the face of Mark, who’s wheelchair hasn’t done much in the movie. However, the wheelchair now makes his kill one of the most memorable, as he starts to roll down a large staircase in one of Jason’s best kills.
5. Kevin Bacon’s Throat Arrow (Friday the 13th)
Before Kevin Bacon was saving dance in Footloose, he was getting stabbed in the original Friday the 13th. This is indisputably the most famous kill from the original movie, and one of the best in the series. The gore looks great, and even the malfunctions that caused the blood spurts helped the seen, rather than hurt it.
4. Back Stabs and Bed Folds (Freddy vs Jason)
Freddy vs Jason pitted two of the biggest horror icons against each other, but neither of them killed each other. But during the movie, Jason got a good amount of kills, and the best came up early on. The kill is when Jason killed the awful boyfriend Trey. The kill first has Trey’s guts getting stabbed out of his body, and then his bed gets folded up, breaking his body in half.
3. Julius and Jason’s Fist Fight (Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan)
While Jason Takes Manhattan was mostly Jason Takes A Boat, it did one thing right, it had the people fight back. While it obviously didn’t work, there is no better example of someone fighting Jason one on one than this. It’s just Julius and Jason on a roof, so Julius just starts punching Jason for about a minute, all of those real punches. Then Jason just knocks Julius’s head off in one hit, even manage to land it in a nearby dumpster.
2. The First Death of Jason (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter)
It’s a common occurrence in horror movies for the villain to be killed, only to open their eyes or something at the very end. However, Jason was actually killed in The Final Chapter. His death comes after being tricked by Tommy Jarvis pretending to be his younger self, and then getting impaled in the head by his own machete. He slides down it, looking confused on how he could have been beaten. But when Tommy notices Jason’s hand twitching, he just keeps stabbing Jason to make sure he’s dead, but money can bring anybody back from the dead.
1. Smashed Ice Head (Jason X)
How could this not be the best kill? It has all of the best features of some of the greatest kills of the series. First there’s a slight jump scare when Jason grabs Adrienne after being awoken. Then she tries to get help, but can’t be heard behind the wall. And finally, we get the most unique kill of the series when Jason dunks Adrienne’s head into a pool of liquid nitrogen, freezing it instantly. Then he smashes her head into a cherry slushie, and just throws the corpse away like it’s garbage.
