With so many installments released over 30 years — some of them titled inconsistently or inaccurately defined — the proper viewing order for the Friday the 13th movies can be confusing.
The iconic horror franchise began in 1980, expanding the popularity of the slasher genre. Since then, the movies have ventured into more supernatural territory and even gone to outer space. Initially, Friday the 13th wasn't even focused on its iconic villain, Jason Voorhees, a nearly immortal serial killer hellbent on taking his wrath out on teenagers.
The Friday the 13th franchise consists of 12 official feature films, including its reboot. Looking over these movies, confusion over their viewing order may stem from a number of reasons: one installment in the middle of the series claims to be the last one,
some movies use numbers while others don't, and there's the unclear placement of a crossover between the Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street franchises. Viewers looking to watch all the Friday the 13th movies in order could do so by their release dates, but the better progression is chronologically within the franchise.
Friday the 13th (1980)
As the originator of the franchise, the 1980 version of Friday the 13th starts off the viewing order. Its plot focuses on the attempted reopening of Camp Crystal Lake many years after a horrible accident, as the new counselors are stalked and murdered by a masked individual.
The original broke a social norm by showing gory murders of teenagers, and this choice influenced the slasher genre as a whole. In one memorable moment, an old man warns about Crystal Lake, "You're doomed if you stay here. This place is cursed. Cursed! It's got a death curse!" This set the stage for the franchise and its primary fixed location going forward.
Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
Released just one year after the original, Friday the 13th Part 2 comes second in chronological order for the franchise. Set five years after the events of Friday the 13th, the sequel sees a new camp preparing to open next to the infamous Camp Crystal Lake.
Though the original started the legacy, Friday the 13th Part 2 began the murderous reign of Jason Voorhees, the primary antagonist of the series going forward. It also upped the number of thrills and jump scares, a staple in the franchise, while continuing the use of the final girl trope.
Friday the 13th Part III (1982)
The plot of Friday the 13th Part III immediately follows the events of Friday the 13th Part 2. The day after his murders at Crystal Lake in that first sequel, Jason goes after teenagers staying in a cabin nearby. During his rampage, Jason wears his famous hockey mask for the first time.
This cements him as one of the most menacing slasher villains. Given its significance within the franchise due to its tone, its kills, its simple story, and Jason's change in appearance, Friday the 13th Part III is an underrated sequel, despite the movie holding a 7% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
Jason comes through a door and approaches a knife-wielding young woman in Friday the 13th The Final Chapter Despite the missing number in the title, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter falls fourth in the franchise movies in both release and chronological order. In this film, Jason comes back to life, breaks out of the morgue, and heads back to Crystal Lake.
He decides to take his rage out on a group of teens renting a lake house. However, he faces more of a fight this time. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter started the pattern that Jason never dies. This amplifies Jason Voorhees to an almost godlike status.
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning also followed the pattern of leaving out numbers, but it's the fifth installment in the franchise order. This sequel centers on the aftermath of Tommy and Jason's fight in the previous film.
Now a teenager, Tommy lives with post-traumatic stress disorder, and when a person wearing the hockey mask starts killing again, he must face the re-traumatization caused by these events. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning visually presents heavy topics like trauma nightmares and substance use disorder.
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives continues the story of Tommy, who unintentionally brings Jason back to life. The masked killer then heads back to Crystal Lake for another killing spree. Tommy must face the source of his trauma to help bring an end to Jason.
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives reinforces the notion that Jason can never die, as he's once again resurrected through supernatural means. The tone shifts from frightening to haunting since it's not established what other supernatural powers Jason might have.
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
After the heaviness of A New Beginning and Jason Lives, the underrated sequel Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood offers levity to the franchise at the midpoint of its viewing order. During Friday the 13th Part VII:
The New Blood, a telekinetic teenager goes to Crystal Lake to mourn her deceased father. While attempting to bring him back, she accidentally resurfaces Jason Voorhees, and the two must face off. This film allows the series to poke fun at itself. It brings self-awareness to the idea that Jason never dies, and this meta-humor expanded the franchise's limits to include more absurd concepts.
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan plays like a parody of the franchise. After the events of the previous film, Jason gets revived again and then takes over a cruise boat full of high school seniors headed for New York City.
The most memorable scene from the sequel involves Jason chasing teens through Times Square. Unfortunately, this is the extent of his "taking Manhattan" in the film, which sees him spend almost all of his time on a boat instead of in New York City. Still, the imaginative film broke out of the franchise's core location, allowing the audience to see Jason in a different setting.
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)
While it doesn't include the franchise in the title let alone a number, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday comes ninth in the Friday the 13th movies viewing order. After getting their attention in Manhattan in the previous installment, here the FBI sets a trap for Jason.
He gets captured and decimated, but his beating heart allows him to take over others, and he attempts to revive his nearly indestructible body throughout the film. Astute horror fans will notice an appearance from the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis from the Evil Dead series, which explains why the Friday the 13th villain never dies: Jason is a demonic being called a Deadite.
Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
The end of Jason Goes to Hell teased this crossover, which took a decade to come to fruition. In chronological order, the plot of Freddy vs. Jason takes place before the events of Jason X, despite it being released after.
The mashup sees the villains from A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th team up, as Freddy Krueger uses his supernatural powers to reawaken Jason and increase fear, which gives him the strength to kill kids again. But the two realize there can only be one killer on the loose. Freddy vs. Jason doesn't progress Jason's story in any way other than bringing him back to life again.
Jason X (2002)
After Freddy vs. Jason, Jason X falls chronologically 11th in the viewing order for the Friday the 13th movies. After Jason is cryogenically frozen, a group of teenagers accidentally reawaken him on Earth II in the year 2455.
He begins attacking the teens, their professor, and an android. Then, he becomes "Uber Jason," a cyborg, with Jason's appearance changing from his beloved hockey mask and neutral-toned clothing to metallic armor. Jason X is more of a sci-fi B movie than a major sequel in a slasher franchise. As a result, the movie only holds a 19% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Friday the 13th 2009
After the disappointment of Jason X, producers decided the franchise needed a fresh start. Though it is considered a reboot, the 2009 version of Friday the 13th is still the 12th installment in chronological viewing order. After a prologue set in the 1980s, the movie brings a new set of teenagers to Crystal Lake in the present day.
As these college kids party in the woods, Jason Voorhees takes them out one by one. The reboot scraps the absurdist tone of later installments, aiming to recapture the magic of the original, and it succeeds in providing the murder, gore, and slashing expected of the Friday the 13th franchise.
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