Horror Icons: Jason Voorhees

”His name was Jason…” - Pamela Voorhees.

What happens when a group of camp counselors forget to keep an eye on the children they’re supposed to be watching over and one of them drowns? One of the most prolific slashers of all time is born. His birthday is Friday the 13th and his name is Jason Voorhees.

Jason Voorhees was born June 13, 1946 to Pamela and Elias Voorhees. The oldest of two children, he had a younger sister named Diana. In his youth Jason’s mother Pamela murdered his father Elias because he was abusive. Jason was born physically deformed and mentally handicapped. This made him an outcast to the rest of the world, but he was very close with his mother. As a little boy Jason attended Camp Crystal Lake where his mother Pamela worked as a cook in the cafeteria. One day while Jason was being bullied by the other children at the camp for his deformities. The children then pushed him into the lake and he was left to drown because the camp counselors weren’t watching as they were occupied, drinking, doing drugs and having sex.

After Jason drowned it seemed as if he had died, but he didn’t. He took to the wilderness of Crystal Lake. His mother Pamela went crazy after his drowning and went on a killing spree murdering anyone she could get her hands on who visited the camp grounds, until one of the intended counselor victims, Alice Hardy, fought Pamela to the death, decapitating her with a machete.

After witnessing the brutal death of his mother, Jason took up her mantle as a killer. He first sought revenge by murdering Alice Hardy in retaliation for killing his mother, then he began killing anyone he could get his hands on for returning to the grounds of Camp Crystal Lake.

In the beginning Jason was just a very strong country boy who lived off the wilderness while hunting his prey, but after being killed by a young Tommy Jarvis in the early 80’s and then being resurrected by Tommy on accident in the mid to late 80’s, Jason became a supernatural being who kept returning from his grace to punish anyone who set foot on the grounds of Crystal Lake. Right before his resurrection Jason was actually imitated by coroner Roy Burns, who went on a killing spree after his son Joey was killed at a Crystal Lake mental facility, similar to the actions of Pamela Voorhees and Jason alike.

Having been depicted by the likes of Richard Booker, Kane Hodder and Ken Kirzinger, among many others, what exactly is it that makes Jason the slasher we know? Sporting a hockey mask that he stole from one of his victims Jason kills anyone who sets foot on Camp Crystal Lake’s grounds because he believes that he is continuing the work of his mother, which is punishing those that come to the camp grounds to commit the same sins that were committed when Jason drowned: sex, drugs and drinking. Many of Jason’s victims are even killed while commiting these acts, seemingly proving Jason’s motivations right in a macabre way.

Jason has a personality that many compare Michael Myers, which has led to a lot of confusion as to which is which by people who aren’t the biggest horror buffs. Jason is another silent killer who rarely shows his face and any time that he’s ever spoken words have been brief, cursory and even animated to the point of being unreal. Having been reanimated from the dead he went from being just a super strong human being like Michael Myers to being a supernatural zombie with limitless strength and having a healing factor that made him nearly invincible.

The supernaturality of Jason has allowed his journey to take some interest turns. In the 90’s his heart was revealed to be a demonic manifestation of his spirit that could inhabit a victim’s body, allowing him to control said body as his own. In the early 2000’s he was frozen in time and reanimated over 400 years into the future.this supernaturality allowed him to kill his victims in more inventive and entertaining ways.

As the center figure of the Friday the 13th franchise Jason has built a 12 film legacy of a series, which included a crossover with A Nightmare On Elm Street antagonist Freddy Krueger and a 2009 remake. He has also become a pop culture icon who’s story has been imbedded in the American consciousness. The style of his series has inspired other horror films that came later such as Scream, effectively building a blueprint for everyone to follow.

Jason has been one of my top favorite horror icons since I first saw him. I actually found his isolation and purpose very relatable, as do many other Friday the 13th fans. Seeing him in theaters in 2003 when Freddy Vs Jason came out was the most epic time I had at the movies to this day. I look forward to the day his legacy finds it way back to the big screen, which may be very soon. It’s more than safe to say that Jason Voorhees will always be one of the greatest horror icons of all time.