With the hype train for Halloween Kills still chugging along, slasher fans can rejoice that their genre of choice is finally getting some love. While Halloween from 1978 did a lot to kick off the craze, when one thinks of slasher films, they think of Friday The 13th.
While he wasn't the villain of the first film, Jason Voorhees has carved out a unique legacy for himself as one of the most prolific serial killers in cinematic history. That said, compared to the likes of Michael, Freddy, and Chucky, Jason isn't totally evil, with there being some moments that prove it.
Drowning In Crystal Lake
Long before he was one of cinema's best killers, Jason Voorhees was a timid little boy. The son of an abusive father and an overprotective mother, Jason was surrounded by misfortune, often being picked on by fellow kids just because of how he looked.
One day, the bullying that Jason bore the brunt of escalated to the point of disaster when the kids at Camp Crystal Lake pushed him into the lake—and he didn't know how to swim. Unfortunately, the camp counselors were having sex on the job, so no one was around to save Jason and he died.
His Foundational Motivations
Jason's tragic origins have informed why he does what he does. Though, at his core, he is a dutiful son carrying out the whims of his deceased mother, Jason's main victims seem to imply that his vendetta is a personal one.
As his first kill was the camp counselor that killed his mother, his main target is rambunctious teens that are doing drugs and sleeping around. Though this hasn't always been the case, the core of his attacks may come from a need to get catharsis for his demise.
Killing Charles McCulloch
Compared to many of Jason's victims in the Friday the 13th movies, Charles McCulloch deserved his fate. Cruel towards his niece Rennie from childhood to young adulthood, audiences back in 1989 were frothing at the mouth to see what kind of kill awaited McCulloch, and it was a brutal one.
As Jason Takes Manhatten nears its climax, Jason tracks the slimy McCulloch down and forces him into a barrel of sewage, drowning him. As McCulloch once forced Rennie into a lake to teach her how to swim, this death feels very thematically justified.
Silent Sympathy For Leatherface
Taking a step away from the world of movies, a rather interesting character moment came in the Topps Comics series that crossed Jason over with Leatherface. The two kings of 90-minute masterpieces, Jason vs. Leatherface was a comic book series that saw Jason encounter the cannibalistic family from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
At first, Jason is treated as a guest, but seeing how Leatherface is mistreated by his family awakens memories of the hockey-masked killer's childhood. Jason offers Leatherface some silent sympathy, perhaps one of the kindest things Jason has ever done.
His Mother Was The First Killer
Something that was simply accepted by non-horror fans for a while was that Jason was the killer of the first Friday The 13th flick—that is, until Scream debunked it. The killer in the first movie was kept a secret throughout most of its runtime until Pamela Voorhees entered the fray.
While her murder spree was impressive, Pamela's work in the first movie is often overshadowed by her son's actions, even being attributed to him. It's not that Jason's kill count is tiny by any means, but it's a bit sad that he's been pinned for murders he never even committed, with the first movie not being the first time that's happened.
Roy Burns
A Friday the 13th movie that's so bad it's hilarious, A New Beginning hints at Jason being the killer of the movie only for one of the least satisfying twists to play out. After his son was killed by an unstable man at a halfway house, paramedic Roy Burns attempts to gain revenge by murdering the other patrons, including recurring Jason survivor Tommy Jarvis.
At the end of the movie, Jarvis, final girl Pam Roberts, and the halfway house's cook's grandson Reggie kill Burns, putting an end to his brief reign of terror. Jason would return in the next movie, leaving Roy Burns to be all but forgotten.
Actively Not Killing Children
Perhaps the best Friday The 13th movie, Jason Lives feels like a classic Friday The 13th film wrapped in a more polished package. In the movie, children attend Camp Crystal Lake for the first time, which makes Jason's return all the more nerve-wracking as the idea of children getting killed is an uncomfortable one.
Thankfully, Jason has some degree of principles, with the murder of children proving to be a bridge too far for him. In a really tense scene, Jason stands over a little girl's bed who begins praying for God to protect her. It seems that her prayers were heard, as Jason spared the children's lives in Jason Lives.
Being Manipulated By Freddy Krueger
After years of development hell, Freddy vs. Jason was finally released in 2003. The movie didn't fail either party, as Freddy was as quippy as ever, and Jason got some amazing kills in. That said, the latter had a little help from the former, as Freddy was manipulating Jason throughout most of the movie's runtime.
Having lost a lot of his power, Freddy masquerades as Jason and brings him to Elm Street in order to slaughter a new spate of teens. Jason is a formidable force on his own, but the majority of the kills he commits in Freddy vs. Jason can't really be blamed on him.
Battling Freddy
Though they have their similarities, Freddy and Jason feel like they're playing with different rules, with Freddy being far more dangerous and evil than Jason. Though it seems that Jason would be enormously outmatched in a battle with Krueger, Jason actually put in a good fight against The Springwood Slasher.
Freddy vs. Jason battle twice in the film's runtime, once in Freddy's dreamworld, and once after Freddy is brought into the real world. After years of Freddy ruining the lives of innocent teenagers from Springwood, Ohio, it puts a skip in one's step seeing Jason give him a good beating.