Jason Voorhees

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jason Voorhees (born June 13, 1946) is a fictional character from the Friday the 13th series of slasher films. A vicious mass murderer, he has a presence in all the films, even when he is not the killer. With his trademark hockey goalie mask and machete, he is arguably among the most recognizable villains from any slasher film. Throughout the series, Jason has never spoken aside from occasional mumbles and groans, and a few words in the ninth film of the series when he possessed another man's body. Jason is credited as having been created by Victor Miller, the screenwriter of the first Friday the 13th film, in spite of the fact that he barely appeared in that film. For his part, Miller has gone on record as saying he has avoided watching the sequel films and that he has great reservations about how Jason has been handled.

In 1992, Jason was awarded the MTV Lifetime Achievement Award. He is one (and the first) of only three known completely fictional characters to be given the award. Godzilla and Chewbacca from the Star Wars series are the other two in that order.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg6uk5kiOaU&mode=related&search Jason awarded the MTV Lifetime Achievement Award</ref>

[edit] Character history

[edit] Childhood years

The fictitious slasher film icon Jason Voorhees (middle name cited in some sources as being "Elias" after his father) was born on June 13, 1946, to Pamela and Elias Voorhees. Sometime later, Pamela was left alone to raise Jason. The circumstances leading to Elias' absence remain unknown from the film.

According to the story, Jason is deformed at birth, possibly inflicted with a condition known as hydrocephalus. Originally, Jason was created as a normal child by Victor Miller, but was later made to be deformed as the crew behind the film decided he was not "special" enough. It was eventually decided that Jason be deformed and Tom Savini designed the makeup for Jason's visage. <ref>http://www.fridaythe13thfilms.com/multimedia/pictures/part1/bts1_savinijason2.html. Savini design</ref> When interviewed, Victor Miller, the writer of the original Friday the 13th, was asked about the new "deformed" Jason and said, "He wasn't a deformed creature from the Black Lagoon, but that's how movies are made. I don't think the ending would have been as good if he were a cute blonde kid who looked like Betsy Palmer at 8 years old, do you?" <ref>http://www.campcrystallake.com/interviews/victormiller.htm Victor Miller on Jason's design as a boy.</ref>

According to the story, Jason attended Camp Crystal Lake in the summer of 1957. Jason's mother Pamela worked at the camp as a cook but was unable to look after him, so she insisted the camp counselors care for him while she cooked. Without the protection of his mother, Jason was ridiculed by other children at the camp, both for his hideous deformity and his inability to swim. A dream sequence from Freddy vs. Jason show that Jason's "death" at Crystal Lake was an accident that resulted when the other children taunted and chased him across the docks and into the lake (However, this was a Freddy-induced dream, in which events are often exaggerated, so it's unknown what exactly happened). Jason flailed his arms and cried for help, but the teenage counselors couldn't hear his gurgled screams since they were preoccupied having sex. As a result, Jason drowned, much to his mother's dismay.

Some fans believe that Jason is mentally disabled as well as deformed, but in-film details tend to indicate otherwise, and only his physical deformities are established canon so far. Jason was most certainly born with some degree of malformation—as shown in the flashbacks of his drowning—but his mental abilities are not clarified within the films. Nor is his onscreen portrayal consistent with that of a retarded man; Jason has exhibited intelligent traits such as stealth, cunning, combat ability such as knife-throwing and (in Jason Goes to Hell) the ability to speak. However, he regresses to childlike naivete when confronted with images that remind him of his past or his mother -- a fairly consistent trait throughout the series. A likely assumption is that Jason is not mentally disabled, but that he is, at least in part, still a child emotionally.

[edit] Pamela Voorhees' revenge

As depicted in the film, Mrs. Voorhees went insane with grief after her son's disappearance. She swore revenge. She waited one year from the date of Jason's death to act out her vengeance.

The opening sequence of Friday the 13th occurs on June 13, 1958, when an anonymous killer stalks and murders two teenagers that were responsible for Jason's drowning by failing to watch over him. We learn later this was, in fact, Jason's mother. After the incident, the camp was closed.

A few years later, Mrs. Voorhees allegedly sabotaged an attempt to reopen the camp by setting fire to it. Later still, Mrs. Voorhees poisoned the camp's water to prevent the camp from reopening. Because of these incidents, the locals around Crystal Lake began to believe that the camp was cursed and dubbed it "Camp Blood."

