Every Movie in the Friday the 13th Franchise
Since it first hit screens in 1980, that scuffed hockey mask from the Friday the 13th movies has become synonymous with horror.
The franchise rocketed to fame thanks to its central character, Jason Voorhees—a seemingly immortal man who seeks gruesome revenge against beautiful, foolhardy teens.
Dive into the terrors of Crystal Lake with this complete list of the Friday the 13th movies.
- Friday the 13th (1980)
- Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
- Friday the 13th Part III (1982)
- Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
- Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)
- Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
- Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
- Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
- Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday (1993)
- Jason X (2002)
- Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
- Friday The 13th (2009)
Friday the 13th (1980)
Director: Sean S. Cunningham
Starring: Betsy Palmer, Kevin Bacon
Rotten Tomatoes: 64%
Where To Watch: Fandango, Vudu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV
The first movie follows the exploits of a group of young counselors, while they prepare to welcome campers to Crystal Lake.
Locals try to warn them about the strange events surrounding the area, as well as the tragic death of a camper years before. The counselors, of course, dismiss the rumors of a deranged killer…with gruesome consequences.
Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
Director: Steve Miner
Starring: Adrienne King, Amy Steel
Rotten Tomatoes: 27%
Where To Watch: Fandango, Vudu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV
Once again, a group of teenage counselors gathers by Crystal Lake to set up a camp for kids.
One of the older counselors tells the story of poor Jason Voorhees, a boy who accidentally drowned in the lake many years before, and his mother—who sought revenge.
Everyone laughs off the story, until they realize that it isn’t over yet…not as long as they’re alive.
Friday the 13th Part III (1982)
Director: Steve Miner
Starring: Tracie Savage, Richard Brooker
Rotten Tomatoes: 11%
Where To Watch: Fandango, Vudu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV
Part III begins with Jason Voorhees escaping from the slain counselors’ wreckage, directly following the events of Part 2. Left without his mask, Jason slays two local store owners in order to obtain new clothes.
Meanwhile, a group of teenagers is enjoying a fun weekend get-together—until Jason crashes the party.
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
Director: Joseph Zito
Starring: Corey Feldman, Crispin Glover
Rotten Tomatoes: 23%
Where To Watch: Fandango, Vudu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV
When a group of friends decides to spend the weekend camping at Crystal Lake, they ignore the locals’ warnings about a murderous man named Jason who supposedly roams the area.
Their lavish celebrations of being young and in love attract the attention of Jason, who dons his hockey mask and takes up his knife once more.
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)
Director: Danny Steinmann
Starring: John Shepherd, Melanie Kinnaman
Rotten Tomatoes: 18%
Where To Watch: Fandango, Vudu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV
Following an attack by Jason Voorhees, survivor Tommy entered a mental institution. In A New Beginning, he finally gets to leave.
His nightmares of Jason returning from the dead intensify, however. Soon, some of the other patients at the halfway house turn up murdered. Although the sheriff immediately suspects Vorhees has returned, Tommy’s added to the suspect list.
Tommy then sets out to investigate and prove his innocence. All the while, he can’t help but question his own sanity.
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
Director: Tom McLoughlin
Starring: Thom Mathews, Jennifer Cooke
Rotten Tomatoes: 50%
Where To Watch: Fandango, Vudu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV
After discovering that Jason Voorhees’s spirit is still murdering people, Tommy breaks out of the mental institution to find Jason’s grave, hoping for answers.
Thinking that burning the remains will finally let Jason’s spirit depart from this world, Tommy digs up the body.
However, an electrical current reanimates Jason, setting him loose upon the world once more.
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
Director: John Carl Buechler
Starring: Lar Park-Lincoln, Terry Kiser
Rotten Tomatoes: 35%
Where To Watch: Fandango, Vudu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV
A psychic woman visits the spot where her father died, many years before: Crystal Lake.
She blames herself for her father’s death, since her powers contributed to the accident. While at the lakehouse, she meets with a psychiatrist who secretly wants to use her telekenisis for his own gain.
Before he has a chance to carry out his plans, her powers reawaken the corpse of Jason Voorhees, allowing him to strike fear into the hearts of his victims all over again.
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
Director: Rob Hedden
Starring: Jensen Daggett, Scott Reeves
Rotten Tomatoes: 8%
Where To Watch: Fandango, Vudu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV
Generally panned by fans and critics alike as the worst of the Friday the 13th movies, this film sees him resurrected from Crystal Lake once again. He then massacres the crew of a ship headed for Manhattan.
Though a few people manage to escape the carnage, Jason remains right on their heels.
Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday (1993)
Director: Adam Marcus
Starring: Steven Williams, Kane Hodder
Rotten Tomatoes: 20%
Where To Watch: HBONow, Fandango, Vudu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, HBOMax
While Jason Voorhees was nearly obliterated, his heart continues to beat. He uses his powers to overcome the coroner’s mind and control his body, in order to perpetuate his only reason for existence: killing everyone around Crystal Lake.
Luckily, there are plenty of teenagers to help him sharpen his knife.
Jason X (2002)
Director: James Isaac
Starring: Lexa Doig, Lisa Ryder
Rotten Tomatoes: 20%
Where To Watch: Fandango, Vudu, Apple TV
In the future, humans return to Earth after ruining the planet and abandoning it to scavenge for materials elsewhere.
The young people who then set out to explore the ruined planet have no idea what—or who—is waiting for them.
Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
Director: Ronny Yu
Starring: Robert Englund, Ken Kirzinger
Rotten Tomatoes: 41%
Where To Watch: Fandango, Vudu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, HBOMax
In this mash-up between the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street movies, Freddy Kreuger and Jason Voorhees team up in order to destroy everyone who dared disrespect Freddy.
However, they quickly begin to disagree, and end up going head-to-head in a spectacular fight.
Friday the 13th (2009)
Director: Marcus Nispel
Starring: Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker
Rotten Tomatoes: 26%
Where To Watch: Fandango, Vudu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, HBOMax
This remake received generally poor reviews at the time of its release. However, more than a decade later, many fans and critics give it due credit as a viable reboot for the horror genre.
As Clay Miller strikes out to find his missing sister around the edge of Crystal Lake, he runs into college students who are partying along the shores, as well as the hockey-masked killer himself—who still lies in wait for his next unwitting victim.
Just as Jaws struck an ever-present fear of swimming into the hearts of its viewers, so have Friday the 13th movies made horror audiences think twice about good, old-fashioned camping trips.
Following the reboot in 2009, litigation involving the original film’s writer put a stall on the franchise. Rumors have it, however, that a new Jason movie could hit theaters very soon.
But if, or until then, we’ve still got everything from Resident Evil, Halloween film franchise, and even the Silent Hill video game franchise to hold us over.
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