Movies
Everything You Need to Know About Jason Voorhees
Though Summer has ended, the things we did over the summer will never leave us. The cookouts, the drinks by the fire, that masked guy who put an axe in our friend’s spine. Have you ever wondered why that happened? Well, today’s article is for you. We’ll be going through the history of one of horror cinema’s most famous slashers, Jason Voorhees, explaining how he does it, what makes him tick, and perhaps even answering what’s going on in that lumpy giant brain behind the hockey mask.
Welcome back to Horror 101, a series of articles where we explain horror movie legends and their lore. For beginners, the confused, or just those who need a refresher, these articles are for you.
The usual rules apply for this type of article: I will not be taking into consideration any comics, books, or television shows. We’re strictly doing the official films, beginning with Friday the 13th (1980) and ending chronologically with Jason X.
We’ll also consider the 2009 reboot for one crucial detail.
So, let’s make like a machete and cut right to it.
WHO IS JASON VOORHEES?
It all begins with Camp Crystal Lake, a campground (in New Jersey!) owned by the Christy family. Born to Pamela Voorhees, the cook at Camp Crystal Lake, Jason was born disabled, which led to being bullied as a child. Often mocked and teased by younger campgoers and ignored by irresponsible camp counselors, Jason lived a short and miserable “first” life.
While swimming in Crystal Lake in 1957, the counselors left Jason alone and surrounded by cruel children who chased him down and threw him off the dock. A panicked Jason drowned, which caused the camp to be closed temporarily when his body was never recovered.
Unbeknownst to Pamela and the rest of the world, Jason survived drowning and wandered the woods surrounding Crystal Lake until adulthood, surviving in an old shack. Pamela was nonetheless struck with grief and became bitter and resentful, murdering two of Camp Crystal Lake’s counselors in 1958. She would go on to set several fires and sabotage the camp’s many reopenings, leaving the Christy family destitute.
In 1980, the eldest son of the Christy family, Steve, attempted to reopen the camp and ended up drawing the ire of Pamela, who began murdering to tarnish the camp once more. Her spree ended when she was killed in self-defense by camp counselor Alice Hardy. Jason would recover her remains and create a shrine for his mother’s head, soon mirroring her habits as he became full of rage and resentment.
Taking up a machete as his weapon of choice, and later donning his iconic hockey mask in Friday the 13th Part III, Jason Voorhees became a menacing killer, whose legacy would span decades and even extend outside of the camp to places like Manhattan, and eventually the stars themselves.
WHY DOES JASON VOORHEES KILL?
The two most prominent reasons for Jason’s bloodlust are to seek vengeance for drowning and to get revenge for his mother’s murder. In the 2009 reboot, we see it explicitly. Still, it’s only implied a grown Jason saw Alice killing his mother and started targeting teens because of it.
While it’s lampshaded that Jason hates drug use and premarital sex in a couple of films in some very funny ways, that was really Pamela’s gripe about the counselors. I think it’s safe to say those concepts are probably lost on him, given that he’s not very smart.
Respectfully, of course.
HOW DOES JASON VOORHEES DIE?
After years and dozens of kills, Jason Voorhees had become the stuff of nightmares. But he was still human, and after suffering wounds throughout the first 3 films, was eventually weak enough to be killed during the events of Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, where his skull was cleaved with his own machete.
The person who took him out was Tommy Jarvis, a young boy, and special effects hobbyist living at Crystal Lake. His traumatic experience with the killer and legends of his uncanny survival made him believe Jason would return. This fear was only exacerbated when Roy Burns took up Jason’s mantle and terrorized a teenage Tommy at Pinehurst Halfway House.
WHO IS ROY BURNS?
He’s the replacement “Jason” after Tommy Jarvis killed Voorhees the first time. He was a paramedic who went mad when his son, Joey, was murdered by a disgruntled member of Pinehurst. He got thrown on a wall of spikes and died.
I like Roy, but he’s not the focus of this article, so let’s move on!
HOW DOES JASON VOORHEES KEEP RETURNING FROM THE DEAD?
