Written by Chris Snellgrove | Published
On a cold night, nothing is warmer than a blanket of nostalgia, which is why my wife and I have been rewatching all of the Friday the 13th movies. The franchise goes further off the rails with each new film, introducing inexplicably supernatural elements like reanimated corpses, telekinetic daughters, and a main character who can magically revive. All of this has led me to my own fan theory about the series: namely that Crystal Lake is indeed suffering from a “death curse” and that past magic performed by the deceased Pamela Voorhees might explain most of the unexplainable events in these films.
Now, before any horror demons get their machetes out, I’ll be the first to admit that my “new” theory is more of a weird mish-mash of the previous ones. For example, countless fans speculated that Crazy Ralph was on the money about the Crystal Lake curse, and Jason goes 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 brought about by the Necronomicon evil dead.
My theory is that Mama Voorhees was trying a completely different spell, and her sudden death set off a horrific chain of events.
How do you explain the death of Pamela Voorhees in the Friday the 13th franchise
While I totally reject the Necromonicon stuff (sorry, Jason as a Deadite Deeply Stupid), I think Pamela Voorhees became a magical woman shortly before the first movie started. This would give her the ability to revive her son, making them a family again. However, we all know that dark magic requires sacrifices, and my theory is that her killing spree in the first movie was an attempt to complete a magic spell and bring Jason back to life.
And like every Good Friday fan, the 13th fan learns that she gets her head chopped off at the end of the first movie before she can kill her final victim (and from my perspective, complete the spell). Due to the innate magical abilities within her at this point (at least, according to my theory), the dark energies in her body had seeped into Crystal Lake itself and the surrounding area. At the very least, this explains Jason Voorhees’ inexplicable resurrection: he was revived by chaotic magic rather than a focused spell, bringing him back as a beast of a man rather than a little boy.
However, the intent of Pamela Voorhees’ spell would seep into the camp, which might explain why the final girls in the first three films had visions of being attacked by someone who was supposed to be dead (baby Jason, adult Jason, and Pam Voorhees, respectively). Speaking of resurrection, I think Pam’s failed spell is the reason Jason was unkillable (he keeps coming back to life, after all) even when he was just a guy with a bag on his head. This same magic may explain why he inexplicably resurrected Jason livesbecoming the completely unstoppable zombie we all know and love.
He’s not necessarily the only one affected, as the restorative powers of the spell would explain what his father was like New bloodThe last girl was still alive in Crystal Lake after it sank for good years ago. Speaking of that final girl (Tina Shepard), my theory might explain why she inexplicably developed telekinetic powers while being traumatized 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 an ancient curse by Pam Voorhees, making her stronger where her body still exists.
No one can explain everything that happens in this horror film series
This isn’t the perfect Friday the 13th theory, of course. For example, it doesn’t explain how Jason alternates between having the intelligence of a dumb animal and knowing how to do things like disable radio antennas on yachts. However, it builds on Adam Marcus’s interesting but flawed Deadite theory while explaining much of the unexplained in this venerable series. Hopefully this curse still has some energy because I’d love nothing more than to see this franchise follow its main character and come back to life when we least expect it.