For 30 years, lumbering lunatic Jason Voorhees -- whether he was a backwoods psycho or an undead maniac -- terrorized New Jersey's scenic Crystal Lake (and occasionally Manhattan and future Outer Space). By the third Friday the 13th film, in 1982, the murderous Jason finally acquired what would become his signature look, with a hockey mask covering his misshapen face, transforming him into a horror villain icon for the ages.
Sadly, there hasn't been a Friday the 13th film since the 2009 Platinum Dunes reboot (during the decade of 70s/80s horror reboots) and legal battles over the rights, between the original film's director and writer, still keep the property maddeningly tied up. But there are still 12 Friday the 13th movies to binge-watch during Spooky Season (yes, the Halloween franchise got to 13 movies before Friday the 13th) and we've got a rundown of the correct order to marathon them.
It all starts fairly easy as most of the saga is numbered, but then it gets a bit dicier since the movies just start having Jason in the title (and one film takes place in a distant cosmic future). So if you're into checking these famous slasher movies out in chronological order, we've got you covered.
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How Many Friday the 13th Movies Are There?
There are 12 movies in the Friday the 13th/Jason horror film franchise, with eight of them, from 1980 to 1989, representing the classic Paramount Pictures Friday the 13th collection. Following this, New Line took over the rights and gave fans four very different, distinct Jason movies, including 2003's Freddy vs. Jason which took over 15 years to fully develop.
Currently, a Crystal Lake prequel series, from Hannibal's Bryan Fuller, has been picked up by Peacock.
The Friday the 13th Movies in (Chronological) Order
1. Friday the 13th (1980)
Where to Watch: Max
John Carpenter's Halloween may be credited as kicking off the '80s slasher/horror craze but truly it was 1980's Friday the 13th, which itself was a somewhat obvious replication of Halloween, that really lit the spark. So much so that the film's landmark gore and high body count brought about (and changed the tone of) Halloween's own sequel. Almost immediately, slasher movie clones, all with a "mystery killer," loads of dead teenagers, and (often) an attached holiday or celebratory event followed and the decade of slashers and slasher sequels was born. For those unaware, Jason is not the killer in the first movie, helping Friday the 13th stand apart from the rest of the franchise while also starting the craze of having a whodunnit? murderer on the loose, harboring bitter resentment over a past incident/tragedy. Summer camp was also now a place of dread, forever more.
This film is set in 1979 (though the 2009 reboot has the events happening in 1980).
2. Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
Where to Watch: Max
Set five years later, which would make it 1984, Friday the 13th Part 2 brings Jason Voorhess into the fold as the killer, covering his face with a burlap sack (and one eye hole) for the final act of this rampage. Thought to have died in a Camp Crystal Lake drowning accident, Jason basically lived alone in the surrounding woods, going mad over the years, and becoming a local myth. Part 2 moves better, pacing-wise, than the first film and has a famous, formidable "final girl" in Amy Steel's Ginny.
3. Friday the 13th Part III (1982)
Where to Watch: Max, Paramount+
Going from numbers to roman numerals, and shifting from 2D to "early '80s craze" 3D, the third Friday the 13th movie picks up right where Part 2 leaves off, so these two movies basically take place over the course of two days. Jason gets his infamous trademark hockey mask with the red triangles as the story shifts away from summer camp scenarios and camp counselor victims to just any young adults trying to spend the weekend with friends in a vacation cabin. No one is safe now, not even regular townsfolk, as Jason's murderous appetite is fully awakened.
4. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
Where to Watch: Max
Truly designed to be the final Friday the 13th movie, after a two year break (and with the slasher boom dying off in 1984), Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, once again, extends Jason's kill spree a few more days. Taking place just a couple days after Part III -- so still set in 1984 (the release date now matches the events of the past two movies) -- Jason survives his injuries and goes on to slaughter more attractive young people. Only to be taken down, in the end, by 12-year-old Tommy Jarvis (Corey Feldman) in a machete-wielding attack that outright kills the illustrious Mr. Voorhees for good. Yup, he dead.
5. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)
Where to Watch: Max, Paramount+
But Jason's dead, right? What the heck? Friday the 13th: A New Beginning -- one of the grodiest, sleaziest Friday entries (the director came from the realm of hardcore porn) -- found a way to bring "Jason" back in a somewhat cheap way. Set in 1989, a now 17-year-old Tommy Jarvis must deal with a new murder spree at the secluded youth treatment center he's court ordered to be at due to his lingering trauma. Considering what happens next, A New Beginning is actually skippable if need be. The completionist in you might win out, though.
6. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
Where to Watch: Max, Paramount+
Taking place after A New Beginning, in 1990, if you choose to accept A New Beginning happened at all, a grown Tommy Jarvis inadvertently brings Jason Voorhees' corpse back to life, starting the official zombie era for Jason. Yes, he's now an actual reanimated corpse, complete with a rotting undead face underneath the hockey mask. Jason Lives is a wild, fun Friday flick that embraces the sillier aspects of the ongoing story while giving us Jason vs. Tommy one final time.
7. Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
Where to Watch: Max, Paramount+
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood keeps the craziness going with not just a zombie Jason but also a telekinetic final girl (Jason vs. Carrie was how the film was conceived). At this point, eight years into the run, the timeline wasn't ultimately all that important. Basically, this film takes place after the others, with 17-year-old Tina (Lar Park Lincoln), and her ability to move s*** with her mind, having had a traumatic event happen to her at Crystal Lake when she was 10. Since this movie is set in 1997 (the future!), her childhood bad time would have happened in 1990, not too long after the events of Jason Lives.
8. Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
Where to Watch: Max, Paramount+
Set after The New Blood, by maybe a year (so 1998), Jason Takes Manhattan took our boy out of the woods and into the Big Apple (eventually, after a long boat ride that takes up two acts of the movie) and the change of scenery is all worth it for the one big on-location 360 shot of Jason in Times Square. The Friday the 13th franchise, this far in, just wasn't concerned with details. The young victims in the movie basically know an urban legend about "a kid who drowned years ago who now might be out there killing people" and, honestly, that's all the filmmakers wanted people to know too. Jason was a part of the pop-culture fabric now and this is what most average moviegoers knew about him. And though we wouldn't see Jason on the big screen for four years after this, the biggest break so far, the end of Jason Takes Manhattan does set up the events in Jason Goes to Hell since the FBI actually notices all the murders by the end of this movie.
9. Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)
Where to Watch: Max, Paramount+
The only '90s Jason movie was an insane affair, featuring the least amount of Jason since the first movie. Absolutely obliterated by an FBI task force, Jason's evil essence, in the form of demonic black blood, escapes and possesses others, making this mostly a body snatcher movie. With one of the biggest supernatural left turns in the franchise, Jason Goes to Hell, set five years after Jason Takes Manhattan, so 2003, is one of the most polarizing films in the franchise's multi-decade run. The movie also marks Kane Hodder's third time as Jason (he'll get one more) while also allowing him to don the Freddy glove at the end (a tease for a movie we'd see 10 years later).
11. Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
Where to Watch: Max, AMC+
Their own reboots aside, this is the last time we'd see both Jason and fellow slasher legend A Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Krueger in their O.G. timeline forms. And what a last stand it was. Freddy vs. Jason was an absolute blast that delivered on the promise of a hard-hitting heavyweight bout between these two icons. Hong Kong cinema's, and Bride of Chucky's, Ronny Yu directed the hell out of this as Freddy vs. Jason was a tremendous send off (if this was truly it for both of them) for these movie monsters, even transforming Jason into a de facto hero to root for over Freddy. The Jason movies, timeline-wise, are now sort of islands unto themselves, with no true connective tissue. So it's dealer's choice with these last three. They're all very different experiences.
See our guide to the Nightmare on Elm Street movies in order.
12. Friday the 13th (2009)
Where to Watch: Max
At this point you may be longing for the woods again, nostalgic for Jason's old stomping/slashing ground, so hit up 2009's full Friday the 13th reboot, from director Marcus Nispel who found success with his Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot in 2003. CW stars Jared Padalecki (Supernatural) and Danielle Panabaker (The Flash) took the lead roles here in a movie that portrays Jason as a murderous survivalist-type (he's got tunnels, traps, floodlights, etc) who just maybe also has a massive marijuana farm tucked away in the forest so that he can lure young adults into his lair. Now, getting into logistics here, this isn't a remake of the first Friday the 13th movie, which as you know didn't have Jason as the killer. This is more like Part 2, in a way, since the events of the first movie already happened and they've driven Jason into a revenge-bent mindset.
10. Jason X (2002)
Where to Watch: Paramount+, AMC+
We may as well save the most outrageous Jason movie for last, right? And - hey! - it even lines up in a chronological sense since Jason X not only takes place in space but also over 400 years later. In this Friday film's reality, Jason was captured and actually put on trial (so then...not a zombie?) and was ultimately cryogenically frozen. Hundreds of years later, with the Earth uninhabitable, a cosmic science field trip leads students to our wasteland where Jason gets picked up, unfrozen, and...yup, you guessed it. Not only is Jason a defrosted space maniac aboard a giant spaceship in this movie, but the third act has him augmented with cybernetic parts and nano-technology. Jason X was made because Freddy vs. Jason had stalled so it exists because New Line wanted to keep Jason in the public consciousness (since it had been almost a decade since Jason was on screen).
How to Watch the Friday the 13th Movies by Release Date
If you're looking to watch all the movies in theatrical release order, the correct list is below:
- 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)
The Future of the Friday the 13th Franchise
Due to complicated entanglements over rights we probably won't see Jason Voorhees here but...Peacock gave a straight-to-series order for a Friday the 13th prequel, Crystal Lake, with Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller at the helm.
Matt Fowler is a freelance entertainment writer/critic, covering TV news, reviews, interviews and features on IGN for 13+ years.
