Character observation: Jason Voorhees
It has always been said, that you never know what tomorrow brings. Well folks that is true, but every story has its ending and when the time comes for Friday the 13th to have its end, how do you think it should end ? He’s been killed off numerous times to ‘close the book’, but he still just keeps coming back. He even came back from hell (Freddy VS Jason), that just shows you this guy just won’t go down.
But since Friday the 13th has been rebooted, then just maybe this version of Jason doesn’t have the regenerating abilities that his original counterpart had. We all know that Rob Zombie’s version of Michael Myers turned out to be easily killed off, so that makes you wonder how important the character of Jason is to the studio execs.
I still say that Jason is in better hands with Platinum Dunes moreso than Michael Myers is with the Weinstein company. I mean they (and Rob Zombie) have literally pissed all over that franchise. But I will leave that for the Halloween fans to discuss.
Our boy, Jason, has proved to be an enigma within the slasher genre. He’s the man behind the mask. Could you have ever guessed he had a song written about him, with him in the music video by none other than the legendary Alice Cooper. Yes, I know there were slashers before him, but no slasher has surpassed him in the films, not even Jigasaw. We are drawing in on the 13th film in the franchise, the second in the second series.
Friday the 13th, in the original series, has 11 films. The franchise is on its second milestone. He was the first fictional character to have won the MTV’s Lifetime Achievement Award, an award only two other fictional characters have won. He was ranked #26 in Wizard magazine’s 100 greatest villains of all time. He is a cultural icon in America.
I will go as far as saying that Jason Voorhees is the Elvis Presley of horror films. Criticize that all you want, but that my friends is just my opinion. I hold the character in high regard. He was my first love in horror. I was disappointed when I watched Freddy VS Jason because I believe they tried to make Jason look weak. That is something I will always hold against director Ronnie Yu.
Now Jason X, we had the always-diabolical Jason. I hold no hard feelings against the creators of that film. They had a great ideal about sending Jason to space, the dialogue could of been better and a sequel to the film would of been nice, but all is forgiven on my part. Personally, when I heard the same guys who penned FVJ, were going to pen the reboot, I got scared because I didn’t want a reboot to end up being like FVJ. But once I seen what they done, I was satisfied with the film. Had New Line hired Ronnie Yu to direct, it would of probably bombed. I hope they leared their lesson with FVJ.
I know it sounds like I hold a grudge, but keep in mind we never grew up with a weak Jason and to be introduced with that concept is just embarrassing. I mean the only reason the director picked Ken Kirzinger over Kane Hodder is because he wanted a Jason that towered over Freddy Krueger, and he wanted someone with sympathetic eyes. I have all the respect in the world for Kirzinger, I think he done the best he could and I’m sure if in the right hands he would of been an effective Jason, but I don’t see that he had a say in the matter.
So in the end, after all of this, do you really want to see the series end ? I’ve heard many fans say they wished there was never a remake, but I believe that if it were put in the right hands then there would be no worries. I think one of the big reasons behind the success of the reboot film was solely because it was made by fans of the original series. All involved were fans of Jason and I think they done something great with that film.
So yeah I will accept a reboot, I will accept Jason Voorhees only if they don’t branch out on him, and when I say that I mean do anything that makes him not Jason. So I look forwards to seeing Jason again.
I think this franchise has the longevity of a Dracula or a Frankenstein. Jason Voorhees has been knocked off(but never duplicated) in so many other horror films the sames way as Dracula and Frankenstein have been. The story will have its closure in this second series the same as the original did when it ended with Jason X, but it’ll be renewed again and again with new generations being exposed to this iconic figure. It doesn’t matter how dramatic or climactic(anticlimactic) the end of this series may be, Jason will walk again. And again.
Viva la Voorhees.
AS THEY SAY evil never dies..!! and so the same for jason he is a monster and will hunt you down 4 the rest of your life …so bring on more jason, more gore and more crazy kills I dont want this to stop …shotz10!! I realy think we will get at least 3 new jason movies i here there is gunna be at least 3 nightmare on elm street movies so hey why not jason then after the 3 he can be a zombie and maby they can make a new vs movie.!!
Jason is like Jesus Christ in a sense…he never dies (this has been established through the film cannon). Even if you blow him up, his body will find a way to regenerate itself. And just like Jesus Christ, who’s body ascended to heaven after the crucifiction, Jason’s body was descended to hell in Part 9…but unlike Jesus who has yet to return to save humanity, Jason has come back numerous times and continued his killing sprees over and over again.
