So, I was recently discussing the Friday the 13th franchise with friends, and what I thought was really going on in the films. Turns out I’m reading more into the films than most people, but I honestly feel like there’s a whole story going on under the surface if you just pay attention to a few key things.
Theory: Pamela Voorhees was killing the counselors to complete a ritual to resurrect Jason. Jason kills to keep himself alive, and because he’s trying to resurrect his mother with the same ritual and failing.
Evidence: Jason drowned in 1957, according to the first film. His mother killed the ones responsible in 1958, or the ones she blamed anyway. Then...nothing for two decades. Then for some reason she attacks and kills the counselors at the camp when it’s going to reopen. Why?
Now you could argue she’s insane and blames the camp regardless of who works there but I think something else is going on. I feel like Mrs Voorhees is trying to complete a ritual that will finally bring Jason back to life. She returns to the site of his death. She kills the new counselors, using their deaths, possibly even their souls as fuel for the magic, or payment to a dark power in exchange for her son. Add in the number of victims, 9, which is important in several magic systems and numerology, commonly signifying completion, and the idea doesn’t seem so ridiculous.
Now you might point out there were 10 victims not 9, and your right, but while 9 means completion, 10 can mean finality, the beginning of a new cycle, and a return to unity between being and non-being. So the 10th victim, Alice would be the one to finish the ritual and bring back her son. And let’s not forget Alice is the Final Girl, traditionally the virgin(al) character in a slasher flick so her being the final sacrifice plays into the ritual theory as well.
For a little behind the scenes meta-evidence we can look at the soundtrack. The iconic Ki Ki Ki Ma Ma Ma from the series first appears in this film. Harry Manfredini did the score of the film and has said it comes from the scene where Mrs Voorhees is reciting “Kill her, Mommy!” (KI-ll her MA-mmy!) So this could be Jason, or some demonic entity pretending to be Jason, whispering in her ear and inspiring her to kill and complete this ritual. In the end though it’s Mrs Voorhees and not Alice that dies, and we get the stinger of Jason attacking Alice in the boat, rising from the waters looking like a water soaked corpse. The film plays it as a dream, but then has a cop say they didn’t find a body so what was it? I think it was a flashback and Jason rose from the bottom of the lake to attack her but had to flee as he was still too weak.
So, why does Jason kill? The easiest explanation is he’s angry over his mother, but like her he returns to the camp over and over. I think he is trying to recreate the ritual to bring her back and can’t do it. Or, the ritual has made him into some kind of psychic vampire. If we buy into 10 deaths to resurrect him, what keeps him from dying again, permanently?
I feel like it’s one of two things. Either every kill empowers the energy that resurrected him even more, and would explain why he seems to grow bigger and more powerful through the franchise, or that his mother’s spirit, empowered by the ritual, just refuses to let him die again. Now I know he “died” in Part IV, but the following films would suggest he either went into Tommy or was just hibernating until the time was right to return.
So there you have it. My overthinking of what’s going on in the Friday the 13th movies. What do you think? Is there a hidden story, even unintentionally, in the films? Let me know, and don’t forget to check out Celluloid Fever Dreams my weekly podcast on under-appreciated, overlooked, forgotten and cult films from cinema history, available on Anchor, Apple, Spotify and more.