Friday the 13th is one of the most iconic slasher franchises of all time. In its 46-year history, it’s created one of the most noteworthy villains in film history and kickstarted the careers of stars like Kevin Bacon, Corey Feldman, and Crispin Glover.
It’s also managed to produce exactly twelve films. The expectations for a 13th film have been incredibly high, which is why the franchise went dormant for fifteen years and then pivoted to television. Crystal Lake — the new A24-produced Peacock series starring Linda Cardellini — is the series’ second foray into television following the 1987-1990 run of Friday the 13th: The Series. And since Friday the 13th: The Series never directly tied into the films themselves (a few planned attempts all fizzled out), this is the first time the story of the Voorhees family is making the leap to the small screen.
In honor of the franchise’s first sign of life in nearly 20 years, here’s a ranking of every film in the Friday the 13th series.
12. Friday the 13th (2009)
Director: Marcus Nispel
Writers: Damian Shannon & Mark Swift
Where to Watch: HBO Max
Oof, what a stinker.
Producer Michael Bay paired up Freddy vs. Jason writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift with director Marcus Nispel, whose 2003 reboot of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre had established Bay as a semi-trusted horror producer. It even managed to assemble a pretty solid cast, with a bevy of dependable television stars like The Mentalist‘s Amanda Righetti, CW staples Jared Padalecki and Danielle Panabaker, and Star Trek: Deep Space 9‘s Nana Visitor.
Sadly, the cast never finds their footing. The rest of the film is really, really bad. It feels less like a Friday the 13th film than it does an adaptation of what someone who has never seen a slasher film imagines Friday the 13th to be, complete with tired misogyny and awkward sex talk. Visitor once told me in an interview that she’s never actually been able to bring herself to watch it.
11. Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)
Director: Adam Marcus
Writers: Dean Lorey and Jay Huguely
Where to Watch: AMC+
23-year-old Adam Marcus looked like a star on the rise when he became the youngest director ever hired to helm a Friday the 13th entry, but what he really wanted to direct was Evil Dead, and he made sure everyone knew it. The film uses a bunch of Evil Dead props to turn Jason Voorhees into a body-possessing worm and has him trying to kill a previously unidentified sister à la Halloween II.
There’s an interesting subplot about the FBI attempting to weaponize Jason’s invulnerability that is immediately discarded and a delightful performance by Steven Williams as the scenery-chewing ghost hunter Creighton Duke, but that’s the extent of the film’s strengths. It’s mostly just very boring, which is one of the worst things a slasher can be.
10. Jason X (2001)
Director: James Isaac
Writer: Todd Farmer
Where to Watch: AMC+
The tenth Friday the 13th title took a cue from the likes of Hellraiser: Bloodline, Leprechaun 4: In Space, and Critters 4 when it moved its previously Earth-bound action to outer space. The film follows a cryogenically frozen Jason Voorhees who wakes up in the year 2455, where nanites transform him from an unstoppable killing machine into an even more unstoppable one.
Jason X is messy but undeniably watchable. The futuristic setting delivers some fun kills, and the cast isn’t afraid to lean into the camp, with the oft-underutilized Peter Mensah especially shining in a larger role. It’s still not great, but it’s not without merit. There’s even a David Cronenberg cameo!
9. Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985)
Director: Danny Steinmann
Writers: Martin Kitrosser & David Cohen and Danny Steinmann
Where to Watch: AMC+, Paramount+, YouTube Movies
The trilogy that began in Part 2 was now properly over, which meant the series needed a new direction. The answer was a new trilogy centered on The Final Chapter‘s breakout main character Tommy Jarvis. Sadly, Corey Feldman was too busy shooting The Goonies to reprise the role, though he at least appears for a cameo they shot in Feldman’s backyard.
