Originally starting out as an origin story, the film ultimately became a re-imagining of the first four Friday the 13th films. Along with bringing the film back to its roots, Jason was designed as a leaner and faster killer, with a backstory that could provide a little sympathy for the character but not enough that he would lose his menace. Although this film reboots the continuity, Jason’s iconic hockey mask^, which was not introduced until the third film in the series, is acquired through the progression of the film.

Until, that is, Freddy resurrects Jason Voorhees, an equally iconic madman. Jason is the perfect means for Freddy to once again instill fear on Elm Street, creating a window of opportunity for him to emerge from his purgatory. Recognizing how easily manipulated Jason is, Freddy tricks Voorhees into journeying to Springwood to start a new reign of terror.

But as the bodies begin to pile up on Elm Street and Freddy’s fearsome reputation assumes new life, he discovers that Jason isn’t willing to cease his murderous ways and step aside so easily. Now, with a terrified town in the middle, the two titans of terror enter into a horrifying showdown of epic proportions, alternating between the world of dreams and the harsh reality of the living world.

Flash forward over four hundred years to 2455.

The place is Old Earth, now a contaminated planet abandoned for centuries, a world of violent storms, toxic land masses and poisoned seas. Yet humans have returned to the deadly place they once fled; not to live, but to research the artifacts of the lost civilizations that caused this enormous environmental disaster. Little does the most recent landing party of interplanetary explorers realize the fate that awaits them when they stumble upon an unusual find from a primitive technological age.

The student explorers, led by Archaeology Professor Lowe and their tech-droid KAY-EM 14, enter the ancient underground remains of the Crystal Lake Research Facility. There, they make a major archaeological discovery: two frozen ancestors; a beautiful young woman and a large man wearing a strange mask. There’s only one problem: the auto-regeneration procedure has somehow been triggered. The frozen cry-jell is melting like a block of ice and soon the two bodies will thaw and deteriorate! With time running out, the young explorers return to their starship and blast-off for Earth II, where they are surprisingly able to revive Rowan, the young woman. But very soon, these students will come face-to-face with a shocking, totally new form of evil as Jason comes back to life as well and begins to silently stalk them through the corridors of the spacecraft.

That night, Steven picks up three hitchhikers and takes them into Crystal Lake to “have a little premarital sex, smoke a little dope.” When he leaves the three, the redheaded girl is sliced up with a scalpel and the other two are split open with a spike. The Coroner returns to the diner and kills Edna, who is having an affair with Josh. He takes Josh back to the Voorhees house, where he transfers the evil heart into the deputy.

Diana talks to her daughter Jessica, who is now dating American Casefile’s Robert Campbell. They are interrupted by the now-possessed Josh, who attacks Diana. When she sees Jason’s reflection in the mirror, she shoots him in the head. But Josh doesn’t stay down, and Steven comes in to find Josh and Diana struggling. When he separates them Josh accidentally hits Diana with a knife-sharpening pole in the back. Steven runs Josh through with a fireplace poker and pushes him out the window. The sheriff arrives to find Diana dead on the floor. Steven protests his innocence but when he looks out the window Josh is gone. Steven is taken to a holding cell.

Jessica arrives at the station to take care of business, and Steven sees her – and their baby daughter – while he’s being moved. In the cell, Creighton Duke gives Steven the information he needs to know – Diana was Jason’s sister, and he needs a blood relative to be reborn in his own body. With Diana dead, his only remaining family members are Jessica and her daughter Stephanie. To protect them, Steven breaks out of jail. He goes to the Voorhees house, where he hears Robert Campbell outlining his plans to spice up American Casefile’s Jason coverage with his theft of Diana’s body. But Josh bursts in and transfers the heart into Robert. Josh’s body melts away and Robert leaves.

Steven catches up with Robert at Jessica’s house and runs him over. Jessica doesn’t believe Steven’s explanation and throws him out of the car. She runs into the police station and deputy Randy is sent to retrieve Steven. Meanwhile, Robert begins a massacre at the police station. Steven and Randy arrive as Robert tries to transfer the heart into Jessica. Steven steals Randy’s gun and shoots Robert in the head. Jessica and Steven head to the diner with Robert in hot pursuit. Stephanie is gone but there’s a note which Jessica doesn’t tell Steven about. When she takes off, Steven sees the note and arms himself with a machete from the wall.

