Deconstructing Jason's Demise At The End Of 'Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter'
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter is revered by many fans as the best of the film franchise. The movie not only offers some of the most brutal kills of all the films, but quite possibly the best death sequence of Jason Voorhees ever committed to celluloid. Tommy Jarvis delivering the machete to the side of the skull of Jason in the finale of the film is a definitive image in many fan’s minds. However, what if Jason died the original way that writer Barney Cohen intended?
According to Barney Cohen, his original idea was to have the machete swung straight down on top of Jason’s skull, splitting it in half. This would have dealt Jason a definitive blow that would have obliterated the slasher icon for good and erased any chance of Jason returning in a later sequel. However, the kill was changed before filming to what we now have the pleasure of witnessing at the end of The Final Chapter. The skull split down the middle of Jason's head would have looked equally as gruesome as the machete swung into the side of of his head, but would this alternate death of Jason been better than what we now have for his death?
Along the lines of being gruesome, there was a lot of gore that was left out of Jason’s demise on-screen. Many frames of Jason in agony after being struck by the machete as well as buckets of blood gushing from his wound were left out of the final cut of the film. Some people contend that the final cut is perfect as it does not overdo the effect of Jason’s death, however, fans on the other side of the argument would rather have seen the extra gore due to the more realistic effect the scene would portray.
It is interesting to see where fans stand with the ending. Would the ending, as we know it now, be better with all of the deleted gore put back into the final film or having Jason being be split down the top of his head?
According to Barney Cohen, his original idea was to have the machete swung straight down on top of Jason’s skull, splitting it in half. This would have dealt Jason a definitive blow that would have obliterated the slasher icon for good and erased any chance of Jason returning in a later sequel. However, the kill was changed before filming to what we now have the pleasure of witnessing at the end of The Final Chapter. The skull split down the middle of Jason's head would have looked equally as gruesome as the machete swung into the side of of his head, but would this alternate death of Jason been better than what we now have for his death?
Along the lines of being gruesome, there was a lot of gore that was left out of Jason’s demise on-screen. Many frames of Jason in agony after being struck by the machete as well as buckets of blood gushing from his wound were left out of the final cut of the film. Some people contend that the final cut is perfect as it does not overdo the effect of Jason’s death, however, fans on the other side of the argument would rather have seen the extra gore due to the more realistic effect the scene would portray.
It is interesting to see where fans stand with the ending. Would the ending, as we know it now, be better with all of the deleted gore put back into the final film or having Jason being be split down the top of his head?
