Dress up As Jason Voorhees

Jason Voorhees, the wordless killer from the Friday the 13th film franchise, is one of the most recognizable bad guys in movie history. With his iconic hockey mask, ragged clothing and razor-sharp machete, Jason strikes fear in the hearts of the naive Camp Crystal Lake counselors. Putting together a Jason costume for Halloween or a theme party doesn’t require a lot of work, and gives you quite a bit of freedom in the exact look you want to go for.

Steps

Dressing as Hockey Mask Jason

1. Buy a dark blue or gray jumpsuit. Jason’s hulking frame is usually clad in a dingy, soiled jumpsuit. Find a one-piece jumpsuit or pair of coveralls like mechanics wear. Go with a darker hue, like charcoal gray or navy blue, and buy about one size too big to get the right disheveled look. This is the easiest way to take care of the body portion of the costume.
   • Jumpsuits and coveralls can typically be bought cheap in the work clothing sections at superstores like Walmart.
2. Drape yourself in loose, dark clothes. In some of the later films, Jason’s look evolved to include tattered black clothing and an oversized brown jacket. Snag a black button-down work shirt a basic pair of black trousers and rough them up yourself at home. Look for a loose-fitting brown coat to wear over the shirt. You won’t win any style points, but you’ll have the cheerleaders fleeing for their lives.
   • Be on the lookout for cheap secondhand clothing to use for your costume.
   • Try to find a jacket made from a softer material like cotton so that it will better show the wear-and-tear you inflict on it.
3. Lace up a pair of black boots. Jason needs sturdy set of footwear for stomping after terrified campers. Find yourself a pair of chunky black work boots made of leather, canvas or some other heavy material. If you desire, slather them with mud or fake blood to make them look old and used. These will complete the effect of your costume from top to bottom.
   • Visit a thrift store to get an appropriate pair of old boots that won’t run you too much money.
   • If you can’t find the right pair, some black rubberized rain boots will do the trick, since they’ll mostly be hidden by your pant legs anyway.
4. Strap on a movie-accurate hockey mask. This is the feature Jason Voorhees is universally known for. The hockey mask you choose should be yellowed or slightly off-white and have red triangles on the forehead or under the eyeholes. Smear some black and brown makeup on the mask or dirty it up outside to make it look like it’s followed you to the grave and back.
   • Since the hockey mask is one of the most important elements of the costume, you should be willing to devote a little more time, money and attention to making sure it’s just right.
   • Most Halloween costume stores sell masks that are designed to resemble the ones worn in the Friday the 13th series.
5. Wield a fake machete. Without his trusty machete, Jason would just be a lumbering mouth-breather with questionable fashion sense. Do the costume justice by purchasing a plastic costume machete and using it to terrorize your friends. A little dab of fake blood will make it look ominously like it’s been recently used.
   • Never carry around a real machete or any other dangerous weapon or tool. You or someone around you could easily get hurt.

Dressing as Baghead Jason

1. Get a cheap pair of denim overalls. In Jason’s first appearance as an adult in Friday the 13th Part 2, his clothing style hadn’t quite developed beyond “hillbilly chic” yet. Capture the backwoods brutality of his original costume with pair of dark blue overalls. This will you the creepy overgrown child aesthetic you’re looking for and take care of the biggest part of the costume, leaving you to only have to worry about a few other pieces.
   • Overalls are another no-frills item of clothing that are inexpensive and can be found in many places.
2. Wear a plaid shirt underneath. To complement the country theme started by the overalls, deck yourself out in a plaid button-down shirt underneath. The shirt Jason wore in the movie was a faded blue-brown pattern, so find something as close to this color combination as you can. Try on the shirt and overalls alone and you’ll already be guaranteed to scare yourself a little.
   • Don’t worry if you can’t find a shirt exactly like the one used in the movie. Just about any rustic-looking pattern will work when the rest of the costume is assembled.
   • Dirty the shirt up a little before you wear it to go out.
3. Slip your feet into a pair of brown work boots. Earth tones are the theme of Jason’s costume in Friday the 13th Part 2, and his boots are no exception. Dig up a used pair of heavy-duty brown work boots in your size, the older and more rugged the better. If you can’t find the right pair of brown boots, it’s okay to use black, gray or another dark neutral color. Just make sure they look like they’ve seen their share of moonlit treks through the woods.
4. Hide your face with a pillow case. It’s nothing personal—Jason is just a little shy when it comes to showing his face. Before he stumbled upon the hockey mask that would come to define his image, he kept his features concealed with a dingy old pillow case with one eye hole cut out. Fortunately, this part of the costume is extremely easy to replicate. For best results, use a different pillowcase than the one you plan to lug your Halloween candy around in later.
   • To make an eye hole for visibility, put the pillowcase on over your head, mark where your left eye is with a pencil and then use scissors to carefully cut out the eye hole.
   • If you want to be especially accurate, keep the pillow case secured around your neck using a little rope or butcher’s twine.
5. Carry a prop axe or pickaxe. For his first foray into bloodshed, Jason used various farming tools for hacking, slashing and poking, having not yet discovered the versatility and ease of transport of the hardware store machete. See if you can find a prop version of a wood cutting axe or miner-style pickaxe to reflect this. Once you’ve got your hands on one of Jason’s signature improvised weapons, you’ll feel ready to make make-believe mincemeat out of some rude teenagers.
   • Do not carry actual weapons or farming implements for your costume. You might accidentally put an eye out!

