While most of the Friday the 13th movies were released in the 1980s, the franchise’s onscreen timeline would quickly leave that decade behind. Horror is full of long-running franchises, and just as full of long-running franchises with continuities that don’t make much sense. The Halloween series is probably the king of that category, having retconned existing entries three different times now. Not far behind is Friday the 13th, a series full of logic gaps and plot holes.
That’s not to say that those things cause Friday the 13th’s passionate fanbase to love it any less, with many Jason devotees delighting in just how wacky things get at times, especially in the later films. As long as fans get treated to Jason killing people in creative ways, with some nudity and bad language thrown in, that’s usually enough to send them out of the theater happy and content. Friday the 13th movies may not be Scorsese, but they satisfy an entirely different need, and do it well.
With ten mainline Friday the 13th films existing, the Freddy vs. Jason crossover, and Platinum Dunes’ 2009 remake that condensed the plots of the first three Friday the 13th entries, the timeline for the franchise can be pretty hard to follow. Since dates usually aren’t stated onscreen, even the most hardcore fans might be surprised in what years some of the films take place.
Friday the 13th’s Timeline Sets The Movies In the 2000s
According to available information, Jason Voorhees was born on Thursday, June 13, 1946. On Friday, September 13, 1957, Jason is assumed to have drowned in Crystal Lake, leading his mother Pamela to go on a killing spree when Steve Christy tries to reopen the surrounding camp in the first Friday the 13th. Pamela’s murders and subsequent decapitation death happen on Friday, June 13, 1979. Despite being released in 1981, Friday the 13th Part 2 actually takes place five years later, in 1984. Friday the 13th Part 3 and Friday the 13th Part 4: The Final Chapter take place just days after Part 2, so 1984’s The Final Chapter is actually set in its year of release.
1985’s Friday the 13th Part 5: A New Beginning is set five years after Jason’s death at the hands of Tommy Jarvis, in 1989. Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives, saw Jason resurrected as a zombie, and is set one year after A New Beginning in 1990. The exact placement of Friday the 13th Part 7: The New Blood on the timeline is somewhat murky, but Jason is already at the bottom of Crystal Lake - where he ended up in Part 6 - when Tina Shepard accidentally kills her father in the prologue. Ten years pass before she returns to Crystal Lake with her mother, placing the bulk of the 1988 sequel in at least the year 2000, possibly 2001.
Friday the 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan takes place about a year after Part 7, placing Jason’s trip to New York City most likely in 2002. At this point, Paramount would hand the Friday the 13th rights over to New Line Cinema, with Jason Goes to Hell releasing in 1993. That film doesn’t give specific dates, but the Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash comic book revealed that Jason had only spent a few weeks in Hell before Freddy woke him up in Freddy vs. Jason, which takes place in the year it was set, 2003. This places Jason Goes to Hell in that same year. Finally, Jason X’s prologue, in which Jason gets cryogenically frozen, is set sometime in 2010. Move over Marty McFly, Jason Voorhees has also spent a lot time in the future.
More: Friday the 13th: Jason Voorhees’ Ever-Changing Origins Explained
