Happy Friday the 13th to all who celebrate by watching 1 or more installments from that franchise where Jason & his mom do what slashers do. Today we feature a roundup of the Friday the 13ths JJ remembers seeing. Published March 13, 2026.

Friday the 13ths We Have Seen

On average, there is a Friday the 13th once every 212.35 days. Friday the 13ths occurs [sic] with an average frequency of 1.7218 per year or about 3477 since the year 1 CE.

—Wikipedia

There are plenty of Friday the 13ths, so many we could not possibly have seen them all. Nor can we distinguish any given scene from a particular Friday the 13th unless the final girl from that film is in it, though in that case we might not know which Friday the 13th it is—we’d only know it’s the one with that final girl in it (or one of the two Adrienne King is in). There are many many Friday the 13ths and there may be more of them to come. Unless and until AI starts generating them, there will always be more Friday the 13ths than Friday the 13ths. So we will have to watch them all again some day.

We have been logging every film we watch for the past few years, and writing at least a few words about each film. Sometimes it’s a full review, sometimes we go to the Mahoning Drive-In and see like six films over a weekend and fall asleep during at least two of them, so we don’t have a lot to say about some of those. For example, in August 2025 we went to Camp Blood Weekend, where they played nearly endless Friday the 13th films on 35mm. Pretty cool right? Except the crowd was not always as friendly as usual. Could be because it’s a popular weekend even for people who don’t give a shit about the Mahoning Drive-In community. Could also be the ill wind passing through America circa 2025, or maybe we were just camped next to some dicks that night. 

Anyway, here are some remixed reviews we’ve written over the years. We still haven’t watched Jason X aka Jason Goes to Space but Gina watched it recently and says it sucks, though her description makes it sound kind of awesome. Happy Friday the 13th to all who celebrate.

Friday the 13th (1980)

Never gets old, especially on 35mm at the Mighty Mahoning Drive-In's Camp Blood Weekend (though the vibes on the lot were a little shitty on this night). We like to think about the alternative reality in which Pamela Voorhees is always the killer. In this dumb reality Jason comes back from all sorts of dismemberings and unpersonings, so it would be a snap to give Pam back her head so she could return to her passion project.

Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

On 35mm at the Mighty Mahoning Drive-In for Camp Blood X! So many delightful nooks in this film, which is our favorite in the series. And when we have to say an ugly goodbye to a character, we know we'll see them next time around. Doooooomed!

Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982)

On 35mm at the Mighty Mahoning Drive-In for Camp Blood X! Jason gets his mask! Tbh we miss the bag tho.

Friday the 13th
The Final Chapter (1984)

If the first sign of shark jumping is Part 3D, the second is when the numbering chaos starts. For a while they hide the number, then it switches to roman numerals. Fuck! Saw the first few minutes late one night at Camp Blood Weekend, jogging in place to stay awake because we so fondly remember this one. Would have loved to stick around to watch Corey Feldman go Travis Bickle on Jason IV, but alas the hour was advanced, the temp sunk, and the tent beckoned.

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

On 35mm at the Mighty Mahoning Drive-In for Camp Blood X! While it's true that after Part 3 things get a little fuzzy, this one stands out and is tons of fun. Feels both forward and backward looking. Like, it still has the sheen (or haze) of the early entries but is really starting to fuck with the formula and defy expectations. As with Halloween III, it's funny that people get all HE'S NOT EVEN IN IT when he's totally in it, just not the way you expect. You know which movie Jason’s not really in? The first one. Anyway if you want the same movie you already watched, you know what to do!

Jason Lives
Friday the 13th Part VI (1986)

On 35mm at the Mighty Mahoning Drive-In for Camp Blood X! This was the second feature of the night and the fourth we’d watched over a couple days, and the tent was really calling to us, so we ducked out right after Jason iced those kids in the motorhome then stunted over the wreck. Iconic behavior. Will always be bummed though that Tommy didn't end up taking the mask and continuing the rampage as Diet Jason.

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

In Jason vs Carrie, we get a new typographical variation on the poster, swapping enjambed subtitles for an m-dash caesura for fuck’s sake.

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

Jaw-droppingly bad script, acting, directing, but Jason has a sympathetic moment where he stops a sexual assault. Kane Hodder gets a lot of love for the way he carries himself as Jason, but this performance feels as wooden and unmotivated as all the other acting here. We’re used to that from teenagers who are in the film to look good and get killed, but not from the monster. As for Manhattan, Jason can have it.

Jason Goes to Hell
The Final Friday (1993)

We’ve seen many Friday the 13ths but hadn’t seen this one, which stands out among them even as it references several other slasher-splatters. Explicit callouts to Evil Dead (Necromonicon) and Nightmare on Elm Street (Freddy glove) are mixed in with less direct references to films like Hellraiser (skinless down dog) and The Thing (skittering vascular monster, serial parasitism) and some general Blood Diner flavor—all good fun without being too much. The film is gleefully trying everything, so why not get intertextual? Artful shark jumping that stays sharp.

Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

Is that Ginger? It is Ginger! Freddy is fucked! The delight of discovering Katharine Isabelle is in this movie, and the relief of a fun finale to a double feature with the truly horrible piece of crap Jason Takes Manhattan, was enough to salvage Friday the 13th, 2023, even if it would have been a million times better with a teenage werewolf in the mix. Ginger and Jason could team up against Freddy and the stoner caterpillar kid who had the best line in the movie: Dude, that goalie was pissed about something!

V out of 5 sacs of blood.

—J †Johnson