Friday The 13th Part Two Is The Best Horror Movie Sequel Of All Time, Of All Time

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I’ve been watching the Friday the 13th horror franchise again. I say again – I’ve never quite made it through all of them, but I’ll still maintain that it’s my second favourite horror franchise of all time. And the early ones have been on high rotate since I discovered them back when I was about 12.

But the second film, Friday The 13th Part Twois my favourite of the franchise (at this stage, anyway – I’ve got a couple from near the end to still see for the first time). It’s also my favourite horror movie sequel.

It gets everything right. It basically reboots the series and sets the new template, but it pays its respects to the first film by recapping it in the first five minutes; this allows anyone vaguely interested in joining the franchise without going full deep-dive to just join in from film two.

During the lockdown last year I found a few interesting things to really enjoy as distraction – the video game Dr Mario, reggae music and horror movies were the three things highest on the list. There was no connection between them, though I would often play Dr Mario whilst listening to reggae.

Horror films were saved for late at night – and I mostly worked through the things I’d seen before but not for a long time. Classic franchise stuff. Child’s Play, A Nightmare On Elm Street, Halloween, Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre…and Friday The 13th.

I found a few disappointments within certain film series’ but I also found a few new favourites.

The biggest discovery – or realisation – was just how good Friday the 13th Part Two is; it swiftly became my new favourite.

Last year I watched Fridays 2, 3, 4 and 5 in quick succession – I did not bother with the first film (I love it – it’s the one I’ve seen the most, it was a revelation when I was a kid and new to horror. Its final scene jump-scare an all-timer).

This weekend I decided to watch Friday The 13th parts 1 and 2 back to back.

Part Two really is the better film. And the one, 40 years on, that stands up best – maybe for the whole series.

Classic franchise horror sequels go one of two ways: They either random-tangent almost completely (A Nightmare On Elm Street 2) or they continue the action from the first film as closely as possible(Halloween 2, Child’s Play 2)

Friday The 13th Part Two takes the myth of Jason and fleshes it out, you could add literally. It also introduces us to new characters, ensures that we know that Mrs. Vorhees is gone – dead. And then has a whole lot of fun, and quickly, setting up not just the rest of the series but classic slasher-movie tropes:

The cute animal that you worry about, the naked woman being stalked then killed, the couple getting their ends away then meeting their end straight away, a meowing cat as false alarm, the development of the soundtrack as a major player in the film, an actual character (it arguably co-shares this title with Halloween II – which was released around the same time) and the inclusion of jokes in the script, winks to the audience basically.

This goes on to inform the whole series – but also many of the moves made in Friday Part 2 go on to inform slasher flicks across the 1980s.

I might feel more connected to Elm Street (and I’m absolutely Team Freddy over Team Jason), I might feel like Halloween was the more perfect starting point, but I have such a fondness for the Friday franchise. And it’s all because of part two. It’s somehow a sequel and a remake of the original all at the same time. Which is no mean feat.

I could give an honourable mention to Fight Night Part 2 – someone else will tell you that Evil Dead 2 is the correct answer and, really, they might not be wrong – but I’m going with Friday The 13th Part Two. It’s the horror movie I always feel like re-watching. Ending, as it does, with another classic trope: the Final girl. I’m aware that in this day and age stuff like this is under the microscope a lot more, and for good reason. There are whole books written about the “Final girl” trope, the cliché and sexism of it, there are also arguments around how it could be seen as empowering, the final girl survives – more often than not. Yes, she might be first to die in the sequel’s sequel but in the moment she is the heroine of the film. Anyway, that’s another topic for another time, but in Friday the 13th Part Two the Final girl is “Ginny”. And Ginny survives. She also outwits Jason in a protracted battle. It’s one of the best Final girl fights ever. It quite possibly leads to the major development of this trope – to extending it out in certain films. I note too that Amy Steel, the actor that portrayed Ginny, is now a family therapist.

What’s your favourite horror movie sequel? And favourite horror franchise? Are you keen to talk a bit more about horror films here – or read a bit more about them? I’ve been a horror fan for over 30 years now and I’m keen to write more on this topic if you’d like to read about it. One day I’d like to add to the growing collection of books about horror films…