Jason Voorhees is a misunderstood undead serial murderer who loves his mommy

The most notorious of day of the year has arrived. It's Friday the 13th. Many people feels it's a very scary day where bad things can happen. Why do we think about this spooky day so much? Probably because of the iconic horror series Friday the 13th, a movie franchise consisting of 12 movies where a monstrous killer works its way through teenagers, killing them all--most of the time with a machete.

For nearly four decades, Jason Voorhees has been on a killing spree. Are you doing drugs in a cabin? You're dead. Are you making out with someone in a sleeping bag in the woods? You're dead. Are you on a boat trying to get to Manhattan? You are also dead.

Who doesn't love Jason and his signature hockey mask? Here's a part of Americana, and although he is a movie monster, we still want to celebrate him. Since the Friday the 13th film series kicked off in 1990--40 years ago--Jason has been on a killing spree. But how many people has he killed in each movie?

While we've ranked movies by box office totals and their overall quality in the past, this time around we're ranking the Friday the 13th movies by how many people Jason has killed in each movie. Obviously, if you're a fan of the series, then you know Jason wasn't the main killer in a couple of the movies in the franchise. Don't worry, we're also aware of that as well.

So going through the world of Jason Voorhees and all his horrific murders, here's every Jason movie, ranked by his body count. Additionally, Shout Factory released a boxed set of every movie in the franchise which includes deleted scenes from Friday The 13th: Part 2, which are part of the legendary Gore Cut.

12. Friday the 13th (1980)

Coming in at last place is the original Friday the 13th, as Jason Voorhees wasn't the killer. His mother Pamela was. This movie came along early in the slasher movie genre, just a couple years after Halloween.

Total Jason Voorhees kills: 0

Note: Pamela Voorhees killed nine people in case you were curious.

11. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)

Conceptually, A New Beginning isn't a terrible idea, as the movie follows Tommy Jarvis--who killed Jason Voorhees years prior. Tommy now lives in a halfway house for mentally ill teenagers. However, Jason has returned and is on a killing spree. Here's the crazy twist: it's not Jason committing the murders. It's a paramedic named Roy doing all the killing, and there are some really bizarre kills here, like eyes being gouged out by garden shears.

Total Jason Voorhees kills: 0

Note: Roy killed 17 people.

10. Friday the 13th: Part 2 (1981)

The 1981 sequel introduces Jason Voorhees for the first time; however, he has yet to get his signature hockey mask. He instead wears a burlap sack over his head. At this point in the series, there aren't any over-the-top kills, as the craziest one is someone being strangled with barbed wire.

Total Jason Voorhees kills: 9

Note: The count is possibly 10 because it's up for debate that Paul was killed off-screen, but there's no way for sure knowing who killed him.

9. Friday the 13th Part III (1982)

Of course, Friday the 13th Part III was in 3D, which was all the rage during the '80s. This movie marks the first time Jason crushed someone's head, as well as the first time he wears his signature hockey mask.

Total Jason Voorhees kills: 12

8. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

While the fourth movie is titled The Final Chapter, in no way is it actually the "final chapter" in the series. This Friday the 13th installment features Jason killing someone with a garden claw.

Total Jason Voorhees kills: 13

7. Friday the 13th (2009)

The 2009 Friday the 13th reboot packed the first three original films into one, non-stop movie. Jason gets a headshot with a bow and arrow in this one.

Total Jason Voorhees kills: 13

6. Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)

Jason has been at the bottom of Camp Crystal laying dormant. In The New Blood, a telekinetic teenager releases him and must find a way to stop him. The most ridiculous kill of the film comes from Jason driving a party horn through a young woman's eye. This is also the movie that features Jason swinging a sleeping bag--with someone inside--against a tree. It's easily the most memorable kill in the franchise.

Total Jason Voorhees kills: 15

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

In Jason Takes Manhattan, Voorhees gets on a boat headed to Manhattan with a group of graduating high school students and takes them all out, one by one. Sadly, unlike the title states, he spends very little of the movie actually in New York City. The kills in this movie get more inventive and one of the most ridiculous comes when Jason literally punches someone so hard that their head flies off their body.

Total Jason Voorhees kills: 15*

Notes: Count could be as many as 18. There are a couple accidents here as well as a guy who Jason throws into a mirror at a diner, but there's no confirmed kill there. In addition, there is no way of knowing how many people were killed when the S.S. Lazarus sank.

4. Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI (1986)

Jason comes back to life in the sixth film. Tommy Jarvis, from A New Beginning, tries to dispose of Jason's body but accidentally brings him back to life. While the movie features a lot of machete-hacking mayhem, the best kill comes from an officer getting a metal dart thrown into his skull.

Total Jason Voorhees kills: 18

3. Jason X (2001)

Everything about Jason X is ridiculous. In the 25th century, Jason wakes up on a spaceship and insanity ensues. There are a lot of silly kills in this movie, including a woman's head getting frozen in liquid nitrogen, then smashed on a countertop.

Total Jason Voorhees kills: 21*

Note: There's no way of knowing how many people died when the Solaris space station exploded.

2. Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

Freddy vs. Jason pits the two most iconic supernatural killers in horror history--sorry Michael Myers--and they fight to the "death." There aren't a lot of inventive kills in this movie; "however, while wielding a flaming machete, Jason does take out a whole bunch of party-goers at a rave, which is quite enjoyable to watch, unless you're into that whole rave scene.

Total Jason Voorhees kills: 22*

Note: Hard to pinpoint how many people Jason killed during the cornfield rave scene.

1. Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)

Jason Goes to Hell not only has a ridiculous plot, but it has the most Jason Voorhees kills in the franchise. The supernatural monster is killed by an FBI special ops team, and his spirit--stay with me--starts possessing people, which ends up with the possessed killing everyone around them. It may not be the body of Voorhees, but his spirit is technically doing the killing. The most ridiculous kill comes when a woman is drowned in a deep fryer.

Total Jason Voorhees kills: 25

Note: 10 of the deaths--including a group of civilians that are killed--happen off-screen.

Total kills

Since Jason's first murder in Friday the 13th: Part II--in 1981--he's killed 163 people, and even more if you count the people aboard the space station blowing up in Jason X or those who died when the ship sank in Jason Takes Manhattan. Once again, the kills in the first film and A New Beginning don't count because it wasn't Jason doing the killing. So while 163 is our total from this list, a few of the murders are up for debate.

Total Jason Voorhees kills: 163