10 Horror Franchises That Spectacularly Bounced Back

5. Friday The 13th

Chucky Tiffany Valentine Nica Pierce
Paramount Pictures

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.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.