Summary

  • Friday the 13th survivors prove that Jason Voorhees isn't invincible, despite his high body count and menacing presence. The Final Girls and other survivors find ways to outsmart him and escape his clutches.
  • Jason's ability to pop up with stabbing implements in hand without warning, and his possible teleportation abilities as a zombie, make him an extremely sneaky killer. Survivors must always be on guard, as he can strike at any moment.
  • Each Friday the 13th film features at least one survivor, who becomes a living testament to the Jason legend. While some characters may initially survive, they may meet their demise in later films, no longer counting as true survivors.

Jason Voorhees racked up an enormous body count over the course of his long cinematic career, but there were Friday the 13th survivors that show he isn't as powerful as he might think. When it comes to killing, Jason is definitely in the upper echelons of the horror genre, a truly formidable practitioner of the murdering arts. Spurred on by his mother's death via decapitation, Jason is happy to make use of any conceivable object that might happen to be around when he encounters prey, most famously wielding a machete. Jason takes his job seriously, and no one who comes near Camp Crystal Lake is ever really safe.

Despite being a hulking beast, Jason is extremely sneaky, often popping up with stabbing implements in hand with absolutely no warning. This only got more pronounced after he was resurrected as a zombie, leading to situations where the only realistic explanation is that Jason can teleport. Still, not everyone falls to Jason's assault. In almost every Friday the 13th entry, at least one character survives, living to pass along the Jason legend. Of course, if a character survived one film but came back to die in the next, they no longer count as Friday the 13th survivors, like Alice Hardy (Adrienne King) or Crazy Ralph (Walt Gorney).

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Ginny Field

Friday The 13th Part 2

Ginny Field in Friday The 13th

The first Friday the 13th movie didn't include Jason Voorhees. That means the first Final Girl to survive an actual Jason attack is Ginny Field in Friday the 13th Part 2. She not only survived Jason's attack, but she is one of the best Final Girls in the entire franchise. She is strong, independent, and doesn't need any guy to save her. When Jason starts killing, she and her boyfriend Paul are the last two alive at the campgrounds, and Jason finally gets his hands on her. She gets in one more great moment, where she gets Jason to kneel before her by pretending to be his mother and then slices him with a machete.

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Paul Holt

Friday The 13th Part 2

Paul Holt from Friday the 13th Pt 2.

The fate of Paul Holt remains ambiguous in the Friday the 13th series. He was never shown at the end, and it could be assumed that Jason killed him off-screen. However, with most of the movies in the franchise, all of Jason's kills are on-screen, so the fact no one saw Paul die means he likely lived. The movie saw Paul and Ginny running for safety, but Jason showed up and grabbed her. In the book, Crystal Lake Memories, screenwriter Ron Kurz said he wanted to imply Paul died off-screen, but since it was never shown or revealed in the movie, his death never actually happened.

Ted Bowen

Friday The 13th Part 2

Ted leaning against a tree in Friday the 13th Pt 2.

Sometimes, a person is just lucky. In the case of Ted Bowen from Friday the 13th Part 2, he was one of the unlikely survivors of Jason's rampage. Ted was mostly the comic relief from the movie, but he never met the end of an axe, knife, or any other weapon Jason was killing with. That is because Ted was able to leave before the massacre started. Paul, Ted, and Ginny go to a bar before the kids arrive the next day, and Ted chooses to stay there. Ginny and Paul go back and end up fighting Jason, while Ted is safe and sound at the bar having the time of his life.

Chris Higgins

Friday The 13th Part 3

Chris Higgins in Friday the 13th.

Friday the 13th Part 3's sole survivor is Chris Higgins (Dana Kimmell), who fans actually would've seen get decapitated in the film's originally shot ending, according to the book, Crystal Lake Memories. However, Chris not only was a Friday the 13th survivor, but she survived Jason's attacks two different times - the only person to do so. She survived him as a teenager and then returned to Crystal Lake two years later to confront her fears. When he attacked her as a teen, she was able to escape and run away. The second time, she actually threw an axe at Jason, blasting him in the head, and becoming the Final Girl here.

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Tommy Jarvis

Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter & Friday The 13th: Jason Lives

Corey Feldman's Tommy Jarvis standing and staring in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

Tommy Jarvis is the only person to survive two different movies against Jason Voorhees. In the first movie, Tommy was a young boy played by Corey Feldman. Jason returned from the last movie and started killing again, with only Tommy and his sister Trish as the last two survivors. While he was only a child, Tommy delivered a killing blow to Jason and then started hacking at him over and over to make sure he was dead. Tommy was back in Jason Lives as an adult and went to dig up Jason and cremate him. However, a lightning strike brought Jason back from the dead. Tommy was able to send Jason to the bottom of Crystal Lake to survive again.

