Prepare for a thrilling countdown of the most intelligent choices made in the Friday the 13th franchise! We're diving into the moments where characters outsmarted the infamous Jason Voorhees. From clever disguises to ingenious traps, these survivors proved that brains can triumph over brawn, even in the face of unstoppable evil.
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00:00This video is brought to you by Paramount Scares.
00:06Yo man, it's cool, it's cool man, it's cool.
00:13Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks
00:16for the smartest things that characters have done
00:18throughout the original Friday the 13th franchise.
00:21Remember me, Jason?
00:24Jason, don't you remember?
00:28Number 10. Going for the head. Friday the 13th.
00:32Look what you did to him!
00:36There are countless examples throughout the horror genre
00:38of people not taking a golden opportunity to kill the killer.
00:41Sometimes this is brought up as a moral dilemma,
00:44but most of the time they're just too careless.
00:46But not Alice. Alice means business.
00:50Don't let her live.
00:52I won't, Jason. I won't.
00:55The final girl of the original film, Alice goes toe-to-toe
00:58with Pamela Voorhees and wins in spectacular fashion.
01:02She sees the opportunity, gleaming in the form of a dropped machete,
01:05and takes it.
01:07She grabs the weapon off the ground, and with one giant swing,
01:10puts an end to the menace for good.
01:13Now that's how you take down the boogeyman.
01:16Or boogeywoman, in this case.
01:18No! No!
01:22It's alright now, Alice. It's all over. Everything's over.
01:25Number 9. Bringing weapons. Friday the 13th. The Final Chapter.
01:29What are you hunting for up here?
01:32Bear.
01:33One of the smartest things that you can do is prepare for a fight,
01:36and that's exactly what Rob does in The Final Chapter.
01:39Like a boxer, studying the moves and style of his opponent,
01:42Rob comes prepared to fight Jason,
01:44wishing to avenge the death of his sister, Sandra.
01:46But the man that killed your sister is dead.
01:50He's alive.
01:52Unlike most of the characters in this franchise,
01:54Rob is ready and willing to throw down,
01:56with equipment and weapons to spare.
01:58It's a great idea, but he completely flubs it.
02:01The grand revenge plan comes to naught,
02:04as Jason reunites Rob and Sandra in the afterlife,
02:07with the help of a garden crawl.
02:09He's got me! He's got me!
02:12Run, Charles! Run!
02:14Number 8. Hanging Jason. Friday the 13th, Part 3.
02:21Of all the final girls in the franchise,
02:24Chris Higgins has to be one of the most resilient,
02:27and one of the smartest.
02:29She puts up a heck of a fight in the barn,
02:31using both her physical strength and intelligence
02:34to battle her freaky foe.
02:36She literally gets the drop on him from above,
02:38knocks him unconscious with a shovel,
02:40and takes the opportunity to tie a rope around his neck
02:43and hang him from the rafters.
02:45This is a genius idea.
02:47And it sets Chris apart from other characters
02:49who probably would have just run away
02:51the second Jason fell over.
02:53And, you know, it probably would have worked
02:55if he didn't have that hockey mask.
03:03Number 7. Tina vs. Jason.
03:05Friday the 13th, Part 7. The New Blood.
03:09What the hell?
03:11Jason finally meets his match with Tina,
03:14a young woman with telekinetic abilities.
03:17Yeah, this series goes places.
03:19Tina uses all sorts of different tactics
03:21in her climactic fight with Jason,
03:23like electrocuting him with power lines in a puddle,
03:26strangling him with an electrical cord,
03:28and using the furnace to set him on fire.
03:30But she's not the only girl in the franchise
03:32who has a lot of fun.
03:35She is adept at using her surroundings
03:37and is smart enough to combine different items
03:39to craft an even stronger weapon.
03:41At one point, Jason even looks a little ticked off
03:44as he realises that he's getting his butt handed to him.
03:47Not too many characters can manage to piss off Jason.
03:51I killed him.
03:55I killed him.
03:57I killed him.
03:59I killed him.
04:01I killed him.
04:04Jason's dead.
04:16We return to Chris for another ingenious idea,
04:18only this one comes at the expense of poor Debbie.
04:21Debbie is killed by Jason earlier in the movie,
04:24and he apparently threw her body into a closet
04:26with the knife still embedded in her back.
04:28While hiding from Jason in said closet,
04:30Chris finds Debbie's corpse and the bloody knife,
04:33and a fantastic opportunity.
04:35As much as she hates to do it,
04:37she takes the knife out of Debbie
04:39and uses it to escape from Jason.
04:41Yeah, we understand that it's gross,
04:43but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do,
04:45and that's why Chris survives while others do not.
05:01Stop!
05:11Toxic waste, son.
05:13The sewer floods out with this stuff every night at midnight.
05:15Dang New York City and their huge barrels of toxic waste.
05:20Leaving these barrels laying around is pretty darn stupid,
05:23but Renny certainly isn't stupid for taking advantage of it.