John Shepherd doesn’t quite capture what Feldman brought to the role, but he’s decent as the aged-up Jarvis. In fact, the entire cast is pretty great. This is thanks, at least in part, to the producers tricking them into believing they were being cast in a more serious movie, but they’re willing to play along and chew the scenery. That twist ending, though? Bad.
8. Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
Director: John Carl Buechler
Writers: Daryl Haney and Manuel Fidello
Where to Watch: AMC+, Paramount+, YouTube Movies
This was originally intended to be a crossover film with A Nightmare on Elm Street, but licensing issues with New Line Cinema would lead to that project being abandoned for another 15 years. Screenwriter Daryl Haney pitched the idea of Jason vs. Carrie, another licensing impossibility that at least managed to pique the interest of producer Barbara Sachs, who had ambitions of turning the Friday the 13th franchise into an Oscar-worthy drama.
Several serious directors were offered the gig, including Federico Fellini. Eventual director John Carl Buechler was of a more traditional horror caliber, having previously directed Troll and done special effects for films like Re-Animator and the criminally underappreciated Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype. But he did succeed in bringing a more elevated vibe to Jason Voorhees, thanks in large part to the performance of star Lar Park Lincoln. It doesn’t quite feel like a Friday the 13th film, but it’s earned every bit of its cult following.
7. Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
Writer/Director: Rob Hedden
Where to Watch: AMC+, Paramount+, YouTube Movies
The oft-maligned Jason Takes Manhattan certainly isn’t entirely undeserving of criticism. After all, Jason doesn’t even make it to Manhattan until the film’s climax. But it’s largely the victim of being entirely ahead of its time. It bears the unique distinction of being the first distinctly millennial slasher film, dissecting the generation’s disillusionment amidst post-Reagan America just as much as it dissects horny teens.
The politics here are biting. Hedden can make a shrug and a “What else is new?” in response to someone finding out they’re about to die hit just as hard as actual terror. Throw in a great cast that includes Peter Mark Richman as the best secondary villain the franchise has ever had, and even the misguided attempt at yet another sympathetic Jason backstory can’t stop this from being a blast.
6. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
Writer/Director: Tom McLoughlin
Where to Watch: AMC+, Paramount+, YouTube Movies
The conclusion of the Tommy Jarvis trilogy shows the franchise has learned every lesson it needed to from Part V. Jason Voorhees is back, now properly supernatural for the first time. Star Thom Mathews gets to play Tommy more in line with Corey Feldman’s original portrayal than John Shepherd was allowed to. And that’s not even getting into just how silly the whole thing is.
Jason Lives injected the franchise with irreverent self-parody that takes aim at everything critics had previously mocked Friday the 13th for. The result was charmingly meta and still remains the funniest the franchise has ever been. It would pioneer some new tropes in the process, creating a Scream-esque effect where other slashers tried the same thing without the benefit of irony or self-awareness. But here, in its earliest iteration, it’s an absolute blast.
5. Friday the 13th Part 3: 3D (1982)
Director: Steve Minder
Writer: Martin Kitrosser & Carol Watson
Where to Watch: AMC+, Paramount+, Peacock, YouTube Movies
Part 3 was originally intended to take place in the immediate aftermath of Part 2, though the intended plans for that fell through when Amy Steel declined to return as final girl Ginny Field. Undeterred, husband-and-wife screenwriting duo Martin Kitrosser and Carol Watson decided to follow Jason’s next moments instead. It was a great decision, resulting to a tense trilogy that followed Jason’s mayhem over a few days.
The decision to produce this in 3D is controversial, and there’s no shortage of gimmicks. But some of those gimmicks are very fun! Sure, we’ve all seen 3D films where a paddle ball is played directly into the camera. But how many 3D films also have an eyeball popping out directly into the camera?
Part 3 also originated a number of elements now forever associated to the franchise, including Jason Voorhees’ iconic hockey mask. Jason stuntman Richard Brooker would later go on to direct more than forty episodes of Bill Nye the Science Guy.
