Friday the 13th Part V: Was Roy Burns ‘possessed’ by Jason Voorhees?

Some Friday the 13th fans don’t understand how Part V’s Roy Burns was just as brutal as Jason Voorhees, but this theory could provide an explanation.

“If the memory of Jason still haunts you… you’re not alone!”

Though Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning is finally getting some of the credit it deserves, the film’s criticism is no secret. Upon its release, many fans of the franchise groaned about the film’s twist ending. Namely, that the killer was revealed to be a psychotic copycat killer named Roy Burns, rather than the reanimated corpse of the now-dead Jason Voorhees.

It was unfortunate, but the trend became to hate the whole movie simply because of what happens in its final moments. “Roy is just a normal guy,” people would always lament. Nobody understood how this “ordinary human” was able to kill so many people and withstand all of the damage he did — such as when a certain “Reckless” child plowed into him with a tractor.

When being Reckless pays off!

Now, a recent interview with Jason Goes to Hell director Adam Marcus at HorrorGeekLife.com drops a bombshell on the Friday mythology that could fill in many of the “gaps” in the franchise’s story — including this one. According to Marcus, Jason is a Deadite… i.e., a demonic creature from the Evil Dead series. “[Pamela Voorhees] makes a deal with the devil by reading from the Necronomicon to bring back her son,” Marcus says, explaining how Jason keeps coming back as a zombie and can’t seem to be killed.

Marcus also says that Jason Goes to Hell is “absolutely” canon with the series. If that’s true, then perhaps Jason’s evil spirit stuck around after Tommy Jarvis killed him at the end of The Final Chapter. Maybe that’s why Tommy looked at the camera at the end, like, he was possessed by the evil spirit of Jason, or something. Maybe he was?

via Paramount Pictures

“Watch this, Lise. You can actually pinpoint the second when he gets possessed!”

Fast forward to Part V, and it’s established Tommy has been having major problems. He hallucinates Jason with regularity, even though it’s been years by this point. And, with the spirit of Jason haunting him stronger and stronger, that evil bled out, so to speak, affecting some of the others around Tommy as well.

Think about it. What are the odds Victor would kill Roy’s son Joey on the day Tommy Jarvis shows up at Pinehurst? Then, a man becomes Jason Voorhees and butchers everyone else in the area starting that night? Is this really all a coincidence? Is it possible that Jason’s spirit was affecting these people, bringing out their homicidal tendencies? Clearly, Tommy was still struggling with it too, putting on the mask himself and thinking about killing Pam in the end.

I feel like Pam’s going to have some major trust issues with Tommy after this.

However, Tommy was stronger than Roy. While Jason’s evil fed on Roy’s grief and anger, it wasn’t able to completely overtake Tommy. But that didn’t stop the spirit from remaining with Tommy anyway, which led to his choice to dig up the grave and destroy Jason’s body once and for all. Of course, once given the opportunity, Jason’s spirit transfers from Tommy back into its original host body.

It’s worth pointing out that this theory only works if you accept Jason Goes to Hell as canon. Some fans will refuse, regardless of how much Marcus insists that it is. If not, and there’s nothing paranormal at play there, then that means that Roy was just a brutal psychopath obsessed with Jason Voorhees, waiting for an excuse to unleash his own inner rage. Which, to be honest, is much creepier to me.

Next: George Cameron Romero announces Living Dead prequel

You can read the full interview with Adam Marcus at HorrorGeekLife.com.