Friday the 13th – Three Decades of Horror (1980-2009)

Jason Voorhees may not have been the star of the very first Friday the 13th movie but he has since become the iconic flagship of one of the most popular horror franchises in history and with countless campers meeting their fate at the end of his machete, or whatever other various implements he finds on hand, one must ponder such questions as “What goes into making a franchise legacy?”

When Universal Pictures released Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho back in 1960 they had no idea that they were witnessing the birth of a new genre, a subset of horror where various filmmakers would take the structure of Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” plotline and then create worlds of blood and mayhem. Of course, one of the most well-known of these is the Friday the 13th franchise which plopped viewers into the idyllic world of Camp Crystal Lake and then proceeded to shock them with gruesome kill after gruesome kill, and sure, the first Friday the 13th movie was a blatant attempt to cash in on the success of  John Carpenter’s Halloween but with the birth of Jason Voorhees it quickly became its own identity, and now he sits alongside such other horror icons as Michael Myers and Freddy Krueger.

Below you will find my collection of reviews for all of the Friday the 13th movies, click on the link or posters below to take a journey back to Camp Blood and its most popular resident, Jason Voorhees.

Friday the 13th (1980)

In this first entry in the series, a group of camp counsellors discover that the history of Camp Crystal Lake was definitely something someone should have been mentioned in the job posting.

Friday the 13th Pt 2 (1981)

For the first sequel, a new group of counsellors at a camp located across the lake from the infamous site of Camp Blood find themselves stalked by an unknown assailant…psst, don’t tell anyone, but it’s Jason Voorhees.

Friday the 13th Part III 3D (1982)

With the third entry, Jason continues his killing spree in and around Crystal Lake as a new group of victims wander into his territory only now he brings a dimension in horror.

Friday the 13th The Final Chapter (1984)

In this decidedly non-final chapter, Camp Crystal Lake’s most infamous resident refuses to stay dead and with machete in hand he sets his sites on reducing the population a tad more.

Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985)

The franchise attempts a fresh start with an adult Tommy Jarvis dealing with his haunted past as more brutal killings occur after he is transferred to a halfway house for psychiatric patients.

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

Resident idiot Tommy Jarvis inadvertently brings Jason back to life and soon the nearby citizens are dropping like flies as he closes in on a newly opened camp.

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

The question of “What would happen if Jason fought Carrie? is answered when a telekinetic teenager accidentally releases Jason from his watery grave and soon the residents of Crystal Lake are running for their lives.

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

Jason tags along on a boat ride to New York City with a bunch of graduating students and their dog, but at no point does he actually take Manhattan.

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)

Jason Voorhees is blown to smithereens by a SWAT team but that only makes things worse as his true nature is finally revealed.  It should be noted for a film that titles itself “Jason Goes to Hell” we don’t spend much time there.

Jason X (2001)

After a 400-year long nap, Jason Voorhees finds himself on a spaceship destined for Earth 2 and along the way he’ll make lots of new friends as well as one of his largest body counts to date.

Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

In this ultimate grudge match, the infamous Freddy Krueger uses Jason Voorhees to instill fear in the teenagers of Springwood, but things go a little awry when Jason goes off-script.

Friday the 13th (2009)

A faster and leaner Jason Voorhees gives another group of campers a hard time in this reboot of the Friday the 13th franchise.

Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers and Freddy Krueger were the new Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolfman of their day, designed to scare the crap out of kids in the 80s, yet it is the Friday the 13th movies that will always have a special place in my heart as Camp Crystal Lake is easily one of the best locations for horror- creepy woods and a masked killer go hand in hand with terror – and it’s just shame that it stopped at twelve films and we never got Friday the 13th Pt 13.