Inspired by the upcoming release of a new NECA figure of Mrs. Voorhees, mother to Jason, from FRIDAY THE 13TH PART THREE 3D—which is a damn gorgeous figure, inasmuch as a plastic reproduction of a rotting yet animated cadaver can be beautiful, or should I say in the way that *only* a plastic reproduction of a rotting yet animated cadaver can be beautiful—I thought I’d ruminate on Zombie Jason from the FRIDAY franchise. If you aren’t a fan or you just need reminding, masked slasher Jason, who returned from the dead after drowning as a child to grow into a hulking silent psychopath, was killed again in the fourth film in the franchise, a film subtitled THE FINAL CHAPTER. It was anything but final, though, thanks to the money it raked in, and an attempted reboot with the fifth movie failed. Thus Jason was brought back as a hockey-mask-wearing zombie in FRIDAY THE 13TH PART SIX: JASON LIVES. He would remain in zombie form for the next two movies before the series was retconned in JASON GOES TO HELL: THE FINAL FRIDAY (which also wasn’t “final” in any way) in 1993.
Zombie Jason was always my favorite iteration of the Jason character, obviously. I mean, he was unkillable before, except for what happened in the fourth movie, which was never explained—how can you kill him when he cannot die?—but as a zombie he was even harder to dispose of. Only uber-Jason, aka Terminator Jason, from JASON X was more powerful or formidable. Jason X would probably whip Zombie Jason in a fight, to be honest. But Zombie Jason is still number one in my affections.