In the movie, the camp was deserted for years until 1979, when a man named Steve Christy, whose parents had originally owned the camp, spent $25,000 to try to reopen it. This didn't please Mrs. Voorhees. Still hellbent on destruction, Pamela snuck into the camp and brutally murdered Mr. Christy and methodically murdered the six teenage counselors one-by-one in a very grisly fashion. After this series of horrific murders, there remained only one person alive at the camp, which is the film's primary protagonist, Alice Hardy.

The movie continues with Alice eventually meeting Mrs. Voorhees at night, unaware of who she is. During this encounter, Mrs. Voorhees reveals to Alice the story of her son Jason and his tribulations as a child, and how the camp counselors, like Alice, were too irresponsible to prevent her son's untimely death. While telling the story, Mrs. Voorhees hears her son's voice in her head, saying the words "Kill her, Mommy! Kill her!" Engulfed in this hysteria, Pamela abruptly attacks Alice in rage. Alice struggles for survival and violently decapitates Mrs. Voorhees with a machete. Alice, bewildered and worn down, walks into a nearby canoe and rows it out into the lake far away from the bloody murder scene, where she passes out from exhaustion.

The film concludes the next morning as police arrive, calling out to Alice as she lies asleep in the canoe in the middle of the lake. Waking up, she sees the officers beckoning her on land. However, in one of the most memorable scenes in the film, the drowned corpse of Jason Voorhees abruptly bursts from the lake and pulls Alice off the canoe and into the murky water. The film finally transitions to the hospital, where Alice is shown to still be alive. Police inform Alice that her "experience" with Jason was merely a dream, likely a byproduct of exhaustion and trauma.

[edit] Jason resurfaces

Although it was stated in the first film that Jason drowned, no explanation is given as to why, in the second film, Jason appears, seemingly alive and well, and having grown into an adult. Witnessing his long-lost mother's bloody demise, he was horribly devastated. Alice, his mother's killer (in self defense), was trying to get over the massacre when Jason attacked her in her home, stabbing her in the head with an ice pick. Jason then returned to the forest. Five years later, a man named Paul Holt opens up a camp counselor training ground near the Camp Crystal Lake site. Jason, wearing a pillow case on his head to hide his disfigured face, goes into the area to drive them out of his home. After dispatching six counselors, he struggles with a girl named Ginny, who drives a machete into Jason's shoulder. Ginny returns to the training ground with Paul and they lock themselves in one of the cabins. A few minutes later, Jason appears to burst through the window and attack the two remaining counselors. However, it is disputed whether this was only a hallucination by Ginny, who awoke to find herself being loaded into an ambulance and Paul nowhere to be seen (Making Friday The 13th: The Legend Of Camp Blood by David Grove, states that Paul was killed off camera).

By the next day, Jason has left the campgrounds and proceeds to the residence of a couple living in the area from whom he steals new clothes before murdering them. (A quick shot of Jason pulling the machete out of his shoulder before he makes his way to the couple's residence suggests the end of the previous movie was, in fact, a hallucination.) He then makes his way to a vacationing spot called Higgins Haven, killing a total of ten teenagers. Without a means of hiding his face, he relegates himself to a barn until he obtains his now trademark hockey mask from one of his victims and begins wearing it. The sole survivor is a girl named Chris Higgins, whose parents own the resort and who was attacked several years before by Jason. Though she is able to hang him, it is not until she strikes him in the head with an axe that he is finally rendered unconscious. Image:Friday3mask.jpg Believing him to be dead, paramedics take Jason's body to the Wessex County Morgue. He soon afterward regains consciousness and promptly kills a coroner and nurse before he heads back into the woods where he murders teenagers renting a lakeside house and targets a family next door. A young boy named Tommy Jarvis finally destroys Jason by striking him in the head with his own machete. But Jason's fingers begin to twitch, and Tommy then continues to attack Jason's body, screaming "Die!" again and again with each blow. The trauma results in Tommy spending the next four years in a mental institution, his grip on sanity severely questioned when paramedic Roy Burns assumes Jason's identity to exact revenge for the death of his son at the Pinehurst halfway house. The real Jason, however, is buried at Eternal Peace Cemetery beside his mother. Initially, the body was to be cremated, but Jason's father intervened to pay for a proper burial.

