from Chris Snelgrove
| Published
On a cold night, nothing warms you better than a blanket of nostalgia, so the wife and I rewatched all the Friday the 13th movies. The franchise goes further off the rails with each new film, introducing inexplicably supernatural elements like reanimated corpses, telekinetic girls, and a main character who can magically resurrect. All of which leads me to my own fan theory about the franchise: namely, that Crystal Lake does have a “death curse” and that former witchcraft by the deceased Pamela Voorhees can explain most of the otherwise inexplicable events in these films.
Now, before any horror folk get their machetes out, I’ll be the first to admit that my “new” theory is more of a weird stew than previous theories. For example, countless fans have speculated that Crazy Ralph is 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 resurrect her son. Of course, Marcus believed that the resurrection was accomplished through the Necronomicon of The evil dead.
My theory is that Mama Voorhees was trying to cast an entirely different spell and her untimely death set off a chain of sinister events.
How Pamela Voorhees’ Death Explains the ‘Friday the 13th’ Franchise.
Although I totally reject the Necromonicon stuff (sorry Jason as a Deadite is deep silly), I really believe that Pamela Voorhees turned into a female witch shortly before the first movie came out. This will give her the power to resurrect her son, making them a family again. However, we all know that black magic requires sacrifice, and my theory is that her killing in the first film was an attempt to complete a magical spell and bring Jason back to life.
Like any good Friday the 13th however, a fan knows that her head is cut off at the end of that first film before she can kill her final victim (and, in my theory, complete the spell). Given her innate magical abilities at this point (at least according to my theory), the dark energies within her body would seep into the Crystal Lake itself and the surrounding area. At the very least, this explains the otherwise inexplicable resurrection of Jason Voorhees: he was revived by chaotic magic, not a focused spell, which returns him as a monster-man rather than a little boy.
However, the intention of Pamela Voorhees’ spell would have infiltrated the campsite, which may explain why all the final girls from the first three films had dream visions of being attacked by someone who was supposed to be dead (child Jason, adult Jason and Pam Voorhees, respectively). Speaking of resurrection, I believe Pam’s failed spell is why Jason couldn’t be killed (after all, he keeps coming back to life) even when he was just a guy with a bag on his head. The same magic could explain why he was inexplicably resurrected Jason livestransforming into the totally unstoppable zombie we all know and love.
He’s not necessarily the only one affected, as the spell’s restorative powers would explain how the father of The new bloodThe last girl of is still alive in Crystal Lake, having finally drowned years ago. Speaking of the last girl (Tina Shepard), my theory could explain why she inexplicably developed telekinetic abilities 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 that makes them stronger where her body is still.
No one can explain everything that happens in this horror franchise
This is of course not the perfect Friday the 13th theory. For example, it’s not explained how Jason changes the intelligence of a dumb animal to knowing how to do things like disable radio antennas on yachts. It does, however, build on Adam Marcus’ amusing but flawed Deadite theory while explaining much of the inexplicable in this venerable franchise. Here’s hoping this curse still has some steam, because I’d love nothing more than to see this franchise pick up after its main character and come back to life when we least expect it.
