10 Horror Franchises That Spectacularly Bounced Back

Following Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, the F13 franchise was at a strange point where it'd pissed off a large portion of the fanbase which had stuck with it through those first five films. As in, A New Beginning shocked its audience - and not in a good way - by revealing copycat Roy Burns was under the hockey mask, rather than Jason Voorhees.

For most, that revelation felt like a slap in the face, with fans feeling duped into seeing a Jason movie that ultimately featured no Jason.

By the time Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives arrived in 1986, that picture did exactly as it said on the tin: it resurrected Jason Voorhees.

Not just did Jason Lives bring back Crystal Lake's most infamous son, it also had a phenomenal protagonist in the now-adult Tommy Jarvis, as played by Thom Mathews. Sure, Part VI may have been a little bonkers - such as bringing Jason back via a few lightning bolts and a metal fence post - but the film was in on the joke of its crazed excesses.

It may have been followed by the dire New Blood, the oft-lambasted Jason Takes Manhattan, and the ludicrous Jason X - plus Freddy vs. Jason and Marcus Nispel's solid 2009 reboot - but Jason Lives is a film which some Friday the 13th fans hold up as being the very best of the entire franchise.