Friday the 13th is a slasher movie that relies on the simplicity of a very basic plot: a masked, machete-wielding madman wreaks bloody vengeance on counselors at the campgrounds where he drowned as a boy. It's not a unique origin story, but the trajectory of Jason Voorhees' development throughout the franchise is absolutely ridiculous.
Despite his monstrous reputation and record for the highest body counts of any slasher (so far), Jason had simple origins and a tragic backstory that has caused many fans to not only idolize him, but empathize with his character. Some even relate to his beginnings as an outcast, having been ostracized in some way, only to find confidence and purpose later on in life. undead.
He is a true titan of terror, standing alongside major players like Leatherface (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Michael Myers (Halloween), and Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street), but one of the most interesting facets of Jason Voorhees' character is how he has taken on so many different iterations, walking a tightrope between life, death, and being altogether undead.
Pamela Voorhees Was the Original Friday the 13th Killer
Born to Elias and Pamela Voorhees on June 13, 1946, Jason was an unfortunate child from the get-go. He suffered with ailments that caused major facial and physical deformities, including hydrocephalus and mental disabilities. Raised in Crystal Lake, Jason spent his time as a boy at Camp Crystal Lake, where his mother worked as a cook. Jason's mother kept him tucked away from the world, isolated and homeschooled because she feared how he'd be treated; she always was marked with a very protective nature. The one time she let him out of her sight, he was placed in the care of camp counselors, who left him unattended and vulnerable when they were off fraternizing and not paying attention to the campers. Bullies at the camp ended up throwing Jason from the docks, resulting in his death by drowning.
Pamela, blinded by rage after hearing of her son's death, later got her revenge on the counselors at Camp Crystal Lake and murdered most of them. The sole survivor of the initial bloodbath, Alice, decapitated Pamela with a machete. The end of Friday the 13th shows Alice out on the lake in a canoe, daydreaming, only to be capsized by young Jason - who is apparently not dead after all!
Jason Is The Monster of Camp Crystal Lake
After her subsequent rescue, Alice is reassured by police that they "did not find any boy" in the lake, which implies that he's dead and she fell asleep in the canoe. Eventually, we learn this isn't true. Jason survived and took up residence in the forest, waiting for his mother to find him. He continued this for over 20 years. Jason saw Alice murder his mother, causing him to seek revenge by tracking down Alice and murdering her in her own apartment. After that point, Jason went back to camp and became territorial, killing any teenagers in the surrounding area.
At this stage, Jason is still presumed to be mortal and very much alive. Finally, he suffers a presumably fatal blow via an axe to the head in Friday the 13th Part III. Jason is taken to the morgue in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter which was meant to be the true end for his character. After murdering a nurse and a morgue attendant, Jason makes his way back to Camp Crystal Lake only to be killed, presumably for real this time, by young Tommy Jarvis.
A New Beginning For Zombie Jason
Originally intended to restart the franchise, Friday the 13th: A New Beginning brought back the character of Tommy Jarvis for another showdown with Jason, who isn't actually Jason in the film at all, but a copycat killer. In part six, our masked killer is accidentally revived from the dead in a Frankenstein adjacent move by Tommy, who goes to Jason's grave to destroy his body only to provide a jolt of electricity via a cemetery fence post that resurrects him. The now-zombified Jason Voorhees has supernatural powers that bolster his already formidable skills and turn him into a killing machine.
Zombie Jason manages to outwit and outlast many memorable opponents, including the telekinetic Tina Shepard (Friday the 13th VII: The New Blood), punk rock teenagers in New York City (Friday the 13th VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan), and Freddy Krueger himself (Freddy vs. Jason). Jason even survived the FBI (Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday). This, he accomplished via demonic possession, which implies that he's not a zombie. Some have speculated that Jason could be a Deadite. Another plot twist in this film explores that Jason can only be killed by his family.
From there, Jason took a journey to space (Jason X), where he got a brand new body via advanced technology that essentially repaired all the decayed, undead parts of him. Now, it certainly seems like he might be invincible, which is probably the case. The Friday the 13th franchise, however, seems to be dead in the water.