"Friday the 13th" is an effective 'stalk'n'slash' flick that came along just in time to capitalise on the frenzy whipped up by "Halloween". With healthy box office returns Paramount spied a new appetite in audiences for gore and poor old Jason was dredged out of the lake for an incredible gore-athon of slaughter.

The nattily titled "Friday the 13th Part 2" (1981) was pretty much a re-run of the first film with the tagline "The body count continues". Having witnessed the death of his mother from his vantage point in the lake in the first instalment, Jason sulks at the bottom of the water for several years before deciding to re-emerge and terrorise the new campers at Crystal Lake. Any of the first film's timing and flair is sacrificed for an increased quota of gore.

Years pass and some young teenage kids with the requisite sex on the brain book into a lakeside cottage for "Part 3" (1982). But before you know it Jason is back, as is his long dead mother, all presented in 3-D. Such terrifying visuals as yo-yos, flapping washing, and popping corn all come at you with pleasing effect. But then Jason has to spoil it all by squeezing eyeballs into the audience, closely followed by a very effective harpoon.

And that is where any semblance of quality ended. In "Part 4" (1984) Jason escapes from the morgue for some more lakeside slashing. He abandons his old haunt for "Part 5" (1985), preferring instead to recuperate in a mental home by slaying the inmates. By this time, you could also join in the mayhem at home on your Commodore 64 with the computer game released that year.

The sequels kept coming though and in "Part 6" (1986) he's rather rudely exhumed just to check if he's really dead (um, he ain't). During 1987 the TV series was launched with David Cronenberg directing one of the episodes. But that wasn't enough for Jason and he returned in 1988 for "Part 7", boarded a cruise liner in 1989 for "Part 8" and went to hell for "The Final Friday" in 1993. That instalment ended with the teaser that he might go on to battle Freddy Krueger in "Jason Vs Freddy", an idea that has been in script development for some time. However, "Jason X", set 500 years into the future and featuring David Cronenberg in an acting role, is in the can and scheduled for a US release sometime next year. Like the bodies, the sequel count continues...

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