Pamela Voorhees

"Kill her mommy, kill her! Don't let her get away mommy, don't let her live. Kill her mommy, kill her. She can't hide, no place to hide. Get her mommy, get her!"

- Mrs. Pamela Voorhees as her son.

Pamela Voorhees (born. 1930 - died. June 13 1979) was a female serial killer and the main antagonist of the original "Friday The 13th" from 1980 by well known director Sean S. Cunningham. During the original film she was known as simply Mrs. Voorhees. She is the mother of Jason Voorhees, whose drowning death as a child drove her to murder those who she deemed responsible.

Mrs. Voorhees liked to terrorize her victims by propping up dead bodies and throwing them through windows, also using various weapons to get the job done.

She was portrayed by well known actress Betsy Palmer, who reprised her role briefly in the 1981 sequel "Friday The 13th Part II".

Role in the film
In the original "Friday The 13th" Mrs. Voorhees was responsible for the murders at Camp Crystal Lake. In 1957 a young boy known as Jason Voorhees drowns in the lake of Camp Crystal while two Camp counselors named Barry and Claudette sneak away to make love and not pay any attention to the mentally disabled Jason, son of the camp cook, Pamela Voorhees. After Jason drowns, the two try to sleep together again only for Pamela to catch them in the act. As revenge for her son's death, which would have been prevented had they been looking after him, she murders the two by stabbing them to death with a hunting knife.

After the murders, the Camp is closed and aproppriatly nicknamed "Camp Blood" by the locals. Later while attempting to re-open the camp, Pamela poisoned the water and set cabins on fire to prevent it. In 1979 Steve Christy re-opened the camp with the help of his friend Alice Hardy. Friends of Alice; Ned, Jack, Brenda, Marcie, and Bill came to help. Also Annie, another camper, hitchhikes to the camp by getting a ride in Mrs. Voorhees's Jeep CJ. However, when Annie realizes that Voorhees has no intention of driving her to the camp, she jumps out of the speeding vehicle only for Mrs. Voorhees to stop and chase her into the woods where she corners her by a tree and slits her throat with a hunting knife. In the time following, Pamela Voorhees stalked the counselors and killed them all, although she wasn't revealed as the culprit until the film's climax.

She killed Ned by slitting his throat. She killed Jack (played by Kevin Bacon) by grabbing his head and poking an arrow through the back of his neck, piercing through his throat and killing him. Brenda came outside to close the windows on her cabin when she hears what seems to be a child's voice calling for help. She is lured onto an archery range where Mrs. Voorhees kills her with arrows. Marcie was killed when Mrs. Voorhees jammed a hatchet into her face. Steve Christy came back and was greeted by a knife in his stomach. When Alice came back to the Camp as the only survivor, she panicked when she learned that everyone was dead. Alice panicked and ran. She discovered the bodies and saw Bill pinned through the door with arrows. When she ran, she encountered Mrs. Voorhees who began telling Alice about the story of young Jason who drowned.

"Do you know that a young boy drowned, the year before those two others were killed? The councilors weren't paying any attention, they were making love while that young boy drowned. I was working the day that it happened, preapering meals here. I was the cook. His name was Jason. He wasn't a very good swimmer. Jason should have been watched..every minute! You let him drown! You never paid any attention! Look what you did to him! Look what you did to him!"

- Mrs. Voorhees to Alice

Suddenly, while Mrs. Voorhees revealed a knife hidden under her sweater Alice realized that she was the killer. She ran while the psychotic Pamela Voorhees chased her. The two women fight when Alice knocked Mrs. Voorhees out and ran. Mrs. Voorhees lived and attacked Alice with a machete. The two fighting, Mrs. Voorhees screamed and put Alice down at the ground. And when Pamela fell on the ground, Alice got the machete and ran towards her. And with one swing, Alice decapitated Pamela Voorhees with the machete. Her head fell on the ground and she was dead. Alice left. The body of Pamela Voorhees and her decapited head were left there. Her head was later taken by her son who was alive, and mummified which he kept in a shack near the lake. Jason Voorhees spent the rest of his life seeking revenge for his mother's death.

Aftermath
Mrs. Voorhees was portrayed by Betsy Palmer. Palmer soon became even more famous though to her role. The character of Pamela Voorhees did not return. In the 1981 sequel "Friday The 13th Part II" Mrs. Voorhees's decapitated head is seen on an alter in the cottage of her son Jason together with her sweater and pants. Betsy Palmer returned in a hallucinaton of Jason while Ginnie Field posed as her to confuse Jason.

In "Friday The 13th Part III" from 1982, Pamela Voorhees was seen as a zombie in Chris Higgins hallucination. In "Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter" from 1984 Mrs. Voorhees's tombstone is seen.

In 2003 Betsy Palmer was asked to reprise her role in "Freddy vs. Jason" but she turned it down.

Trivia

 * Betsy Palmer was interviewed about the role in the documantary's "His Name Was Jason" (2009) and "Return To Crystal Lake" (2003).
 * In 2004 Sideshow Collectibles relaeased an 12" action figure of Pamela Voorhees. This higly detailed figure comes with an axe, a hunting knife, a machate and a bow and arrow.
 * An action figure of Pamela Voorhees was also released in "NECA Friday The 13th 25th Anniversary Box Set" togheter with a Part II Jason figure.