Pennywise vs. Jason Voorhees: 5 Reasons Pennywise Would Win (& 5 Jason Might)

Movie fans longing for nostalgia always want to compare all-time great movie monsters.  Some of the celebrated comparisons that have graced the big screen over the years have included Godzilla versus King Kong, Frankenstein’s monster versus Dracula and even Freddy Krueger versus Jason Voorhees.  So, let’s add another.  Stephen King’s Pennywise from his scariest novel to date and hit film, It and the slasher film legend from the Friday the 13th series, Jason Voorhees.

Both are monsters of considerable proportions.  One is a mental catalyst tapping into our deepest darkest fears while the other is a physical juggernaut ruthless killing machine.

Here are five reasons Pennywise might win and five reasons Jason might win.

10 Pennywise: Mostly Appears As A Clown (Everyone Is Afraid of Clowns)

A lot of people think they suffer from coulrophobia, an irrational fear of clowns. Truth be told, the average person just feels uncomfortable about clowns’ appearance. Regardless, if Pennywise met Jason Voorhees before he drowned as a child, then he could have a chance. Pennywise is a fiery red hair clown with the receding hairline and a chalk-white face to match. It has enormous red lips with lines stretching from the corners of its his mouth to its big bulging blue eyes. Pennywise draws its victims closer with that evil smile as it stares at them and begins to drool then its teeth become exaggerated and sharp like that of a ravenous wolf.

9 Jason: Brainless Killing Machine – Will Not Stop Until His Task Is Done.

Jason is the Terminator of horror monsters with his machine-like precision and inability to quit until the job is done.  Voorhees will flat-out tucker Pennywise out.

Remember, Pennywise needs to slumber for 30 years to build up its appetite to dine on the fears of children.  But Jason’s thirst for death is relentless. He is driven by the desire of carnage, the definition of butchery. No sleep is necessary, and no break is needed. He feasts on the fears of man or woman (leaving children alone). But teenagers, that is a different story.

8 Pennywise: Feeds On What Its Prey Fears Most

In the film Freddy vs. Jason, during their climactic fight at the end of the film, it was discovered that Jason Voorhees may have a subconscious fear of drowning. Pennywise can recreate the moment when Jason died as a young boy bringing back that the feeling of fighting for his life yelling for his mother to help him while the counselors that were supposedly watching him fooled around on the shore.

But Pennywise would have to be careful because playing on Jason’s fear did now fair well for Freddy.  When Jason woke up from his nightmare, he ripped Freddy’s arm off and stabbed him in his chest with his own set of claws.

7 Jason: Not A Child, Man, Or Human

Pennywise is great with manipulating children with fear, but what kind of effect would it have on a super-powered hate machine?  A barbaric beast who has seen and done almost every considerable evil thing. Things that keep both little kids and grown adults awake at night questioning what it is getting ready to happen when they hear the heinous ki, ki, ki, ma, ma, ma sound (it is meant to resemble Voorhees voice saying “kill, kill, kill, mom, mom, mom” in his mother’s head) when he is near.

6 Pennywise: Has The Ability To Shapeshift And Go Unnoticed By Adults

You cannot kill what you cannot see. Pennywise possesses the ability to fool Jason, pre-Friday the 13th Part VI of course in his human form before he is struck by lightning and reincarnated. Pennywise can sneak up on Jason and have its way with him. Confusing him, having him kill the wrong people thinking he as actually killing Pennywise.

Or he can shapeshift into a small child, confusing him even more because he does not harm little kids.  This merciful act of sparing the life of children is probably due in part of his drowning at such a young age at Camp Crystal Lake.

5 Jason: Is Relentless, Pennywise Only Comes Every 27-30 Years

If you only come out of your slumber every 27 to 30 years, it hard to truly defeat something.   Time waits for no one and a lot of things could change over time.

Jason could have figured out how to defeat Pennywise or determined how to get him to sleep forever.  He could get stronger, train in hand-to-hand combat, or just simply accomplish muscle memory for killing because he has done it so often.  One needs ten thousand hours to master a skill. In the time that Pennywise lays in dormant, Jason would have 236,520 hours of practice.

4 Pennywise: Death Comes To Any Human That Directly Stares Into It’s True Form

In Pennywise’s true form, it is a swirling of destructive, orange lights known as “deadlights” which inflicts insanity and causes death for anyone that stares into them. The movie portrayed “It” as a massive spider, but one of the kids, Bill Denbrough, briefly observed the “deadlights.”

Billy’s wife is the only known survivor of staring into the lights, but it left her in a mental stupor. But once again, this will work pre-Friday the 13th Part VI when Jason was human. After that Voorhees was always in a mental stupor that fueled him to wreak havoc in that mental state.

3 Jason: Has The Ability To Regenerate

Since Jason was struck by lightning, he formed into a superpower entity of his formal self. Forget Wolverine’s healing factor, this X-Man of horror movie monsters can come back much meaner and a whole lot deadlier.

No, he cannot fly, jump high, or run at top speeds. In fact, he loves to walk or stroll after his victim as a form of hunting ritual knowing that no matter what they do, he will get them in the end. No, this superhero of horror can carve, pummel, and maim his victims in the most brutal of ways.

2 Pennywise: More Manipulative/Intelligent Than Jason

Pennywise’s greatest attribute is its intelligence, its ability to outsmart or manipulate its victims and enemies. Jason Voorhees wants his victims to see him coming because he is a bulldozer of terror running over anything or anyone that gets in his way. Pennywise is the opposite. It builds its appetite through manipulation making its food that much tastier.  It wants to get inside its prey’s head, having them make the choice to come him. No one tries to run until they find out they have been duped.

Jason will never figure out the Ritual of Chüd to defeat Pennywise, eventually, falling victim to his cerebral traps where Pennywise can try to devour him.

1 Jason: Never Dies

Born again Jason Voorhees never dies. Being struck by lightning made him subhuman. An entity that can get stabbed, shot, and electrocuted, but never killed.

In the film, Friday the 13th Part VI, Tommy wants to make sure that his greatest fear as a child was dead.  He goes to his grave, digs him up, and stabs him with a metal pole before dousing him with gasoline and setting his corpse on fire. But after piercing his body with the staff, it was struck by lightning, bringing the horror’s genre scariest monster back to life once again.

How can Pennywise kill something that never dies?

About The Author