10 Horror Movie Franchises That Wasted Their Perfect Ending

8. The Culmination Of The Tommy Jarvis Trilogy - Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 Dream Warriors Ending
Paramount Pictures

One might presume that Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter would mark a natural end point for the F13 franchise. Despite its labelling, The Final Chapter was far from the final chapter, with it being followed by a further six movies, a crossover with Freddy Krueger, and a 2009 reboot.

Story-wise, The Final Chapter also introduces the hugely popular character of Tommy Jarvis, and the way this fourth film ends opens up the door for Tommy's story to be delved into further. For fans of the series, the fourth, fifth and sixth Friday the 13th pictures are often affectionately known as the Tommy Jarvis Trilogy. As such, it's with Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives where the perfect finale lies for this much loved series.

After teasing Tommy as an unhinged killer in the previous movie - it instead revealed that miffed paramedic Roy Burns was parading as a Jason copycat - Part VI picks things up with a Jarvis who is determined to prove that Jason is really dead. Of course, the opening scene of Tommy visiting the gravesite of his nemesis unexpectedly sees Voorhees reanimated.

Having to convince the townsfolk of Forest Green - as in, the renamed Crystal Lake - that Jason really is cracking skulls once more, it's only the sheriff's daughter Megan who believes Tommy. And it's Tommy and Megan who ultimately put Voorhees down, chaining him to the bottom of the same lake we saw him spring from in closing moments of the first Friday the 13th picture.

While your writer has a major soft spot for Jason Takes Manhattan and Jason X, the series should've wrapped up with Jason Lives. Also, Part VI's end credits play out to the utterly bangin' Man Behind the Mask tune from Alice Cooper...

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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.