[edit] Jason returns from the grave

Years later, an older Tommy Jarvis has made great strides in overcoming his mental illness. However, he is still plagued by the thought that Jason could return, and with a friend's reluctant assistance, they unearth the killer's rotting corpse. Upon seeing the body, Tommy madly stabs the body repeatedly with a metal rod from a fence. When he calms down, Tommy prepares to cremate Jason himself, but the rod left in the corpse soon attracts lightning and Jason is reanimated. Rising from his grave, Jason is even more physically powerful, able to endure strong blows and gunshots with little effect. Jason himself even recognizes this new prowess, and unlike in previous confrontations, he does not retract or reel away when his targets fight back.

Tommy, however, devises a plan. Luring Jason into the middle of the lake, at the risk of his own life, Tommy encompasses Jason in a ring of fire and chains him to the bottom. Seemingly drowned in the lake in which he had drowned before as a child, Tommy believes that Jason is finally "home".

Jason's body lies undisturbed at the bottom of the lake where it decomposes over several years. Although initially showing signs of life, it is presumed that Jason eventually did die or simply fell into unconsciousness. Several years later, a girl named Tina Shepard, who lived by the lake as a child, returns in order to overcome the death of her father whom she accidentally killed using her latent psychokinesis. In an attempt to raise him, she winds up reviving Jason instead. After the slaughter of those around her, including her mother, Tina fights back, eventually raising her father to drag Jason back into the lake.

Sometime later, Jason is resurrected again by electricity, this time by a cable tow. When he comes by the cruise ship Lazarus, full of teenagers and bound for New York, Jason secretly boards and begins murdering everyone. When the ship sinks after an accident, he pursues the handful of survivors as they make their way to Manhattan. Once inside the city's sewers, Jason is seemingly washed away as the system is flooded with toxic waste. The issue of Jason's destruction is hampered by the perspective of the final girl who, when the waste clears, sees only Jason as a young boy, free of deformities. This is not further explained in Jason Goes to Hell, and it is possible that Jason Goes to Hell exists within its own continuity.However, Jason's regenerative abilities could have returned him to his zombie-like state, or, the version of him as a child could be how the final girl saw him.

Though Jason had been a local entity, known only to Crystal Lake, the FBI's attention was eventually garnered (presumably by the public mayhem in Manhattan), and a sting was set up. Once he falls into their snare, a SWAT team descends on Jason, blowing him apart. However, Jason's spirit laid in his untouched demonic heart. Jason's soul is then physically passed from host-to-host in an attempt to find a Voorhees, which is the only means of Jason being reincarnated, but a Voorhees is also the only one who can destroy him. Once reborn through his sister's body, his niece takes up a special dagger empowered by her bloodline, and uses it against Jason, sending him directly to Hell. The final shot of the movie is Jason's hockey mask abandoned on the ground. It is dragged, presumably into Hell, by a knife-clawed glove, the trademark weapon of Freddy Kreuger. Then it fades to black with Freddy's signature laugh giving way to Jason's ominous breathing.

[edit] Clash with Freddy Krueger

Image:Freddy vs jason promo.jpgIn 2003, Jason is resurrected once again, this time, by Freddy Krueger, a serial killer with supernatural powers that allows him to control dreams. Disguising himself as Mrs. Voorhees, Krueger manipulates Jason into murdering a number of children in the Elm Street neighborhood in the hope the residents will attribute the deaths to Krueger himself and fear him once again. With this fear, Krueger's powers would regenerate and he could resume his role as a killer through dreams. However, after building up fear in the town of Springwood and restoring Freddy's power, Jason then kills one of Krueger's intended victims before Krueger has the chance to do so. Furious at Jason for taking away something he feels is rightfully his—a victim—Krueger schemes to put his murderous surrogate out of commission. Freddy uses a teenager to tranquilize Jason (and before going under, Jason slices the teenager in half), putting him to sleep and allowing Freddy to enter his dreams. Krueger challenges Jason and discovers his fear of water, but before he can kill him once and for all, Jason wakes up; eventually, Krueger is brought out of the "dream world" and into reality, face to face with Jason. The two then engage in a brutal battle on the campgrounds of Crystal Lake, and both combatants suffer injuries which would kill normal people (including getting impaled by steel rebar, numerous deep stab wounds, and dismemberment). After fighting to the pier of Crystal Lake, teenagers Lori Campbell and Will Rollins set the pier on fire and blow up a gas tank, sending both Jason and Freddy into Crystal Lake. After Freddy comes out of the lake and sets his sights on the teens, Jason impales Krueger through the chest with his own glove (still attached to his dismembered arm). Stunned and dying, Krueger falls to his knees and is then decapitated by Lori Campbell with Jason's machete, all while Jason sinks to the bottom of the lake.

