Arguably, Jason Vorhees — the silent, hockey mask-wearing serial killer — is one of the coolest villains in one of the most inconsistent and fluctuating horror franchises of all time. Although the “Friday the 13th” movies may have been crucial and deeply influential to the entire slasher genre and its evolution, they’re also pretty mediocre — and oftentimes downright horrendous horrors. The movies’ greatest, and sometimes singular, feat is their supervillain. Similar to “Halloween’s” psycho murderer, Michael Myers (who was inspired by a classic sci-fi western), Vorhees possesses numerous supernatural abilities that seem to increase with every additional film he appears in.
Although he begins his murderous career as a physically malformed human being in the early entries, later he dies and resurrects as a supernatural revenant (or zombie), gaining all kinds of superpowers. But even before that happens, Jason shows off some otherworldly strength far above normal people: crushing heads with his bare hands and throwing 100-pound men through windows like they were tiny dolls. In addition to that, he has an incredible tolerance for pain, surviving axe swings, hangings, and other injuries that would likely kill average individuals.
If you combine that with his ninja-like stealth skills and creative finesse of laying traps and finding inventive ways to kill unsuspecting teenagers in and around his beloved Crystal Lake camp, you get the kind of monster that horror aficionados go crazy for. And that’s not even Jason at his most intimidating and formidable.
Jason as an undead revenant is even more powerful
After being killed by Corey Feldman’s Tommy Jarvis in “Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter,” Jason returns in “Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives” when his grave is struck by lightning, effectively bringing him back from the dead. He’s not human anymore, but rather an undead entity with abnormally potent powers that make him virtually unstoppable. Practically, he’s a zombie who doesn’t age, no longer feels pain, and is essentially immortal. You could argue this title is more like a zombie horror film than a slasher.
He also possesses a regeneration capability that allows him to recover from severe wounds and various illnesses. Whether he’s shot by bullets, stabbed with sharp objects, or thrown a massive motorboat propeller in the face, he endures anything and everything to keep surviving for eternity — or until Hollywood gets tired of bringing him back for another killing spree. While it’s not confirmed, some fans claim that he can also teleport, often appearing in front of or behind his victims out of nowhere (though I’d say this is more of a superpower of film editors doing their job).
Compound all that, and you get a slasher superstar who never needs to retire as long as audiences want to see him and his machete in action. Although the last time we met the behemoth on the screen was 17 years ago in a 2009 remake, a prequel series titled “Crystal Lake” is currently in the works at Peacock. Held by showrunner Brad Caleb Kane, the upcoming show, however, won’t be a usual outing. As Kane said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, “It’s a paranoid ’70s thriller. It has all of the DNA of a slasher without quite being a slasher. There are, I think, very ingenious kill sequences and deaths and murders, but it’s all done in service of character and theme and place and time.” Well, we might finally learn where young Jason’s extraordinary powers come from after all.
