Though it started out as a boilerplate Halloween knock-off, Friday the 13th exploded into its own slasher juggernaut that arguably eclipsed Michael Myers’ franchise. With the now-legendary Jason Voorhees front and center, the Friday films made a name for themselves by sticking to a formula (i.e. murder spree in a camp) that never seems to fail.
But even with these constants, Jason’s rampage wasn’t immune to change or at least the attempt to do so. While some things about Jason and his world stayed the way they were in the ‘80s, others took a different turn – and not always for the better.
KEPT CHANGING: Jason’s Attire
While Jason’s trademark mask remained from Part III onwards, everything below the neck was prone to change. In Part II where he wore a sack on his head, Jason sported overalls and a shirt. Afterwards, Jason switched between a jacket/pants ensemble and a boilersuit.
His worst attire is Uber Jason from Jason X. Explained as nanomachines and prosthetics in the tenth Friday, Uber Jason looks more like a bootleg of a Power Rangers bad guy than an upgraded famous horror villain. Laughing at him (and all of Jason X) isn’t just inevitable, but highly recommended.
STAYED THE SAME: Tommy Jarvis’ Trauma & Vendetta
Aside from being portrayed by three actors, Tommy Jarvis remained a thorn on Jason’s side for three movies. This makes him the only Friday survivor to appear in more than one film and live.
Across his appearances, Tommy’s mental state slowly unravels due to the trauma of both surviving and killing Jason in part four, The Final Chapter. He’s become obsessed with killing Jason for good, even nearly becoming the next Jason in Part V: A New Beginning. Fortunately, Tommy overcomes his inner demons and (temporarily) stops Jason by chaining him to the lake’s bottom in his last appearance in Part VI: Jason Lives.
KEPT CHANGING: Jason’s Rotting Body
A cool detail in each Friday the 13th is that the passage of time is made clear by the fact that in each movie (minus part five), Jason’s body rots more and more. From the second to fourth films, Jason was a deranged yet otherwise human killer (above, left), but ever since his resurrection in Jason Lives, Jason became the toughest zombie in movie history.
In Part VII: The New Blood, Jason’s flesh is falling off, revealing the bones underneath (above, center). By Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan and the following Jason Goes To Hell, his corroding mask has melted into his face and his body is noticeably more rotten than ever (above, right). Jason may be immortal, but years of countless life-ending injuries and being under nature’s mercy took a heavy toll.
STAYED THE SAME: Jason Really Went To Hell
As weird and misplaced as Jason Goes To Hell may be, its ending actually remained canon. The film ends with Jason pulled to the depths of Hell and Freddy’s gloved hand dragging the hockey mask as well, setting the stage for Freddy Vs. Jason. However, the next Friday went to space instead of following through with the hellish ending tease.
This was corrected when the crossover came out, which retconned and/or ignored Jason X and acknowledged Jason Goes To Hell, albeit minus the demon slug. Freddy Vs. Jason opens with Jason in Hell, which Freddy undoes so that he could use Camp Crystal Lake’s most infamous camper for his own murderous comeback.
KEPT CHANGING: The Source Of Jason’s Strength
When it comes to slashers, Jason is one of the simplest killers around: he’s a murderous dude in a hockey mask who’s hard to kill. But in their attempts to spice up Friday the 13th and keep up with trends, the filmmakers kept trying to ill-advisedly explain the source of Jason’s raw strength and nigh-immortality.
Previous justifications include a copycat killer/possible possession in A New Beginning, a parasitic slug in Jason Goes To Hell, and a futuristic nano-medbay in Jason X – all of which were retconned due to backlash and ridicule. Most of the time, Jason’s immortality is either dismissed as him being a freakishly strong but otherwise normal human murderer or an unstoppable supernatural killer.
STAYED THE SAME: Pamela Voorhees’ Presence
Friday the 13th didn’t start with Jason Voorhees but his mother, Pamela. In the first film, she killed camp counsellors to avenge Jason, who drowned in the lake as a child because the counsellors were too busy making out to notice. She was killed and Jason took her place, but Pamela never really left.
Pamela was Jason’s main motive for killing, as it’s hinted that he hopes to appease her soul/severed head (see Part II) with a growing pile of victims. On more than one occasion, survivors were able to escape by acting like Jason’s mother and telling him off. Inside this fearsome giant, Jason is still an angry and lost boy, desperate for his mother’s love.
KEPT CHANGING: Jason’s Weaknesses
One of the most inconsistent things in Friday the 13th is what Jason is vulnerable to, but it’s really more the result of what a Friday movie demands than an oversight. If Jason is impervious to gunfire in one movie, he’ll be stopped by a well-aimed shot in the next. That aside, his most obvious weakness is water, due to his original childhood death.
This was the case in Jason Takes Manhattan where toxic sewage somehow reverted Jason into a child and it was used to frightening effect by Freddy in Freddy Vs. Jason. Thing is, previous movies showed Jason not having an issue with water since some of his earlier kills took place near or in a body of water.
STAYED THE SAME: Jason Is (Somewhat) Sympathetic
Something unique to Friday the 13th is that its most famous slasher is kind of sympathetic. Slashers starring a killer who was abused or bullied in some way in the past isn’t new but where they quickly forget about it in lieu of carnage, Friday never forgets Jason’s tragic backstory and trauma.
Not only is Jason pissed at camp counsellors, but he’s also out to avenge his mother. Add his aforementioned parental issues and the fact that Jason’s mental capacity is said to be no better than a child’s, and it’s implied that he kills because his emotionally stunted mind doesn’t know better. This doesn’t justify his murders, but it gives the supposedly brainless slasher franchise a deeper subtext than expected.
KEPT CHANGING: Jason’s Off-Camp Adventures
With a current count of twelve movies, it isn’t surprising that Friday the 13th tried to branch out more than once to keep the franchise fresh. A common solution was to set a Friday movie outside of Jason’s home court Camp Crystal Lake, but this always backfired.
The most notorious instances are Jason Takes Manhattan – where Jason spends most of the runtime on a boat – and Jason X, where he went to the place where horror franchises go to die: space. Though great guilty pleasures, they were immediately retconned and/or ignored by their respective succeeding movies, as Jason Goes To Hell and Freddy Vs. Jason brought the slaughter back to Camp Crystal Lake.
STAYED THE SAME: No One Knows How Jason Came Back
One of the biggest plot holes in the Friday the 13th continuity is how Jason came back in the first place. In the first movie, he’s not even the killer and only appears in Alice’s nightmare since – according to his mother – he drowned as a child. But in Part II, he’s revealed to be alive and a grown man at that. Later movies contradict this and each other, with some saying Jason did die in the lake while others say he secretly survived.
If this were any other franchise, Jason’s survival would be an issue but this is Friday the 13th; Jason is more of a symbolic force of nature than a character, so the lack of specifics about him somehow not drowning work to his benefit. Jason is the perfect manifestation of a killer in an urban legend or campfire story, whose origins keep changing while the terror that surrounds him remains rock solid.