10 Horror Franchises Where The First Movie Is NOT The Best

The best instalment: Friday The 13th Part II

There have now been a staggering twelve Friday the 13th films, with a thirteenth one currently stuck in development hell. So, which is the very best? 

The most well-reviewed one is the 1980 original, but does that consensus really hold up now? The first film is a solid Halloween knock-off, but it can be a bit too slow and its Final Girl is pretty dreary. For your writer, the best Friday the 13th film is the 1981 sequel, Friday the 13th: Part II, although the criminally underrated 2009 reboot comes in at a close second. 

With its high body-count, gory kills and the introduction of Jason Voorhees as the killer (it's actually his mother in the original film), Part II is where the Friday the 13th formula was really established, and it's arguably never been bettered. Unlike many of its successors, Part II has a likable cast of characters with believable chemistry, and given that it includes quite a few neat jump scares, it's the only Friday the 13th film to be scary as opposed to just being intense. 

In general, this is a punchy, gory and gloriously unhinged horror romp featuring killer set-pieces, a strong final act and one of the all-time best Final Girls in the lead. Even if he doesn't wear his iconic hockey mask in this, it still remains Jason Voorhees' finest outing, and in the (let's be real) often-terrible slasher genre, this is one of that genre's finest-ever entries.