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Trish Jarvis

Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter

Trish Jarvis looks at a fallen Jason Voorhees.

Tommy Jarvis wasn't alone in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter as a survivor. Jason was killing everyone here and his last two targets were Trish and her younger brother Tommy. However, both of them lived as Tommy was able to kill Jason before he could hurt him or his sister. While Tommy was back in the next two movies (the fourth was a copycat killer and not Jason), this was Trish's only appearance, and she didn't have to deal with Jason again.

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Megan Garris

Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives

Megan Garris aims a gun at Jason Voorhees.

Tommy's love interest Megan Garris (Jennifer Cooke) also avoids Jason's wrath. While Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives was the last part of the Tommy Jarvis trilogy, the real Final Girl here was Megan Garris, who gave Jason all he could handle. With Tommy bringing Jason back from the dead, albeit accidentally, it puts him and Megan in danger. While Tommy sends Jason to the bottom of Crystal Lake, he almost drowns, and it is Megan who saves him. When Jason tries one last attack, Megan uses the boat propeller to end that threat. She was one of the most proactive Final Girls in the franchise.

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Tina Shepard

Friday The 13th Part 7: The New Blood

Tina Shepard looking on in Friday the 13th: The New Blood.

Psychic teenager Tina (Lar Park Lincoln) and her love interest Nick (Kevin Blair) are the only survivors of Friday the 13th Part 7: The New Blood. This movie did something no other movie in the franchise had attempted to this point. It added a supernatural Final Girl to battle the now-supernatural Jason Voorhees. By this time, Jason was mostly a zombie while Tina Shepard had telekinetic powers. While these powers accidentally freed Jason from his lake grave, they also helped her fight him when he attacked. She tore off his jockey mask, launched nails into his face and chest, lit him on fire, and sent him into an explosion.

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Nick Rogers

Friday The 13th Part 7: The New Blood

Nick Rogers in Friday the 13th.

One thing that Friday the 13th does differently from other movies is having Final Girls often saves the men. Megan saved Tommy Jarvis and in The New Blood, Tina Shepard saved her boyfriend Nick Rogers. At the end of this movie, Jason has knocked out Nick, but before he can kill him, Tina goes on the attack. She saves her boyfriend and the two are loaded into an ambulance together and taken away from the massacre, with two Friday the 13th survivors in this movie.

Rennie Wickham

Friday The 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan

Jason Voorhees attacks Rennie in Friday the 13th.

While Friday the 13th shook things up in Jason Takes Manhattan by moving things from Crystal Lake to New York City, Rennie Wickham had Crystal Lake connections. She almost drowned there when she was 13. She was only one of two survivors when Jason started stalking all the kids on a trip with their graduating class. Once again, it was the Final Girl who fought and beat Jason. In this case, Rennie lured Jason into the New York sewers and threw a vat of toxic waste into his face, melting his skin off the bones and then escaping as Jason was swept away in a sea of toxic waste.

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Sean Robertson

Friday The 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan

Sean and Rennie looking surprised in Friday the 13th.

Much like Nick in the last movie, Sean Robertson was the boyfriend of the Final Girl, and was saved from Jason by his girlfriend in Friday the 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan. When Sean and Rennie ran into the sewers, they learned that toxic waste was flushed through the sewers every night. They then got Jason to follow them in there. However, Jason knocked out Sean. However, before he could kill him, Rennie got his attention and attacked Jason with the toxic waste, while getting Sean out alive. Their dog Toby lives too.

Jessica Kimble & Stephanie Kimble

Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday

Jessica Kimble attacking Jason Voorhees.

Jessica Kimble was the Final Girl in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. This movie made things personal, as Jessica was actually Jason Voorhees' niece. She was also a young mother with a baby named Stephanie. Based on the Friday the 13th lore, since they were the only living relatives of Jason, they were the only ones who could end his reign of terror forever. In this movie, Jason is able to possess others and kills Jessica's mother before targeting his niece. As the only person who can kill Jason, she finally ends things when she stabs him in the chest and releases his soul to Hell.

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Steven Freeman

Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday

Steven Freeman punches Jason Voorhees.

Steven Freeman is Jessica's ex-boyfriend and for much of the movie, Jessica believes he is the killer. However, after the Jason-possessed Robert-Jason kills the police officers protecting Stephanie, she realizes Steven is telling the truth, and they have to fight Jason together. Steven is little help in the end, and he leaves it up to Jessica to stop Jason before the two of them leave together with their baby.

Creighton Duke (?)

Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday

Creighton Duke with a glass in Friday the 13th.

