Friday the 13th Month: WWJD: What Would (Tommy) Jarvis Do?

Tommy Jarvis.


(photos appear special thanks to photobucket.com)

The only recurring character to be in more than 2 movies besides Jason. What's the deal with Jarvis?

Well, Tommy Jarvis was first introduced to the Friday the 13th collection in Friday the 13th Part IV: The Final Chapter.

Played by a young Corey Feldman, Tommy is endearing, and kind of creepy, as a kid obsessed with masks and special FX makeup. He's also perhaps a target for pedophiles, as he trustingly brings a hitchhiker who fixes his sister, Trish's, car into his room to check out his mask collection. Tommy is also extremely clever, as the ending of the movie finds Tommy using his FX skills to make himself look like a young Jason to trick Jason and kill him.

Jason? Is that you?

Then, the ending leaves you really questioning whether or not Tommy is a good guy or a bad guy anymore, because he goes crazy killing Jason and yelling "Die!" over and over again and then hugs Trish and looks at the camera like this:

You leave the movie thinking that Tommy Jarvis will take over as the new Jason.

Then, we find Tommy to be older, and obviously very disturbed, in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (Part 5)

Now, let's be honest here, I am reading on Wikipedia that in Part 5, Tommy is 15 years old. Does that guy look 15 to you? I don't know what is age is here, but I read on Where Are They Now? that he graduated High School in 1978. Now, I'm going to give him the BoftheD (Benefit of the Doubt) and say that he was 17 when he graduated high school. So he was born in 1961, right? Well, Friday the 13th Part 5 was released in 1985. So we'll say his age in 1984, to be fair. So 1984-1961 is 23 right? He was at least 23 years old. 15?!?!? Come on.

Anyway, whatever, the guy playing Tommy is super convincing because he looks really disturbed and uncomfortable the whole time; so that aside, Tommy has now been released from a mental institution and is put into a halfway house where he and other recovering patients are going to re-enter society. Tommy clearly isn't ready for this, as he is beating everyone up and constantly hallucinating that Jason is following him. It also doesn't help that there is a Jason copycat killer on the loose. (p.s. go back and watch it again after you find out who the killer is and watch how obvious they make it in the movie). The film ends with Tommy killing the copycat killer and appearing to take on the persona of Jason. They love to tease this idea.

Ok, so I have Tommy Jarvis Part 5 gossip: The actor that played him, John Shepherd, was actually asked to come back and play TJ again in part 6, but declined due to his religious beliefs. Shepherd's other film roles include Down Periscope and The Hunt for the Red October. I was always confused because i felt that Tommy in Part 5 actually looked older than Tommy in Part 6..oh well.

Then we find new Tommy getting into a bit of trouble with the law in his quest and final showdown with Jason in Friday the 13th: Part VI: Jason Lives. Tommy in this one is no longer insane, instead, he's trying to destroy Jason and he stabs him with some metal pole. Of course, lightning strikes the pole and Jason is revived. What are the chances?

Jason goes on his usual killing spree, and the sheriff of the town is convinced that the killer isn't Jason, but Tommy instead. Tommy is also having a little fling with the sheriff's daughter, so that doesn't help things. (Let me just say that in searching for Tommy pics from Part 6 I found this awesome Friday the 13th myspace that I think you need to check out). In the end of Part 6, Tommy and Jason have a final showdown involving Crystal Lake and alot of fire. Jason gets a chain with a boulder around his neck and sleeps with the fishes.

Mezco Toyz has actually created an action figure of this scene, and I want it very badly:

(sorry it's so small, it's the best I could find)

There were rumors that Tommy Jarvis would make a cameo in the remake that just came out, but that doesn't happen.

I guess what confuses me the most about Tommy Jarvis is the buildup and let down. After Part 6, you don't even hear the name "Jarvis" anymore. There's a girl with telepathy in 7, a cruise ship in 8, Hell in 9, and then space (X) followed by a Freddy mashup. No Tommy Jarvis. They built this whole back story of him for 3 straight films, setting him up to be the Jamie Lee Curtis to his Michael Myers. Then to be the next Jason? And then...nothing. Corey Feldman is also dying to reprise his role...and I guess to get work doing something other than being Corey Haim's friend on a bizarre reality show.

So we here at Monster Bash Blog are hearing this request and we concur: Bring Back Tommy Jarvis!

(In all sincerity, I just want them to continue to make Friday the 13th films after the remake smashes all box office records...so if bringing back Tommy means more movies, I'm all for it!)