So the answer is that there is no way to really kill Jason and its impossible to end this franchise. Jason will always be resurrected.
You got it Jimbo. This franchise will always survive for as long as the fans want it to.
I agree, as long as fans will pay to see these films they will keep making them, count me in as one of those who will keep paying to see Jason do his thing as only he can :)
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again…you can count me in too..
Jason will never die. You could chop him into little bits, burn the pieces, liquify them, and then blow that up with a nuclear bomb and he’ll still come back. Jason represents the undying spirit of horror…the fun of slasher movies. When I saw the reboot at my theater, all the girls were screaming and all us guys were cheering at the kills. Just like the 80’s. Though Michael is my favorite slasher, Jason IS horror. He gets a reaction out of audiences that few other villains can. People are frightened by him but he plays a large part of American culture, he embodies the fun of being scared. So as long as there is horror, there is Jason Voorhees.
That’s my $0.02, anyway…
I don’t think the franchise will ever end. It’s going to go on and on. It was in the mid 1980’s when I remember reading a blurb or rumor that Fangoria Magazine printed about the Friday the 13th movies going on to Part 13. They said something about how the films would end in the 1990’s or something. Back then it seemed like, “WOW 13 Parts! Then it’s over!” But 1993 came and there were only 9 parts and JGTH was ’supposedly’ the final Friday. But now in 2024 we will finally be reaching 13 movies featuring Jason!
I agree with TheRustyMachete with the Dracula/Frankenstein comparison. There were countless of all of those “Dracula” and “Frankenstein” films. Some of those films were sequels, some were reboots of the older films, some were even re-imaginings and many of them had different actors playing Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster. That is now the case with the new rebooted Friday the 13th’s and many of the new remakes of older films. The same way Dracula has carried on, Jason will continue on even after all of the original fans have kicked the bucket LOL. Too bad we won’t be around to get to see “Friday the 13th: Part 666″ in the year 2666! Imagine the marketing on that one! LOL
How about Jason Lives 2024 …!!!hahah or The legend of VOORHEES
or The Curse OF Voorhees.. or Return To Camp Crystal Lake a fiday the 13th ….JUST throwing some Some cool names out there, maby they will look on here and use of of my .! hahah cool
Don’t kill off Jason! But if he were to go, he should perhaps ‘pass the torch’, maybe get Mrs. Voorhees resurected? That would be cool though, to see Mrs. Voorhees at it again, because I always think that she is much more sadistc and hateful than Jason, who just doesn’t understand what he’s doing(really). So Jason dies(he drowns in some weird electric/chemical water), ressurecting Mrs. Voorhees and letting her kill off some campers in awful ways. It would make things come full circle again.
Hey shotz10, how about “House of Voorhees”? There could be a museum dedicated to the memory of JV run by some weird old man who happens to be related to Jason in some way. He has children and grandchildren who are all mongoloids and is training them to carry on the Voorhees legacy. The film comes to a head when all the people in the house start a battle royale because of jealousy towards one another’s kills, and in the end there’s one left standing, whose name just happens to be Jason.
I just hope they don’t continue with the silly stuff like Jason X,I swear if they make a “Jason in da hood” I will cry and sadly,I will probably watch it :D
“I swear if they make a “Jason in da hood” I will cry and sadly,I will probably watch it”
“Leprechaun in da hood” did so well on DVD, that they made a sequel, so who knows, the possibilities are endless. ;)
“Big Jason’s House”. Jason gets dressed up as a fat woman to infiltrate a criminal organization in suburban Crystal Lake.
I’d love to see the return of Mrs. V doing her thing!
I have always felt that, along with being fun movies to watch, that the Friday the 13Th films succeed so well because they work off of two ancient structures of storytelling.
The first is archetypal storytelling that involves the assigning of characters that are not only themselves buy also are representative of something. Sheriff Garris isn’t just one man, he represents law enforcement and authority. To see him go from trying to shut Tommy up about Jason (a problem in the town) to eventually fighting Jason and sacrificing himself to save his daughter shows a transformation of law and authority from ignoring the needs and warnings of the people to realizing the threat and selflessly acting on that realization. Steve Christy represents structure. While at the camp all is safe. Annie is killed, because she is not yet at the camp. Christy leaves, and the killings start to happen at the camp. The death of Christy is also the death of structure and all the security that structure brings. Then, only after killing Christy, does Pamela show herself.