05:26She hammers it open with a flashlight
05:28and proceeds to throw it in Jason's face,
05:30which has to be one of the coolest final girl moments
05:33in the history of the franchise.
05:35It also proves one of the coolest unmasking scenes,
05:38with Jason's grey and disfigured face
05:40being the stuff of nightmares.
05:42His horrified screams of pain
05:44proves that Renny's decision was the right one.
05:524. Cutting Roy's Hand
05:54Friday the 13th, a new beginning.
05:57Run, Tommy, run!
06:00Run!
06:02He'll kill you!
06:03This entry is perhaps the most controversial,
06:05as it contains a twist ending,
06:07which the Jason flicker is revealed to be someone else.
06:10That someone else is Roy Burns,
06:12a paramedic with mental health issues
06:14who wished to copy Jason's crimes.
06:19Come on, Roy.
06:21Get your hands dirty.
06:22In the bad guy's one final scare,
06:24he appears from the barn's loft window
06:26and grabs Reggie by the ankle.
06:28Things look pretty dire,
06:30until Tommy arrives to save the day.
06:32Thinking fast, he grabs the dropped machete
06:34and hacks away at Roy's arm.
06:36The day is saved, and Roy falls to his death.
06:40Roy was a real loner.
06:43Never talked much.
06:46Not even to the other paramedics.
06:483. Chaining Jason to the Bottom of the Lake
06:51Friday the 13th, part 6.
06:53Jason lives.
06:54That's it! Come on, maggot head!
06:56Come on! Come on, maggot head!
06:58That's it! Come on!
06:59Okay, so you clearly can't kill Jason.
07:02What else can you do?
07:04Tommy Jarvis has a rather great idea,
07:06and that's chaining him to the bottom of Crystal Lake.
07:09Tommy gets hold of a boulder and a chain
07:11and uses them to trap Jason underwater.
07:13It's over.
07:16It's finally over.
07:17Of course, it's not as easy as it sounds,
07:20and Tommy nearly dies in the process.
07:22Megan dives in to save Tommy,
07:23only to be grabbed around the ankle by a chained Jason.
07:26She, too, acts intelligently
07:28and uses the boat's motor to injure Jason,
07:30causing him to release his grip
07:32and allowing the survivors to swim free.
07:35The chaining doesn't kill Jason,
07:36but it traps him,
07:38and that's all you can ask for
07:39while battling an immortal being.
07:432. Tommy disguises himself as Jason
07:47Friday the 13th, the final chapter.
07:50Remember me, Jason?
07:52Jason, don't you remember?
07:55To think, the person who finally defeats Jason
07:58is a 12-year-old boy.
08:00Well, for a time, at least.
08:02Little Tommy Jarvis is Jason's ultimate foe,
08:05both fiercely intelligent and strong beyond his years.
08:08In the climax of the fourth film,
08:09Tommy shaves his head in an attempt
08:11to look like a young Jason.
08:13Jason, remember?
08:18Remember.
08:20Not only is the act itself smart,
08:22but so is the psychology behind it,
08:24with Tommy digging deep into Jason's humanity
08:27and buried childhood traumas.
08:29It is a wickedly intelligent thing
08:31for a 12-year-old to do,
08:32and the ploy is to make Jason
08:34look like a young Jason.
08:37And the ploy works flawlessly,
08:39with Tommy actually managing to kill Jason
08:41for good.
08:42Of course, he brings him back to life later,
08:44but let's not talk about that.
08:511. Impersonating Jason's mother
08:54Friday the 13th, part 2.
08:56Jason!
08:58It's all done, Jason.
08:59Turns out the key to defeating Jason
09:01isn't whacking him with sharp objects,
09:03but appealing to his psyche
09:05and long-dormant humanity.
09:07Ginny Field discovers this before Tommy,
09:09and while Tommy appeals to Jason himself,
09:11Ginny goes for his mother.
09:13She finds a shack in which are
09:15the remains of Pamela Voorhees.
09:17Thinking quickly, she dons the matriarch's sweater
09:19and attempts to fool Jason
09:21by acting like his late mother.
09:23You've done your job well,
09:24and Mommy is pleased.
09:26That's a good boy.
09:30Now come to Mommy.
09:32Come on.
09:34Doesn't completely work,
09:36as Jason eventually snaps out of it,
09:38but big points for trying.
09:40Ginny is smart enough not only to don the sweater,
09:42but to find and manipulate the emotional connection
09:45between Jason and Pamela.
09:47She battles the monster with psychology,
09:50which is perhaps the greatest weapon of all.
09:53That's my boy.
09:54Come. Kneel down.
09:59That's a boy.
10:02Kneel down.
10:05Do you think you would have made these same decisions?
10:07Let us know in the comments below.
10:10Steve should never have opened this place again.
10:13There's been too much trouble here.
10:15This video is brought to you by Paramount Scares.
10:31Paramount Scares.
10:34Paramount Scares.
10:37Paramount Scares.