Michael MyersandJason Voorheesare two of the greatest slasher killers in cinema horror history. After numerous sequels were produced with completely different tones, they have their well-earned space in the pantheon of horror as memorable monsters who will forever live in our nightmares.
As formulaic asslasher cinemamay sometimes feel, Michael and Jason were developed with enough depth to give them fascinating character backgrounds. They aren’t as monochromatic as horror detractors usually call them, and studying them will provide horror hounds with enough topics for a good spooky conversation.
We decided to be part of that conversation, took a trip down memory lane through Haddonfield and Crystal Lake Camp, and made our list ofthe biggest differences between Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees.
7Their Humanity (Or Lack Thereof)
Both Michael and Jason are super-powerful villains. Their strength often bends the rules of physics and logic, and if the film requires it, they will push the boundaries of what’s cinematically entertaining and tilt towards the ridiculous.
However, a revisit of bothHalloweenandFriday the 13thwill let you mark the first big difference between Michael and Jason. Michael is a living human being, for all intents and purposes, albeit strong as a bull. Jason is a ghostly manifestation of a concept whose humanity is questionable because of his supernatural abilities.
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6Weapons of Choice
Weapons are a huge conversation topic for slasher killers because each one has a favorite. Butto satisfy horror fans, they will vary in their weapons of choice. Even Freddy Krueger, who has the most recognizable weapon of all in his bladed glove, has used other methods to kill teenagers.
In terms of weaponry, Michael seems to prefer what he used the first time he killed: a sharp knife. Yes, he has killed using other things, but he always comes back to the kitchen and grabs a knife. Jason, instead, used a machete at first, but as the sequels (and bodies) continued to drop, he got more sophisticated, developing more and more creative ways to make his kills more cinematic.
5The Narratives
Once upon a time, there was an idea to turn theHalloweenfranchise into an anthology series. While Michael Myers inevitably returned to the franchise following the failure ofHalloween III: Season of the Witch, it could be argued that the anthology concept was never fully abandoned. Michael’s return led to a new trilogy of films dubbed the “Thorn Trilogy,” which was wiped from continuity when Jamie Lee Curtis returned forHalloween H20,and then everything but the first movie was erased when it came to 2018’s requel. None of that is even to mention the Rob Zombie films.
TheFriday the 13thmovies, with the exception of the 2009 reboot, largely follow a single (if plot-hole-ridden) story.
4Who They Will and Won’t Kill
Jason and Michael are perfect killing machines. Their respective body counts range in the dozens, and their rampages are the main reason why people keep revisiting their old films and seeing their new ones. In other words, people want to see them doing their best killing.
However, Jason and Michael don’talwayskill their prey. They may be soulless monsters, but a few times, they have avoided murder. Michael famously lets a baby live in the last trilogy but does his share of killing animals to feed himself. Jason, on the other hand, doesn’t kill animals or children.
3Why They Kill
Slasher killers don’t need any kind of motivation to satisfythe insatiable hunger of horror fans. But they usually have one nonetheless, and they seem to be in line with the origins of their respective franchises. Killing teenagers is always aligned with them, but beyond this, there’s usually a reasonforkilling them.
Jason is motivated by revenge. Camp guides let him die when he was a boy because they were too busy fooling around. So, he’s always seeking to kill guides or anything resembling them.
Michael is a bit more complex in his motivation and has changed it throughout the franchise and its several directions. Sometimes it’s a curse. Sometimes he’s after his family members. Sometimes, he’s really just the worst for no reason.
2Not Invincible, But…
From a commercial standpoint, it’s always necessary to bring slasher killers back from the dead. If they get “killed,” screenwriters will find a way to bring them back for the next sequel, although sometimes they take those liberties too far. Nevertheless, there’s a huge difference in what we’ve seen in Jason and Michael’s franchises.
Halloween Ends, Michael’s last movie, saw the icon getting killed by Laurie Strode. Audiences witnessed the end of Michael’s run as the bulky killer drew his last breath.
However, Jason seems invincible. While he was blown up inJason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, the film was based on the idea that the killer’s spirit could survive anything. In fact, he would return eight years later withJason X, anincomprehensible attemptto follow canon rules that is acknowledged in the minds of the horror community only because it contains some of Jason’s most notable kills.
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1How Each Got Their Mask (and When)
The use of masks is yet another slasher trope that’s almost always followed in the genre. But Jason and Michael have a big difference as tohowthey got their respective masks. Michael seems to have snatched a Captain Kirk mask from a store in 1978 and always kept it for some reason. Though its appearance changed throughout the franchise, this mask has become a strong icon in horror history.
But Jason took some time. In fact, he didn’t become the villain until after the first movie, where he was featured as a ghostly deformed boy emerging from the water inFriday the 13th’s signature jump scare. In part II, he wore a sack on his head, and sadly, not many people remember this iteration. It wasn’t untilFriday the 13th Part IIIthat he was able to grab a hockey mask and become one of horror’s most important villains.