Jason is later seen leaving the lake with Freddy's severed head in tow. Because the head is seen winking, the nature of this scene remains rather ambiguous.

[edit] The future

Image:UberJason.jpg While much of the details leading up to his capture are unknown, in the year 2008 Jason is held in the Crystal Lake Research Facility (built on the site of what was once Camp Crystal Lake). Being unable to have Jason executed due to his regenerative ability, the researchers decree that Jason be held in cryonic suspension.

Unfortunately, when a scientist decides to have Jason taken somewhere else to study his unique regenerative abilities, Jason manages to escape and murders several guards, before being lured by the project manager Rowan into a freezing chamber. As he is being frozen, Jason stabs a hole through the door, both mortally wounding Rowan as well as letting the coolant escape, freezing her with him as the room locks down to save the facility. This is Jason's last known activity as the facility is left undisturbed. Eventually Earth itself becomes an uninhabitable planet, with humanity relocating to a new star system, living on a world called "Earth Two".

In the year 2455, a ship full of students find Rowan and Jason's still-frozen bodies and take them back to their ship. The crew thaws the two bodies, reviving Rowan while Jason remains unconscious, leading the others to believe him dead. When Jason later wakes up, he goes on a killing spree until an android belonging to one of the student upgrades itself and blows off Jason's left arm, right leg, and head, as well as a large portion of his upper torso.

Jason's remains are left on a bed used to help regenerate tissue, and the nanotechnology repairs Jason's injuries (including the hockey mask). The medical equipment discerns that there wasn't enough tissue left to reanimate Jason, but a glitch overrides the abort procedure. The nano-bots search for a synthetic replacement for Jason's tissue, and used the metal around them as a substitute, giving Jason his armored appearance seen above. When the process completes itself Jason's build is larger than before, his strength is enhanced enough to rip through titanium, and his body is virtually indestructible, being able to withstand gunfire and the center of an explosion with no visible damage.

Ultimately, one of the few remaining crew members of the dying ship Grendel sacrifices himself by tackling Jason into the atmosphere of the nearby Earth Two.

The fate of Jason after coming into the planet's atmosphere has so far only been addressed in comics and novels, which are not necessarily canon.

[edit] Other appearances / emulation

The character of Jason has appeared in other media. He has appeared in comic books such as Satan's Six, Jason vs. Leatherface, and most recently a series of specials from Avatar Comics.

Jason Voorhees has a cameo in the music video 'We Don't Die' by the Horror Rap group Twiztid. He can be seen alongside Michael Myers digging a grave, and once more riding beside Jamie Madrox and Monoxide Child, apparently smoking a blunt.

In the movie National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation Clark approaches the camera with a hockey mask and chainsaw, as brooding music starts to play. The music cuts out when his cold-hearted neighbors ask what hes doing from off-screen, causing Clark to turn his head dramatically to the side.

In the anime Pani Poni Dash!, Akane Serizawa can be frequently seen in a hockey mask, trying to impersonate Jason. Also her hand puppet resembles a smaller version of Jason, with Jason's blade and hockey mask as well as his blood-stained shirt.

In the anime Irresponsible Captain Tylor one of Tylor's crewmembers is a man named Jason who is always wearing a hockey mask and never speaks. Although, this Jason seems to be different, having blond hair and an affinity for chainsaws, something Leatherface is famous for.

The Final Fantasy character Edgar Roni Figaro uses a chainsaw as one of his methods of attack. Typically he uses a buzzsaw as his weapon, but randomly dons a hockey mask and uses a true chainsaw, inflicting a mortal blow. Another character, Vincent Valentine, can transform into monsters as his limit breaks. One of these, the "Hellmasker" is wearing a hockey mask and brandishing a chainsaw.

