Jason Voorhees, of Friday the 13th franchise fame, shares a surprising connection to Alfred Hitchcock even though their movies are quite different on the whole.
Hitchcock, who is known by many to be the Master of Suspense, played his part in the creation of the slasher sub-genre with his 1960 psychological horror film, Psycho. Starring Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates, the soft-spoken motel proprietor with a strange fondness for his mother, Psycho created a murder mystery with a twist ending that became the basis for many others to follow in its footsteps. Along with Psycho, Hitchcock crafted other seminal horror classics such as The Birds, Rear Window, and Vertigo. His influence resonated more strongly in films like John Carpenter's Halloween, but Friday the 13th has an unexpected connection to the master's work that goes beyond the mother/son connection explored throughout the franchise.
Friday the 13th may seem to be a far cry from Hitchcock with its relentless focus on violence, nudity, and other adult themes, but Jason has a particular preference fans have noticed throughout the franchise that - intentional or not - is in league with one of the more well-known facets of Hitchcock's filmography.
Jason Voorhees Prefers Blondes, Just Like Hitchcock
The commonly accepted term for Hitchcock's particular penchant is the "Hitchcock blonde", which explains the director's fondness for casting blonde actresses in his films. Part of this, fans think, is due to aesthetic; Hitchcock's films were predominantly in black and white, and blonde hair added a different style to the screen when heavily featured. Part of his fondness, however, was likely personal preference. He has been quoted as saying: "blondes make the best victims". There are the stereotypes surrounding blonde women which suggests they are less intelligent than their brunette or redheaded counterparts, which could play into the trope as well.
Sean S. Cunningham, the creator of the Friday the 13th franchise, has been known to blatantly take inspiration from other artists whose work he admires. For example, both Cunningham and Victor Miller, who wrote the screenplay for Friday the 13th, have openly admitted they ripped off Halloween by riding its coattails after the film's massive success by trying to capitalize on the momentum it created where audiences seemed hungry for more films of the same type. It's not a far stretch, then, that he'd intentionally put in Jason's habitual making the blonde character the sole survivor in the majority of the Friday the 13th films. Male or female, it doesn't seem to matter, as Tommy Jarvis was blond, too. As fans pointed out, the sole survivor is nearly always blonde, but they may not survive Jason completely. Alice Hardy (Adrienne King) survives the first film only to die in the second. This pattern hasn't been confirmed by anyone official, though Cunningham likely wouldn't take issue to it being pointed out, particularly if his choice to cast blondes as the final girl was some sort of nod to Hitchcock, but it creates an interesting pattern that's a fun, historical tether to one of the all-time greats.