Friday The 13th Movies, Ranked!

Ki Ki Ki, Ma Ma Ma

Piggybacking off the success of John Carpenter’s Halloween in 1978, a glut of horror writers and directors set out to replicate what seemed like a simple formula:  low budget, high body count.

And while the results were mixed (hey, even some of the copycat films that decidedly “didn’t work” were still awfully enjoyable!), there’s no question that Friday The 13th, helmed by Sean Cunningham, Victor Miller, and Tom Savini quickly slashed its own legacy and left an indelible mark on the genre.

In fact, while Michael Myers is universally lauded as the horror icon who stands above all else, there is a compelling argument that, stacked up against each other, the stories of Jason Voorhees and the films that detail them are arguably better overall than the Halloween franchise.

There’s some good, there’s some bad, there’s some outer space (seriously!).   With that in mind, here’s our rankings of every film in the Friday The 13th franchise.

(Side note: how is there literally 12 films in this franchise?!  Seems a crime to not have a thirteenth entry!)

12)Friday The 13th Part 5: A New Beginning

Listen, not only is this a bad Friday The 13th entry, it’s a legitimately bad movie.    There’s not much here worth talking about, and while the studio couldn’t help themselves make a sequel after the supposed “final chapter” was so successful, it’s hard to justify this resurrection.

11)Jason X

There’s going to be people who tell me this should be higher, and they might have a point.  Where does a franchise go when they’ve done virtually everything?  Why, space of course!   The premise is ridiculous, the effects are ridiculous, the characters are ridiculous.  But here’s the thing?  Everybody seems to know that and are in the joke, making this oddly enjoyable.  Plus marks for some excellent kills and set pieces.

10)Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday

This franchise has now twice tried to make someone do the killing on Jason’s behalf, and the results are overwhelmingly negative. And you’ll notice both of those entries are bringing up the proverbial rear in this rankings.   Add to the fact there’s a magical dagger involved, and it’s not exactly a winning formula.  This film feels oddly nostalgic, as it seemed to frequent basic cable on weekend movie showings.  The ending is a great tease (which wasn’t much capitalized on), and Kane Hodder is a great Jason!

9)Jason Takes Manhattan

This entry seems worth it for the marketing artwork alone.   While returning Jason to the waterfront and the campgrounds he was accustomed to is always the winning formula, there was something interesting about seeing him in the everyday life of overpopulated New York City.   Unfortunately the results are mostly forgettable, perhaps because we were promised New York City and instead got him mostly transversing lakes and rivers?!

8)Freddy Vs Jason

After literal years of build up, promises, and stalls, this film was never going to live up to the hype.  How could it?!   However, it’s a mostly fun movie where both the infamous title characters get their time to shine.  There’s some great kills, and the set pieces work.  The effects, however, do not.

7)Friday The 13th Part 7: The New Blood

Call me crazy, but this movie works!   Often described as “Jason Vs Carrie”, the film seems a telekinetic teenager accidentally being Jason back to life, and then try her hardest to kill the seemingly unkillable.   While it’s not exactly in the top tier of Friday The 13th films, it’s interesting enough to earn a rewatch during marathons, and makes great use of the campground setting.

6)Friday The 13th Remake

Listen, I get it.  Platinum Dunes and Michael Bay took all your favourite grimy horror movies and made them too pretty and sanitized.  I don’t necessarily disagree!  But still, the 2009 remake was a worthy entry into the franchise and I had hopes it would rejuvenate the dormant film series.  It didn’t, for various reasons. Still, the movie takes no prisoners, has a compelling enough story, and has great kills.  The opening scene is also top notch!

5)Friday The 13th (1980)

We’re into the top tier of the franchise now, with every film starting now really encapsulating what makes these movies so enjoyable and enduring amongst the fans of the franchise.   The one that started it all, the 1980 film might seem a touch tame by todays standard (and by the standards of future entries, for that matter), but it’s still a taut, self contained horror movie that leaves lots to the imagination and establishes rules for the franchise in a positive way.  Also a highly effective, unforgettable final scene.

4)Friday The 13th Part II

The follow up to the original expands on Jason Voorhees and the beginning of his reign of terror.  Directed by genre mainstay Steve Miner, the sequel offers great kills, excellently timed scares, and perfectly expands on the legacy of the main character and the mythology at large.  Despite not having his signature look quite yet, Jason looks rad here, and the overall aesthetic simply looks and feels like the perfect Halloween movie, all dark and gloomy.

3)Friday The 13th Part III

If you couldn’t tell by the first few minutes of obvious but also pointless set pieces, this film was shot in 3-D.  Moving past that, this is Friday The 13th arguably at its best.   There’s a great cast of characters, like Shelley.  There’s a great batch of kills, like Rick’s entire eye being popped out his socket by merely having his whole head squeezed. And the story actually is cogent and makes sense, which at times in the franchise seems a bit rare.   This is an absolute all time entry and should be fondly looked back upon.  It is absolutely a marathon mainstay, but also works as a standalone.

2)Friday The 13th Part 6: Jason Lives

When your franchise goes on so long it becomes a bit of a trope within itself, there’s only one thing you can do: lean into it, baby!  Jason Lives is often considered the best entry into the franchise.  It’s gory, it’s funny, and it has a fantastic soundtrack and crossover synergy with rocker Alice Cooper.    This is the film Friday fans point to as the reason they love the franchise so deeply.

1)Friday The 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter

Okay, well, addressing the elephant in the room: studio greed couldn’t be helped, and this wasn’t exactly the “final chapter”.  Hell, it’s not even the halfway point.  Still, in my humble opinion, this is the franchise at its pinnacle.   The group of teens is fantastic, the kills are spectacular and graphic, and the final showdown is highly effective.  Sure, you have to suspend belief that a pre-teen Corey Feldman could make Halloween masks that high quality, but overall Part IV lives on as the gold standard of the franchise.