For all horror fans, every Friday the 13th is more than a bad-luck day or a spooky date, it is the perfect occasion for a movie marathon! Whether you are a fan yourself, or unfortunate enough to hang out with one, there is a big chance you’ll end up watching one, if not a few, Friday the 13th films.
Thinking about both you, who have never watched one but would like to be caught up by the time you do, and you, who have watched them so many times it’s hard to pick them apart, here’s a recap of the whole thing. As usual, it will be as short and concise as possible, but don’t forget to check out the individual reviews if you want a more in-depth analysis, they are linked throughout this article!
As per usual, I’ll try to limit myself to the basics so that all you very busy (or very lazy, no shame) people can go watch any Friday the 13th film with all the necessary knowledge from the past instalments.
Without further ado, here’s a recap of the Friday the 13th franchise so far:
Friday the 13th (1980)
- Director: Sean S. Cunningham.
- Producer: Sean S. Cunningham.
- Screenplay by: Victor Miller and Ron Kurz.
- Cinematographer: Barry Abrams.
- Music by: Harry Manfredini.
Summary:
A group of teenage camp counsellors arrive at Camp Crystal Lake to get it ready for it’s re-opening after a tragic accident a few years back. Working during the day and partying during the night, each and every one of them get slaughtered by a mystery killer except for one, Alice (Adrienne King).
Alice is the final girl and the one who will discover that the murderer is Mrs. Voorhees (Betsy Palmer), the mother of the child who died in the accident that took place at the camp a few years before. Her son drowned because she was busy cooking, and the counsellors were having sex, so no one was there to save him.
After a longer than necessary stand-off, Alice cuts off Mrs. Voorhees’ head with a machete and gets on a raft to wait to daylight. The police appear on the scene, and she seems to be safe until Jason Voorhees, the supposedly drowned kid, resurfaces out of nowhere and pulls her down the water.
With no explanation whatsoever, Alice is suddenly safe and sound in a hospital bed, recovering.
Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
- Director: Steve Miner.
- Producer: Steve Miner.
- Screenplay by: Ron Kurz.
- Cinematographer: Peter Stein.
- Music by: Harry Manfredini.
Summary:
Despite miraculously escaping Jason in the first instalment, Alice is murdered in the first scene of this instalment. Then, we are introduced to another group of teenagers who are doing exactly the same things as the previous group, but on a new camp that is right next to the now abandoned Camp Crystal Lake.
They get murdered, but this time by Jason (Warrington Gillette), who has miraculously gone from a scrawny child to a big, strong man in the five years that go by in-between the previous film and this one.
This instalment’s generic final girl is Ginny (Amy Steel), who, during her combat with Jason, discovers that he has an altar of his mother’s things, severed head included. She pretends to be his mother to kill him, but her ruse fails at the last second, lengthening the struggle until the house goes down on them and Ginny inexplicably survives.
Friday the 13th Part III (1982)
- Director: Steve Miner.
- Producer: Frank Mancuso Jr.
- Screenplay by: Martin Kitrosser and Carol Watson.
- Cinematographer: Gerald Feil.
- Music by: Harry Manfredini.
Summary:
A group of friends goes to a cabin in the woods near Crystal Lake. Among random displays of sexism, sexual harassment, bullying and other lovely behaviours, Jason (Richard Brooker) thankfully arrives to slay them all.
Sadly, his head meets an axe blow courtesy of final girl Chris (Dana Kimmell), before he can finish the job. Chris decides that the best course of action is to get on a raft and wait for sunrise, when, oh, surprise! (She said ironically.) She is attacked by a corpse with a knitted jumper on. Jason’s mother, probably, although her head feels too connected to her body to be her.
As a result of her lovely rural escapade, Chris completely loses her mind, and the last we see of Jason is a corpse on the ground with an axe stuck inside his head.
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
- Director: Joseph Zito.
- Producer: Frank Mancuso Jr.
- Screenplay by: Barney Cohen.
- Cinematographer: João Fernandes.
- Music by: Harry Manfredini.
(Joseph Zito, 1984).
Summary:
Jason (Richard Brooker) is taken to the morgue where, surprising no one, he resuscitates and kills a slimy forensic and a nurse. Meanwhile, a group of teenagers rent a house near Crystal Lake. Their neighbours being a family of a mother, her teenage daughter Trish (Kimberly Beck), and her very young son Tommy (Corey Feldman).
The group of friends is slowly decimated by Jason (Ted White), but not before claiming the title of slimiest, most sexist group of the saga yet. At the same time, the siblings meet a random stranger, who turns out to be Sandra’s brother. Who’s Sandra? -you might think. She is one of Jason’s victims from the second film of the franchise. A completely irrelevant and forgettable character that we are somehow meant to remember.
Long story short, everyone dies except for Tommy and Trish. The kid kills Jason in a very violent frenzy. During the last scene, when he hugs his sister in hospital, he seems to have lost it a bit.
Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)
- Director: Danny Steinmann.
- Producer: Timothy Silver.
- Screenplay by: Martin Kitrosser, David Cohen and Danny Steinmann.
- Cinematographer: Stephen L. Posey.
- Music by: Harry Manfredini.
(Danny Steinmann, 1985).
Summary:
This instalment confirms that Tommy did, in fact, go insane. He is transported to a house for disturbed kids (even though he is being played by John Shepherd and his very recessive hairline, making him look more like the kid’s parent rather than their mate).
In said house, an obese kid tries to make friends with another guy who has anger issues and, as one might expect from the 80s frequently erroneous representation of mental health, he kills the fat boy. This is the first of many murders perpetrated by none other than an EMS, who was secretly the father of the fat kid.
Everyone is suspicious of Tommy until they see him try to fight fake Jason. In a very anticlimactic and borderline embarrassing face off, fake Jason dies when he lands into some spikes after falling off a barn.
Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI (1986)
- Director: Tom McLoughlin.
- Producer: Don Behrns.
- Screenplay by: Tom McLoughlin.
- Cinematographer: Jon Kranhouse.
- Music by: Harry Manfredini.
Summary:
Tommy (Thom Mathews) is convinced that Jason (C. J. Graham) is still alive, so he unburies him. In a Frankensteinian twist of events, a lighting bolt falls next to Jason’s grave and some metal pieces conduct the electricity and revive him.
Jason begins a killing spree on a nearby summer camp, while the most incompetent sheriff ever blames Tommy for the deaths. The sheriff’s daughter and Tommy team up to save the camp, managing to keep the children and themselves alive.
Tommy sets up a trap for Jason in which he plans to drown him (properly this time). The plan goes awry and Tommy almost dies, but eventually manages to make it to the surface and survive despite the sheriff’s daughter’s horrible CPI.
How clever is it to try and drown someone whose first appearance in the saga is by coming out of the water out of nowhere? Considering the length of the franchise, not very.
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
- Director: John Carl Buechler.
- Producer: Iain Paterson.
- Screenplay by: Daryl Haney and Manuel Fidello.
- Cinematographer: Paul Elliott.
- Music by: Harry Manfredini and Fred Mollin.
Summary:
Tina (Jennifer Banko) kills her father after he abuses her mother. Because she’s just a child, she doesn’t control her telekinetic powers and provokes his death on a moment of rage. Years later, Tina (Lar Park-Lincoln) returns as a teen because her doctor from the mental hospital wants to test her and see if she gets better. Of course, the slimy doctor turns out to be working for his own benefit. Luckily, Jason is there to kill everyone.
Tina breaks him free from Tommy’s trap in the lake by accident with her powers. Naturally, he goes on a killing spree, unaliving Tina’s mother, her doctor, and all her neighbours except for Tina’s love interest, who is conveniently left for last along with Tina, so he survives.
Tina runs away from Jason and both end up on pier of the lake. Just when Jason is about to attack Tina, her father jumps out of the water (apparently no one bothered to fish his corpse out of there for the funeral), and drags Jason back down to the bottom of the lake with him.
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
- Director: Rob Hedden.
- Producer: Randolph Cheveldave.
- Screenplay by: Rob Hedden.
- Cinematographer: Bryan England.
- Music by: Fred Mollin.
Summary:
A couple of horny teenagers with a boat resurrects Jason (Kane Hodder) accidentally by electrocuting him, obviously prompting their immediate deaths. After this riveting intro, we are introduced to a student cruise. The teens are going to New York on the boat of one of the kids parents. To watch out for them, they have two…teachers? The most passive woman in the world and a man obsessed with being a d*ck to the students as much as possible.
Jason boards the ship and starts killing people. Only five of them make it to New York in an emergency raft: the two teachers, the final girl, her love interest, and a random jock. Needless to say, Jason swims there with the sole purpose of killing them.
Little after arriving to the city, two thugs rob the survivors and kidnap the only young girl (you guessed it, the final girl) with the intention of drugging and raping her. It’s two 30-kg, clueless guys against: the two adults that have been tasked to protect the students (one of them the uncle of the girl), an undefeated boxer, the final girl, and her soulmate. Guess who tries to stop them and help her? You guessed it! Nobody.
Well, not nobody. Jason is actually decent enough to save the girl from the scumbags. Then he proceeds to kill the survivors of the ship one by one, but we all have our flaws, amirite?
After chasing the last two survivors (final girl and love interest) around New York without bothering to kill anyone else, Jason finally meets his end by drowning in an avalanche of goo that takes place in the sewers.
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)
- Director: Adam Marcus.
- Producer: Sean S. Cunningham.
- Screenplay by: Dean Lorey and Jay Hughely.
- Cinematographer: Bill Dill.
- Music by: Harry Manfredini.