Creighton Duke showed up almost like a deus-ex-machina in Jason Goes to Hell to give Jessica the clues on how to stop Jason Voorhees and kill him once and for all. While little was revealed about Creighton, he was a bounty hunter obsessed with killing Jason. Creighton also had a tragic backstory that was left out of Jason Goes to Hell. As a child, Jason killed Creighton's girlfriend, so he was out for revenge. It looked like Jason killed Creighton in the movie, but director Adam Marcus said that Duke survived the attack and was one of the rare Friday the 13th survivors who weren't a Final Girl.

Rowan LaFontaine

Jason X

Rowan LaFontaine in Jason X.

Rowan LaFontaine was the Final Girl in Jason X. This was the movie that sent Jason into space and had him start killing people onboard a spacecraft. It also included one of the funniest scenes in the franchise with Jason on a holodeck. As for Rowan, she was a scientist who had to find a way to stop Jason when all methods of trying to kill him failed. She decided to cryogenically freeze Jason. Both ended up frozen and then were unfrozen 445 years later, and she still couldn't kill him, only escaping as Jason ended up in space and drifting into the burning atmosphere.

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Tsunaron

Jason X

Tsunaron in Jason X.

Tsunaron is another survivor from Jason X and Voorhees's trip into space. He was a student aboard the ship that Jason ended up on after they found him frozen. body. He is also the man who helped create one of the best characters in the movie, the android Kay-Em 14, who got to fight Jason. To his credit, Tsunaron risks his life more than once to help Kay-Em 14, and he is one of the few survivors after Jason is blasted into space.

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Kay-Em 14

Jason X

Kay-Em 14 ready to fight Jason.

Kay-Em 14 is an android who is on the ship that Jason ends up on in Jason X. She is also the only person in the history of the franchise who is able to go blow for blow with Jason in a fight, and she completely decimates Voorhees. She actually beats Jason pretty easily when she blows his torso apart and then blows his head off. However, thanks to nanobots on the ship, Jason ends up somehow reconstructed, and he chops Kay-Em 14's head off before going after the humans. However, as an android, she does not die and Tsunaron is able to rescue her and escape before the ship explodes.

Lori Campbell

Freddy vs. Jason

Lori Campbell fighting in Freddy vs Jason.

Freddy vs. Jason was always meant to be a battle between two of slasher horror's most iconic killers. However, the actual story had Freddy using Jason to kill kids, so he could return, all before the two killers fought each other. This left room for a Final Girl, and that was Lori Campbell. When Jason starts killing people on Elm Street, Lori and her friends have to figure out what is going on to survive, actually unleashing Freddy in the process. She puts everyone in danger by bringing out Freddy, but her plan works, and she is able to blow up Freddy, showing she deserves to live in this movie.

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Will Rollins

Freddy vs. Jason

Will Rollins in Freddy vs Jason.

In Freddy vs Jason, Will Rollins was a patient at Westin Hills, and he used to date Lori Campbell. He learns about the deaths at Lori's house and escapes the hospital to try to save her. He then accompanies Lori and other friends to Camp Crystal Lake, trying to lure Jason there to fight Freddy. Will and Lori are the only survivors, and while he helped blow up the dock while they were fighting, he still stood by and watched as Lori saved the day by stopping them both.

Clay Miller

Friday The 13th (2009)

Jason Voorhees attacks Clay Miller in Friday the 13th.

When Friday the 13th rebooted in 2009, the series brought back Jason Voorhees, and his main opposition was Clay Miller, played by Jared Padalecki (Supernatural). When the movie starts, Clay's sister Whitney has disappeared, and he sets out to find out what happened to her. This leads him to Camp Crystal Lake and Jason. However, much like earlier movies, when Clay found his sister, she needed no help in dispatching Jason with a machete, and the two of them left together. While Whitney seemingly killed Jason, he showed up after the battle and Jason dragged her to the bottom of Crystal Lake, leaving Clay the only survivor.

  • Friday the 13th Movie Poster
    Friday the 13th
    Release Date:
    1980-05-09
    Budget:
    $550,000
    Cast:
    Peter Brouwer, Adrienne King, Betsy Palmer, Jeannine Taylor, Kevin Bacon, Robbi Morgan, Harry Crosby
    Director:
    Sean S. Cunningham
    Genres:
    Horror, Mystery, Thriller
    Rating:
    R
    Runtime:
    95 minutes
    Writers:
    Victor Miller
    Story By:
    Distributor(s):
    Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros.
    Sequel(s):
    Friday the 13th Part 2, Friday the 13th Part 3, Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, Friday The 13th Part VII: The New Blood, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday, Freddy vs. Jason, Jason X
    Franchise(s):
    Friday the 13th