In the Fighting Fantasy gamebook Moonrunner, there is a recurring character named Conrad Zaar. Upon defeating him, his body is struck by lightning and is resurrected as Conrad, The Maniac Guard. He appears dressed in an all-over guards uniform with armoured face mask and armed with a machete, the illustration of which is a straight homage to Voorhees. During the storyline Conrad appears at various times, seemingly unkillable, until his body is weighted down and chained before being thrown into a lake.

Dr. Salvador from Resident Evil 4 wears a sack over his head just like Jason in Friday the 13th Part 2. Although he uses a chainsaw, the trademark of Leatherface. Also, unlike Jason, Dr. Salvador runs for his enemies, and screams, which makes him be very similar to Leatherface, who, due to his retardation, can't stalk his enemies like Jason, who is deformed, but not retarded, and can calmly approach his enemies.

Chainsaw Maniacs (known as Lumberjacks in Europe, changing from chainsaws to axes) are a Jason-esque enemy that wear hockey masks in Zombies Ate My Neighbors.

In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City during the mission "The Job" Tommy dons overalls and a hockey mask to hide his identity. This, combined with the machete weapon, makes him look identical to Jason.

The look of WWE superstar Kane may have been partially inspired by the gruesome tale of Jason Voorhees.

Castlevania 64 features a chainsaw-wielding, imposing Frankenstein Monster. The Monster is impossible to kill due to rapid regeneration: it can only be stunned.

Jason is mentioned as a prisoner in the book Krokodil Tears by Jack Yeovil as part of the Dark Future series.

In Eight Legged Freaks, a citizen puts a goalie mask on his face, wears a jacket similar to that of Jason, and uses a chainsaw to battle the big spiders attacking him.

In an episode of The Simpsons, Homer runs into Bart's room, screaming and wielding a chainsaw and wearing a hockey mask. Jason himself appears in a Halloween show sitting on the couch with Freddy Krueger waiting for the family to arrive. After being asked where they are by Freddy, Jason responds, "Ehh, whaddya gonna do?" and turns the TV on.

Jason has appeared twice on Adult Swim's stop motion animated show Robot Chicken. The first time he is seen is in episode 17, when Scooby Doo and the gang investigate Camp Crystal Lake, with Velma the only survivor of the scene. In episode 19, Jason is one of the many other house guests alongside other famous horror movie figures (Freddy Kreuger, Ghostface of Scream (film), Leatherface, Michael Myers, and Hellraiser's Pinhead) in "Horror Movie Big Brother."

Jason appears in the video game Friday the 13th for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987. In the game, Jason dons a purple jumpsuit and wreaks havoc across Crystal Lake, killing dozens of small children and slaying six camp counselors. Jason's mother also makes an appearance in the game as a giant floating head which the player must destroy multiple times in order to obtain the pitchfork--the only weapon that can kill Jason once and for all. Of course, even after defeating Jason three times, the player is left uncertain whether or not he is really even dead.

In Laurie Faria Stolarz's book Blue is for Nightmares one of the characters attempts to scare the main character, Stacy, by wearing a hockey mask and crawling up her window, most likely being a reference to Jason.

In the video game Battle Arena Toshinden 3, there is a secret character named Judgement who clearly resembles Jason in appearance (including the Hockey Mask), although armed with a chainsaw.

The protagonist of the video game Splatterhouse, Rick Taylor, wears a possessed hockey mask (known as the Hell Mask among other names) similar to Jason's mask that gives him superhuman strength. A boss in the game known as the Biggy Man wears a burlap sack just like Jason does in the second film and has chainsaws for hands. In the two Splatterhouse sequels, the Hell Mask's design was modified to lessen its resemblance to Jason's mask.

Singer Wednesday 13 has a song about Voorhees and Crystal Lake entitled "Till Death Do Us Party" on his 2006 album Fang Bang

FIRSTJASON [1] ,a punk project by Ari Lehman, who played the first Jason Vorhees, is "an unapologetic tribute to not only the character he played but also to the genre, and culture, of horror movies." (Illinois Entertainer), playing songs with titled "Red Red Red," "You Better Run," and "I Never Die."

