How Friday the 13th Part 6's Original Ending Would've Changed The Franchise

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How Friday the 13th Part 6's Original Ending Would've Changed The Franchise

Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives is widely considered to be a high point in the franchise, but an alternate ending would have introduced an element that could have radically changed the series. The scene was never actually filmed, but storyboards included on the home release show, for the first time ever, Jason's father visiting the cemetery in which his son was buried and resurrected, setting up the character for future sequels that never were.

The successful legacy of Jason Lives can be attributed to its writer and director Tom McLoughlin, whose previous experiences writing both horror and comedy scripts provided him with a unique vision suited to freshening up the franchise with doses of self-aware humor. The film also gave audiences the undead Jason that is the most iconic and recognizable iteration of the famed slasher, as well as a pair of plucky protagonists that spectators could actually root for instead of cheering on the killer.

Looking at the improvements McLaughlin made to the series shows just how tragic it is that his original conclusion was never used. Even though the studio gave the director more control over the project than previous Friday the 13th films, the producers still intervened regarding the ending and the number of kills. The initial version had a slightly lower body count and spared the gravedigger Martin, famous for his fourth-wall-breaking line commenting on the audience's "strange idea of entertainment." He reappears in the unused ending despite dying in the completed version of the film, which was one of the reasons as to why the studio decided to cut the scene.

The Original Ending To Jason Lives Introduced Jason's Father

The storyboards for the original ending to Jason Lives shows Martin greeting a man he calls "Mr. Voorhees", and telling him that he was taking care of the graves he was watching over. Mr. Voorhees gives him some money and watches over the tombstones of both Jason and Pamela Voorhees, buried right beside each other. He closes his eyes, looking mournful at first, then clenches his fist and angrily glares out while the scene fades to Jason's mask rising out of the lake. Notably, this provides context for a deleted scene revealing that someone paid to have Jason buried instead of cremated, all but verifying that it was the killer's father who masterminded the transaction.

Besides the fact that the producers' preferred version of the film included Martin's death, McLaughlin's original ending would have required the next installment in the series to provide an entire backstory and follow-up plot for Mr. Voorhees, a venture that the studio was unwilling to take, as they preferred to focus on Jason. One has to wonder what would have happened to the series if Mr. Voorhees was introduced, especially because he was a significant enough of an addition to make the studio worry about explaining his character.

The most obvious path would have been to establish him as the person that takes over Jason's mantle, continuing the murderous work of his wife and son. The storyboards for the original ending to Jason Lives shows Martin greeting a man he calls "Mr. Voorhees", and telling him that he was taking care of the graves he was watching over. Mr. Voorhees gives him some money and watches over the tombstones of both Jason and Pamela Voorhees, buried right beside each other. He closes his eyes, looking mournful at first, then clenches his fist and angrily glares out while the scene fades to Jason's mask rising out of the lake. Notably, this provides context for a deleted scene revealing that someone paid to have Jason buried instead of cremated, all but verifying that it was the killer's father who masterminded the transaction.

Besides the fact that the producers' preferred version of the film included Martin's death, McLaughlin's original ending would have required the next installment in the series to provide an entire backstory and follow-up plot for Mr. Voorhees, a venture that the studio was unwilling to take, as they preferred to focus on Jason. One has to wonder what would have happened to the series if Mr. Voorhees was introduced, especially because he was a significant enough of an addition to make the studio worry about explaining his character.

The most obvious path would have been to establish him as the person that takes over Jason's mantle, continuing the murderous work of his wife and son. Then again, the scene doesn't give him a clear motivation as to why he would do this. Perhaps Mr. Voorhees paid to have Jason buri