The two titans of horror cinema, Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street, have been at odds with each other over the title of the most iconic horror franchise. While other contenders like Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Childs Play have tried to squeeze their way in, the big two have maintained a hold over the top spot for years.
Since there will never be a clear winner as opinions widely vary, there are plenty of reasons why someone would choose one over the other. Friday the 13thand Nightmare on Elm Street are iconic movies, but the question is why is one more iconic than the other. Time to find out.
Friday: Came First
The easiest entry on this list, Friday the 13th is simply more iconic timewise. The first film of the series came out a full 4 years before Freddy walked onto the street. Both Friday the 13th Part 1 through 4 were able to tie horror fans into the Voorhees family drama before Freddy was given a chance to claw up the sleeping teens.
That is a whole story tied up neatly in a bloody knot before the other dipped its feet in the pool. Even if you include remake timelines, the remake of Friday the 13th came a year before the Nightmare on Elm Street remake.
Nightmare: Origin Story
The origin of Jason is wild because it starts out that he was a child who drowned, then his mother killed a bunch of kids, then Jason saw her die and came back to life as a giant man, or sometimes a slug demon thing. Freddy’s origin story is a lot more stomachable.
The bastard son of a nurse who was harmed by 100 men, Freddy was a janitor/custodian who slew children in his free time. When the townspeople couldn’t take care of him legally, they burned him to death, only for him to come back as a vengeful entity. It’s sad that one of these is much more believable, and that’s Freddy.
Friday: Entirely Possible
The entirely possible here doesn’t refer to the zombie-like figure of Jason, but the set up of the whole movie series. A group of camp counselors is targeted and killed during the pre-summer training session. There is a reason that the camp killer sub-genre of horror movies is so popular.
The first film is especially believable as a real-life situation because it is just a woman who is driven over the edge by the death of her son. Sure, some parts don’t seem as likely, such as the multiple bodies getting thrown around, but in the end, it is something that really could happen.
Nightmare: Iconic Single Scenes
It is easy to think of the two most iconic scenes from the Friday the 13th series, being that time Jason punches a man’s head clean off in Part VIII and the time he smashes a girl to death against a tree in a sleeping bag. Sure there are good scenes, but those are the most iconic for the series.
For Nightmare on Elm Street however, there are so many to choose from. His walking down the street with arms outstretched and the scene of his face stretching a wall over Nancy are some of the most iconic scenes in horror movie cinema. Add in Tina’s body being dragged across the ceiling and Glen’s blood geyser and the first film has more memorable scenes than most of the Friday films combined.
Friday: Unescapable
The Friday the 13th deaths are all-in-all unavoidable when they get broken down into their basics. A person with a machete, arrow, speargun, or super strength can beat the average teen in a throwdown. To beat Freddy in Nightmare on Elm Street, all you have to do is believe that he can’t touch you, or use your dream powers to kick his butt.
The killers of Friday the 13th exist in the real world and operate by real-world rules (most of the time if you exclude the minor teleportation that seems to happen). You can survive a steam room in your dreams, but you cannot survive a giant strongman with a machete outside your window.
Nightmare: Best Scream Queens
In five seconds, the average person can name maybe one of the final heroes in the Friday the 13th films, and that one would be Tommy Jarvis. Now do the same for Nightmare on Elm Street and recognize that they can probably name 4 since the series has a heavy focus on them.
Nancy/Heather, Jesse, Kristen, and Alice are all integral pieces of the Nightmare on Elm Street Lore. Nancy/Heather was the first, Jesse was the body, Kristen was the Dream Warrior, and Alice was the Dream Master. Because there are survivors and their stories are ones to care about, they stick out in the mind a lot better.
Friday: Unique Kills
Overall the Friday the 13th series has the most unique kills of any franchise. While his main form of kill is the machete, that hasn’t stopped Jason, and the other killers of the series, from using plenty of tools to commit the acts.
Some of the best kills come as interesting uses of other items, such as the sleeping bag girl being slammed against a tree and the infamous liquid nitrogen scene of Jason X where Jason freezes a girl’s face then smashes it like a bag of ice. Even the arrow through Kevin Bacon’s throat was solid and innovative as a kill.
Nightmare: Dreams Make the Kills Fun
While the Friday the 13th kills are more unique, the kills in the Nightmare on Elm Street series are more fun. Jason is out there killing for sport, but Freddy is out having a grand old time with his kills and general terrorizing of his victims.
Two iconic moments like this are Debbie’s death in The Dream Master and the pinball section of Freddy vs. Jason. Debbie’s death is two-part, as Freddy turns her into a bug and kills her while also toying with Alice and Dan by putting them in a loop. The pinball scene just shows how much stronger Freddy is in the dream world as he flings Jason around like a balloon, which looks like a lot of fun.
Friday: Pure Numbers
Looking purely at numbers of victims, the Friday the 13th movies take the trophy for most kills, averaging at a little over 200. The Nightmare on Elm Street franchise on the other hand averages around 70. It should be noted that this number doesn’t even consider the fact that Jason kills an entire colony in Jason X.
Even in the movie they share together, Jason steals several kills from the man of our dreams, making him a better slasher. While more doesn’t always mean better, for the slasher genre, it is a bit of a requirement. No one is watching Texas Chainsaw Massacre because it is a family sticks together movie, they show up for the kills.
Nightmare: It’s Always Freddy
For the Nightmare on Elm Street series, with the possible exception of Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, Freddy is the sole slasher of the films. Friday the 13th, on the other hand, has 3 main slashers, being Pamala Voorhees, Jason Voorhees, and Roy Burns, though you could argue that that number goes up even more if you count every person taken over by the slug demon thing in Jason Goes to Hell.
Where Friday requires an array of killers because it didn’t flesh itself out as a continuing story in the first film, Nightmare on Elm Street only needs Freddy. He is a solely iconic figure that didn’t change much appearance-wise over the course of the films. Jason’s iconic look didn’t even happen until Part 3.
