Is there any slasher movie antagonist more famous than Jason Voorhees? The silent killer of Camp Crystal Lake has haunted the imagination of audiences for over four decades. But that was not what Victor Miller, the original writer of the first movie in the series, 1980’sFriday the 13th, intended to happen. On his website’s FAQ section, Miller explains that he does not agree with the way the film’s sequels set Jason up as the main villain instead of a victim.
“To be honest, I have not seen any of the sequels, but I have a major problem with all of them because they made Jason the villain. I still believe that the best part of my screenplay was the fact thata mother figure was the serial killer—working from a horribly twisted desire to avenge the senseless death of her son, Jason. Jason was dead from the very beginning. He was a victim, not a villain. But I took motherhood and turned it on its head and I think that was great fun. Mrs. Vorhees was the mother I’d always wanted—a mother who would have killed for her kids.”
The firstFriday the 13thfilm was created out of a desire to cash in on theserial killer crazethat was kickstarted with Michael Myers inHalloween, which had been released recently. Miller had intended to put a new twist on the trope by having a woman turn out to be the killer instead of a giant hulking man.
Thus, in the originalFriday the 13th, it was revealed that it was Mrs. Pamela Voorhees who had killed the counselors atCamp Crystal Lake, out of a desire to avenge the death of her son Jason, who had drowned at the lake due to negligence on the part of the counselors.
The film was originally meant to end with Pamela being outed as the killer before meeting her demise. But at the last second, a new scene was added to the climax, in which a teenageJason Voorheesbursts out of the lake to attack the main heroine. According to the movie’s special effects supervisor, Tom Savini, the sequence was added to give the ending one final jump scare.
“The whole reason for the cliffhanger at the end was I had just seen ‘Carrie’. So we thought that we need a ‘chair jumper’ like that and I said, ‘Let’s bring in Jason.”
As it turned out, that tacked-on ending, which was only intended to be a throwaway dream sequence, ended up informing the direction of the franchise from that point onwards. Jason went from being a victim to a vengeful killer who embarks on a crusade to punish humanity, particularly the young and promiscuous.
While it is understandable thatVictor Millerwould be aggrieved that laterFriday the 13thmovies would go completely against his intended lessons in the original, horror fans are happy to have another slasher movie icon in the form of Jason Voorhees, who has even eclipsed his inspiration Michael Myers in popularity over the years. This news comes diretc fromVictorMiller.com.
