This Friday the 13th reboot experiment has been a pretty fun ride so far, hasn’t it? We’re entering the final half of the mini-series concept with this installment. Make sure you read the two prior installments as well.
We open with Sheriff Savini pulling up to the Voorhees property line, but we notice that there is no sign of the Deputy’s car from earlier. Savini seems confused and parks at the overgrown access road. He approaches the cabin, gun drawn, enters, and is immediately axed in the shoulder by Pamela. We cut to the title sequence and then return to Pamela observing her handiwork. She picks up the walkie on Savini’s belt, tastes a bit of blood from his shoulder, and then channeling some dark force radios into the station in Savini’s voice.
She mentions that everything is fine and that everyone should just pick up tomorrow, after all, “I already sent Cunningham and Hodder home for now. Miss Voorhees is alright for the night.”
Back at Camp Crystal Lake, Alice is exhausted from studying the events surrounding the camp and heads to bed. After all, the kids arrive in a few hours. We see the arrival of the kids and how excited they are to be there the next morning. We catch up with our various counselors and support staff dealing with a nearly unmanageable amount of children. We catch the tail end of the opening ceremony and the kids are then encouraged to enjoy the free day at the camp as activities will start the next day.
Two junior counselors, local teens we’ll catch glimpses of in previous episodes, step into woods to fuck. After all, this is a Friday the 13th project. We see them enter the treeline. We also see a nearby kid, engrossed in nature, enter another spot in the treeline, unsupervised. We show both these moments with a predatory camera gaze.
Alice, concerned about her research has been a bit distracted in watching the kids. Eddie Jarvis notices and criticizes her, suggesting she needs to focus on keeping an eye on the kids, as safety is everything. This is immediately undercut by Pamela leaping from the brush with an ax and murdering the two teens, mid-coitus. She collects some of their blood in what seems to be a Vietnam-era canteen. A little sustenance for Jason.
Evening approaches, and kids are being rounded up for bed. Eddie notices two missing counselors and a kid and is absolutely mortified this happened under his watch. He has several of the counselors start looking in the nearby woods. Alice tries to call the police but the dispatcher says she hasn’t seen Sheriff Savini all day, and she will send the first deputy she can out to the camp. Alice is frustrated and opts to join up with the search in the woods. As she leaves the cabin she takes a knife with her, wary of the events. Meanwhile, Eddie heads to the sheriff’s office intent to get some assistance.
Alice enters the woods, and over the span of an hour or so Pamela has picked off a number of the searchers. Alice stumbles upon one grisly scene and almost has a breakdown. She steadies herself enough to push onward. She hears the whimpering and crying of a child and finds the kid who had wandered into the woods by himself earlier. As she approaches, Pamela grabs the child and holds her ax blade to his head. Alice confronts Pamela, and Pamela gives the iconic speech about the death of her son.
We also learn that it is Friday the 13th. Jason’s “rebirthday.”
Alice draws her knife and Pamela darts back into the woods, dragging the kid by the wrist. Alice gives chase, trying to dial Sheriff Savini on her cell but gets no answer. Alice is the only chance the kid has.
Alice continues to give chase, losing sight of Pamela, but finds her way to the Voorhees property. She approaches the property from the back where the Deputy patrol car is parked, along with Sheriff Savini’s own vehicle. Alice creeps around but hears nothing. She enters the cabin and sees signs of a terrible struggle. She tries calling Savini again and hears his cell from the floor below her.
It is then that a crazed Pamela strikes, pushing the child between her and Alice. Alice manages to dodge and Pamela throws the child to the ground and continues to wildly swing the ax at Alice who only manages a couple of glancing blows. In the struggle, the child tries to escape but Pamela kicks him violently down the stairs into the basement.
Alice finally manages to get the upper hand when she slashes at Pamela’s wrist, forcing her to drop her ax. She then secures it and moves to strike Pamela. Pamela begins to whisper some form of spell until she is cut short by Alice’s swing. Pamela’s severed-head lands with a thump on the wooden floor.
Alice, worked up, heads to the basement to check on the kid. The basement is dark, but Alice is able to find a dangling bulb. She turns the light on only to be confronted by a massive, chained up Jason. In a single hand, he holds up the lifeless body of the child. And only mere feet away is the corpse of Sheriff Savini.
Jason throws the corpse of the child at the wall with enough force that the body splits open slightly and he begins to move toward Alice. His chains strain and rattle and Alice runs screaming from the basement. Jason tugs at his chains until they rip from the stone wall of the basement and he begins his march toward the stair.
Suddenly, the hand of Sheriff Savini grabs Jason’s ankle. Using his last bit of life left, he tries to slow the titanic killer down. Jason merely brings his massive foot down on Savini’s skull, crushing it. Jason gets to the top of the stair and sees Alice already on the run outside. Jason is about to give chase until he sees the two-part corpse of his mother. He cradles her head and begins to howl.
He grabs the ax that was resting near Pamela’s torso and moves toward the door, but he sees himself in the mirror. He sees himself for the first time in years. He is enraged by how he looks and smashes the glass. He looks around the room for a way to hide his shame. He steps over to his mother’s torso and tears a bloodsoaked sleeve off of her sweater. He tears open an eye hole with his teeth and puts the mask on like a sock over his head. He stands there for a moment, shuddering. Pam’s voice sounds in his head: “Kill them, Jason. Kill them all!”
Masked and axed, Jason runs out the door after Alice.
Eddie Jarvis arrives at the sheriff’s office and grabs a deputy to bring back to the camp, as everyone else is tied up looking into the missing officers and is on the way to the Voorhees property.
In the woods, Jason stalks Alice, not quite running as his long legs carry him far with each step. As he moves we see police lights in the distance casting strange beams and shadows in the woods.
Jason Voorhees is heading back to Camp Crystal Lake for the first time since his accident.