At the Voorhees house, Creighton Duke waits with Stephanie. He tells Jessica only she can kill Jason and gives her a knife and warns Jessica that Jason could have jumped into anyone. . . but he falls into the cellar just as the Sheriff arrives, quickly followed by Randy. The Sheriff lunges and impales himself on the knife. Then Randy grabs Stephanie and tries to transfer the heart – but Steven runs in and slams the machete into his neck. Jason’s mutated heart, now a Hellbaby, escapes through the neck wound and climbs down into the cellar, where it finds Diana’s corpse.

Now reborn, Jason bursts up from the cellar. Duke is bearhugged to death while trying to protect Steven and Jessica. Steven gets thrashed by Jason while Jessica tries to retrieve Duke’s knife from the cellar. . . who will survive to send Jason to Hell?

The graduating class of Lakeview High boards the SS Lazarus, bound for New York City. Boarding the ship with her teacher Miss Van Deusen, Rennie Wickham is accosted by her uncle (and trip chaperone) Charles McCulloch. Despite his obvious displeasure at her attendance, she boards and meets up with her boyfriend Sean Robertson. Sean also has problems with his father, Admiral Robertson, the captain of the Lazarus. But their personal problems are about to become secondary to one big problem – Jim’s boat drifts by and the Lazarus picks up an unwelcome stowaway…

Soon JJ is killed by Jason when she goes below decks to jam on her guitar. Rennie is assailed by visions of a young Jason, and her dog Toby runs off. Elsewhere, Julius pummels a hapless opponent in a boxing match. Above, Tamara and Eva watch the match, and then head off (at Tamara’s request) to do some cocaine. They are interrupted first by Rennie, then by her uncle. Jason kills Julius’ opponent in the sauna while Tamara, afraid of being ratted out by Rennie, knocks her overboard. Rennie can’t swim, and is first hit with visions of a young Jason as she flails in the water, and then again in the restroom after being rescued by Sean.

After Tamara gets Wayne to tape McCulloch in a comprimising position with her, she is stabbed with glass shards by Jason. A storm breaks out, and Jason makes his way to the bridge to kill the first mate and the Admiral. Sean and Rennie, going to radio the Coast Guard to get off the ship, find the bodies and call everyone to the bridge. Jason cuts the radio, and everyone splits up to find the killer. Eva finds Tamara’s body, is chased into the dance room and killed. Below decks, Wayne loses his glasses and accidentally shoots a crew member before being thrown into an electrical panel by Jason.

A fire breaks out below as Sean tries to get the ship back on course. Miles is killed by Jason and Julius is thrown overboard. Rennie has another vision and then is attacked by the real Jason, who she stabs in the eye. Below, the fire causes the fuel tanks to explode and most of the kids onboard are killed. The crazy deck hand is axed in the back by Jason and only Rennie, Sean, Miss Van Deusen, Rennie’s dog and McCulloch make it to the lifeboat. In the water, Julius climbs aboard.

Julius and Sean row from the sinking Lazarus to New York. Once there, the group is accosted by two thugs who take Rennie away and inject her with a filthy syringe. The others split up to look for help, and Jason kills the two thugs. Rennie escapes but Julius runs into Jason. After a valiant fight, Jason literally knocks Julius’ block off, sending his head flying. The others find each one another, along with an cop who lets them into his cruiser. On the dash sits Julius’ head, and the cop is dragged away by Jason. Rennie takes the wheel and slams the car into Jason. But when she tries to run down a vision of the young Jason, she rams into a wall. The car explodes, and Miss Van Deusen is killed.

The trauma forces Rennie to remember her childhood, when her uncle took her out on Crystal Lake. He pushed her overboard to teach her how to swim, and she had a vision of Jason then. Sean and Rennie run off, leaving McCulloch to be killed by Jason. They are chased by Jason through the subway and Times Square – can Rennie and Sean stop Jason from taking Manhattan?

Dr. Crews soon has Tina testing her mental abilities, pushing her to the edge with insinuations of guilt over her father’s death. That night, Tina senses a presence in the lake and brings up Jason, imprisoned there by Tommy. Tina passes out, but soon tells her mother and the disbelieving Crews of the “man in the lake.” Nick comes over to invite Tina to the birthday party that night, but the birthday boy Michael and his girlfriend Jane are killed on the way. At the party, Tina sees a vision of Jason killing Michael with a spike and runs home, but Crews calls it a delusion. Nearby, campers Dan and Judy are soon killed by Jason.

