The Friday the 13th franchise has an interesting timeline thanks to the fictional history of its main killer, Jason Voorhees, and his apparent immortality. The story of the Friday the 13th movies chronologically stretches from the 1950s to 25th century, with a reboot and a crossover movie making things even more complicated. Watching the Friday the 13th movies in order isn't a difficult task, though the timeline of events can be confusing as, while all the movies do revolve around the titular day, not all of them give a year for when the events take place.

The chronological order of the Friday the 13th movies starts off simple enough, as most of the first three sequels take place over one continuous stretch of time. However, things start to become more difficult to follow after the first of Jason's on screen deaths, which prompts a brief hiatus for the character, a resurrection and even more deaths following that. Watching in order of release is still the most recommendable course of action for new fans to the franchise, but certain entries can be skipped so as long as they roughly know where each entry picks up and leaves off.

1 Friday The 13th (1980)

Pamela Voorhees holding a knife in Friday the 13th (1980)

The original Friday The 13th movie followed a group of camp counselors setting up for summer at Camp Crystal Lake when they are picked off one-by-one by a mysterious killer. The film begins with a sequence depicting murders at the camp in 1958, but the main story is set in June 1979. Though Jason Voorhees is not the killer in the original film, it's revealed that the murders are all committed by Jason's mother, who is motivated by Jason's drowning at the lake in 1957.

2 Friday The 13th Part 2 (1981)

Jason Voorhees wearing his sackhead mask in Friday The 13th Part 2 (1981)

The majority of Friday the 13th Part 2 is set five years after the original film, though it does contain an opening sequence set two months after the events of the first film, in August 1979. The main story follows a new group of would-be counselors, this time attending a school for counselors on the shores of Crystal Lake. Though this film does feature Jason as the killer, he has yet to reach his final form and don his iconic hockey mask. He instead uses a sack with a single eyehole cut into it to cover his face, which is an eerie and interesting addition to the list of Jason Voorhees' many masks.

3 Friday The 13th Part III (1982)

Jason gets an axe to the head in the Friday the 13th Part 3 ending

Following on directly from the events of Friday the 13th Part 2, Jason continues his killing spree, focussing on a house full of teens nearby to Crystal Lake in Friday the 13th Part III. He finally puts on his hockey mask in this movie and the entry also stands out as being the only 3D entry into the franchise so far. Part III also features the first of many onscreen Jason deaths, when he's hit in the head with an axe by the Friday the 13th franchise's third final girl.

4 Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

Jason comes through a door and approaches a knife-wielding young woman in Friday the 13th The Final Chapter

The fourth Friday the 13th movie, The Final Chapter, begins the evening following the ending of Part III, showing Jason's body being taken to the morgue before he comes back to life and begins a new killing spree. Though Jason's death at the end of the movie wouldn't last particularly long, the movie introduced the character of Tommy Jarvis, who would lead the next two movies in the franchise and become one of the rare survivors of Jason Voorhees.

5 Friday The 13th: A New Beginning (1985)

Roy Burns as Jason Voorhees breaking through a door in Friday The 13th Part V The New Beginning

With A New Beginning, the Friday the 13th franchise got its second timeline jump following the events of The Final Chapter, as it follows an adolescent Tommy Jarvis five years later as he attempts to cope with the trauma of having met and killed Jason as a child. A new series of murders follows Tommy at his group home, though, despite some twists and dream sequences, Jason remains dead in this installment and did not return to the franchise until the following movie.

6 Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)

Jason Voorhees uses a fence post after reawakening in the cemetery in Friday the 13th Jason Lives

The year following the events of A New Beginning see Tommy Jarvis doing better but still haunted by the memory of Jason. In an attempt to destroy Jason's body once and for all, Tommy witnesses Jason resurrected for a new slew of murders that takes the action back to Camp Crystal Lake, which has been renamed Camp Forest Green in an attempt to distance itself from Jason's legacy. Though Tommy doesn't kill Jason in this film, he does successfully imprison Jason at the bottom of the lake, where the killer remains dormant until he's unleashed again in the following film.

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

Kane Hodder doing a full body burn i  Friday the 13th Part VII The New Blood

Following the ending of Jason Lives, Jason spends the next seven years trapped at the bottom of Crystal Lake, which takes back its original name during that time. During those years, a young Rennie Wickham has a life-changing encounter with Jason while he's at the bottom of the lake, though this would not become known until the events of the eighth movie, which Rennie leads. At the end of the seven years, the events of The New Blood take place and Jason is freed from his watery prison by the telekinetic powers of Tina Shepard, though he is imprisoned there again following his killing spree in that movie.

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

Jason in Manhattan in Friday The 13th Part VIII Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)

One year on from the events of The New Blood, Jason is freed from the bottom of Crystal Lake once again when a boat's propeller hits a nearby power line and revives him. As the eighth Friday the 13th movie's title implies, Jason then makes his way to Manhattan to wreak some havoc on the Big Apple with some of his best kills in the Friday the 13th series. Jason is seemingly killed once again at the end of the movie by a flood of corrosive toxic waste though he would return again as fans knew him at the beginning of the next installment of the franchise.

9 Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday (1993)

Jason looks up at a light in The Final Friday.

The exact date of Jason Goes to Hell is uncertain, but it takes place some years after the events of Jason Takes Manhattan. The beginning of the film sees Jason back at Camp Crystal Lake before his body is destroyed by police in a hail of bullets and explosions. The rest of the film sees Jason's spirit possess various people in his quest to be reborn, which ultimately fails, resulting in Jason being taken to hell. Before the credits roll however, the distinct clawed hand of Freddy Krueger is seen dragging Jason's mask down into the dirt, setting up a crossover movie that would not arrive for another decade.

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10 Freddy Vs. Jason (2003)

Ken Kirzinger and Robert Englund in Freddy vs Jason

Like Jason Goes to Hell, the exact year that this Friday the 13th movie takes place in isn't readily apparent, though it can be surmised that it takes place in 2003 as it takes place after the events of both Jason Goes to Hell and Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, which dates itself as taking place ten years into the future, which would presumably be no later than 2001 as the film was released in 1991. The movie sees the two horror icons fight to the death, but they're both seen alive at the end.

Regardless of this and the film's box office success, both franchises would be rebooted entirely for their next installments. However, the continuity set up by Freddy vs. Jason did receive a sequel in the form of the comic book series Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash, which is set five years after the events of Freddy vs. Jason. This comic series would also get a sequel set six months after the original's events titled The Nightmare Warriors, though neither comic series would impact the events of later films in any of their respective franchises.

11 Friday The 13th (2009)

Jason with a chain around his neck in Friday the 13th 2009

The reboot movie, which stands alone with the Friday the 13th continuity, begins in 1980 as a reference to the year that the original film was released and recreates its events, though the events of the first film were set in 1979, but most of the story takes place in 2009. The film incorporates elements from the early Friday the 13th movie into a new story that contains all the hallmarks of franchise, from Camp Crystal Lake to Jason's hockey mask and his complicated relationship with his mother. The film ends on a cliffhanger of sorts but no sequel to it materialized.

12 Jason X (2002)

Kane Hodder as Jason in Jason X

Though not the most recent Friday the 13th movie to be produced, Jason X is still chronologically the final film in the main continuity of the franchise. A sci-fi departure for the Friday the 13th franchise, the film sees Jason cryogenically frozen in 2010 and awoken in the year 2455 for a rampage in space before being finally destroyed. This is Jason's final death in the continuity of the Friday the 13th movies, though he would appear again in Freddy vs. Jason and the reboot film.