4. Friday the 13th (1980)
Director: Sean S. Cunningham
Writer: Victor Miller
Where to Watch: AMC+, Kanopy, Netflix, Paramout+, Peacock, Tubi, YouTube Movies
The one that started it all! Produced on a $650,000 budget, it became the first indie slasher to be picked up by a major studio when Paramount acquired it in a bidding war. The film’s place in pop culture has since been entirely overshadowed by the franchise at large, which means new viewers will likely be surprised by how much isn’t actually in the film. There’s no nudity, no Jason Voorhees, and it’s as much mystery as it is a slasher film.
At the same time, there’s zero question as to how the film found so much success. The cast (including a pre-Footloose Kevin Bacon) is outstanding, Barry Abrams delivers some of the most captivating cinematography the genre has ever seen, Tom Savini’s special effects are fantastic, and Harry Manfredini delivers one of the most iconic scores in cinema history. Not to be missed.
3. Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
Director: Steve Miner
Writer: Ron Kurz
Where to Watch: AMC+, Paramount+, Peacock, YouTube Movies
Part 2 entered production promptly after Friday the 13th found major box office success. It takes everything that worked about its predecessor and cranks it up. The cast is just as good, if not better, and Jason Voorhees’s introduction as the franchise’s new villain is absolutely outstanding. Bonus points for featuring disability representation that’s about 25 years ahead of what the rest of Hollywood was doing.
Friday the 13th was an independent film that found unexpected success. Part 2 was the film that proved that success could translate to a mainstream Hollywood production. Director Steve Miner pulls it off with aplomb, and the result set the tone for everything audiences understand Friday the 13th to be today.
2. Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
Director: Ronny Yu
Writers: Damian Shannon & Mark Swift
Where to Watch: AMC+
A Friday the 13th/A Nightmare on Elm Street crossover had been in various stages of development for ages. It was the original plan for 1988’s Part VII, then teased again at the end of 1993’s Jason Goes to Hell. But it took another decade and the franchise’s 23rd birthday before Paramount Pictures and New Line Cinema could play nice long enough for the film to actually be made.
Was it worth the wait? Absolutely. The film assembles a fantastic cast that includes Jason Ritter, Kelly Rowland, and Katharine Isabelle, which is largely a bonus considering that watching Robert Englund‘s Freddy Krueger finally go up against Jason Voorhees is about enough to carry the film on its own.
The production is polished enough to feel at home alongside the era’s new batch of slashers like Scream, Final Destination, and I Know What You Did Last Summer without feeling alien from its own series, and it’s the absolute best that early 2000s blue filter has ever looked. The planned Evil Dead-crossover sequel, Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash, was sadly never filmed, but it was adapted into a comic bookFreddy vs. Jason vs. Ash was sadly never filmed, but it did manage to be adapted in comic book format.
1. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
Director: Joseph Zito
Writer: Barney Cohen
Where to Watch: AMC+, Paramount+, YouTube Movies
The final entry in the trilogy that began in Part 2 and the first entry in the Tommy Jarvis trilogy. Producer Frank Mancuso Jr. intended this to conclude the franchise, hence the title, but changed his mind and released Part V only a year later. The film features a pre-Back to the Future Crispin Glover and marked the return of special effects wiz Tom Savini.
The real highlight here is Corey Feldman as Tommy, a young boy obsessed with the very horror movies that the Friday the 13th franchise had come to define. Tommy’s slow descent into madness as he attempts to outsmart Jason Voorhees remains Feldman’s best performance and is the most compelling one of these protagonists would ever get, making it easy to see why the character was brought back even if he would never again be quite this interesting. When combined with the performance of Kimberly Beck as Tommy’s sister Trish, it’s the best Friday the 13th has ever been.
Amusing irony aside, it’s disappointing that a thirteenth Friday the 13th film has never actually materialized. But a television series is certainly better than nothing, especially when it’s bringing life to a series that has been dormant for nearly twenty years.