The next night, after a confrontation with the stuck-up Melissa, Tina’s session with Crews goes awry, and she levitates a television at him. Tina confides in Nick her suspicion of Michael’s death, while next door, Russell and Sandra are killed when they go for a swim. Dr. Crews goes for a walk and finds Michael’s body. At her house, Tina’s mother finds that Crews has been antagonizing Tina to increase her telekinesis. When Crews returns, he threatens to have Tina committed and she drives off – only to see a vision of Jason killing her mother. She crashes, and makes her way back to the house on foot. Meanwhile, Maddy leaves the cabin next door and is killed by Jason.

Tina runs into Nick on her way home and they find Michael’s body. Meanwhile, Jason kills Ben and Kate and cuts the power to the partiers’ cabin before killing David. Tina and Nick arrive at her house, and next door, Melissa goes out looking for Nick before Jason kills Eddie and Robin. Nick heads to the party cabin, while in the woods Jason kills Amanda Shepard. Nick finds Eddie’s body, but Tina has left her house when he returns. Tina soon finds Crews and goes looking for her mother when he says she is “gone.” Jason dispatches Crews via brush saw, and Tina heads after him.

Tina electrocutes Jason, but he rises and chases her into the party cabin. After she telekinetically collapses the porch onto him, she runs back home and finds Nick and Melissa. Melissa opens the door to leave, but Jason is standing there and he splits her head open with an axe. Tina and Nick run upstairs but she turns around, ready for the final fight of mind over matter.

Tommy enters the Forest Green Police Department and demands the help of the Sheriff. But when Tommy tries to grab a shotgun to take matters into his own hands, the Sheriff Garris has Tommy thrown in jail. Meanwhile, counselors Lizabeth and Darren are killed by Jason on their way to camp. The next morning, Garris’ daughter Megan and her fellow counselors Sissy, Paula and Cort visit the station. Tommy warns them of Jason’s resurrection before the Sheriff escorts him towards the town limits.

Back at camp, the counselors prepare for the coming campers. Meanwhile, Jason picks off five survivalist gamers in the woods. On the way out of town Tommy makes a break for the graveyard to prove Jason’s not in his grave – but the caretaker has covered it over. The officers continue their escort, but when their out of view Tommy turns right back around towards the town he’s always known as Crystal Lake.

That night, Cort heads off for a tryst with a girl named Nikki. Jason cuts the power to her RV and boards as they drive away. He slams Nikki’s head through a wall and stabs Cort in the head. When the police discover Lizabeth and Darren’s bodies, the Sheriff suspects Tommy. But Megan isn’t convinced, and when Tommy calls the station she answers and makes plans to meet. At camp, Sissy is killed as Megan and Tommy try to evade the police. Tommy is thrown in jail despite Megan’s alibi for him. Jason uses camp counselor Paula to repaint one of the cabins in blood red, and Megan busts Tommy out.

The police make their way to the camp, and officers Thornton and Pappas are killed before the Sheriff comes up against Jason. Megan and Tommy arrive at the seemingly serene camp, but soon find Paula’s remains. Sheriff Garris is killed trying to keep Jason away from his daughter. Despite Megan’s protests, Tommy goes out on the lake alone and calls to Jason.

Tommy, now a teenager, wakes up drenched with sweat in a van from the Unger Institute of Mental Health. Tommy soon arrives at his destination, a halfway home for troubled teens. Tommy is brought into Matt Peters’ office, where the doctor explains that the clinic is run on an honor system, with the intention of preparing the patients to re-enter society. Tommy then meets young Reggie, whose grandfather George works at the house.

Sheriff Tucker and his deputy return patients Tina and Eddie to the institute. Following close on their heels are Ethel and “Junior” Hubbard, whose property adjoins the halfway house. The foul-mouthed Ethel raises Hell about the kids again having sex on her property. Ethel’s fears about the “loonies” are justified in short order when the anti-social Vic hacks up Joey with an axe. Vic is arrested by the police and ambulance attendants Duke Johnson and Roy Burns come to take away the corpse.

