The Friday the 13th franchise is one of the few slasher franchises with deep lore that is hardly explored in its later installments. At its core, the series is about an undead killer who takes his vengeance out on teenagers for the death of his equally murderous mother. That said, just because the lore isn’t explored, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t unique ideas bubbling below the surface of Camp Crystal Lake. One theory, in fact, ties the events of all Friday films to Sam Raimi’s hit horror franchise, The Evil Dead.
According to the theory by Reddit user BARGOBLEN, the cause for Jason’s supernatural origins is tied to his mother’s use of black magic, specifically with the Necronomicon Ex Mortis. In The Evil Dead franchise, the book of the dead was bound in human flesh and reading it risks bringing about a Kandarian demon capable of possessing innocent souls and turning them into Deadites. This same logic is applied to Pamela Voorhees and her tireless efforts to return to her son.
The theory states that Pamela had a history with black magic and used these means to set up sacrifices to prime the return of Jason from the camp’s lake. Her first victim was his abusive father, Elias Voorhees. The first film then chronicles her ritualistic killing of the other teens at the camp before being decapitated. However, the theory then adds that her death was the final kill needed to bring back Jason, hence his return at the end of the movie.
In Jason’s next appearances, he is both physically and mentally disabled but still incredibly strong and driven to continue his mother’s murderous activities. While the films never explain how he got so strong, the theory believes this was because of the supernatural powers that brought him back to life. Jason is killed yet again by the fourth film but later revived through extenuating circumstances two films later. But by this time, his body has decayed, and his strength has increased. According to the theory, this is because the demon that brought him back has effectively possessed him, turning Jason into a full demon and Deadite under the control of a Kandarian demon.
While outlandish without proper context, things come full circle by Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, where the Voorhees house contains the Necronomicon and a Kandarian Dagger. The same dagger is later used to defeat Jason and send him back to Hell, seemingly ending his story. Although the idea seems wildly outlandish, even director Adam Marcus believes his own version of the theory stating, “…Jason’s mom wanted her son back so badly that she made a deal with the darkness. So she reads from the Necronomicon and brings about the resurrection of her son.” Melding the universes also helps explain how Jason could grow so fast in two weeks from the first to the second film.
For now, there’s no hard confirmation that Jason and the Evil Dead franchise are actually linked. That said, the explanations provided helped immensely in explaining Jason’s otherworldly attributes while showing that evil can come in many forms. While they can be terrifying demons in one instance, they can also be machete-wielding slashers in the next. Nevertheless, the theory proves that no matter the origin, it’s impossible to deny that Jason has become something otherworldly over the decades.
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