Top 10 Actually Smart Decisions in Friday the 13th Movies

“Friday the 13th” (1980)
There are countless examples throughout the horror genre of people not taking a golden opportunity to kill the killer. Sometimes this is brought up as a moral dilemma, but most of the time they’re just too careless. But not Alice. Alice means business. The final girl of the original film, Alice goes toe to toe with Pamela Voorhees and wins in spectacular fashion. She sees the opportunity, gleaming in the form of a dropped machete, and takes it. She grabs the weapon off the ground, and with one giant swing puts an end to the menace for good. Now that’s how you take down the boogeyman. Or boogeywoman, in this case.

“Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter” (1984)
One of the smartest things you can do is prepare for a fight, and that’s exactly what Rob does in “The Final Chapter.” Like a boxer studying the moves and style of his opponent, Rob comes prepared to fight Jason, wishing to avenge the death of his sister Sandra. Unlike most of the characters in this franchise, Rob is ready and willing to throw down, with equipment and weapons to spare. It’s a great idea, but he completely flubs it. The grand revenge plan comes to naught, as Jason reunites Rob and Sandra in the afterlife with the help of a garden claw.

“Friday the 13th Part III” (1982)
Of all the final girls in the franchise, Chris Higgins has to be one of the most resilient. And one of the smartest. She puts up a heck of a fight in the barn, using both her physical strength and intelligence to battle her freaky foe. She literally gets the drop on him from above, knocks him unconscious with a shovel, and takes the opportunity to tie a rope around his neck and hang him from the rafters. This is a genius idea, and it sets Chris apart from other characters who probably would have just run away the second Jason fell over. And you know, it probably would have worked if he didn’t have that hockey mask…

“Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood” (1988)
Jason finally meets his match with Tina, a young woman with telekinetic abilities. Yeah, this series goes places. Tina uses all sorts of different tactics in her climactic fight with Jason, like electrocuting him with power lines and a puddle, strangling him with an electrical cord, and using the furnace to set him on fire. She is adept at using her surroundings and is smart enough to combine different items to craft an even stronger weapon. At one point Jason even looks a little ticked off, as he realizes that he is getting his butt handed to him. Not too many characters can manage to piss off Jason…

“Friday the 13th Part III” (1982)
We return to Chris for another ingenious idea, only this one comes at the expense of poor Debbie. Debbie is killed by Jason earlier in the movie, and he apparently threw her body into a closet with the knife still embedded in her back. While hiding from Jason in said closet, Chris finds Debbie’s corpse and the bloody knife - and a fantastic opportunity. As much as she hates to do it, she takes the knife out of Debbie and uses it to escape from Jason. Yeah, we understand that it’s gross, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do, and that’s why Chris survives while others do not.

“Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan” (1989)
Dang New York City and their huge barrels of toxic waste. Leaving these barrels laying around is pretty darned stupid, but Rennie certainly isn’t stupid for taking advantage of it. She hammers it open with a flashlight and proceeds to throw it in Jason’s face, which has to be one of the coolest final girl moments in the history of the franchise. It also proves one of the coolest unmasking scenes, with Jason’s gray and disfigured face being the stuff of nightmares. His horrified screams of pain proves that Rennie’s decision was the right one.

“Friday the 13th: A New Beginning” (1985)
This entry is perhaps the most controversial, as it contains a twist ending in which the Jason figure is revealed to be someone else. That someone else is Roy Burns, a mentally ill paramedic who wished to copy Jason’s crimes. In the bad guy’s one final scare, he appears from the barn’s loft window and grabs Reggie by the ankle. Things look pretty dire - until Tommy arrives to save the day. Thinking fast, he grabs the dropped machete and hacks away at Roy’s arm. The day is saved, and Roy falls to his death.

“Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives” (1986)
OK, so you clearly can’t kill Jason. What else can you do? Tommy Jarvis has a rather great idea, and that’s chaining him to the bottom of Crystal Lake. Tommy gets hold of a boulder and a chain and uses them to trap Jason underwater. Of course, it’s not as easy as it sounds, and Tommy nearly dies in the process. Megan dives in to save Tommy, only to be grabbed around the ankle by a chained Jason. She too acts intelligently and uses the boat’s motor to injure Jason, causing him to release his grip and allowing the survivors to swim free. The chaining doesn’t kill Jason, but it traps him, and that’s about all you can ask for while battling an immortal being.

“Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter” (1984)
To think, the person who finally defeats Jason is a twelve year old boy. Well, for a time, at least. Little Tommy Jarvis is Jason’s ultimate foe, both fiercely intelligent and strong beyond his years. In the climax of the fourth film, Tommy shaves his head in an attempt to look like a young Jason. Not only is the act itself smart, but so is the psychology behind it, with Tommy digging deep into Jason’s humanity and buried childhood traumas. It is a wickedly intelligent thing for a twelve year old to do, and the ploy works flawlessly, with Tommy actually managing to kill Jason for good. Of course, he brings him back to life later, but eh, let’s not talk about that.

“Friday the 13th Part 2” (1981)
Turns out, the key to defeating Jason isn’t whacking him with sharp objects, but appealing to his psyche and long-dormant humanity. Ginny Field discovered this before Tommy - and while Tommy appeals to Jason himself, Ginny goes for his mother. She finds a shack in which are the remains of Pamela Voorhees. Thinking quickly, she dons the matriarch’s sweater and attempts to fool Jason by acting like his late mother. It doesn’t completely work, as Jason eventually snaps out of it, but big points for trying! Ginny is smart enough not only to don the sweater, but to find and manipulate the emotional connection between Jason and Pamela. She battles the monster with psychology, which is perhaps the greatest weapon of all.

Do you think you would have made these same decisions? Let us know in the comments below!