Save for maybe Halloween‘s Michael Myers, there’s no more iconic cinematic slasher than A nightmare on Elm Street‘s Freddy Kruger And Friday the 13th‘s Jason Voorhees. But which of them has committed the most murders between the two? Both have committed quite a few kills, but one has a lot more under their belt than the other.
Note that the dead in 2009’s Friday the 13th and 2010s A nightmare on Elm Street were not taken into consideration. In addition, the Jason free episodes of the Friday the 13th series – eg Part V: A new beginning – were not included. This also includes Sean S. Cunningham’s 1980 classic Friday the 13thin which Jason does appear, but only in a hero’s dream and in the memory of a tragic villain.
Counting Jason’s on-screen kills
Jason, of course, made his real introduction Friday the 13th Part 2. That movie — which many fans consider superior to Sean S. Cunningham’s original — had him kill the same number of people as his mother did in the first movie. Namely nine. Friday the 13th Part III then began a trend that would continue through much of the franchise, which was an escalating death count. Specifically, inside Part III, Jason knocks out a dozen individuals. This is also when his kills started to get a bit more creative, like splitting a hand while Andy was groin first in half or literally squeezing Rick’s eyes out of his head.
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter again increased the number of deaths, this time to the unlucky number 13. A small nod to the audience, considering that this is the last episode of the Friday the 13th story.
But The last chapter nothing compared to when he came back Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason lives. In that meta-comedy horror classic way ahead of its time, he murders no less than 18 cops and teenagers. But things got toned down a bit Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, which still added 15 kills to Jason’s tally. Ironically, the movie got more MPAA slays than even Jason could find.
Jason then ended his Paramount years with a record 20 kills Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. That said, he was barely in Manhattan long enough to commit murder, even though Julius’ boxing-related death is the franchise’s most hilarious moment.
Finally, Jason’s New Line Years pushed his kill count to ridiculous heights. Before he goes in Jason goes to hell: the last Friday, the hockey-masked mountain body switches his way to another 22 kills. He matched this figure in the space set Jason X before finally ending up with the vast majority of Freddy vs. Jason‘s 21 dead. Specifically, 20, leaving Freddy alone with his torturous and inevitable removal of Mark Davis.
Counting Freddy’s on-screen kills
This disparity also quite applies to the franchises as a whole. Freddy is more methodical, always preferring sadistic play to a quick stabbing. This could be seen from the jump in Wes Craven’s Masterful A nightmare on Elm Street.
Tina Grey’s wall-crawling demise ranks high in the franchise, if not right at the top, but Johnny Depp’s Glen Lantz also gets a memorable farewell via a bed-born blood geyser. And they weren’t the only two Freddy to be killed, as Rod Lane and Marge Thompson also met their less than dreamy ends.
A Nightmare at 2 Elm Street: Freddy’s Revenge had occupied the titular dream stalker for much of the game time, so both of Jesse Walsh’s kills count as Freddy’s. The sequel more than doubles the number of the original to a total of nine, six of whom are killed by Freddy while awake at a particularly eventful pool party.
Six is also the number for A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, in which Freddy directed many very likeable characters, including original ‘Final Girl’ Nancy Thompson. The same applies to A Nightmare at 4 Elm Street: The Dream Masterbut instead of Nancy being one of the six killed, it is Dream warriorslast girl Kristen Parker.
A Nightmare at 5 Elm Street: The Dream Childhowever cut Dream warriors And Dream masters‘ has been halved. That said, one of three is one A nightmare on Elm Street all timer. Freddy force-feeding Greta her own organs is a horrible sight to behold, and much more effective than the silly comic-book-themed murder later in the film.
The original Nightmare series low point, Freddy’s Dead: The Last Nightmare, gave him five more before going out the door himself. This includes two flashback murders: his stepfather and his wife. The maker of Krueger then came back for Wes Craven’s new nightmare. But the meta-quasi-sequel counted the dream demon – or rather, its souped-up doppelgänger – just four kills, just like in the original.
Jason is the clear winner
As mentioned, Freddy vs. Jason gives Krueger a single kill, but there’s an argument that that number is low. For example, a counselor is seen hanging dead in Freddy’s arms during Lori’s Crystal Lake dream. Additionally, it’s revealed that Freddy once assumed Lori’s father’s guise to kill her mother. But that happened outside of the film’s events, as did Freddy’s murder of Mark Davis’ older brother.
It’s also unclear if those events actually played out as Freddy leads the characters and audience to believe. While inside Freddy’s dead the flashback murders are confirmed and canon.
So, with his single kill in that clash, Freddy has a total of 38. That may seem like a significant number, but all in all, Jason has a total of 151 kills. The victor is clear, but time will tell if the forthcoming one Crystal lake Peacock prequel series becomes the project to increase Jason’s lead.