The killers in Friday the 13th have left a very sizable body count. Very few have faced them and lived to see another day. Here we will be looking at what remained of the campers at the end of each movie, and ranking them based on their overall stature as both a character and a survivor. For movies with multiple survivors, we will be judging their collective rank as a team. Tommy Jarvis, who survived multiple films, will have his own spot on the list. In addition, only prominently featured characters will be counted; no nameless characters counted.
- Chris Higgins (Friday the 13th Part III)
I’ll say it right here: Chris did not deserve to live. Chris was a very incompetent survivor and wasn’t a very likable character. She was absent-minded (she nearly ran over a hobo), cold and distant towards her boyfriend, and had very low composure; she was running around screaming all the time. Her survival was all based on dumb luck. Even though it was very unrealistic for Jason to survive a two-story drop for his own hanging, he definitely should have killed Chris after he recovered. But of course, Queen Chris had her plot immunity to keep her alive so that she could swing an axe into Jason’s head. The end, roll credits.
- Rennie Wickham and Sean Robertson (Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan)
Another case where the survivors didn’t really deserve to live. Sean wasn’t a very charismatic person or inspiring character. He was the son of a sea captain but he didn’t know how to work the boat; trying to drop the anchors in the middle of a bad storm. Though it was admirable for him to jump off the boat to save her from drowning, being Rennie’s love interest shouldn’t have automatically entitled him to survive. Speaking of Rennie; she wasn’t a very strong character, either. She can’t swim, she hallucinates half the film, gets kidnapped by gang members only to be “rescued” by Jason, and then she crashes a car which results in the death of her teacher. I hope you’re happy with yourself, Rennie.
- Trish Jarvis (Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter)
While Trish didn’t do much in the way of stopping Jason, it was very admirable for her to offer herself as bait to distract the killer from her younger brother Tommy. Even so, Trish didn’t have very many chill moments. She panicked easily, was afraid of stepping past dead bodies blocking doorways, and she even attempted to go back to the basement to try to save the dead guy. Luckily for her Tommy didn’t leave the house.
- Steven Freeman and Jessica Kimble (Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday)
Former lovers Steven and Jessica reunite (kind of) to protect their daughter and vanquish Jason Voorhees once and for all. It’s too bad they don’t make a very good team. Steven’s relentless journey to keep his family safe falls flat as Jessica spends most of the film pushing him away. Believing him to be responsible for her mother’s murder (spoiler alert: Jason did it), Jessica even attacks Steven and leaves him to be picked up by police. Even so, Steven escapes capture and rushes back to her aid when Jason finally catches up with them. With the help of Creighton Duke, they succeed in banishing Jason to hell and live happily ever after. Luckily for them they weren’t important enough to necessitate a return in Freddy vs. Jason.
- Lori Campbell and Will Rollins (Freddy vs. Jason)
Lori and Will both suffered at the hands of Freddy Krueger in their past. Freddy killed Lori’s mother in her sleep, forcing her father to somehow make it look like she died in a car accident. Will, having witnessed what he believed to be Lori’s dad killing her mom, was thus institutionalized at Westin Hills. While neither of them were a match for the Dream Stalker or the Crystal Lake Killer, they certainly wasted no time in pitting them against each other, but only after all of their friends had been butchered. And then after having Jason do most of the dirty work, Lori takes his machete and decapitates Freddy as if she’s some bad-ass who did everything herself. Clever, but not very fair towards the other survivors in the franchise.
- Clay and Whitney Miller (2009 reboot)
Clay and Whitney Miller, brother and sister; we’ve never seen that in a horror movie before. Jason takes Whitney and holds her prisoner, because she reminds him of his mother at a younger age (we’ve never seen that before, either). Being the responsible brother, Sam-I mean Clay-goes looking for his missing sister near Crystal Lake. With the help of Jenna (and only after Jason kills all of her friends), Clay finds and rescues Whitney from Jason’s underground, and then leaves Jenna to die because fuck that bitch, apparently. After distracting Jason by posing as his mother (again, something we’ve NEVER seen before), Whitney stabs Jason with his machete. To recap, Whitney is a plagiarist and Clay doesn’t like anyone but his sister.
- Megan Garris (Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives)
The fun-loving daughter of Sheriff Mike Garris; Megan probably should not have survived the film. Her playful attitude and obvious authority issues draw her towards Tommy Jarvis, whom her father arrested for his crazed (yet true) ramblings about Jason’s return. Megan initially humors Tommy’s ideas out of her crush on him, but later comes to his aid once the bodies start to turn up. Later in the film her normally lively attitude turns quickly to panic and fear when she encounters Jason. Luckily for Megan, Tommy was there to save everyone, even almost at the cost of his own life.