Mick Thompson Of the Band Slipknot has based his masks on Jason Voorhees.

Dozens of other direct references have been spotted in various media. One website maintains a near-comprehensive list.<ref>http://www.fridaythe13thfilms.com/media/references.html. List of other media references.</ref>

[edit] The men behind the masks

Much like his masked counterpart Michael Myers, the part of Jason Voorhees has been played by various actors; some uncredited, others taking great pride in their parts. Due to the physical demands the character requires and the lack of emotional depth depicted, it comes as no surprise that almost all of the actors are stuntmen with no pre-existing history solely in acting. The best known among them is Kane Hodder who has become a favorite among fans and is often cited as the best to take up the role; there are others, however, that argue against these claims, pointing to another one of the actors as a better or "best Jason." ^{[citation needed]}

In the original Friday the 13th Ari Lehman portrayed a young Jason, seen only in a brief flashback and the surprise ending. Although he is not the only actor to portray a young Jason (a role that went to Timothy Burr Mirkovich in Jason Takes Manhattan and Spencer Stump in Freddy vs. Jason) he is the first actor to ever play Jason Voorhees.

For the role of the first adult Jason, some controversy arose over the role in Part 2. While Warrington Gillette is credited as Jason, the majority of the role was actually played by Steve Daskewisz, who was simply credited as the stunt double. Gillette only played the role in the unmasked scene, with Daskewisz playing the role in almost all of the character's other scenes. Although this credit was corrected of sorts in Part 3 (in which Daskewisz is credited as Jason for the reused footage from the climax of the film), this confusion existed for years.

Daskewisz was asked to reprise his role in the third film, but turned it down simply because of the money he would have had to put out during filming and refrained (though he later stated he regreted this). ^{[citation needed]} Instead, the role went to Richard Brooker, a trapeze artist, cast simply because of his big frame. He took the role believing that dialogue was not a necessity to acting. ^{[citation needed]}

More controversy stirred for the part in The Final Chapter when the role was handed over to professional stuntman Ted White. He refused credit for the role, feeling bad about the treatment of the actors who would play the victims. He claims that he took the role solely for the money, not wanting his name on what he called a "piece of shit." Although, he has been cited as later saying that the film came out better than he had expected and is credited in reused footage for later films. ^{[citation needed]}

Much like with Part 2, there has been confusion over the role in A New Beginning, partly due to the crediting of the killer and not Jason himself. While Dick Wieand is credited as Roy Burns, the film's actual murderer, it was stuntman Tom Morga who performed in the few flashes of Jason, as well as portraying Roy in all but the unmasked scenes. Wieand, while not ashamed, has been outspoken about his lack of enthusiasm over his role in the film. ^{[citation needed]}C.J. Graham auditioned for the role in the sixth film. He initially lost the role, but was called back five days later for the role when the hired stuntman, Dan Bradley, failed to give the desired performance (Bradley can still be seen in the paintball sequence in the film). A nightclub owner with a military history, Graham performed almost all of his own stunts in the role. Although he was passed over for reprising the role, he has often been cited as speaking highly of his time in the part. ^{[citation needed]}

The part was then taken up by Kane Hodder in The New Blood where he carried the role consecutively into Jason Takes Manhattan, Jason Goes To Hell, and Jason X. He remains the only actor to reprise the role, and is often cited as perfecting the role. His strong following caused obvious upset among fans when he was turned down for Freddy vs. Jason. ^{[citation needed]}

For Freddy vs. Jason, the role went instead to Ken Kirzinger, a Canadian stuntman who worked on Jason Takes Manhattan. There has been conflicting reports over the reason behind the casting of Kirzinger, although many believe that it may have simply been due to his residence in Canada, where the film was shot, and thus done to save money. Additionally, according to director Ronny Yu, Kirzinger was hired because he was taller than Freddy actor Robert Englund. Ken stands 6' 6" compared to the 6' 3" of Kane Hodder and Ronny Yu wanted a much larger actor to tower over Englund, even though Englund only stands 5' 10". Yu also wanted someone with more "sympathetic eyes." ^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Trivia

