Jason Voorhees

"There's a legend around here. A killer buried, but not dead. A curse on Crystal Lake, a death curse. Jason Voorhees' curse. They say he died as a boy, but he keeps coming back. Few have seen him and lived. Some have even tried to stop him... No one can..."

Height: 6'7

Weight: 240 lbs

Age: 66 (technically doesn't age, just decomposes)

Occupation: Undead Serial Killer

Bio 

Going through a plot summary of all of the Friday the 13th movies would take way too much time and probably bore most of you to death, so here's a Cliff Notes summary. Thankfully, they all have very similar plots. Jason Voorhees was born on Friday the 13^th (of course) in 1946 in the small town of Crystal Lake, NJ to Pamela Voorhees. Jason was born physically and mentally deformed, but that caused his mother to love him even more. She kept Jason isolated from the community, and made the boy her entire world. The only time she left him alone was when she left him with the camp counselors at the nearby Camp Crystal Lake where she worked. The camp was hell for the young Jason, who was mercilessly teased for his appearance; and one day to escape his tormenters, he ran towards the lake, where he fell in, and was believed to have drowned. His body was never recovered, and Pamela blamed the camp counselors for his death; as to put it in her words, “They were making love while that young boy drowned”. Because as anyone who’s seen a slasher movie knows, teenagers are pure evil. Pamela understandably went a little axe crazy, and killed the two counselors that she principally blamed for her son’s death. 

The face of mental stability

 She was never caught, and the camp was closed and nicknamed “Camp Blood,” with Pamela sabotaging attempts to reopen the Camp over the years. Finally the camp was reopened in 1979, but Pamela would have none of that. She stalked and killed off the newly hired camp counslers, and the camp’s new owner, Steve Christy. Before she could the last counsler, Alice, Alice managed to cut off her head with a conveniently placed machete.

This didn’t sit well with her son. Whether Jason Voorhees actually drowned in Crystal Lake is still debated by F13th  fans, mostly because the studio heads keep changing his origin every other week. Currently it’s that Jason did drown in the lake, and that Pamela resurrected him with a book of necromancy. This doesn’t really make a lot of sense (if it was this, then why wasn’t Pamela with him in the original F13th?), but who I’m I to go against semi-established canon? Either way, Jason has dedicated his life to thinning Camp Crystal Lake’s teenager population in memory of his mother. His rampages usually start with a group of not-so-bright college students coming to Camp Crystal Lake, looking to get high and drunk, but running into Jason instead. He kills them all in incredibly painful and fiendishly inventive ways, until the final member of the group (aka the only virgin) finds some ridiculous way to kill him. That is until the sequel rolls around. He generally just wants to be left alone to live in his shack in the woods, which, he’s dedicated as a shrine to his mother. He keeps an alter with her rotting head and sweater as the centerpiece, surrounded by the bodies of his victims, and the head of a certain rival slasher that pissed him off...

Powers and Abilities

This won't really be a category per say (as Anton really has nothing to compete with it), but needs to be considered when judging weapons and X-Factors. Being undead, Jason has a number of supernatural abilities. He is incredibly strong, far beyond even peak humans, and has shown the ability to lift up to two tons in the the past. He can literally rip an enemy limb from limb, or crush their skull. He once even punched a man's head off with one hit! Even without a weapon, this amount of strength has been enough to kill any opponent he has faced before. Even after taking an extreme amount of damage during his fight with Freddy Kruger, Jason still had enough strength to easily rip his arm off.

Jason showing off his strength to some street thugs

  Jason's most impressive ability though, is his durability. He has been shot, stabbed, electrocuted, set on fire, but just keeps on coming, and apparently feels no pain. It has been long theorized by F13th fans that this is due to whatever supernatural powers resurrected him from his grave, as his body is essentially a conduct of whatever demonic energy powers him. In short, he is extremely hard to kill, although not completely invulnerable to damage. To date, some of his most impressive durability feats include getting dissolved in toxic sludge in Jason Takes Manhattan, getting blown up by the FBI in Jason Goes to Hell, and having his head blown off by the android Kay-Em 14 in Jason X, although the feats he used to survive those will be beyond what he can do in this fight (for fairness sake)   

 

(around 5:45 Jason is blown up by the FBI, and develops a new ability to counter it)

If he weren't tough enough already, Jason posses the ability to regenerate, although to what extent is not quite known. This explains how he has recovered from some of the damage he has taken over the years, such as having  his neck broken, but apparently healed in later installments. His regeneration may be a little slower than most, but is pretty powerful. In Freddy vs. Jason example, he had all the fingers on his right  hand cut off, and his eyes gouged out by Kruger, but by the next morning they had apparently regenerated. He could theoretically regenerate entire limbs if he wanted to, but has never needed to in the past. His regeneration has limits though. Kay-Em 14 seemed to inflict so much damage on him that his regeneration couldn't keep up.

