What the f**k is that?: Jason Unmasked

Everyone in my age bracket who saw their first Friday the 13th movie as a kid remembers the first time they ever saw Jason Voorhees without the hockey mask.  For me, it was The New Blood, when my reward for laughing and gasping through 90 minutes' worth of this big brute in a blue suit butchering countless teens in the woods was the fantastic makeup stuff that John Carl Buechler and his talented team were able to cook up, complete with a well-deserved "holy shit" from my brother watching the movie with me at the time. 

Every movie in the franchise eventually features Jason unmasked.  Most of the time, it happens at the end, but there are a couple films in the series that give away this money shot at the beginning.  I'm guessing that those particular directors subscribed to Kane Hodder's theory about the character, spelled out in "Crystal Lake Memories" where he expounded that Jason just isn't as scary after he loses the mask.  No matter how grandly unveiled and grotesque they make the guy's face, it's the ominous presence of that mask that makes the character.  I'm actually inclined to agree, but this is nonetheless one of the series' tropes that I'm most fond of.  I admire the various takes that each screenwriter and director had on Jason's actual LOOK; some of them went a bit more human, some of them went for as freaky and gross as humanly possible, and one of them gave him goddamn hair and eyebrows.  Oh, and by the time it was time for Jason to go to hell, he looked like a sponge.  Don't ask.

Thus, it's time for a new countdown in the 2015 35th Anniversary Friday the 13th Countdown of Countdowns.  For the record, this is going to be the sixth such countdown this year, and there is one more forthcoming.  I think seven is a decent number for this thing, because it's just such a great number.  Seven...dwarves, seven.  Seven little chipmunks twirlin' on a branch, eatin' all the sunflowers on my uncle's ranch, and you're dreaming of Gorgonzola cheese when it's clearly Brie time, baby.

THE TOP FIVE JASON "UNMASKED" LOOKS
5.  Initial Undead Jason - Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
There are all kinds of fan theories about just what kind of being Jason Voorhees is, but the most commonly held theory - including by yours truly - is that he is a deranged human in Parts II-IV before being brought back to electrical life in this movie.  As such, director C.J. Graham had the task of showing us the effect that being buried for many years had on Jason, and he doesn't wuss out with the grisly details.  The opening bits of Jason Lives might be the best attention-grabber in the series, and a large part of it is in Jason's look and newfound invincibility.  A+++.

4.  Wet Sponge Jason - Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday
A controversial choice, but I'm sticking to it.  I spent many years hating JGTH, but I've turned the corner on it in recent years after multiple viewings on AMC Fearfest.  Unfortunately, it's biggest flaw is still there - we don't see a whole lotta Jason IN the movie, but when he's there, Kane Hodder makes it count.  A few years had passed since the last time we saw him, and the interpretation this time - yeah, it was unique.  Lumpy and weird, big and shambling, this one was something else for the movie where Sean Cunningham decided to rip off The Hidden. 

3.  Farmer Brown Jason - Friday the 13th Part II
Way back in 1981, no one at Paramount Pictures had a clue that Jason Voorhees would grow to become a massive pop culture phenomenon.  Hell, they thought it was only going to last ONE movie, with plans on making the surviving girl the villain in the next one.  Thus, they decided to go as realistic as possible when it came to crafting a guy who had survived in a backwoods shack for over 20 years, giving him long hair, overalls, and a big, saggy drooping eye.  It's not an impossibly disfigured look, and that almost makes it scarier.  Folks...you might actually run into someone who looks like this.

2.  Mongoloid Alien Jason - Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter
I'm sure that people have noticed that TFC ranks pretty high on almost all of these lists, so consider this foreshadowing for the next list of the best movies in the franchise.  But as for THIS category, this is my personal favorite of the "Human Jason" looks.  After Farmer Ted, Voorhees was given a major makeover for the following film in the franchise, and the look was perfected in this one.  Water damage, an expansion on the big drooping eye, and just the slightest hint of stuntman Ted White's face bleeding into the look made the amazing finale to this movie pop even more.

1.  Battle Damage Jason - Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood
All these years later, and my first exposure to Jason Unmasked is still my favorite.  Of course, at that time I didn't even know all of the lore associated with his look in this movie.  Nonetheless, John Carl Buechler had a clear goal when it came to Jason's look here - reflect everything that has happened to him.  Thus, not only does he look cool here, he looks like a badass Swamp Thing even in masked form.  When that mask comes off, it was a treat to pick out the details; the axe shot from Part III and the long-ways machete slice from Part IV are reflected in the makeup, and it's simply awesome.

Folks, we're almost there.  Six down, one to go, so stay tuned for that final Countdown of Countdowns the week of the final Friday the 13th of 2015.  Ch ch ch ch...