Of Chris Snellgrove
| Published
There’s nothing warmer on a cold night than the blanket of nostalgia, which is why the wife and I have been re-watching all the Friday the 13th movies. The franchise goes further with each new film, inexplicably introducing supernatural elements like reanimated corpses, telekinetic girls, and a main character who can magically resurrect. All of this led me to my own fan theory about the franchise: namely that Crystal Lake really does have a “death curse” and that the past witchcraft of the late Pamela Voorhees can explain most of the otherwise inexplicable events in these films.
Now, before some horror freaks get their machetes out, I’ll be the first to admit that my “new” theory is more like a weird stew of previous theories. For example, countless fans have speculated that Crazy Ralph was on the money about Crystal Lake being cursed, and Jason is going to hell director Adam Marcus introduced the idea of Pamela Voorhees using dark magic to revive her son. Of course, Marcus believed that the resurrection was accomplished via the Necronomicon from Evil Dead.
My theory is that Mama Voorhees was trying to cast a completely different spell, and her untimely death set off a chain of eerie events.
How Pamela Voorhees’ Death Explains the Friday the 13th Franchise
While I totally reject the Necromonicon thing (sorry, Jason as a Deadite is deep stupid), I think Pamela Voorhees became a witch woman just before the first movie took place. This would give her the power to resurrect her son and make them a family again. But we all know that black magic requires sacrifice, and it’s my theory that her assassination attempt in the first film was an attempt to complete a magical spell and bring Jason back to life.
Like all good things Friday the 13th however, the devil knows that her head gets chopped off at the end of the first movie before she can kill her final victim (and, in my theory, complete the spell). Given the innate magical abilities within her at this time (at least, according to my theory), the dark energies within her body would have seeped into the Crystal Lake itself and the surrounding area. At the very least, this explains Jason Voorhees’ otherwise inexplicable resurrection: he was revived by the chaotic magic rather than a focused spell, bringing him back as a monster man and not a little boy.
However, the intent of Pamela Voorhees’ spell would seep into the campsite, which may explain why the final girls in the first three films all had dream visions of being attacked by someone who was supposed to be dead (kid Jason, adult Jason, and Pam Voorhees, respectively) . Speaking of resurrection, I think Pam’s broken spell is why Jason was impossible (he keeps coming back to life after all) even when he was just a guy with a bag on his head. The same magic may explain why he inexplicably resurrected in Jason is aliveto become the completely unstoppable zombie we all know and love.
He’s not necessarily the only one affected, as the spell’s restorative power would explain how the father of The new bloodThe last girl was still alive in Crystal Lake after drowning years before. Speaking of the final girl (Tina Shepard), my theory could explain why she inexplicably developed telekinetic powers while experiencing trauma in Jason’s old stomping grounds. The movie makes it clear that her powers are at their peak in this area, which would make sense if those powers came from Pam Voorhees’ old curse, making them stronger where her body still exists.
No one can explain everything that happens in this horror series
Of course, this is no perfect Friday the 13th theory. For example, it doesn’t explain how Jason switches from having the intelligence of a dumb animal to knowing how to do things like disable radio antennas on yachts. However, it builds on Adam Marcus’ fun but flawed Deadite theory while explaining much of the inexplicable nature of this venerable franchise. Hopefully that curse still has some energy left, because I’d love nothing more than to see this franchise take after its main character and creep back to life when we least expect it.