Night comes and the murders begin. Greaser Vinnie and Pete are viciously dispatched with a road flare and a machete. The next morning Tommy hallucinates Jason standing behind him. At breakfast, Tommy beats Eddie senseless when Eddie wears a mask Tommy made. Has Tommy become the killer he fears? Or is it the drifter that shows up at Ethel’s house looking for work? That night the murders continue when waitress Lana and her boyfriend Billy are viciously murdered with an axe.

The next day, patients Tina and Eddie sneak off into the woods to have sex. The drifter watches them intently, but he is soon struck down by the killer, as are Eddie and Tina. That night Pam drives Reggie to see his brother Demon, with along Tommy along for the ride. As Reggie and Demon catch up on old times Tommy is accosted by Junior. Tommy again loses control and pummels Junior, running off when interrupted by Pam. When Pam and Reggie return to the house, Demon and his girlfriend Anita are killed. Soon after, Junior and Ethel Hubbard are killed as well.

Pam goes to look for Tommy but the killer is at the house, killing patients Jake, Robin and Violet. Reggie discovers the bodies in Tommy’s room just before Pam’s return, and they both run into a hockey mask-wearing figure. They flee into the woods and come across the body of ambulance driver Duke Johnson as well as that of Dr. Peters. Separated from Reggie and back at the institute, Pam flees from Jason toward the barn, but she slips in the mud. Just before the killer can reach her, Reggie drives a tractor into him. Reggie and Pam flee into the barn – who is the killer who wears Jason’s mask?

Friends Paul, Jimmy, Ted, Doug, Samantha and Sara are on their way to a lakeside house they’ve rented. On the way they pass a hitchhiker, who is soon killed by Jason. Next to the rental house lives Mrs. Jarvis, her teenaged daughter Trish, and her twelve year-old son Tommy. Trish and Tommy meet the renters, and run into them the next day skinny-dipping at Crystal Point with local twins Tina and Terri. When the Jarvis’ car breaks down, Trish and Tommy are helped by Rob, a passing camper.

That night there is a drunken party at the rental house. When her boyfriend Paul starts dancing with Tina, Samantha goes for a swim – and is killed. Paul has second thoughts and goes out looking for her. Terri goes after Jimmy, and Jason kills Paul. While Tina is sleeping with Jimmy, Terri leaves for home and is killed. When Mrs. Jarvis returns home after jogging, she finds the house empty. The lights go out, and when she goes outside to look for the kids she is killed. Trish and Tommy come home and Trish goes to look for her mother but only finds Rob in his tent.

At the rental house, Tina goes to freshen up while Jimmy heads downstairs to gloat to Ted. But when he goes into the kitchen to find the corkscrew… Jason hands it to him. Tina is soon thrown out the window and Ted is stabbed while Rob tells Trish about his sister Sandra, who Jason killed (in Part 2). Doug is killed in the shower, as is Sara when she tries to escape after discovering the body. Returning to the Jarvis house, Trish and Rob try to call the police, but the line is dead. They go next door where Rob goes into the basement – and is killed by Jason. Trish escapes back to her house, where she and Tommy prepare to face Jason.

Meanwhile, Chris and her friends make their way to her family cabin, Higgins Haven. The party includes Chris’ boyfriend Rick, the pregnant Debbie and her boyfriend Andy, the bong-tokin’ Chuck and Chili, Vera, and Shelly, an overweight kid given to gruesome pranks.

At a local store, Vera and Shelly are confronted by a trio of bikers and Shelly drives into their motorcycles. The bikers, Ali, Loco and Fox, make their way to Higgins Haven for retribution, where they siphon the gas from the van to burn down the barn. Before that happens, though, they’re killed by Jason.

That night, while Chris and Rick are off in the woods, Jason slits Shelly’s throat and takes his hockey mask. Wearing the mask, he dispatches Vera with a speargun. In the house, Andy is split in half while walking on his hands and Debbie is stabbed from beneath her hammock. Chuck is killed in the cellar while looking at the fuses, and Chili is impaled with a hot fireplace poker.

Returning to an empty cabin, Chris and Rick investigate. When they’re separated, Jason kills Rick by crushing his head with his bare hands. Jason throws his body through the window at Chris, who flees in the van. But when it stalls (from being siphoned), Chris has to flee back to the barn on foot for the 3-D showdown.