The Killer Victim - Social Media Post

 The Killer Victim

Two of the most common motives in revenge films are the Lex Talionis Adjudication and Survival Mode. Lex talionis is Old Testament, eye for an eye justice. An act of righteous retribution, delivered by the victims, balances the scales. In Survival Mode, the priorities are different. The victim must turn the tables on the killer to stay alive. 

Both ‌motivations are present in the first two Friday the 13th movies. In Friday the 13th, Pamela Voorhees (Betsy Palmer), grieving the loss of her beloved son, becomes a harpy devoted to punishing Camp Crystal Lake for its negligence by keeping the camp closed no matter what the cost in human life. She was probably responsible for the first murders the year after Jason died, and the other calamities that prevented the children's summer camp from reopening.  

 Imagine a child who witnesses the brutal murder of one or both parents. When that child grows up, they don a mask and set out on a personal vendetta to punish wrongdoers. That might sound a lot like a superhero origin story. But suppose, instead of Bruce Wayne, that child was Jason Voorhees (Warrington Gillette and Steve Daskewisz). In Friday the 13th Part 2, he is resurrected 20 years after his death by the spilled blood of his mother. His limited world, dictated by witnessing the beheading of his mother by a camp counselor, is one of extreme fear and anger. Jason lives in isolation in the woods, with only the detached head of his mother and her cable-knit sweater for company. To him, strangers coming to the lake are a threat to his own life.

Crazy Ralph (Walt Gorney) is the link between the two vengeance sagas. It is possible to view Ralph as much more than the town drunk. He and Pamela may have been lovers, Jason, their child. Distraught by Jason's death, frightened by Pamela’s violent obsession, he tried to warn others of the danger. At last, frustrated by his impotence for not saving Jason, stopping Pamela, or saving anyone’s life, he turned to drink. Like Pamela and Jason, his obsession with Camp Crystal Lake would rule his life until Jason murdered him on its shores.