The other aspect is the use of symbolism and the subliminal. Friday the 13Th is mostly a visual franchise. It is steeped in symbolism and the occult that acts on the subliminal. Jason only has one good eye in most of the Franchise. It peeks out from the pillow case, head wrap, or hockey mask as if peering through another dimension. (Which is what it is symbolizing.) It is the all seeing eye of Horus, the sun god, as seen on the back of the dollar bill. (Also peering through a dimension.) It is symbolic of the watchers. And, what does Jason do? He watches, and polices the actions of mankind through harsh retribution. Why does the snake show up in Part 1? Then again as Jason in Part 9? It is the Annunaki, the serpent bloodlines that rule the world, that many would appropriately call many of them demons. Personified in Christianity as Satan, the dragon, the beast. They ruled as the Knights Templar and their arrest began on a Friday the 13Th. That is why Friday the 13Th is considered unlucky. That is why Jason is so connected with the date. The serpent possessed peoples’ bodies. Of course it did, that’s what some of them do. That’s why they are shown again this way in the early Stargate series, serpent creatures that wear human bodies. This is all around, for those who look. That’s why many of the ruling banking families’ coats of arms have dragons on them. That’s why dragons are all around the city of London. I once saw a comic that enshrined Jason’s mask with snakes all around it, there is a good reason why. The Franchise takes place, largely, in the forest. This is representative of paradise, the Garden of Eden. Sandra and Jeff, as a friend once pointed out to me, are clearly Adam and Eve. The woman tempts the man to go to the forbidden place. They see a dead dog, and gain the knowledge of life and death, good and evil. They then get caught by the police, representative of authority. They then try to hide what they had seen from anybody, hiding from authority. The prologue of Part 8 explains the human condition many are in, and that they are in it because they place themselves in it. Taking place in New York, the soon to be site of 911. Which, once understood, shows the principles described at the beginning of Part 8, which have been used by those ruling against the people for thousands of years. Also there is the clear connection with the moon and femininity the Franchise shows. It is the recasting of the Father, Son, Mother god trinity. Elias, the god that is not seen with the eyes. Jason, his eternal son on earth that dies to rise again, and Pamela as the mother and Queen of Heaven, Semiramis, Our Lady of Babylon. She is represented as the moon in this Franchise, and is always watching. Also, who is mother is Part 9? Diana, the roman moon goddess. The Franchise shows the battle between humanity and a demon. A push and pull relationship that has gone on for some time. Part 9 has much to pay attention to for those who research the occult and connect that dots. It’s probably the most telling of the Franchise really, as to what Jason is.
A good source to start with, for those who are interested in such things, is the video titled Ruled by the gods by David Icke.
TheRustyMachete thats kinda cool “House of Voorhees” lol you never know what they will bring us in the next 10 years of jason!!
Hey I should write a story about “House of Voorhees”. I wonder if Fridaythe13thfilms.com would post it on the site?
“Hey I should write a story about “House of Voorhees”. I wonder if Fridaythe13thfilms.com would post it on the site?”
You can write it out with a really good story and Dusk, me, or jasonsfury can review it ourselves and go from there
everyone dies, including Jason. That’s why I liked part 5 so much. it showed that he was dead, but that “evil lives on”. Trite but true. Jason was allowed to die as a child, and his mother wreaked vengeance. Jason avenged his mother, and was killed by the child of a mother he’d killed. Tommy probably should’ve picked up from there, but we have Roy. I think “the final chapter” was a great ending to the franchise, and part 5 was a great final nail in the coffin. It shouldve continued with Tommy, but whatev. Don’t get me wrong, Parts 6 thru whatever are great, but I never felt like they were really a part of anything, kind of like how August Derleth wrote books under H.P. Lovecraft’s name, but you knew it wasn’t the real deal.
PS- why is eveyone on this site so down on Ronnie Yu? FvJ was entertaining, looked awesome, and thru its broad appeal probably kept the character of Jason from dying off completely in the public eye. I mean, if you think the idea of Freddy vs Jason is good to begin with, your standards aren’t that high anyway
:P
Heh I don’t know about reptiles and the moon goddess lol but I’ve always thought of the franchise as a campfire story, a legend and a legend never really has an ending, its sort of open ended, open to repeated and evolving interpretations. A legend about a vengeful curse on the irresponsibility of youth, excess, an attempt not to right a wrong, but to seek an eternal punishment on the guilty. Jason’s vengance was a correction for the excesses of the 80’s, society’s own guilt and fear manifest as an unstoppable punisher.
I think the only way to kill Jason has something to do with his dad Elias. Maybe Jasons supernatural powers came from him. And since Hes never been introduced to the series, I think itd be perfect.