One final note (although it won't really matter here), is what happens when Jason does "die". He becomes much stronger after each death, and even more durable when he is resurrected. He also seems to demonstrate the ability to gain new abilities to adapt to certain deaths. In Jason Goes to Hell for example, he develops the ability to posses others bodies once his physical body is destroyed.

Weapons

Jason is a master weapons improviser, capable of killing with almost whatever object he can get his hands on. He favors close combat, usually with weapons that can kill his opponent quickly and painfully.

Long Range- Homemade Hunting Bow 

Humans have been hunting with the bow and arrow for tens of thousands of years, and even a primarily close range fighter like Jason can appreciate the advantages of having such a weapon. Although he doesn’t use a bow often, he’s demonstrated to quite a crack shot with it, capable of hitting a target from a good distance out when said target was on a moving boat. The design of his bow (from what I can tell) seems to be based off a modern composite bow, which has stiffer, more energy efficient limbs, than other bows. Upon re-watching the video, I noticed that missing from this  Jason's bow is the cable and pulley systems that give most modern compound hunting bows their power. I’m guessing this is due to Jason’s bow being homemade; after all its not like this guy can go to your local hunting and fishing store to buy one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsDJhzquh_M          

Mid-Range- Machete

The only thing more iconic about Jason than his hockey mask is his machete. An incredibly efficient killing tool, it also has some symbolic significance to Jason. It was used to cut off his mother’s head, and now it’s his main weapon for killing teens. The machete has undergone many changes throughout its history, evolving as both an agricultural tool, and a weapon. Some early versions of the machete can date back to the Neolithic era, and although it has its roots in some forms of swords (such as the cutlass, or the Chinese Dao) it’s primarily an agricultural tool nowadays, although still a great improvised weapon as Mr. Voorhees shows. Most modern machetes a have a single-edged, cleaver like blade that is designed to hack through thick jungle growth, or in this case, human bodies. Due to his superhuman strength, Jason is easily capable of doing more damage than a normal human could with a machete. He has been known to cut people in half with one swing, and in part 6, he decapitated three people all in one swing.

Now you may be wondering why I gave Jason the machete for mid-range.

(go to about 1:20)

That's why

Now I'm not even sure if it's possible for anyone but the most skilled marksmen to kill someone by throwing a machete at them, but if I've learned one thing while researching this fight, it's don't question Friday the 13th logic. Anyway expect this factor to play out in the fight, as Anton will not expect Jason to hurl his machete at him like a spear. Prep time would not help here, as anyone who has ever seen Jason throw his machete is currently dead.

Close Range- Axe 

                                    

Continuing Jason’s trend of killing with common utility tools is the axe. Although Jason still prefers his machete for killing, he has been known to use an axe several times throughout the series. There is not much to say about this weapon, it's a common wood cutting axe that could be found anywhere throughout the woods of Camp Crystal Lake. With Jason’s strength, he can swing it around with ease, and is capable of hacking through limbs and crushing bones. Like the machete, Jason is capable of throwing this weapon as well.

Special Weapon- Spear-gun

 

A common tool for fishermen, the spear-gun is exactly what it sounds like, capable of hitting a target anywhere from to 10 to 26 feet, depending on the type of gun used. The construction of a spear gun is very simple, consisting of a usually aluminum or stainless steel shaft that is launched the length of the gun. The barrel of most spear guns have a very sturdy construction, as a tighter barrel allows for a greater accuracy, and keeps the gun water tight. The average spear-gun shaft has three barbs, making it extremely difficult (and painful) to tear out should you get one stuck in you. If fact, tearing it out would be the one thing you would not want to do, as its likely to only cause more damage.

Getting a spear imbedded in your eye sucks

 http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1408684333068&oid=115562798456764

Special Weapon #2- Bear Trap

Consider this weapon tactical aid. Although it’s not likely to get many kills on Anton (unless by bleed out), it will keep him in place, and set Jason up for kills. The device is constructed to with a “trigger” in the center, it between two “jaws” When sufficient pressure is place on the trigger, the jaws snap shut. Designed to get through the tough muscle and sinew of big game, it should have no trouble with an ordinary human.

                

   

Intangibles

Tactics- Jason is first and foremost a hunter. He’s lived his entire life in the woods surrounding Camp Crystal Lake, and that’s his preferred hunting ground. Although he’s easily durable enough to simply take his opponents in a head on fight, that’s not usual strategy. He often stalks them first, waiting for any large groups to split up before he picks them off, one by one. He is master of stealth, always avoiding detection, despite his massive size. He knows many hunting tricks as well. In the latest movie, he kept one of his injured victims alive, so that his screams of pain would lure others closer. He also is proficient at creating booby traps, and has an tripwire alarm system that lets him know when someone is around the camp.

