The Friday the 13th franchise is one of the most famous horror movie series of all time as well as one of the most integral pillars of the slasher movie subgenre. Since the original movie in 1980, the series has accumulated a wide fanbase who feel a special kind of affinity for its simplistic rendering of the fundamental elements of the lakeside camp horror movie as well as its silent killer, Jason Voorhees.
Critics have been a little less kind to the movies of the franchise over the decades and the top 10 highest-rated movies in the series on Metacritic paints an interesting picture of the title’s ups and downs through its long history.
10 Friday the 13th: A New Beginning – 16
As the title implies, the fifth entry in the franchise sought to try and find a new path forward for the story after killing Jason (for the first time).
Jason’s killer, Tommy Jarvis, has now matured into a psychologically scarred adult living in a group home when the usual brutal murders begin occurring in the local area. Though clearly not a favorite of critics, A New Beginning is an often fondly remembered detour in the series, with its vision for Tommy Jarvis being reversed in the following movie, that still lives on in fan theories.
9 Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday – 17
Another movie dealing with the many deaths and resurrections of Jason Voorhees, The Final Friday was, just like the first movie in the franchise to use the word ‘Final’ in its title, not the final part of anything.
While one of the more generally confusing and disliked of the Friday the 13th movies, it does end on a pretty great tease for what would one day the highest-ranking movie on this list.
8 Friday the 13th (1980) – 22
Believe it or not, the classic that started it all is far from a critical darling. A large majority of critics, even today, can’t look past the movie’s already-generic structure.
While it may be true that the original Friday the 13th began the formula of the slasher genre rather than its style, it’s still an atmospheric and entertaining movie that’s deserving of its reputation as a classic.
7 Jason X – 25
After being around for over twenty years with the same basic set up, there really is only one place left to go for tired horror franchises: to space.
Jason X is a memorably cheesy variation in the franchise formula that, as its score reflects, turns out more enjoyable than its predecessor.
6 Friday the 13th Part 2 – 26
The first movie to really feature Jason as the killer, though not quite yet in his final form, Part 2 delivers mostly on what the original established as the title’s selling points and critics responded similarly.
Once again, whilst not a cerebral masterpiece in any way, the movie is still quite lowly rated for something that helped define the core tropes of the slasher subgenre.
5 Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives – 30
One of the best-aged Friday the 13th sequels by far and an essential fan-favorite, Jason Lives transforms Tommy Jarvis into a hero for the franchise’s first truly tongue-in-cheek entry.
While it may start things down an increasingly wacky path that would ultimately lead to the franchise’s lowest point, it remains one of the most upbeat points in the history of mainstream slasher sequels.
4 Friday the 13th Part III – 30
The movie where Jason finally completes his look and dons the iconic hockey mask, Friday the 13th Part III was the moment the franchise lost any pretension of mystery or thriller elements and became purely about the kill count.
As a result, Jason really became the star of the show and an archetypal slasher villain was born.
3 Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter – 33
Though successful actors had brushed up against the franchise before, Corey Feldman and Crispin Glover really make The Final Chapter stand out.
Following the success of Part III, the fourth installment digs even deeper into its own clichéd structure to create what critics, at least, seem to consider the apex of the franchise’s formula for sequels.
2 Friday the 13th (2009) – 34
Continuing the odd mirroring that the Friday the 13th franchise had with the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, Jason got his own slick modern reboot a year before Freddy and, like the Elm Street reboot, it failed to do what producers were aiming for.
Nonetheless, it’s far from a despised entry into the series’ history and it’s ended up as one of the better-reviewed movies overall.
1 Freddy vs. Jason – 37
So, as the numbers would have it, the best Friday the 13th movie according to Metacritic isn’t really a Friday the 13th movie but still a romp worthy of both the legendary horror movie killers.
Paying off on a tease made at the end of Jason Goes to Hell, the two supernatural psychos duke it out on the big screen and a satisfying amount of work goes into it. Jason ends up being the more sympathetic character compared to the far creepier Freddy Krueger but both movie monsters get a decent amount of kills in while sparring with each other superhero style.
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