After more than a decade of hiding in Crystal Lake’s eerie shadows, Jason Vorhees swings his rusty machete in "Sweet Revenge," a teaser short heralding the undead slasher's bloody return. Possibly, he'll come face-to-face with his most elusive prey: character depth and logic.
Horror, Fantasy, Magic Lakes, and Hockey-Masked Slashers
Without giving too much away, "Sweet Revenge" hints that Crystal Lake might be the slasher genre equivalent of the life-restoring Lazaruth Pit in Batman comics. If it could bring Jason back from the grave with budding supernatural powers, why can't it do that to another character, such as the terrified, Angry Orchard-consuming victim, Eve, in the teaser?
Jason reawakened from his watery demise in 1980, and the subsequent three immediate sequels ignored addressing the supernatural weirdness. Likely, they didn't want to veer too far from the basic slasher elements that made the first film a hit. That decision made Jason a thin character with an unexplained origin. "Sweet Revenge" suggests we may learn more about Jason’s connection to the supernatural. An otherworldly Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday storyline might unfold in upcoming projects. New Line Cinema’s Jason Goes to Hell seemed wildly disconnected from previous Paramount-released films. From the first to the Jason-less fifth film, the Paramount entries ignored fantasy-horror until going over the top with Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives.
Diving Deep to Hack Away at Jason
Unlike newer projects, such as the Crystal Lake streaming series, little thought went into the development of the original sequels. Paramount wanted to make money, and the largely teenage audience wanted escapist entertainment. When the fifth entry faltered, Paramount wanted Jason back. Jason Lives ridiculously brought Jason back to life with a lightning bolt, creating a new and improved zombie Jason. Things got stranger with the Carrie-inspired seventh film and more gimmicky with the trip to New York. The upcoming Jason Universe saga may present a clarifying explanation for all the oddness by exploring Crystal Lake’s mystical elements.
Fans today are more critical of logic flaws, and negative reactions could spread across social media. Adding more logic to the disjointed fantasy elements by explaining Crystal Lake’s enchanted powers adds coherence. Better yet, it could add more depth to Jason’s character without radically altering the character. If the audience discovers why Jason is an indestructible member of the living dead, it may learn his motivations, making the next grim adventures compelling.