All of the "Friday the 13th" films Ranked

Horror lovers can’t get enough of Jason Voorhees: He’s big, he’s mysterious, and his hulking frame moves soundlessly through all ten of the original films, the crossover, and the 2009 remake. The Friday the 13th films hold strange childhood nostalgia of summer camp for many current adults, also juxtaposing against the maudlin values and horrors of the eighties and early nineties. While these films aren’t as imaginative or impressive as the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, Wes Craven protégé Sean S. Cunningham did create an enigmatic and horrifying lore when he introduced the world to Mrs. Voorhees, in the original film, and her Frankenstein-esque son, which exemplified slasher films for the next decade.

1. Friday the 13th (1980) dir. Sean S. Cunningham

Though the Jason Voorhees’ appearance and persona would not be formulated until the third film in the series, this was the film that started it all. Building on Jason Voorhees’ mythology, the killer in this film is actually (SPOILER) his mother, back for vengeance against a group of new camp counselors readying Camp Crystal Lake for a reopening of sorts. Writer and director Sean S. Cunningham played off the mass success of John Carpenter’s Halloween by dipping into a different form of childhood joy: summer camp. Through the use of a chilling score, thrilling POV, and a crazy twist ending, the original film quickly became a cult classic. It also featured the most memorable deaths of the series and had an early performance from Kevin Bacon. This is easily my favorite film in the franchise, though the best was yet to come.

2. Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) dir. Steve Miner

This is probably the creepiest Jason, (Besides the seventh iteration, of course.) To recap: the original sees a bereft Mrs. Voorhees turned into a murderer at the newly reopened camp where her son drowned many years prior. In this sequel, yet another soon-to-be disemboweled group of teen camp counselors arrive at Camp Crystal Lake to reopen the camp. Deep in the woods, in a shack that apparently no one has noticed for the past twenty years, a morose Jason Voorhees has covered his face in a bag, and starts chopping off heads left and right. The reason I rank this film rather high pertains mostly to the gross scene in said shack, and for the fresh originality in reinvented Jason, a decision that was brought about from audiences’ popular demand. This film, while repeating many of the original film’s tonal steps, remained creepy, centered on capturing the serial killer POV, and furthered the Jason storyline, which would entice viewers for decades to come.

3. Friday the 13th IV: The Final Chapter (1984) dir. Joseph Zito

Studio politics and hurt egos contributed to this film having the moniker of “Final.” Producer, and son of Paramount’s president, Frank Mancuso Jr., wanted to be taken seriously, and nobody would with these projects hanging over his head. Trying to end the series with glory, he had director Joseph Zito end the film with a child survivor, something that had never been done in a slasher series before. This film introduces multiple new characters, including a very awkward Crispin Glover, and a family featuring child superstar Corey Haim. Haim’s character, Tommy, would sustain the series for another two films, and add a needed parallel between himself and Jason, a character who was equally traumatized in his own childhood. This was an interesting divide in the characters and lent to one of the better thought out and executed films in the series. The same level of filmmaking would not be brought to a Friday sequel until the seventh iteration. (Also, check out a young Crispin Glover dancing like a jackass above.)

4. Friday the 13th VII: The New Blood (1988) dir. John Carl Buechler

This probably seems like a surprising ranking for one of two reasons: Its premise is blatantly ripping off Carrie, and this is an older entry. In actuality, while this is a strange film, the concept and execution were a huge step up from the two previous films, which didn’t understand what tone they were trying to strike. Not since the second film had one of the Friday the 13ths been so disgusting, grotesque, and unique. It turns out that audiences love seeing a female character with telekinetic powers to take down a supernatural giant, especially one who was as well-respected as the iconic Jason Voorhees. In the series’ canon Voorhees had been tied down in Crystal Lake for years, and the makeup department really took advantage of that premise, making the emerged Jason look moldy, wet, and horribly disfigured. He emerges looking really grimey, and when that mask comes off, you bet you get a good eyeful. Seeing this particular Jason in the fight scenes felt pioneering and needed, after so many so-so predecessors.If you want to skip others in the series, you can go straight to this classic. I give you permission.

5. Freddy vs. Jason (2003) dir. Ronny Yu

I’ve said this before, but I kind of enjoyed this sloppy, openly cartoonish film, if only because it brought together my all-time favorite baddies for one epic showdown. This was actually teased at the end of the ninth Friday the 13th, but between balancing the issues with rights and the money involved, it didn’t happen for ten more years. Luckily we have this film, the last time Robert Englund played Freddy onscreen (up until this point that is) so we don’t wonder what could have been.