After Tommy Jarvis’ encounter with Roy Burns, he becomes especially paranoid and goes to dig up his nemesis during a thunderstorm, intending to destroy his body. In the process, Jason’s corpse is struck by lightning, and he inexplicably returns from the dead. This raises many questions, and the Friday films have spent a lot of time explaining why that happened.
Throughout the series, it’s stated that Jason has an unrivaled regenerative capability. In Jason X, it’s shown that the U.S. government was keeping him in cryostasis specifically to study that ability. The rules are vague, but we can make a few assumptions about how this ability works.
Jason Voorhees can take just about any amount of physical punishment as long as his body is still mostly intact. For instance, the ending of Jason Takes Manhattan shows him being dissolved in a flood of toxic waste and drowned, but he still keeps going. If his body is blown apart or significantly dismembered though, as seen in Jason Goes to Hell and Jason X, he can’t return without assistance. In Jason X, a swarm of nanites accelerates his natural healing and turns him into Uber Jason.
In Jason Goes to Hell, we see he has one last trick up his sleeve to evade death: transferring his spirit into another person. In the film, Jason is described as an entity that wears bodies like suits; this degrades anyone he possesses, filling them with disease and slowly melting them from the inside out. From there, he can return to his complete form by possessing another Voorhees blood relative, which allows him to regain his hulking zombie body.
And his mask… For some reason?
SO…IS JASON VOORHEES A DEMON THEN?
There are two schools of thought on this question:
1. Jason Voorhees himself is a demon who can naturally regenerate his body, or
2. The Voorhees bloodline is cursed, and that forces Jason to keep coming back.
In Jason Goes to Hell, Professional Jason hunter Creighton Duke says Jason is something humankind has never seen before but doesn’t actually explain what he is, or why only Voorhees blood relatives can take him out. A scrapped effect for the film showed Jason in a much more demonic form, implying it’s the former, but this never actually made it to the screen.
Some people say he may be a demon of another kind. Jason being a deadite is an idea popularized by director Adam Marcus for the film Jason Goes to Hell. It’s still only a fan theory with very little backing outside the props Marcus borrowed for the film.
Jason doesn’t explicitly enjoy causing suffering; instead, he seems to do it mostly out of sheer rage. His eyes aren’t white, he never verbally mocks his victims, no one ever calls him a deadite, and they never call the weapon that destroys him a Kandarian dagger. Most importantly, the Necronomicon is never read in any of the movies to summon his spirit. He just gets struck by lightning and comes back.
So regardless of whether he’s a demon or not, he most definitely isn’t a deadite.
HOW DOES JASON VOORHEES MOVE SO FAST?
Among Jason’s abilities, post-resurrection are superhuman strength, durability, and speed. Most instances of Jason “teleporting” result from his victims getting disoriented (as they’re often running through a forest and may or may not be intoxicated). This, combined with Jason’s athletic ability and bad film editing, creates the illusion of teleportation.
In the case of Jason Takes Manhattan, it’s a lot of bad editing.
CAN ANYTHING ACTUALLY KILL JASON VOORHEES?
The answer is yes, but also, no! Satisfying, I know.
Creighton Duke says there’s only one real way for Jason to be destroyed: “Through a Voorhees was he born, through a Voorhees may he be reborn. And only by the hands of a Voorhees will he die”.
This is true in the short term, as he is killed by his niece, Jessica Kimble, using a…mystical Voorhees dagger that she stakes his heart with. Eventually, Jason would be freed by Freddy Krueger, using the last traces of power he had to pull the Voorhees out of hell in Freddy vs. Jason.
Meaning there is no surefire way to put him down permanently.
And as a fan of the Friday the 13th films, that’s quite alright by me. I prefer my nonsensical super-zombies erring on the side of completely unkillable. The only hell Jason Voorhees has to worry about now is the legal hell his film and character rights are in. And with the new Crystal Lake series still in development, it’s anybody’s guess as to when we will see our soggy rotten boy again.
…SO YOU’RE SURE JASON ISN’T A DEADITE?
Oh my god, no. Stop trying to make deadite Jason happen. It’s not going to happen.
