This month at Horror Press, the theme is New Jersey. As a dyed-in-the-wool slasher guy, the first horror-related thing that comes to mind when thinking about the Garden State is obviously the Friday the 13th franchise. The first movie was shot in New Jersey, and the majority of the subsequent movies are set there when they’re not wandering off to Manhattan or space. However, Mrs. Voorhees and her son Jason aren’t the only New Jersey natives to have spawned a slasher franchise.

After all, the bloodthirsty Charles Lee Ray, better known as the killer doll Chucky, grew up in Hackensack. So what do you do when you have two slasher villains on your hands? You have them battle, of course. In order to figure out which killer is the best New Jersey horror icon, we’re going to compare the two in a variety of categories, but the one that will be weighted the heaviest is obviously “New Jersey-ness.” Without any further ado, let the head-to-head begin!

Which Horror Icon is the Most Jersey?

Kill Count

Jason: 179 (give or take)

This total spans 10 movies, including the 2009 reboot, but not the original 1980 Friday the 13th or 1985’s A New Beginning (neither of which feature Jason as the killer). Nor does it include non-body count deaths like the remaining teens on the sunken Lazarus in Jason Takes Manhattan or the entire population of the destroyed Solaris station in Jason X, so if anything, the actual number is even higher than this. This makes for an average of 17.9 per movie.

Chucky: 104 (give or take)

This total spans seven movies and three television seasons. If we count that as a total of 10, Chucky hits an average of 10.4 per outing.

Winner: Jason

Personality

Jason: He does have a lot of creativity to express when it comes to finding new and exciting ways to turn people’s insides into their outsides. And that hockey mask adds a certain amount of flair, true. But this big lug is the strong and silent type. There’s really not a lot going on with him.

Chucky: The fact that he talks certainly helps him stand out, but regardless, Chucky is all personality from top to bottom, whether it’s the wholesome and child-friendly appearance that he presents to the world when he’s not pursuing his insidious desires or the true self he exposes once you get to know him a little better. He’s narcissistic, bad to the bone, and loves nothing more than wise-cracking while doling out creative kills. He’s also smart enough to design certain murders to cast the blame on others. What a guy!

Winner: Chucky

Franchise Quality

Jason: Friday the 13th has some high highs. For instance, The Final Chapter is the platonic ideal of the 1980s slasher movie. However, while the franchise generally tends to be relatively reliable and consistent, those lows can be crushing. Everybody disagrees on which are the lowest, which adds some benefit of the doubt here. Still, whether it’s A New Beginning, Jason Takes Manhattan, Jason Goes to Hell, or Jason X (which is my personal pick), there’s gonna be at least one movie you don’t like here.

Chucky: Not only is the Child’s Play franchise consistent, but it is all in strict continuity (minus the 2019 reboot, which we’re pretending doesn’t exist). It has some glorious highs (Bride of Chucky is one of the iconic 1990s horror movies) and its lows aren’t all that bad. Child’s Play 3 tends to be people’s least favorite, but even that one is a totally watchable, if lightweight, horror romp. (If Seed of Chucky is your lowest-ranked, please come see me after class.)

Winner: Chucky

New Jersey-ness

Jason: Now, there’s a lot to break down here, both in-universe and on a meta level. First of all, one huge point goes to Jason because the majority of his slayings are committed in New Jersey. Jason was also canonically born in the small (fictional) town of Crystal Lake, growing up there as well, as shown by the inexplicable Voorhees family manor in Crystal Lake township that appears in Jason Goes to Hell. In fact, beyond going to Manhattan, space, etc., there is no evidence that he has ever left Crystal Lake and its surrounding environs more than a handful of times (mostly for killing – for example, his field trip to take care of original final girl Alice Hardy in Part 2).

However, on a more meta level, very few of the Friday the 13th movies were shot either partially or entirely in New Jersey. They were mostly shot in California, the South, or Canada. Not very Garden State, if you ask me.

Chucky: Chucky gets a huge boost from the fact that he was raised in Hackensack, New Jersey, which is actually a real place as opposed to Crystal Lake township. However, most of his killings from the franchise do not take place in New Jersey. While the Chucky series rectifies this by setting season 1 in Hackensack and featuring the killer doll returning to his hometown in the modern day (alongside flashbacks of his antics as a youngster), his reign of terror has mostly taken place elsewhere. One additional demerit is that, as a human, he was known as the “Lakeshore Strangler,” having taken up residence in Chicago as an adult.

However, while Hackensack is a real place, the Chucky movies and shows don’t shoot there. In fact, as far as I can tell, not a single frame of footage was shot in New Jersey for the entirety of the iconic slasher franchise (which has been produced out of Canada for some time now).

Winner: Jason

Winner

Because the New Jersey section is weighted to be worth two points, I can proudly proclaim that Jason Voorhees is the winner! While this makes sense, considering the fact that he has been an icon since before Chucky was a twinkle in Don Mancini’s eye, the killer doll put up a tough fight, going neck and bloody neck with the Crystal Lake behemoth.