At a glance
| First film | Friday the 13th (1980) |
| Director of the original | Sean S. Cunningham |
| Killer | Pamela Voorhees, then Jason |
| Setting | Camp Crystal Lake, until the series leaves it |
Overview
Friday the 13th (1980) is a summer-camp slasher whose killer is a mother, not a masked son. Jason Voorhees is the drowning story she tells. Part 2 puts the grown son in a sack. Part 3 gives him the hockey mask. The series then runs through a fake ending, a copycat, a zombie, Manhattan, space, and a fight with Freddy Krueger. Sean S. Cunningham produced the original to compete with Halloween. He did not direct the sequels.
The films
The Final Chapter (1984) was sold as the last one and was not. A New Beginning uses a different killer. Jason Lives brings the real one back from the grave. Jason Takes Manhattan barely reaches the city. Jason Goes to Hell is a possession story. Jason X is the space film. Freddy vs. Jason (2003) is the crossover. The 2009 remake starts over and did not get a sequel. Rights fights between Cunningham and Victor Miller, the original screenwriter, stalled new films for years.
Films on this site
- Friday the 13th (1980) review — no separate film page yet
- Friday the 13th Part 2
- The Final Chapter
- Freddy vs. Jason
Trivia
- Jason does not wear the hockey mask until Part 3.
- Betsy Palmer plays Pamela in the original. She is the killer of that film.
- Kane Hodder played Jason in parts 7 through 9 and Jason X. He is not in Freddy vs. Jason.
- The “ch-ch-ch” sound is a voice saying “ki ki ki, ma ma ma,” from the original score session.
- There is no Friday the 13th film page for the 1980 original yet, only the review.