Top 13 'Friday the 13th' Characters
About a month ago I had the clever-clogs idea to do a top 13 Friday the 13th characters for Friday the 13th. Then I forgot up until an hour before midnight the night before and quickly wrote it up. Enjoy!
JASON VOORHEESPlayed by Kane Hodder, Ari Lehman, Ken Kirzinger and others
We're going to start with the big man himself because of course he's on the list. Let's get it out of the way early. Jason initially apart as a malformed child lurking in the lake he'd supposedly drowned in. Before long he becomes a lumbering, psychotic, masked mountain man. This is the default for the first couple of movies, with his death leading to zombification, then becoming a cyborg and finally a ghost of some kind.
It's not until the third movie in the series that Jason settles on his recognisable hockey mask and machete, the look that made him a pop culture icon.
TINA SHEPARD The New BloodPlayed by Lar Park Lincoln
Tina isn't a well known character outside of the franchise fanatics, but she's very popular within the fandom. Tina was born with powerful telekinetic abilities, which makes her one of the few characters capable of battling Jason head-on. Tina's ability to hit Jason with heavy furniture while keeping her distance played well against the lumbering behemoth. If she wasn't only featured in one movie she could've been a fantastic rival.
MARK JARVISPlayed by Tom McBride
The sequel to Friday the 13th really failed on introducing memorable characters, with the only exception being the surprisingly inclusive wheelchair bound Mark. For a series that wound up being known for exploitation of women and minorities, Mark being more than a token stereotype is quite cool. He gets a real nasty, if illogical, ending from Sack-head Jason.
EVA WATANABE Jason Takes ManhattanPlayed by Kelly Hu
Eva is mostly a simple stereotype whose actor happens to deliver some excellent stunt-work. What makes her extra-rad is that she's played by Kelly Hu, best known as Lady Deathstrike in X-Men 2. And we interviewed her here.
SERGEANT BRODSKIPlayed by Peter Menash
Any character who stands up to Jason is always going to be good in our books. Firstly, Brodski leads a team of space marines against Jason, who picks them off one by one. Then he single-handedly holds him back so everyone else can escape, and ends the movie by space-tackling Uber-Jason and burning them both up in an Earth's atmosphere.
THE DOUBLEMINT TWINS The Final ChapterPlayed by Camilla and Carey More
If you want to know exactly when Friday the 13th shifted into full on exploitative nonsense, it's with the Doublemint Twins. The story is that Camilla More auditioned for a role in the film and was turned down, only for the producers to write new characters into the script when it was discovered that Camilla had an identical twin. They're there for sex appeal and nothing else.
CRAZY RALPHFriday the 13th and Part 2
Played by Walt Gorney
Remember that bit in Cabin in the Woods when they meet the 'crazy old man' trope on the way to their doom? Crazy Ralph is the first and best version of that character. He's proper looney and made two appearances being being murdered.
CREIGHTON DUKE Jason Goes to Hell: The Final FridayPlayed by Steven Williams
Just let me share a quote from this odd bounty hunter.
Reporter: I'm going to say a couple of words and I want you to say the first thing that comes into your mind: Jason Voorhees.
Creighton Duke: That makes me think of a little girl in a pink dress...sticking a hot dog through a dougnut.
What the actual fuck does that mean?
JACK BURRELL Friday the 13thPlayed by Kevin Bacon
One of the most frequently cited pieces of trivia for this franchise, the original film included the film acting debut of Kevin Bacon, who'd later appear in Footloose, Wild Things and X-Men: First Class. He copped a classic Tom Savini kill, on of the most brutal look effects in the movie.
JIMMY MORTIMER The Final ChapterPlayed by Crispen Glover
Another famous face, this time Back to the Future and Charlie's Angels weirdo Crispen Glover. He's actually one of the more interesting characters, with some genuine emotion and sympathy through Glover's performance. His insecurities make him of the more human victims Jason chases down, and we're glad he got his redemption first.
FREDDY KRUEGER
Freddy VS JasonPlayed by Robert Englund
Hey, this counts. Even if you want to argue that the showdown was a spin-off or whatever, you have to ignore that Freddy grabbing Jason's mask in the previous chapter. We also interviewed Robert Englund here.
PAMELA VOORHEES Friday the 13thPlayed by Betsy Palmer
The original killer, a bit of trivia that everyone bloody knows since it was mentioned in Scream. She's no second fiddle to Jason, though, making to wipe out all but one of the original cast in a brutal fashion. Pamela doesn't survive the first massacre, but her shadows hangs over the franchise and remains a driving force for Jason.
TOMMY JARVISThe Final Chapter, A News Beginning and Jason Lives
Played by Corey Feldman, John Sheperd and Thom Matthews
If Jason has a nemesis, it'll be Tommy Jarvis. The character may have had as big an impact as Jason if he hadn't been played by a different actor in each appearance and the promise of the character never being fulfilled. It was hinted at a few times that Tommy would go insane and become a killer himself, but it never happened. First appearing as a mask-making child her got the upper hand on Jason, then as a youth dealing with a copycat and finally summoning and fighting zombie-Jason. He eventually returned in the Friday the 13th online game, being a last minute reprise for players in a bind.