6. Friday the 13th Part III (1982) dir. Steve Miner

What I enjoyed most about this film was in catching the completely over-the-top and obvious attempts to create a 3D experience. Oh yes, this is the only entry in the series that was made to be exhibited in 3D. Of course, since this was 1982, most of the effects involve people poking each other with outstretched fingers, or broom handles that come precariously close to the camera, or some other wacky and not immediately understandable gimmick. The film also continues the storyline left over from the second, finally shows Jason in his hockey mask, and includes some country bumpkins who immediately get knocked off, thank the good lord. This is probably the film that embraced fun the most and was willing to lean into its lore. Producer Frank Mancuso Jr. wanted this to be the last entry in the series, though its ongoing successes would last another nine years.

7. Friday the 13th V: A New Beginning (1985) dir. Danny Steinmann

This film’s beginning reminds me a lot of the crass humor in most Troma pictures, complete with a mentally handicapped mental patient getting decapitated shortly into the runtime. From there it only gets weirder and more uncomfortable as we follow Corey Haim’s character, Tommy, as a troubled teen. Trying to forget the horribleness of what happened to him and his family via Jason Voorhees, he goes to a camp for messed up kids, and they start getting picked off one after another. It’s not a film that respects the mentally ill, or shows them in a particularly good light, but it still strives to paint them as strong in their own right. It also lends to one of the better climaxes thanks to a twist that I felt was earned, though it made no difference to the series’ mythology surrounding Jason, which would be drastically changed one short year later.

8. Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993) dir. Adam Marcus

I shouldn’t love this film as much as I do, because there’s so much wrong with it: the dialogue is horrendous, the side characters show up without much explanation, there’s copious amounts of weird exposition for no reason, and Jason is barely in it. Jason dies in the first five minutes of the film, which isn’t that big a spoiler, since he jumps bodies for the rest of the film. While okay as a regular gore fest horror film, it’s not really a Friday the 13th film. Without having the only main character from all the other films, and giving him multiple unearned new powers, this weird piece of filmmaking sits all the way down at number eight.

9. Friday the 13th VI: Jason Lives (1986) dir. Tom McLoughlin

This is probably the film that I dislike the most, because it tried the least. Even though the last two entries on the list are subjectively the worst, this film angered me as a lover of the series itself: Tommy is recast, again, and this time he is completely cleared of all his idiosyncracies from the previous film. They reshoot the exact same beginning as the last film and the film itself ends with a non-ending. Overall, it’s not at all enjoyable, even if it is shot better than any previous film, and it’s not memorable in any real way.

10. Friday the 13th VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) dir. Rob Hedden

I’m sorry to say that the title and cover art have deceived you: this film is not about teen camp killer Jason Voorhees free in New York City, ready to seal the fate of streetwalkers and drug kingpins alike. I want to tell you that’s what this movie achieves, but in reality this should be retitled Jason Quickly Visits Manhattan. Jason is stuck aboard a boat heading towards Manhattan, but he doesn’t get there until the last quarter of the film. Apparently New York is made up of mostly the docks and dark alleyways, and one scene in Times Square, because that’s all we see except for the random opening credits. Because this film did so badly, another installment wouldn’t be made for three years, and the teased Freddy vs. Jason movie, (at this point in pre-production) wouldn’t be released for another fourteen years.

11. Jason X (2001) dir. James Isaac

You guys, I wanted to like it. I really did. Jason in space? How do you get that so wrong? Here’s how:

· Take away any of the original subtext of subverting the normalcy of suburban eighties family life.

· Have cheesy effects that look awful, even for 2001 standards.

· Everyone acts well, which only makes the awfulness of the dialogue and the sets that much more apparent.

· Make Jason basically indestructible, which means there’s no recourse.

It’s just a solid bummer. I thought there would at least be some cool scenes where he fought off some aliens, or lopped off someone’s head, but it’s honestly at the skill level of a late 2000s episode of Power Rangers, but without the colorful costumes and whimsical side characters. Instead we got a sex robot. A sex robot was the best character you guys.

So there you have it, all of the original Friday the 13th films ranked. I have also seen the 2009 reboot, and I would have included it, but what is there to say? It didn’t try? It was a product of its time? It need not exist? Everyone has said those things and more. If you want to read up on other horror reboots or need some other recommendations for your next horror night, follow my links below:

http://www.bluefairyblog.com/listsandessays/the-trend-of-horror-remakes

http://www.bluefairyblog.com/listsandessays/2016/10/17/blue-fairys-top-ten-favorite-horror-movies?rq=horror