At least, of the "Nightmare" series.

If I may digress, overall, I & II were the best. III was ... ok.

The "New Nightmare" was strange.

But, the opening dream sequence in II, with Freddy driving the school bus, is really terrifying.

After that scene, Freddy is a only a subtle presence until almost a third of the way through the movie - probably the least campy performance by Robert Englund of all of his "Freddy" portrayals.

And, you can tell this series started in the eighties - FK was originally a child molester, who became a child murderer after #1 (he was never called a molester again).

Guess it's hard to sell posters and t-shirts and whatnot to kids when there's a molester on the front, but a murderer, that's ok...

I agree that Jason X was way more entertaining than it had any right to be. (It was especially hilarious to see what had become half the cast of _Andromeda_ running around in different roles.)

The link in this review to the Jason X review is broken; it should be:

http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2002/05/01/jason_x/

It hurts to read such good writing for such a nothing movie. It's time someone "accidentally" slipped Andrew Stephanie Zacharek's review assignments once in a while. It's a travesty that something this intelligent was wasted on a "Friday the 13th" review.

That in Friday the 13th, the 13th movie that Jason needs to be invited into an S&M orgy by all the hot bare chested maidens and he'll finally decide to stop killing all those horny teens smoking weed, drinkin' beer and having sex.

Here's a good place to check out the development of this series-- it gets us through Freddy vs. Jason (and there's an accompanying Nightmare on Elm Street discussion too).

http://www.notcoming.com/horrortease/halloween_06.php

I'm glad I wasn't the first to leap in and correct the confusion about the hockey mask! (Which debuts in part 3). But I think it's most important to remember that up until part 3, most of the scares were derived from Killer's POV shots, leaving the identity of the real killer a mystery. Which is much, much, MUCH scarier than showing anything.

Unless you are a teenage boy trying to get laid, why would you take anyone to this movie? It's not even worth a review.

If we start counting 15 minute 'fan films' such as Cold Heart...., then its time to start counting the tsunami of shorts made by every teen with a camcorder and a hockey mask.....although Mr. Rogers show as a Vorhees prequel has some teeth!

Did you lose a bet, draw the short straw, or were your editors just feeling sadistic?

(It's always fun when cinema snobs go slumming.)

It seems there's something about a bad movie review (anyone's bad movie review) that inspires deliciously crafty analogies like these. I love it.

At least, I *think* it is... Here is the rundown:

1980: Friday the 13th

1981: Friday the 13th Part 2

1982: Friday the 13th Part III in 3-D

1984: Friday the 13th IV - The Final Chapter

1985: Friday the 13th V?

1986: Friday the 13th VI - Jason Lives

1988: Friday the 13th VII - New Blood

1989: Friday the 13th VIII - Jason Takes Manhattan

1993: Jason Goes to Hell - The Final Friday

2001: Jason X

2003: Freddy vs. Jason

2003: The Cold Heart of Crystal Lake

Also, don't forget the puppet King Friday the 13th from Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. He was a cold-blooded killer.

You are right, it was part III (in 3D, no less) where he starts wearing the hockey mask. Part II was the potato sack.

And I don't mind remembering these mindless details, especially given that I feel I can really test my 80s trivia with all of these "reimagined, rebooted, rewhatever" stupidities coming back to the silver screen. From "Star Trek" to "Friday the 13th" to "RoboCop" and "Poltergeist," every 80s movie will get the CGI treatment, pseudo-sleek production design and ear-drum shattering treatment. But perhaps the boobs will be bigger.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but don't I think Jason started wearing the hockey mask until Friday the 13th Part III. I'm pretty sure he spent all of Part II running around with a sack on his head.