Because Someone has to.

You know when people take potato chips and put them on their dinner plate in lieu of a more reasonable side dish? Always seemed weird to me, just taking junk food and treating it as if it were real food. Whenever this happens, the person serving it always acts like it's the most reasonable thing in the world to do. That is kind of how I feel about the Friday the 13th series. They should be a guilty pleasure, consumed in secret and shame, but somehow I have found myself in a position in which I am more likely to have a serious conversation about these films than Citizen Kane, for instance*. Eating them like real food if you will (please say you will, because I'm pretty far out on this limb right now). Each film is pure formula, and one that is shared with all slasher films which I`m sure does not need explaining. However there is one part of the formula which is uniquely Friday the 13th; the unmasking. The best movies in the series are basically build up to this point, with only a few exceptions.

Friday the 13th: Does not have an unmasking because... well I'm not going to ruin the secret.

Friday the 13th Part II: My personal favourite of the series. Less zombie-boss, and more mutant mountain man. Cool.Friday the 13th Part 3(D): The funniest reveal of the series, in which the female lead hangs Jason, thinks he's dead (he's never dead) and then he removes his mask to camera for no real reason. Still pretty cool.Friday the 13th - The Final Chapter: Tom Savini did this one, looks a little rubber mask-y, but makes up in machete-to-the-skull what it lacks in skin texture. Jason starts to look a little zombie like in this one.Brutal.
Friday the 13th Part V - A New Beginning: Basically the same deal as Part I, just way less interesting. Funnier though.

Friday the 13th Part VI - Jason Lives: The campiest in the series (really saying something!). Throws a wrench in the whole Jason-face-reveal-scheme by having it at the begining of the movie (daring). This is also the first movie in which Jason goes full zombie.

Before his corpse is struck by lightning.After his corpse is struck by lightning.

Friday the 13th Part VII - The New Blood - Jason going beyond zombie into cartoon zombie territory.
Friday the 13th Part VIII - Jason Takes Manhattan: In this de-masking jason has `toxic waste` thrown in his face and is in so much pain (because he feels pain at the end of every movie) he has to take his mask off to reveal his melting face. I feel like the melting face may have been a last minute write-in to explain how bad this looks.

Then things stop making sense. Jason is thwarted by rushing sewer water (because they are in Manhattan) and starts vomiting profusely just before it reaches him.


Then things really stop making sense. The rushing sewer water somehow prompts Jason to have a flashback to his childhood drowning in Crystal Lake, and when the water subsides he has turned back into a small child (because they are in Manhattan one assumes). Seriously. Best part: the two lead teenagers who narrowly escaped his grasp just look mildly relieved and walk away.



*I swear I didn`t just compare Citizen Kane to the Friday the 13th series.