With a film franchise as large as Friday the 13th, the legendary Jason Voorhees has had quite a few different looks over the years. Over 12 films, Friday the 13th has seen other killers besides Jason take center stage, though Jason always eventually returns, often with a new costume. Sometimes he would appear in a completely new outfit and sometimes with a battle-damaged version of the previous film's costume, adding to the overall cohesiveness of a franchise.
Throughout all of the various costume changes fans have seen in the franchise, Jason's iconic hockey goalie mask remained constant and has become the defining characteristic that set Jason apart from other horror movie slashers. However, Jason's mask was itself a design element that changed over a couple of films, and it wasn't even the first look Jason sported in the Friday the 13th franchise. Now, CBR is going to break down some of the major changes to Jason's costume to see how the character has visually evolved over almost three decades of classic horror.
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART II
In the original Friday the 13th, Jason only made a brief appearance as a shirtless child, and his mother Pamela Voorhees began the Camp Crystal Lake killing sprees. In that film's sequel, Friday the 13th Part II, viewers were introduced to an adult Jason (played by Steve Dash) with a sick attachment to his mother's head that he kept in his shack in the woods.
This version hadn't quite found his footing yet as the Jason we know and love, and he didn't quite look the part yet either. Jason wore a one-eyed sack over his head while wearing dark denim coveralls and a dirty plaid shirt. His costume choice didn't make Jason any less dangerous in the film, but it wasn't quite the iconic Jason who would eventually take the horror world by storm.
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART III
In 1982's Friday the 13th Part III, stuntman Richard Brooker brought a new dimension to Jason, both through his imposing size and Jason's adoption of his legendary goalie mask. The sack-waering version makes an appearance in the film initially, but Jason soon steals the mask from insufferable prankster Shelly before making his first kill as the newly masked Jason.
This version of Jason also was the first to wear the green work shirt and slacks that would remain Jason's main outfit for a few films, although the colors would darken and the mask would begin to show damage. Even copycat killer Roy Burns from Friday the 13th: A New Beginning wore a similar shirt and slacks combo, though his goalie mask featured blue chevron markings instead of the classic red.
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD
Kane Hodder was the only actor to play Jason in multiple movies, and his first time under the mask was in The New Blood, which featured a very different version of Jason than we'd seen before. The ravages of time spent underwater after being chained to the bottom of the lake in the previous installment greatly deteriorated Jason's already damaged body.
Jason's mask is barely hanging off of his bloated head, and he wears the chain of his underwater imprisonment around his neck like a noose. And while he still wears the classic work shirt and pants outfit, it's so tattered that parts Jason's rotting corpse and bones are visible through the clothing. The New Blood's Jason has definitely seen better days.
JASON X
Following The New Blood, Jason's wardrobe mostly just gets wetter and more bloated until he eventually Goes to Hell and is reborn as possessing spirit. Thankfully Jason X brought the character back to his roots by taking him to the future, ignoring some of the previous films in the series. Future Jason wore bullet-riddled coveralls and a tattered jacket, along with a collared chain that somewhat mimicked his earlier film appearance.
Of course, then the film takes Jason to space, rebuilds him with nanotechnology, and creates one of the craziest looks Jason has ever worn, which has become known as Uber-Jason. Cybernetically enhanced with a sleek new metal mask, Jason X was the final nail in Jason's coffin, and the franchise's ongoing story ended without much style.
FREDDY VS JASON
The highly-anticipated horror crossover Freddy vs. Jason introduced a new actor (Ken Kirzinger) with a new look that would define the modern version of the character. Jason was much bulkier in Freddy vs Jason due to the multiple layers of clothing and tattered jacket, and the mask was shaped slightly differently, more resembling the Jason X pre-Uber mask than the other film versions.
This look would by Derek Mears in the Friday the 13th reboot as well, with the tattered jacket now seeming to serve as the main costume of Jason. Fans have been waiting for years to see what the next evolution of Jason would add to the various costumes we've seen over the years.
Unfortunately, an ongoing legal battle for the rights of the Friday the 13th characters have made the all-too-perfect 13th Friday the 13th film seem unlikely, but thankfully fans can still enjoy most of their favorite Jason costumes by playing Friday the 13th: The Game, which even includes a few costumes not seen on the big screen.