The Slashed Script: Elias Lives
In the first edition of The Slashed Script we discussed one of the original written death scenes for the very first victims in the series. Today’s topic is death free, instead focusing on bringing to life the mystery man of the Friday the 13th saga: Jason’s father Elias Voorhees. Originally written to be introduced in Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, the character has gained an upsurge in awareness following the Meeting Mr Voorhees animatic on the Deluxe DVD which had artist Crash Cunningham illustrations reconstruct the the scripted scene and a voiceover by Caretaker actor Bob Larkin as sugar on top.
Read on for the complete excerpt from the original screenplay then my thoughts.
FADE IN:
EXT. CEMETERY – DAY
SUBJECTIVE MOVING CAMERA
Slowly we HEAD between the tombstones, stalking the old caretaker, Martin. He is bent over, pulling weeds. We COME CLOSER and CLOSER, then finally stand towering over him. He senses us and turns around, STARTLED.
ANOTHER ANGLE ON MARTIN
He climbs nervously to his feet, quickly dropping the weeds.
MARTIN
(overly friendly)
You.. .ha-ha.. frightened me. I was just, you know, cleaning up the...place, you know. Ha-ha.
OVER THE SHOULDER OF STRANGER – ON MARTIN
All we see is a dark suit and longish red-gray hair. The way Martin looks up at him, we know he is hiding true terror of this mysterious stranger.
MARTIN
Er.. nice to see you again, Mr. Voorhees...Haven’t seen you in Crystal...er, Forest Green, in quite some time.
There is only a deathly silence from the nefarious man.
MARTIN
(nervously)
Hey, I’ve been takin’ real good care of your wife and son’s graves. Go look. You’ll be real pleased.
Martin forces a grin to cover his fear.
ANGLE ON MR. VOORHEES’ HAND
It reaches into his back pants pocket and withdraws a small wad of money. The gnarled hand gives it to Martin.
MARTIN obsequiously accepts his payment. He practically genuflects before him.
MARTIN
Thank you, Mr. Voorhees. Thank you. I’ll leave you in private, like you like. Okay, er...bye. Thank you.
He takes his earning and dashes away...probably to the liquor store.
ANGLE ON LAWN
Mr. Voorhees’ black shoes head toward us and stop. Slowly, we TILT UP toward his face. Just as we reach his chest...
ANGLE OVER HIS SHOULDER – ON TWO GRAVES
We recognize them from before.
CLOSER ON GRAVES
Of course, they are his wife’s and son Jason’s.
WIDER ANGLE – FROM BEHIND HIM
He stands menacingly over his family’s resting place...Does he sense something is wrong here?
EXTREME CLOSEUP OF HIS EYES
They stare down at his son’s grave. These eyes are truly evil. Cold. Dark. Demonic. Then the worst happens... They slowly look up at us. They seem to accuse us of knowing the true whereabouts of his son. AND HE WON’T STOP GLARING AT US.
Based on the pages alone, this didn’t represent any serious attempt to integrate Elias into the storyline as it’s so out of left field, contrary to the tight plotting of Jason Lives. Mr Voorhees’ is best compared to the Man In Black in Halloween 5: The Revenge Of Michael Myers. And as much as that character was berated at the time, he was at least peppered across various scenes throughout the movie, so I can see how much this singular Elias appearance would have derailed this self-contained story.
Elias’ inclusion in the Jason Lives script represents writer/director Tom McLoughlin’s “kitchen sink” approach to the material on paper. Consider that the sequel contains, but was not limited to: gore, car chases, explosions, romance, comedy, kids in peril, even jailhouse procedural. So why not try adding a little family drama into the mix? You have to award him points for trying.
An interesting footnote is that the Elias name is of Hebrew origin, meaning “my lord is my god” which is reflected in the written scene when the caretaker is pretty much bowing at Mr Voorhees’ feet. That along with the demonic references were creating a parallel to the devil. Jason’s father would have been the dark root of all evil – in the Voorhees clan, anyway.
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Would love to see Jason’s father Elias incorporated into a future F13 film.
Would also love Elias being brought into “official” lore in a future film, or even a new official series of novels, if we can’t get any films right now. Gotta keep the story going!
I want to see Elias in a film, but why does he have to be evil? Plus we might be able to find out why Jason has a sister in JGTH
i dig it my diet is blood blood and more blood