Adding Extra Touches

1. Distress your costume for a more authentic look. There are no laundry facilities in the woods surrounding Camp Crystal Lake. If you want to really sell the costume, distress them artificially until they look more like Jason’s from the movies. Wash the garments multiple times to soften them up, then bury them in the ground, drag them behind a car or cut them up strategically with scissors to achieve a convincing appearance. The more ragged your clothes are, the more fright you’ll inspire!
   • Buy used clothing at thrift stores or consignment shops for a bargain so that you can tear them up without feeling like you’re throwing money away.
   • Go over different sections of the clothing with a steel brush or coarse-grained sandpaper to make it look naturally frayed.
2. Suit up with some of Jason’s other accessories. Jason was ready for anything, and you should be too. Though his look changed subtly from film to film, certain accessories could almost always be found. A pair of thick yellow work gloves, for instance, a utility belt with pouches or a sheath for a hunting knife can make the difference between a generic Jason costume and a more detailed one.
   • These accessories will look best when paired with a basic jumpsuit, echoing Jason’s formative look in Friday the 13th Parts 4-6.
3. Wear a grotesque mask underneath the hockey mask or pillow case. At the end of every Friday the 13th flick comes the big reveal when Jason’s mask comes off and the hideous face that lies beneath is exposed. Mimic these shocking scenes by wearing a mask underneath your hockey mask or pillowcase that gives you a stomach-turning, disfigured appearance. You can even find deluxe compound Halloween masks that layer detachable hockey masks over Jason’s ugly mug.
   • Try to find a thin rubber mask that wears comfortably and will allow the hockey mask or pillowcase to fit over it easily.
   • If you don’t want to bother with wearing two separate masks, just slip on a bald cap under the hockey mask so that your own hair isn’t visible.
4. Wrap yourself in fake chains. Jason’s one true fear is water, and he once nearly met his fate while chained to a boulder at the bottom of Crystal Lake. For a little bonus detail, try winding a length of fake chains around your body and let the world know that it can’t keep you down. You can find plastic chain props at most Halloween costume suppliers, or you may be able to find some cheap chains made from real metal for a more realistic clink while you lurch about threatening hippies.
   • Small touches like this are a great way to win favor with horror movie aficionados.

Tips

• Make sure you have all the parts you need for your costume ready before you wear it out.
• Save money by getting your costume accessories from thrift stores, consignment shops or even garage sales.
• Fill in the space around your eyes with dark costume makeup so that your face looks scarier under the mask.
• Go nuts when distressing the clothing you've picked out for your Jason costume. Even if they're falling apart by the time you're done with them, it will just make them more convincing!
• Jason is mute, and never runs when chasing his victims. Stay in character by keeping quiet and walking wherever you go.
• Have your friends dress as camp counselors and follow them around all night for a fun group costume idea.

Warnings

• Gruesome costumes like Jason Voorhees can be pretty intense. Find out whether your costume is appropriate to wear before going out in it. You don't want to unintentionally traumatize young trick-or-treaters.
• Machetes, axes and other implements are extremely dangerous. You should never play around with real tools and weapons.
• Even prop weapons may look real, especially when it's dark. Make sure it's okay for you to have a fake weapon with you where you're going.

Things You'll Need

• Dark gray or blue jumpsuit
• Distressed black clothing
• Black or brown work boots
• Dark blue overalls
• Plaid shirt
• Hockey mask
• Pillowcase with eye hole cut out
• Second mask to wear as face underneath (optional)
• Gloves and/or utility belt (optional)
• Prop to kill
• Friday the 13th movies (for reference)

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Sources and Citations

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