The Friday Five: My Five Favorite "Friday the 13th" Heroes

The Friday Five: 

My Five Favorite "Friday the 13th" Heroes

May 9, 1980...a day that forever changed the way we go camping.  That's the day "Friday the 13th" was released - a small-budget horror film directed by Sean S. Cunningham about a group of camp counselors being killed by a mysterious person that re-vitalized the slasher genre and eventually gave birth to one of horror cinema's most iconic and deadly killers - Jason Voorhees.  Spanning eleven films, Jason has claimed countless lives, but there's those who managed to escape his clutches and turn the tables on the seemingly unkillable fiend, and here are my five favorite "Friday the 13th" heroes.

**THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!
READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!**

#5

 Chris Higgins

Played by Dana Kimmell

Friday the 13th Part III

Very few people have faced Jason and lived, but even less has faced him more than once and survived.  Chris first encountered Jason as a teenager when he attacked her in the woods and left her unconscious, and she didn't have a lot of memories about what happened except for him having a deformed face.  Now as an adult, she returns to Higgins Haven with her friends, where Jason returns and quickly dispatches them all until only Chris is left.  Not being a damsel in distress, Chris managed to continually give Jason a run for his money by repeatedly attacking him with strong offensive moves before finally burying an ax in his head. 

#4

 Ginny Field

Played by Amy Steel

Friday the 13th Part II

Ginny was the first survivor of Jason Voorhees, as Alice in the first film fought his mother instead, and to this day she's listed as one of the first "final girls" in horror cinema.  Ginny is headstrong and highly intelligent, but also showcases a strong athletic prowess and even stronger survival skills (even though she did pee herself when Jason was stalking her), and she was the perfect candidate to go toe-to-toe against Jason at the end.  She continually fights off Jason before finding his shack and his mother's sweater, which she dons and uses reverse psychology on Jason, making him believe she was his mother, leaving her an opening for another strong attack.  She eventually manages to take him down with a strong machete chop, and even though it didn't kill him, it left her enough time to survive the night.

#3

 Alice Hardy

Played by Adrienne King

Friday the 13th

The original survivor, Alice Hardy didn't match wits with Jason, but rather his mother, who returned to Camp Crystal Lake decades after her son Jason drowned in the lake while the counselors were making love and not paying attention.  After she dispatched the other counselors, Mrs. Voorhees returned to camp and pretended to be aiding Alice, but then her true motives came out and Alice put up a strong fight.  She continually kept Mrs. Voorhees at bay until finally decapitating her by the lakeside.  Alice then appears in the second film, and is the first victim of Jason Voorhees, who returned from the dead to get revenge for his mother's death.

#2

 Tina Shepard

Played by Lar Park Lincoln

Friday the 13th Part VI: The New Blood

Tina was the most unique hero to go against Jason due to the fact that she's no ordinary girl - she has telekinesis, which she uses to its full strength against a surprised Jason.  Tina continually traps Jason using her mind powers, and repeatedly catches him off guard, making her one of the few to actually hunt Jason instead of running from him, resulting in some truly awesome fighting sequences that made for a stellar sequel to the long-running franchise.

#1

 Tommy Jarvis

Played by Corey Feldman, John Shepherd, & Thom Mathews

Friday the 13th IV: The Final Chapter, 

Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning, 

Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives

It's typical in horror movies to have a final girl, but the "Friday the 13th" franchise is one of the few that has a "final guy" - and not just once, but in three different films.  Tommy Jarvis starts his career as a young boy who has an affection for horror and creating unique sculptures which he uses to confuse Jason long enough to deliver several death blows with a machete.  Tommy returns in part five as a young man struggling with the mental anguish of what happened, as he's once again hunted by Jason - but this time it's not Jason, but an ordinary guy pretending to be Jason.  His final appearance is in part six, when he returns to Crystal Lake to make sure Jason is dead for real.  He inadvertently raises Jason from the dead, and sets out to kill him once and for all, luring him to the middle of the lake and trying a chain around his neck, while dropping a big boulder to the bottom of the lake, drowning Jason once again.  Tommy's heroic legacy is the most profound, as he's even featured as a special hero in the "Friday the 13th" videogame.