- Tina Shepard and Nick (Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood)
Troubled, telekinetic Tina just wanted to go back to her family’s old cabin to unwind and socialize with the neighbors like a normal teen. Tina is a nervous wreck throughout most of the film, her behavior caused by the guilt over killing her father as a child, and by the abusive treatment from her psychiatrist Dr. Crews. Tina falls for partygoer-next-door Nick who, despite Tina protesting against her mental state, falls for her, too. Too bad she just had to wake up the undead, masked murderer trapped at the bottom of the lake. Despite her nervous, naïve nature, Tina certainly put on a brave face when she and Jason have their showdown at the end of the film. Meanwhile, Nick didn’t really do anything but get his ass kicked; he was just there to make Tina look better. Good job, Nick.
- Pam Roberts and Reggie Winter (Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning)
While Pam certainly had a problem with tripping and falling and not being able to get up, she certainly was resourceful when it came to finding weapons, and she did a pretty good job at fending off Roy Burns (aka Fake Jason). She wasn’t as resourceful as Reggie the Reckless, though. The kid used a tractor to run Roy down with. Reggie was undoubtedly one of the best characters in the movie, if not the whole franchise. But of course Tommy shows up to take all the glory.
- Rowan, Tsunaron and KM-14 (Jason X)
While Jason X was an all-around terrible film, it did feature some very competent survivors. All in all, Rowan, Tsunaron and KM-14 made a great team. The film also holds a record high for survivors, standing at three in total.
Starting with Rowan LaFontaine, a former project leader for the Crystal Lake Research Facility in the year 2010. Frozen for 445 years and thawed out in 2455, her determination to stop Jason is unwavering as she consistently warns the crew about the threat while making a commendable effort to keep everyone safe.
Tsunaron, the student engineer and computer whiz who designed the intelligent android KM-14. Tsunaron was head-smart and very resourceful in helping keep Jason at bay, as well as configuring the basis for his fellow survivors to escape. He also makes quite a few “upgrades” to KM so that she may compete against the undead Jason Voorhees.
KM-14 (also known as Kay-Em) is an artificial humanoid designed by Tsunaron. She displays a very calm attitude throughout most of the film. After Tsunaron upgrades her into a discount Terminator, she goes head to head with Jason and emerges victorious.. She proves to be no match for Uber-Jason, however; and has her own head knocked off her body. Even after this, she still proves to be a valuable asset, helping Tsunaron distract Jason and helping walk Brodski through the EVA patchwork. As a talking head without a body, Kay-Em was more useful than more than more half the other survivors in the franchise.
- Tommy Jarvis (Friday the 13th Parts IV, V and VI)
The chances of surviving in a horror film are slim. The chance of surviving three movies in a franchise is practically unheard of, unless you’re Laurie Strode or Sidney Prescott. Tommy Jarvis survived Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter, where, as a small child, he brutally butchered his and his sister’s would-be killer Jason Voorhees. In A New Beginning, he didn’t do anything, he just showed up at the end while Pam and Reggie took out Roy. He barely survived Jason Lives, where the entire film is his fault. You did more harm than good, Tommy; Jason should have killed you. That’s why you didn’t score higher on this list.
- Alice Hardy (1980 film)
The definitive Final Girl of the franchise Alice Hardy was the very first survivor, and the first to defeat the killer. After Mrs. Voorhees chillingly reveals herself as the killer and chases Alice across the camp, leading to a gritty, intense fight on the lakeshore, Alice gains the upper hand and decapitates Pamela with her machete. It’s too bad though that she couldn’t keep her peace for long, as Jason hunts and murders her in the sequel. Once again, though, Alice comes in second place because there’s one person we like a little bit more than her.
- Ginny Fields (Friday the 13th Part II)
While it would be difficult to one-up Alice, Ginny certainly gave her a run for it. Ginny was smart, with her psychological insight into the legend behind Jason Voorhees. She was also very resourceful, surviving several close calls and a lengthy chase from Jason, which culminated in a clever diversion where she disguised herself as Jason’s mother and slammed his machete into his shoulder. Ginny was smart and courageous, but she couldn’t have done it without Paul’s help… speaking of, has anyone seen Paul?