***
And that will be it for today’s Horror 101 lesson. See you in the next class and stay tuned to Horror Press’s social media feeds for more content on horror movies, television, and everything in between!
My New Year’s resolution is to spend more time watching my favorite app. Luckily, Shudder is not taking it easy on us this holiday season, so I may meet my quota this January. The streamer is bringing in the new year with quite a few bangers. We have classics from icons, a new title from the first family of indie horror, and a couple of lesser-known films that have finally found a home. So, I am obviously living for this month’s programming and think most of you will too. I have picked the five films that I believe deserve our collective attention the most. Get into each of them and start your 2026 off on the right foot.
The Best Movies to Stream on Shudder This Month
Carrie (1976)
A sheltered teen finally unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated for the last time. Carrie is the reason I thought proms might be cool when I was a kid. This Brian De Palma adaptation is one of my favorite Stephen King adaptations. It is also an important title in the good-for-her subgenre. I cannot help rooting for Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) when I watch her snap at this prom and then head home to accidentally deal with her mom. The only tragedy of this evening is that Carrie had to die, too. I said what I said, and I will be hitting play again while it is on Shudder. This recommendation goes out to the other recovering sheltered girls who would be the problem if they had powers. I see you because I am you.
You can watch Carrie on January 1st.
Marshmallow (2025)
A shy 12-year-old gets sent to summer camp and finds himself in a living nightmare. While Marshmallow did not land for me, I know plenty of people who love it. Which makes this the perfect addition to the Shudder catalogue. I am actually excited to see more folks fall in love with this movie when it hits the streamer. If nothing else, it will help a few folks cross off another 2025 title if they are still playing catch-up with last year’s movies. It also gets cool points from me for not taking the easy route with the mystery it built. I hope you all dig it more than I did, and tell your friends about it. Perhaps you could even encourage them to sign up for the app.
You can watch Marshmallow on January 1st.
Chain Reactions (2024)
Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre cemented his horror legacy over fifty years ago. So, it is long overdue for a documentary where horror royalty can discuss its impact on them and their careers. I have been waiting for a couple of years to hear Karyn Kusama and Takashi Miike talk about Hooper’s work and how he inspired them. So, I am super geeked that Shudder is finally giving me the chance to see this film. The streamer is also helping the nerds out by adding The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 2 (1986) this month. If you are also an overachieving couch potato, I will see you at the finish line next week.
You can watch Chain Reactions on January 9th.
In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
An insurance investigator discovers the impact a horror writer’s books have on people. I love chaos, and John Carpenter chaos happens to be one of my favorite kinds of chaos. While we talk about The Thing and Halloween all the time, this maestro has given us plenty of horror to celebrate. In the Mouth of Madness is very much one of those titles vying for a top spot among the best of his filmography. To sweeten the batshit pot, this movie features Sam Neill. You know that he only shows up in our genre if the movie is going to be legendary. You cannot tell me this is not a Shudder priority this month.
You can watch In the Mouth of Madness on January 10th.
Mother of Flies (2025)
A terminally ill young woman and her dad head to the woods to seek out a recluse who claims she can cure her cancer. The Adams Family has been holding court on Shudder for years, so it feels right that Mother of Flies is a Shudder Original. More importantly, this fest favorite has one of the best performances of 2025. Which makes it a great time for people to finally get to see it and get in line to give Toby Poser her flowers. Whatever you think your favorite Poser role is, it is about to change when you see her as Solveig. I am being serious when I say that this movie might be the first family of indie horror at their best.
You can watch Mother of Flies on January 23rd.
New year, but same Shudder. I would not want to go into 2026 any other way, personally. I hope these horrific recommendations bring you the good kind of anxiety. Or at least distract you from the state of the world for a bit.
I’m happy Netflix knew I would be back on my bull shit. Now that we’re in January, and the end-of-year lists are done, I’m trying to cram as many 2025 titles into my eyeballs as I possibly can. I know it sounds backwards, but it’s sadly a yearly tradition now. No matter how many titles you cram into a year, there are always a ton more you missed. Because I am broken, I need to know if I missed anything that should have been on my lists ASAP. Then I can drag myself for not getting my eyeballs on things sooner. Or worse, seeing titles that came out after my deadline and would have definitely been on there. I need to feel resentment for their schedules not letting me be great.
