10 Smartest Decisions In Slasher Horror Movie History

9. Playing Possum - Jason Goes To Hell

The opening scene to Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday starts in gloriously generic fashion.

We first see a typical disposable (and needlessly naked, of course) young adult in a classic 'cabin in the woods' setting. Wouldn't you know it, but this vulnerable woman soon finds herself being stalked by Jason Voorhees. Quicker than you can say "grab a towel and run for your life," this poor poor victim is stranded in the middle of the woods and has the hulking frame of Jason towering over her.

The thing is, this was all actually all part of a cunning ruse to lure Jason to his ultimate demise.

While Jason Goes to Hell is a painful film to watch at times, credit has to at least be given for the picture's refreshingly different opening act.

You see, that disposable young adult is really an undercover FBI agent designed to draw Jason out into an open part of the woods where a tooled up SWAT team are waiting to blow Voorhees to smithereens.

Despite the plan to literally blow Jason up working so well, what the SWAT team (and disgruntled audiences) didn't fathom in is that this would lead to a movie where the turd-looking spirit of Jason was orally passed from person to person throughout the rest of the film - resulting in a Friday the 13th movie that had only a matter of minutes with the physical presence of Jason Voorhees on screen.

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 day job, 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/Saints, Jamie Hayter, 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. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.