Horror Movie Weapons

The pitchfork in The Prowler was probably the most conventional weapon we covered in our book, DEATH BY UMBRELLA! THE 100 WEIRDEST HORROR MOVIE WEAPONS.

We were wondering about that one, as the killer is a war vet and unless our boys were bailing hay in the trenches in France, that one really made no sense at all. Now the antagonist did redeem himself by using a bayonet as well. So it checks out.

Of course, a pitchfork was also used by Jason in Friday the 13th Part 2 (pre-mask, in Sackhead / Town that Dreaded Sundown regalia) to attack Final Girl Ginny in her, ahem, “getaway vehicle.” (We don’t have the NHTSA stats, but compounding car problems, so prevalent in horror films, is driving a convertible, as soft-tops are easily breached by pitchfork even if the killer hasn’t been diligent with his chin-ups/bicep curls.)

Really, an entire book could’ve been devoted to just Jason weaponry, as Crystal Lake’s most famous son went above and beyond when it came to hunting down oblivious camp counselors. The campground’s resident maniac did favor a machete, but variety is the spice of life as he variously turned to spears, fists, liquid nitrogen, guitars, you name it as the series was met with diminishing returns.

When researching our book, a lot of weapons didn’t make the cut as it were. And we had to pick our very favorite Jason moments to give our book variety. But just because a machete instead of, say, a lawnmower is used doesn’t necessarily make the kill any less memorable.

There are loads of terrific kills in horror movies using weaponry that doesn’t require a visit to the hardware store or a munitions depot. You can just grab what’s lying around. And that also prompts the question, why would a campground in the woods have a pitchfork lying around? Guess it’s possible Jason earned his keep as a farmhand/day laborer near ill-fated Camp Packanack.

Jeff from Really Awful Movies breaks down his favorite kills too conventional for our book over at the terrific site FLICK ATTACK. It’s definitely worth a read.