If you’re in need of the Friday the 13th horror movies, we have you covered right here.
When it comes to horror movies, there are plenty of classic horror icons that people tend to think of first. For some, it's Michael Myers from the Halloween franchise. For others, it’s Ghostface from the Scream series. For someone like me, who has watched plenty of the best horror movies of all time, I think of several icons, and the one we’re talking about today is Jason.
While the character as we know of today with the hockey mask has only been around since the third movie, the legend of Jason has existed since the first film and continued to become even bigger as time went on. If you’re looking for how to watch his iconic movies, here is what you need to know.
Friday The 13th (1980)
Cast: Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Harry Crosby, Laurie Bartram, Mark Nelson
Director: Sean S. Cunningham
Release Date: May 9, 1980
Where To Stream/Rent: Paramount Plus/ Amazon.
What Friday the 13th Is About: In this legendary slasher film from 1980, a group of summer camp counselors are hunted down one by one by a killer who is unknown, as they try to reopen a camp that experienced a death long ago.
Friday The 13th Part 2 (1981)
Cast: Adrienne King, Amy Steel, John Furey
Director: Steve Miner
Release Date: May 1, 1981
Where To Stream/Rent: Paramount Plus/Amazon
What Friday the 13th Part II Is About: The story is the same as the first movie, where an unknown killer is walking around murdering counselors at Camp Crystal Lake, taking them out in the most gruesome ways possible. Arguably, it’s one of the better films in the franchise.
Friday The 13th Part III (1982)
Cast: Dana Kimmell, Paul Kratka, Richard Brooker
Director: Steve Miner
Release Date: August 13, 1982
Where To Stream/Rent: Paramount Plus/Amazon
What Friday the 13th Part III Is About: The third film in the franchise, Friday the 13th Part III, came out a year after the previous one and is set a little away from the camp this time around. Jason, who has been residing in an old house to heal himself after the events of the last film, begins another killing spree as he stalks a teenage girl and her friends when they arrive at the house.
Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
Cast: Kimberly Beck, Peter Barton, Crispin Glover
Director: Joseph Zito
Release Date: April 13, 1984
Where To Rent: Amazon
What Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter Is About: The fourth film in the Friday the 13th franchise released in 1984, and follows the events of the last film, where Jason was thought to be dead, but he escapes where he was being held and goes back to Camp Crystal Lake. The film has has a lot of great kills
Friday The 13th: A New Beginning (1985)
Cast: Melanie Kinnaman, John Shepherd, Shaver Ross, Richard Young, Marco St. John
Director: Danny Steinmann
Release Date: March 22, 1985
Where To Rent: Amazon
What Friday the 13th: A New Beginning Is About: Friday the 13th: A New Beginning mainly follows Tommy Jarvis as he is haunted by his past with Jason, but now has to survive again when a new killer takes on the hockey mask.
Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
Cast: Thom Mathews, Jennifer Cooke, David Kagen, Renee Jones, Kerry Noonan, Darcy DeMoss
Director: Tom McLoughlin
Release Date: August 1, 1986
Where To Rent: Amazon
What Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives Is About: Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives sees Tommy try to face Jason again. It’s time we go back to Camp Crystal Lake. The film features a Jason that has truly turned into a paranormal being after being brought back from the dead; and he's more powerful than ever.
Friday The 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
Cast: Lar Park Lincoln, Kevin Blair, Susan Blu, Terry Kiser, Susan Jennifer Sullivan, Elizabeth Kaitan
Director: John Carl Buechler
Release Date: May 13, 1988
Where To Rent: Amazon
What Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood Is About: The seventh film in the Friday the 13th franchise is Part VII: The New Blood, where we take a break from Tommy and instead follow a teenage girl who has strange powers and is psychokinetic. Due to this, she unknowingly releases Jason, and you know what that means - more killing.
Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
Cast: Jensen Daggett, Scott Reeves, Barbara Bingham, Peter Mark Richman, Martin Cummins, Gordon Currie, Alex Diakun
Director: Rob Hedden
Release Date: July 28, 1989
Where To Stream/Rent: Amazon
What Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan Is About: The Big Apple wasn't ready for a killer like Jason. In Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, Jason escapes from Camp Crystal Lake and ends up going to one of the busiest cities in the world, bringing his killing spree to city folk. It’s not the best movie to take place in NYC, but it’s part of the binge – however, here are some actually good NYC-based movies you can check out after.
Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday (1993)
Cast: John D. LeMay, Kari Keegan, Erin Gray, Allison Smith, Steven Culp, Steven Williams
Director: Adam Marcus
Release Date: August 13, 1993
Where To Rent: Amazon
What Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday Is About: Is this the end of Jason? That’s what Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday was originally intended to be. This film, released in 1993, thirteen years after the original, follows the story of Jason now using his powers to possess people to kill others, and trying to use this so he can bring himself back to life through someone of his bloodline.
Jason X (2002)
Cast: Kane Hodder, Lexa Doig, Lisa Ryder, Chuck Campbell, Melyssa Ade, Peter Mensah
Director: Jim Isaac
Release Date: April 26, 2002
Where To Rent: Amazon
What Jason X Is About: It took nearly ten years for another Jason film to come out, and when it did, it was something, that’s for sure. Jason X takes Jason where you would never expect him to be – the future, as he'd been frozen for centuries until he was woken up, and then goes on another killing spree.
Freddy Vs. Jason (2003)
Cast: Monica Keena, Kelly Rowland, Jason Ritter, Chris Marquette, Lochlyn Munro, Robert Englund
Director: Ronny Yu
Release Date: August 15, 2003
Where To Rent: Amazon
What Freddy vs. Jason Is About: Did you ever wonder what would happen if you combined two of the most legendary horror figures into one movie and put them in a fight? That’s what Freddy vs. Jason did, taking Jason and Freddy Kreuger from the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and having Freddy trick Jason into helping him live again.
Friday The 13th (2009)
Cast: Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker, Aaron Yoo, Amanda Righetti, Travis Van Winkle, Derek Mears
Director: Marcus Nispel
Release Date: February 13, 2009
Where To Stream/Rent: Max/Amazon
What Friday the 13th Is About: Last but not least, we have the intended reboot of the series in 2009, Friday the 13th, directed by Marcus Nispel, who also brought back the Texas Chainsaw Massacre film franchise in 2003. The film follows a man as he travels to Camp Crystal Lake to search for his missing sister, who was taken by Jason.
It’s unknown if there’s going to be another possible reboot of the Friday the 13th franchise after the successful sequels of both Halloween and Scream in the late 2010s/early 2020s, but I feel it won’t be long before we see Jason again. But for now, have fun watching the old films.
