Friday the 13th franchise

One of the true granddaddies of the slasher film genre is Jason and his hockey mask, and with an impressive filmography that spans 11 films over 25 years he is one of the few icon characters of horror that can still bring in a big box office. But starting out there was no real distinction from the other slasher films that were coming out at the time, yet this story, this killer, resonated with the public and became a phenomenon to go down in film history. And like the Universal Pictures monsters from the 30s and 40s, Jason just kept coming back in ways for sequels that just seemed to boggle the imagination.
Friday the 13^th-While getting the camp ready for the season, the new counselors are attacked by a psychopathic killer that doesn't want the camp opened. Shot with the air of a low budget film, the audience is taken on a suspenseful ride that at times leaves you breathless. With most of the earmarks that would become standard issue sequences for slasher films, this film set the new mold in place for the unknown killer stalking their victims. Keeping the killer's identity in the dark for 95% of the story helps build on the terror of the situations, and then once she's revealed the final battle begins.
Friday the 13^th Part 2-Five years after the gruesome murders at Camp Crystal Lake, a new group of counselors in training are attacked by a new killer on the other side of the lake. The best thing about this film is the introduction of Jason himself into the Killer role. One of the other significant things about this part of the story is that it gives the first film a chance to come to some closure and then leaps ahead five years to start the tale anew. Where this training camp is on the other side of Crystal Lake, we're given a glimpse into the expanse of Jason's influence in the area. Since this the first film with Jason as the Killer the story goes far into the psychosis of the character and we see where and how he lives.
Friday the 13^th Part 3 (in 3-D)-A young girl with psychological problems joins her friends at her old family home, but are then taken down one by one by Jason. Shot with the 3-D effect this film isn't as good as the first two films, even though this is the movie where he picks up his signature hockey mask. Some of the visual effects are so bad that when the 3-D effect is used that looks even worse. Bad effects not with standing the story does give us an idea that there are things going on with Jason between the films, with the flashbacks that the main character has shows that this isn't the first run in with Jason.
Friday the 13^th: The Final Chapter-Jason moves on to the next family of vacationers and comes up against a person that just maybe his match. Labeled as the final chapter it actually gives the audience an ending to the Jason storyline, but like any good killer you just can't keep him down. Corey Feldman stars as Tommy the young boy with a horror mask fetish and Jason's nemesis in the end. The story was beefed up from Part 3 to give it a little bit more in the way of character development then the series had been using.
Friday the 13^th Part 5: A New Beginning-Years after fighting Jason Tommy has been in and out of facilities for the insane, but now that he's in a half way house has Jason tracked him down. The enhanced character development of Tommy in the last film becomes evident here where he becomes the focal point of the story. With Tommy's hallucinations of Jason this brings into the story that he is the killer and attacking out of pure anger. Unfortunately this is a very weak movie in the series, with the absence of Jason the audience is left with a feeling of being fleeced by a studio that just couldn't come up with a better idea.
Friday the 13^th Part 6: Jason Lives-To finally get rid of his demons, Tommy goes to Jason's burial site but after opening the grave a bolt of lightning hit's the body and brings Jason back to life. Using the old monster movie gimmick of lightening to bring back the life of the killer, the franchise is revitalized in one swift stroke. Bringing Jason back after the last film wasn't to hard, using the lightning bolt is reminiscent of the Frankenstein creature and brings about the idea that he will be just as unstoppable as the creature was. Moving back into the "regular" antics of Jason was a good thing, the story and the action became something that the audience could rely on from a slasher film.
Friday the 13^th Part 7: The New Blood-Jason is resurrected from his watery grave by a telekinetic gifted young girl who is trying to deal with the idea that she killed her father. Blending in other aspects from other horror films looks like a desperate act of a writer that couldn't come up with anything new to continue the storyline. Here the character of Stephen King's "Carrie" with the mental instability of the Tommy character, from the previous two films, becomes the nemesis for Jason. Unfortunately the story is so dragged out that you begin to wonder if you should just cut your losses and skip this film in the series, and it's a definite possibility.
Friday the 13^th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan-When Jason is brought back to life he chases a group of high school seniors on to a cruise ship and then into New York City to keep his body count growing. Its amazing how far a film company will go in order to continue a successful franchise. With this film Jason is taken completely out of his element, put on a cruise ship and the into New York City. Even though most people will agree that Jason would follow his victims just about anywhere to get them, but moving him out of the woods surrounding the lake was a bad idea. The ending to this film is so farfetched that its beyond belief, but if you actually wanted a believable ending you probably wouldn't watched a slasher film, let alone one from the Friday the 13^th series.
Jason Goes to Hell-After the FBI blow Jason up into pieces, his spirit starts to body hop to return to Crystal Lake in order to be reborn through the body of his sister. Set up to close the franchise out with a storyline that would explain some of the origin story and expand the Jason scope of influence. This film was also to mark a change in the Friday the 13^th franchise, this was the first film made by New Line Cinema after the franchise was purchased from Paramount. With a strong a story to revitalize the character the audience was given a glimpse into how much the new company believed in the franchise. And with the closing scene of Freddy Kruger's claw dragging Jason's mask into the ground, fans were left with the idea that since this company now owned the two most popular characters in horror a match up wouldn't be to far off.
Jason X-After 400 years of being cryogenically frozen, Jason is brought back to life a board a spaceship and begins a whole new killing spree. On the sci-fi side of this story it's not to bad, but as a Jason story it leaves something to be desired. The set up at the beginning, an obvious send up from Silence of the Lambs, is classic Friday the 13^th, but once the story changes gears it becomes more Aliens than Jason. You could stick an killer in the role and it would work, and that's the down side. Every other film in the series is distinctly a Jason film but here after the beginning carnage it slips away from the familiar formula that fans of the series have grown up on.
One of the common threads that we see through most of the films is that someone within the story has some background that connects them to Crystal Lake and Jason. This was a nice idea that kept the first nine stories some what associated with each other, with the movies set up like this the audience is made aware that there are other things happening between the films and that there is a much larger history. Other than Jason X, when you watch these films in the natural sequence the story is very large and interconnected which is good for a long running franchise. Now after watching these films from beginning to end I actually feel like I truly remember how it felt when I first saw these films when they first came out in the theater, and then the Friday the 13^th's when I and friends would rent what ever films were out at the time and have our own marathon. Oh, those were the days.