Luckily for me, the streamer has dropped quite a bit of new stuff recently. This includes movies and shows that I put off, or that legitimately premiered a couple of weeks ago. So, now I can spiral in the comfort of my own home as I binge all of these titles like a maniac. If you are also trying to walk into the new year stressed out, then maybe this streaming guide is for you, too.
City of Shadows (2025)
When a burned body is put on display on the facade of an iconic building, two inspectors must work together to solve the crime. I don’t know much about this Spanish thriller, but I know winter is the time for an unsettling mystery. The show is based on the first book of the Milo Malart tetralogy written by Aro Sáinz de la Maza. So, if it’s as good as I hope it is, there is a whole world with this inspector awaiting us in print. I’m ready to take all six of these episodes in one setting if the streaming Gods allow.
Frankenstein (2025)
Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, and Christoph Waltz are among the names in this newest adaptation of the beloved Gothic horror classic. Guillermo del Toro’s take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is clearly one of the top priorities this month. While I skipped it in festivals because of the runtime, I knew I would have a date with it on Netflix this winter. While it has been on the streamer for a minute, I wasn’t able to dedicate two and a half hours to it. I also had watched my friends’ mixed reviews come in, and couldn’t take another disappointment last year. So, I saved this treat for the holiday. Fingers crossed, it is better than people are saying it is.
I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)
A new group of friends is tormented by a new stalker in this sequel to Kevin Williamson’s other ’90s slasher. I’m indifferent to the I Know What You Did Last Summer movies. Some are less awful than others, and I think this one was fine, but I know the original source material. Which means I know just how far they stray from what the original author, Lois Duncan, was about. So, I look at these movies and the flimsy premise they repeat differently than a lot of my friends. I think it’s an interesting look at how IP gets handled in Hollywood, but I don’t usually get much out of these. Which is another reason I’m kinder to this Jennifer Kaytin Robinson film than some people. While I won’t be rewatching it this January, I think a lot of people who missed it in theaters are going to have fun with some of these kills now that it’s on Netflix.
Stranger Things: Season 5 (2025)
The long-awaited conclusion to Stranger Things is finally upon us! Will Vecna take out some of this ridiculously large cast on the way out? I hope so. Will we pretend to be surprised when Eddie Munson gets a few seconds of screentime? I refuse to play this game. However, are we all going to tune in to see how this epic ride ends? You betcha! I hate that they’re breaking this final season up into three chunks, but I will be sitting for all of them.
The first four episodes hit in November. The next three landed on Netflix on December 25, and the finale premiered on December 31. I don’t know what to expect, but I know I am so ready to close this chapter of my relationship with Netflix and the Duffer Brothers. If it is even half as good as season four, then I will be a very happy nerd.
Troll 2 (2025)
A new troll awakens, causing Nora, Andreas, and Captain Kris to find new allies to take it down. This Norwegian monster flick almost got by me, so I’m happy Netflix dropped the trailer for this one. I’m using this as an excuse to finally watch the first one. I’m thinking a double feature is in order, so I can spend a whole day with these trolls. This is not my usual type of party, but after Troll Hunter won me over, I figure anything can happen. So, I will not judge you if you’re not feeling this out of left field pick. Just know that I’m running at it with an open mind and hoping to see some carnage as a reward.
These are just the Netflix titles I’m prioritizing. This is in no way a complete overview of all of the new shows and movies they’ve added this winter. We also know that they usually have a ton of international bangers that they refuse to advertise. So, I end up stumbling over Korean titles every January and then trying to tell people we missed some really excellent stuff. So, pick up your remote and turn your phone off. It’s time to Netflix and Chill in the less sexy and more nerdy way.
No, Cult Cinema Isn’t Dead
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‘Truth or Dare’: Who Did it Best?
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Everything You Need to Know About Jason Voorhees
The 11 Most Disturbing Horror Movies Ever, According to an Actual Horror Fan
[REVIEW] ‘Cherry Falls’ (1999) Brittany Murphy Shines in This Cult Classic Slasher
