Every ‘Friday The 13th’ Movie, Ranked

As with fellow slashers Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street, or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre series, almost every contemporary viewer in the audience can recognize Friday the 13th the moment they see the stark-white mask of Jason Voorhees appear on-screen.

Among the biggest and most influential horror series of all time, Friday the 13th has shaped our understanding and appreciation for the slasher genre in a way most films can only dream about.

With new continuations of the series set to arrive in the years ahead (including A24’s long-rumored prequel series, Crystal Lake), we decided to take a look back at the extensive Friday the 13th series thus far, ranking each movie in the franchise in order from worst to best.

12. Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)

After thirteen years and almost as many movies, the Friday the 13th franchise came to a soft conclusion with 1993’s Jason Goes: The Final Friday. Sadly, by this point in time in thenseries, the franchise itself was little more than a shadow of its former self, ushering in a sequel that seemed more determined to nauseate viewers than actually entertain them.

11. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)

Perhaps the biggest mistake A New Beginning was not having Jason Voorhees appear as the film’s main antagonist. Instead, all we’re left with is a crazed axe killer masquerading as the series’ zombie mass murderer. Toss in an underwhelming plot line rooted around murders at a halfway house, and you have one of the most disappointing slasher movies of the entire 1980s (a decade filled with horrendous horror movies, we might add).

10. Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)

Most series tend to run out of ideas by the time their eighth installment rolls around, and Friday the 13th is certainly no exception. With the majority of the movie’s plot hinging on its simple, straightforward remise, Jason Takes Manhattan is little more than a Jason Voorhees massacre set in the streets of New York City, complete with punks, subway chases, and hilariously ineffectual bystanders witnessing Jason’s rampage.

9. Friday the 13th (2009)

With the slasher genre witnessing a small surge in popularity at the end of the 2000s, producers attempted to cash in on viewers’ renewed interest in the horror subgenre with 2009’s Friday the 13th. Unfortunately, the resulting film lacked the edge and intrigue of its immediate predecessors, taking itself a little too seriously in terms of its underlying story, atmosphere, and paper-thin main characters.

8. Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)

According to industry legend, The New Blood was reportedly pitched as Jason vs. Stephen King’s telekinetic teenage anti-hero, Carrie White. On paper, that idea might sound promising – but in the end, there’s only so far that fascinating crossover could feasibly go. Still, we won’t lie, watching a telekinetic teen battle a visibly water-logged Jason was surprisingly entertaining, especially given Jason’s noticeably ferocious appearance and murders within the film.

7. Friday the 13th Part III (1982)

In many ways, Friday the 13th Part III seemed like the first official Friday the 13th — a grueling slasher slaughterfest with Jason finally sporting his signature hockey mask for the first time. While something positive can be said for its simplistic slapdash premise, little about Part III actually lingers on in viewers’ memory, fading away the moment the closing credits begin to roll.

6. Jason X (2002)

As mentioned previously, Friday the 13th veered towards some increasingly high-concept directions with its latter installments, transposing Jason Voorhees to the wilds of New York with Jason Takes Manhattan and the furthest reaches of space with Jason X. In the case of the latter, audiences witnessed a so-bad-it’s-actually-kind-of-great schlockfest not unlike the Sharknado series – one filled with over-the-top kills, kitschy characters, and an utterly outrageous sci-fi plot line. 

5. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

Nowadays, of course, we know that Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter was, in fact, far from the franchise’s last installment. Though it would eventually be followed by a slew of lesser and lesser sequels, The Final Chapter benefits significantly from its status as the “final” episode in the original Friday the 13th series. Backed by genuinely likable characters and characteristically strong special effects from Tom Savini, it’s among the most certifiably entertaining entries within the Friday the 13th canon.  

4. Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

Most people tend to fondly remember Friday the 13th as the first film to feature Jason Voorhees’ as the franchise’s main antagonist. Replacing his equally psychotic mother and matching her in a range of similarly creative kills, Jason serves up a more than memorable slaughterfest with his inaugural debut in Part 2.

3. Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

From the early ‘80s onwards, fans had long wondered who might win in a fight: Jason Voorhees or his similarly nightmarish horror movie rival, Freddy Krueger. While it would take a few decades to see the ensuing duel come to fruition, Freddy vs. Jason delivers an entertaining enough slasher crossover – one that helped breathe fresh life into A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th’s long dormant franchise continuity.

2. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)

Realizing the horrendous mistake they made ditching Jason with A New Beginning, Friday the 13th promptly resurrected the hulking mass murderer with 1986’s Jason Lives. The third and final installment starring Jason’s mortal enemy Tommy Jarvis, Jason Lives benefits most significantly on the strength of its plot, pitting Tommy and a disbelieving small-town sheriff against the recently revived Jason. If that’s not a recipe for success, we don’t know what is.

1. Friday the 13th (1980)

Looking back, it’s easy to dismiss the original Friday the 13th as something of an oddity in the franchise. (A Friday the 13th without Jason Voorhees, for example, hardly feels like a Friday the 13th at all.) But what it lacks in its iconic villain it more than makes up for with its taut suspense, packing a whirlwind of a punch in its central, whodunit-style narrative and notably gritty kills.