‘Behind the Monsters’ Recap: ‘Jason Voorhees’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Five of ‘Behind the Monsters’.
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Over the course of the past few weeks, the Shudder series, Behind the Monsters, has done a phenomenal job of teaching us everything we ever wanted to know about horror’s biggest icons. For we are now aware of the fact that humor and raw horror and original thinking… will make a particularly terrifying character an outright favorite for some. The kind that they celebrate endlessly and introduce to uninitiated if the opportunity arises. But while this show has indeed offered up quite the comprehensive look at how we fall for horror’s ugliest monsters, there are still more reasons as to why we grab hold of them so tightly and this week’s episode of the series, pointed out that the fact that the humanity these monsters sometimes display… helps with that.

Granted, ‘humanity’ isn’t a word that many would associate with Jason Voorhees, since he’s something of a powerful zombie or deadite or some kind of undead creature that kills with impunity. But humanity is there in his stories. In fact, he might be the most human monster of all and a lot of that is related to the structure of his franchise. For a series that was born out of the intention of ripping off Halloween, more or less came to life out of ingenuity. Since so much of Jason’s past and future were forged in the moment and the improvisational manner of his world… really does feel awfully human. Since so many of us are making it up as we go and trying things and seeing what sticks… and that really sums up the Friday the 13th franchise in a nutshell and it was genuinely amazing to have this documentary point that out.

But of course, there are a great deal of other reasons as to why we love Jason so, and another big one… is the fact that he offers us catharsis and is shockingly relatable. Now the catharsis comes from the fact that in later films, Jason does tend to kill the jackasses that we cannot stand to deal with in regular life. For a lot of the teens that come to Crystal Lake in those films... are jerks, and deserve the horrible end he gives them, and we find relief in that. As for the relatability, well that comes forth by way of the fact… that Jason isn’t doing this because he’s a total monster/force of nature akin to Freddy Krueger. He’s doing this for revenge. Revenge against people that chastised him for looking different and made an active choice to ignore him and let him die and that is something we can definitely relate to on a fundamental level. As is the long standing trauma he suffers from, regarding how his mother died.

However, while it is nice to find something that we can relate to when it comes to this hulking mass of a serial killer… how Jason exacts revenge is another huge reason as to why he is so popular. Because he is utterly savage when it comes to his kills and he’s downright creative about them as well. And being able to settle in and know that the director of a particular Jason movie took meetings about how to kill teenagers, excites us to no end. Because we know we are going to be treated to something special, something that makes us cringe and cheer and want to barf all at once and Jason delivers on that feeling time and time again. In fact, it is definitely safe to say… that his kills are some of the finest to ever grace the slasher sub-genre.

Plus, it doesn’t hurt that Jason Voorhees also has a rich body of work to share with the world, the kind that features unique performances from the various actors that have had the honor of playing Crystal Lake’s most infamous serial killer and really, in the end, this was just another wonderful chapter in this series. Because it really did present Jason in a brand-new light and it offered up some genuinely honest answers as to why he is so popular with fans and why we continue to fawn over him and well, hopefully… this documentary isn’t the end of his story. Because it really does feel as though the time is right for Jason to return to the mainstream, since horror is at the peak of its game and hopefully the whole rights mess is resolved soon, so the Crystal Lake Killer can make his triumphant return to theaters. Until next time.   

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