  

When  things do come to a straight up fight, Jason is a berserker, preferring to overpower his enemies with brute force. This…typically works, as there are very few people who can stand up to him in a brawl. As seen in his fight with Freddy Krueger though,  Jason can be overwhelmed by a much faster and more dynamic fighter.

Turn around dammit!

Training- Jason has lived in the woods for almost his entire life, and as such has never received any formal training. Despite this, he has picked up many hunting instincts throughout his life, and proved repeatedly that he can track a victim efficiently through the woods. This kind of life has taught him to stick with what he knows best, and to be somewhat resourceful. Overall, his training could be kind of considered survivalist, forcing him to work simply, and with very limited resources.

Morale/Motivation- Growing up tormented by the other children around the camp, the only person Jason could turn to was his mother. She always warned him not to trust the councilors, cautioning him about their “wicked” and “sinful” ways. And what do you know they not only let Jason drown, they killed his mother too. That kind of mad him made kind of angry. As in kill everyone who enters Camp Crystal Lake angry. Jason holds a grudge against anyone who enters his home, especially if said person has just hit puberty .He tends to focus on teens who are like the ones that let him drown, the partiers, so the “good kids” typically tend to survive longer. In general though, anyone who invades Jason’s home generally can consider their days numbered. Filled with rage and revenge, Jason is nearly impossible to reason with, and his incredible durability, completely relentless. He won’t stop until either his intended victim is dead, or he is.

Awwww

Combat Experience- Jason is the most prolific mass murderer in movie history. His body count is easily in the triple digits, and possibly numbering in the thousands (when you consider how many people were on the Solaris space station in Jason X). And that’s not even counting all the people he’s killed in the remake, the comics, and book series. However, the quality of Jason’s common “prey” is low, really low.

See what I mean?

 The average F13th  teen is a complete dumbass, making rookie horror movie mistakes like splitting up from the group, and generally going off to investigate strange noises in the woods armed only with a flashlight.

However, Jason has had a few enemies beyond the usual idiot caliber. Tommy Jarvis, the unofficial hero of a few of the F13th movies, is the biggest one. The first person to actually “kill” Jason, Tommy stepped in when he was just a kid to save his sister from Jason, and was later committed to a mental hospital for the trauma. Years later Tommy, seemingly rehabilitated, but still haunted by the memories of Jason accidently brought him back from the dead while trying to cremate his body. The two have a deep hatred for each other, and have had many run ins over the years. In Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors, Tommy became obsessed with finally killing Jason once and for all, and armed himself with military grade equipment to do it. He’s easily the most dangerous of Jason’s human enemies, and one of the few that knows the secret of how to actually kill Jason.

 Tina Shepard, the main hero of part 7, is a powerful telekinetic that accidentally revived Jason after he had been trapped under the waters of Crystal Lake. Using her abilities, she actually managed to fight off Jason when he attacked Tina and her friends. Although she only managed to show off modest telekinetic abilities in the movie, in a follow up comic series she had enough strength to throw a tank through a wall with little effort.

 Well that’s all of them… oh, wait forgot one        

one, two, he's coming for you...

       

One of the most powerful villains in horror movie history, Freddy Kruger is a dream demon who kills people in their sleep. Like Jason, Freddy is a former mass murder who killed many young children in the town of Springfield, before a vigilante mob apparently brought him to justice, burning him alive. He did not die however, and was granted immense supernatural power by three demonic entities. He is lord of the Dream World, and can manifest himself in the dreams of others, which he can reform at will. He focuses on the nightmares and fears of his victims twisting their dreams against them before he kills them.

He brought Jason back from Hell after the events of previous F13th movie, planning to use Jason as a pawn in a complex scheme to return him to full power. It worked, but Jason proved to be uncontrollable, and he clashed with Kruger. In the dream world, the nearly omnipotent Kruger had the advantage (although it still took him a lot of effort to hurt Jason), but when Freddy was dragged into the real world Jason narrowly beat him.

So while Jason has experience dealing with some dangerous supernatural enemies, his human enemies tend to fall short, although this is not always the case. He has had to deal with multiple military attempts to capture him, and once killed an entire paramilitary force that was sent to evict him from Camp Crystal Lake.

Weaknesses- Despite being a seemingly unstoppable supernatural powerhouse, Jason suffers from many weaknesses. He's extremely slow, rarely moving beyond the speed of a steady walk. He can be ta paralyzed  if someone traps him under Camp Crystal Lake, although he can walk under the water just fine. He can also stunned if he's forcefully reminded of his mother. The only known way to kill Jason permanently is by his own blood (meaning someone who is related to him has to do it).

So there you have it. Keep following, as next time I'll showcase Jason's opponent...Anton Chigurh!