Jason's Ressurection In Part 2 Explained As Regeneration
Jason X, however, was the first film that introduced the idea of Jason having the ability to regenerate and fix his body to continue on his murderous rampage. The filmmakers took a critical beating from a group of fans for this plot point as they thought it was a device of New Line to try and sell the Jason character. The idea of Jason regenerating his body was an intriguing thought. In fact, it was so relevant that the idea was used to explain how Jason returned from his watery grave for Friday The 13th Part 2.
In Simon Hawke's book of the same title, based on the script of Ron Kurz, he explores the journey of Jason gaining consciousness from underneath the surface of Crystal Lake to reappearing at Camp Crystal Lake and coming face to face, literally, with the realization that he was in the lake a lot longer than he ever thought possible.
Below is an excerpt from the novel that fleshes out this topic. Read for yourself and see that regeneration was in fact a driving force in Jason's return from the dead in Friday the 13th Part 2.
From The Simon Hawke Novel
Jason’s memories of what happened on the night he drowned were very dim. He remembered being frightened as his legs cramped up and he started to slip beneath the surface of the lake. He had a vague memory of struggling to stay afloat, of water rushing down his throat and filling up his lungs; he could recall the terrifying sensation of sinking down into the murky lake, the fading light, the roaring in his ears... and then nothing.
At some point, consciousness returned, but he had no way of telling how much time had passed. He came to on the shore, covered from head to toe with slime, apparently having dragged himself out of the lake somehow. He coughed up water for a very long time. He remembered lying in the bushes and retching, vomiting up slimy worms and maggots as his body fought its way back to life.
It never occurred to him to wonder what it was that made him different from the others—why they shrank from him as rabbits shrank from snakes. He never asked himself why he was always healthy, why the slight injuries of childhood had always healed so quickly. He had never broken any bones, so no one ever had the opportunity to notice the supernatural way his body could repair itself. Pamela Vorhees never questioned it, just as she never questioned his peculiar silence. A mother loves her child. She was simply grateful for having been blessed with a healthy little boy. Like father, like son.
It did not occur to Jason Vorhees to wonder just how long he had been underwater. He merely dragged himself deeper into the woods, some primitive urge driving him to find a hole somewhere that he could crawl into, a dark place where he could rest, and heal, and wait until he could think of what to do.
After a while, he returned back to the camp, his simple mind telling him that perhaps it was what he was supposed to do. Only there was no longer anybody there. The season had ended and the camp was closed. He broke into several of the cabins and found some cans of food and some old clothes for himself. In the process, he happened to catch sight of himself in a mirror and he recoiled in horror from the image that confronted him. He had been at the bottom of the lake for much longer than he’d realized. His flesh was trying to regenerated and heal itself, but decomposition had set in. The worms had eaten at his face.