• Ironically, the date given as Jason's birthday was not a Friday the 13th. June 13th 1946 was a Thursday. However, the next June 13th was a Friday the 13th.
• Jason's weapon of choice is the machete, but he has used many other weapons, including axes, knives, spears, and even corkscrews. Primarily, his choices fall under the lines of knives and stabbing weapons. However, despite being portrayed in popular media emulations as using a chainsaw (such as in the videogame Splatterhouse 2 or Eminem's wielding of a chainsaw whilst wearing a hockey mask during a live performance), Jason has never been shown to use such a weapon. In fact, a chainsaw only ever appears in Part 2 and A New Beginning, wielded against him by other characters. The closest Jason ever came to using a chainsaw-like killing tool was in Part 7, when he employed a tree-limb trimmersaw against the character of Dr. Crews.
• Jason is revived by electricity multiple times, such as in Jason Lives and Jason Takes Manhattan, although the electricity in both cases was different: one was lightning and the other an electric cable. Electricity appears to be ineffective at stopping Jason for more than a few seconds at a time, and seemingly invigorates him. He is normally more dangerous after being electrocuted, in a manner extremely similar to Godzilla.
• According to Kane Hodder, Jason would never hurt innocent children or harmless animals, such as a dog. Jason was supposed to kick the main character's dog near the climax of Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan but Hodder refused, saying Jason may kill people but he's not bad enough to kick a dog (Hodder says in the interview, "As ridiculous as it sounds, I said, 'Oh, that's not right. I mean, Jason can pull people's limbs off and beat them to death with their own arms, things like that, but he's not gonna be kicking any dog. You know, you gotta draw the line somewhere.") [2] This is contradicted, however, in early films before Hodder began to play the part -- in Part IV, for example, he attacked young Tommy Jarvis but was ultimately unable to kill him, and also threw the Jarvis family dog out a window, presumably killing it.
• The teenagers Jason attacks are typically those who are involving themselves in premarital sex, drinking, or drugs (much like Michael Myers in the Halloween series). This seems to be explained in Freddy versus Jason, as when Jason was drowning he could have been saved, if not for the camp counselors at Crystal Lake being too involved in the aforementioned activities to notice his predicament. Some of the novels also hint that Jason's anger comes from resentment of the fact that his deformity prevents him from experiencing these things himself.
• Jason frequently targets a victim for what seem to be personal, vendetta-like reasons -- nearly all of his victims are intruders onto Jason's wooded territory. In many of the films (particularly Part VI and after), Jason chases down his quarry while completely ignoring the other potential victims all around him, except for those who try to stop him.
• Jason is noted for having the largest body count (or victims killed) than any other horror movie character. Apparently, he has claimed at least 178-200 victims. According to www.Fridaythe13thfilms.com, the total is 146 [3] (though total kills from the rave from Freddy vs. Jason is unknown). A video clip at collegehumor.com claims to show shots of all the explicit deaths in the Friday the 13th series in chronological order, including Freddy vs. Jason. [4]
• Jason's last name, Voorhees, is usually misspelled as "Vorhees" by journalistic and fan sources. Leading to further confusion, it is even misspelled occasionally by official sources: the back of Part V's VHS box and on a sign seen in Jason Goes to Hell.
• The repetitious noise that accompanies many of the POV shots is explained by composer Harry Manfredini in the DVD commentary for the original film. During the end of the film Mrs Voorhees speaks in a child's voice, ostensibly that of her son, telling her to "Kill her, Mommy". Manfredini spoke the first letter of "kill" and "mommy" through a guitar device to gain a strange echo effect, leading to the "ki-ki-ki-ki" and "muh-muh-muh-muh" used to show that the audience is seeing what the killer sees. Manfredini stated that it suggests that the killer is hearing these voices, and also makes the viewer aware that they are with the killer, rather than a general camera shot.

[edit] See also

• Freddy vs. Jason

[edit] References

http://www.campblood.shiversofhorror.com

[edit] External links

• Friday the 13th Fact Sheet (thejerseydevilfactsheet.com)
• The Many Faces of Jason- a look at the various shots of Jason behind the mask
• A series of clips of all 160 deaths in the Friday the 13th series in chronological order (including Freddy vs. Jason).
• A punk project by ARI LEHMAN

es:Jason Voorhees he:ג'ייסון וורהיס ja:ジェイソン・ボーヒーズ pl:Piątek 13. pt:Jason Voorhees sv:Jason Voorhees