The Real Reason Jason Can't Die In The Friday The 13th Franchise

Jason Vorhees can't die. It's a universal truth that may as well be added to the three laws of motion. "If a Jason Vorhees is in motion then no object can stop him" is our suggestion. The immortal villain has been terrorizing Crystal Lake since his debut in 1980's "Friday the 13th." He's experienced endless deaths, from an axe to the head in "Friday the 13th Part III" to resurrection via telekinesis and death-by-ghost in "Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood." It doesn't matter if he's decapitated, cremated, or exploded — Jason always comes back. 

Oftentimes the filmmakers joining onto the "Friday the 13th" franchise don't bother with connecting the lore from previous sequels. But director Adam Marcus set out to change that with his 1993 film "Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday." After consulting with one of the most legendary horror directors in history, Marcus moved forward with the storyline, clearing up the real reason Jason can't die.

Casual viewers of "Friday the 13th" might know something about Jason Vorhees being a demon, a fact established in "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday." But it's much more important to know what kind of demon he is. In the movie, Jason's demonic soul keeps passing from person to person via a grotesque "hell baby" who takes over and destroys his host's body. The hosts don't last long because Jason needs to possess someone from his bloodline to once again become immortal. During the search for his descendants, Jason returns to his childhood home. Once here, the audience is briefly shown a tattered book and dagger sitting on a desk.

Horror fans will recognize the items from Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead" franchise. They are the Kandarian Dagger and the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, both used in the resurrection of the undead demon army known as the Deadites. In an interview with Horror Geek Life, Marcus explained that in his version of the lore, Jason's mother used it after the events of the first film.

"She [Pamela Voorhees] makes a deal with the devil by reading from the Necronomicon to bring back her son. This is why Jason isn't Jason. He's Jason plus 'The Evil Dead.'"

Marcus said that Raimi loved the idea, but his support didn't stop fans of the franchise from saying "Jason Goes to Hell" isn't canon. "It is absolutely canon," Marcus said. As to why he didn't put more of a focus on the theory in the film, Marcus explained that "Jason Goes To Hell" was produced by New Line Cinema, which doesn't own the rights to the "Evil Dead" franchise.

Marcus' Deadite theory was further explored in 2003's "Freddy versus Jason," when Freddy Krueger of "A Nightmare On Elm Street" used Jason's immortality to bring new fear to the teenagers on Elm Street.