Fashion Friday The 13th: All Of Jason Voorhees’ Looks, Ranked

Though possessing an iconic look, no other slasher icon has gone through so many revisions as Jason Voorhees. Appearing as a drowned boy in his first film, a sack-headed hillbilly in his second, and eventually becoming a hockey-masked brawler as time went on, as the character has evolved, so has his look–leading to a bevy of diverse and interesting visual interpretations of the character.

Of course, not every costume is created equal, and some of Jason’s looks are less impressive than others. Below are each and every one of his looks, ranked.

12 Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)

This Jason isn’t Jason at all! Next!

11 Friday the 13th (1980)

It’s not exactly fair to stick the original Jason this far down the list, but the jump scare that introduced him is more effective than the look itself.

The makeup and prosthetic work by Tom Savini are top-notch, and kid Jason is a big reason the series got a second entry to begin with. Still, when we’re thinking iconic slasher looks, a dirty, nude pond boy isn’t quite up to snuff.

10 Jason X (2002)

Uber Jason is quite cool, but he really just doesn’t feel like Jason. For many, Jason X is the absolute bottom of the franchise barrel, and though this is an awesomely designed metallic mutant, both the film and the look lack the appeal of the character and the series as a whole.

9 Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

Now we’re talking! The Final Chapter is a fan favorite, as well as the film that really solidified the Friday the 13th template, all-but-guaranteeing that it absolutely would not be the final chapter.

Fittingly for a generically “good” entry that lacks some of the charms and wild eccentricities of the series’ most idiosyncratic chapters, Jason’s costume design here is nothing special despite it being one of the most easily recognizable versions of the character.

8 Friday the 13th: Part VI – Jason Lives (1986)

The film that introduced us to a re-animated, zombified version of the character was also his return after the A New Beginning‘s fake Jason debacle.

Though a cut above his appearance in the previous two entries, there’s something a tad too utilitarian about his look here (Those gloves! That tool pouch!), though his increasingly rotted flesh and use of a fence spike as a spear earn extra points.

7 Friday the 13th: Part 3 (1982)

The first film in which Jason dons a hockey mask also gets points for containing the scariest version of his bare face. When Jason reaches out to final girl, Chris in the film’s closing minutes–a cruel smile lighting up his freaky visage–it’s one of the few moments in the entire series of films that the character can still elicit chills from the contemporary viewer.

Aside from presenting the hitherto lanky Jason as something more hulking, the overall costume is nothing to write home about, but Part 3 was a game changer that made a hockey mask something to fear, which really counts for something!

6 Friday the 13th (2009)

The somewhat unfairly panned Platinum Dunes remake of Friday the 13th re-imagined Jason as a lean, mean, survivalist machine with a new look to match.

Beginning the film with an updated sack-head (more on that look later) and gaining the hockey mask about halfway through, this look doesn’t necessarily read as the iconic character that people know and love, but it’s slick, refined, and absolutely one of his better appearances.

5 Friday the 13th: Part VIII — Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)

Arguably one of the worst Friday the 13th entries also features Jason at his coolest. Covered in copious amounts of pond scum and decked out in a sleek, black leather jacket, this is an awesome and sharp take on the typically lumbering ragamuffin.

Unfortunately, Jason Takes Manhattan loses precious points for also having the absolute worst reveal of Jason’s bare face–a soggy looking rotted skull visage that oozes green slime.

4 Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)

A look to annoy every purist, Jason Goes to Hell’s take on Crystal Lake’s infamous baddie is one of his most strange and underrated. Taking seeming inspiration from the cancerous evil of Jason, this version of the character has a lumpy, misshapen, tumorous face that’s literally consuming his mask.

The jumpsuit is fairly standard, and this is one of the character’s most divisive costumes, but for those who love it, it may be his best. The only con is that this is also the only film with a body-hopping Jason…so we don’t get to see enough of it!

3 Friday the 13th: Part 2 (1981)

A look that’s both effective in its simplicity, and a peek at what might have been, Friday the 13th: Part 2 threw any sort of narrative sense out the window by presenting viewers with a totally alive, fully grown backwoods Jason in overalls and a one-eyed sack mask after his appearance as a dirty kid in the first film.

His unveiled face is just as effective, and though he’s a far cry from the Jason he’d become, this freakish hillbilly version of the character is masterful in its minimalism and shows where the series could have taken the character if the hockey mask hadn’t become so ubiquitous.

2 Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

The ultimate slasher smackdown/fan service vehicle presented viewers with the ultimate “classic” Jason look. A gentle visual re-imagining that maintains the spirit of the character while updating it for the early-2000s audience, this is likely the Jason anyone coming to the series post-80s remembers best, and rightly so.

1 Friday the 13th: Part VII — The New Blood (1988)

Jason’s best look also features his best unveiled face. Designers took a hint from Part 6’s watery conclusion to create a new costume for Jason that was distressed in all the right ways. With a tattered jacket and the chain with which he was tethered at the bottom of Crystal Lake left hanging around his neck, this Jason has been through hell and just looks more awesome because of it.

In one of the movies most iconic moments, Jason’s mask bursts open revealing a horrifyingly rotten visage, that, though not as unsettling as his face in Part 3, is likely the most impressively putrid the character has looked.

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