JASON LIVES: FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI by Simon Hawke
I’ve previously read and written up the novelizations author Simon Hawke wrote for the slasher classics Friday the 13th, Friday the 13th Part 2, and Friday the 13th Part III, but his association with the F13 franchise began when he was hired to write a novelization of the sixth film, Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI, to coincide with its release in 1986. It was the success of this novelization that led to Hawke being asked to circle back and write books for some of the earlier films. It’s easy to see why he was entrusted with this task, because he’s really good at this whole “take a slasher script and expand it into a short novel” thing.
When writing the other books, Hawke had the benefit of being able to watch the movies as well, making sure the events on the page played out as closely to what fans were familiar with seeing on the screen as possible. When writing Jason Lives, he didn’t have that extra way to examine the material, so there are some differences between his book and the film. His character descriptions don’t always match the look of the actors, and there are some notable missing moments – as well as a very notable added moment. That’s because he was working from the script by writer/director Tom McLoughlin this time around, and could only go by what was on the page. So when McLoughlin was asked not to film the final scene that would have featured a cameo by slasher Jason Voorhees’ never featured, rarely mentioned father, and when he was asked to add in a scene that dropped three more kills into the movie, Hawke didn’t get that memo. There’s a character who survives in the book but didn’t survive the movie, there are two other missing deaths, and that final scene with Mr. Voorhees is there at the end of the book, in all its creepy, mysterious glory.
Aside from those things, the Jason Lives novelization is close to the finished film. It begins with returning hero Tommy Jarvis, who was tormented by Jason in the fourth movie and had to deal with a copycat killer in the fifth film, being released from a mental institution and heading out to a cemetery in the town formerly known as Crystal Lake, now known as Forest Green, to make sure Jason is actually dead. His plan is to dig up Jason’s body and perform his own cremation... but the plan goes off the rails when a storm blows in and lightning strikes Jason’s corpse, bringing him back to life like Frankenstein’s Monster. Jason puts his hockey mask back on and resumes his killing spree, slashing his way through anyone that crosses his path as he makes his way back to the newly re-opened Camp Crystal Lake (now Camp Forest Green).
One thing that makes Hawke’s novelizations interesting to read are the moments when he’s able to go into the minds of characters and find out what they’re thinking, sometimes giving them more depth. He doesn’t do that as often in Jason Lives as he does in the other books, maybe because there’s more kills and action to get to, but it’s there from time to time. He seemed to be especially drawn to the idea of being able to flesh out the character of Sheriff Garris, who gives Tommy trouble because he seriously doubts his “Jason’s alive!” story... and because Tommy gets mixed up with his daughter, Megan. Not only do we take some trips into Garris’s thoughts, we even get more information on the guns he uses and his ammo.
The biggest selling point for this one are the moments when Hawke’s digs into Jason’s mind, and even gives him more back story than we’ve seen in the movies. I don’t really agree with his characterization of Jason, there’s too much Michael Myers in his vision of an unnerving, willfully silent child who could drive people mad with a look, but nonetheless, it’s interesting to see what his idea of Jason was.
Jason Lives is a good book, and it’s a shame Hawke wasn’t asked to write novelizations for more films in the F13 franchise than the four he did.
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