Summary:
Jason (Kane Hodder) falls into a trap and gets obliterated by an armed force. However, his putrid heart gets into the forensic assigned to the case, possessing him. The ocuppied body then proceeds to make his way back to Crystal Lake in search for Jason’s sister. You heard right, he had a sister all along, one that doesn’t feel the need to kill people just because her mother had that hobby.
Jason’s sister Diana Kimble (Erin Gray) is killed before she can warn her daughter about Jason. As a stereotypically mysterious but knowledgeable black man explains, Jason needs to posses a Vorhees to resurerct, and only a Vorhees can kill him.
After what seems like years of pointless denial, Diana’s daughter finally faces Jason and kills him with a special knife that only transforms into a Jason-killing machine if she wields it. Some hands spring from the ground and grab Jason, presumably dragging him to hell.
Jason X (2002)
- Director: James Isaac.
- Producer: Noel Cunningham.
- Screenplay by: Todd Farmer.
- Cinematographer: Derick V. Underschultz.
- Music by: Harry Manfredini.
Summary:
After trying to execute him in many different ways, around 2008, Jason (Kane Hodder) is cryogenically frozen as a way to contain him. In 2455, a space ship find the ship containing both Jason and the scientist that sacrificed herself to stop him, Rowan (Lexa Doig). With the advanced technology of their time, they manage to revive Rowan and unfreeze a dead-looking Jason.
As you might have imagined, Jason is very much alive and begins a carnage. The security team try to stop him with zero success, but an engineer of the crew upgrades his AI bot-woman to defeat the killer and manages to do so. Sadly, the same technology that has been healing the crew and that brought Rowan to life, also heals Jason, turning him into a Terminator-looking version of himself.
The crew communicate with another ship that can rescue them, but Jason is hot on their trail, managing to kill a few scientists before the chief of security in an Iron-Man-looking suit grabs him and destroys him by flying towards the atmosphere of Earth 2, where they fall in the form of a meteor. Jason’s metal mask conveniently falls inside a lake that looks very much like a version of Crystal Lake, horny teenagers included.
Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
- Director: Ronny Yu.
- Producer: Sean S. Cunningham.
- Screenplay by: Damian Shannon and Mark Swift.
- Cinematographer: Fred Murphy.
- Music by: Graeme Revell.
Summary:
Jason (Ken Kirzinger) meets Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) in hell. Debilitated by oblivion, he uses what little power he has left to bring Jason back to life and terrorise Springwood again so they will remember him. His plan begins to collapse as he realises that Jason is in his own killing spree and won’t share the victims. However, he has killed enough people to revive the Freddy flame.
Jason’s selfishness prompts a face-off with Freddy, who, despite having accomplished his goal of being rememebered, feels betrayed by Jason’s actions.
A group of forgettable teenagers from a previous Nightmare on Elm Street instalment tries to survive them and figure out how to destroy both of them. Following through the most unconvincing plan to get rid of them to date, they miraculously manage to get them to kill each other, leaving the young couple alive.
Jason appears to then coming out of an ethereal-looking lake with Freddy’s head in his hand. A head that looks at camera and winks right before the feature is over.
Friday the 13th (2009)
- Director: Marcus Nispel.
- Producer: Michael Bay, Sean S. Cunningham, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller.
- Screenplay by: Damian Shannon and Mark Swift.
- Cinematographer: Daniel Pearl.
- Music by: Steve Jablonsky.
Summary:
After a modern recreation of the first final girl’s showdown with the original killer Mrs Vorhees, the film gives way to a group of teenagers in the camping in the forest. Of course, near Crystal Lake. They are all killed by Jason, or at least that’s what it looks like at first.
A few years later, another group of unsuspecting… teenagers? Goes near camp Crystal Lake to party. This time, at the rich friend’s house. Parallel to their story, a nice kid who doesn’t indulge in vices (very relevant characteristic for this franchise) is looking for his missing sister. The rich boy’s girlfriend is smitten by the guy’s brooding nature and broad shoulders, so she accompanies him in his search. They find Jason and promptly run back to the house to alert the others.
It is too late for the only character worth damn to survive, but they do give a fighting chance to the others. An opportunity that, obviously is completely wasted, as the couple of nice kids are the only to survive.
While they are running away, the boy finds his sister, the sole survivor of the first group of teens, and they manage to defeat Jason. The siblings seem to be the only ones that have managed to make it out alive, but, naturally, Jason emerges from the lake on last time for a final scare in which he is frozen right before grabbing the girl.
So that’s it so far!
Did you find this recap of the Friday the 13th franchise helpful? Hopefully yes! Do you need any clarification? Honestly, I wouldn’t blame you, there are so many random moments in this franchise it’s super easy to get lost in it. But that’s what I’m here for!
Would you like a recap of any other horror franchise? Let me know your opinions in the comments below or in my contact page!
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