Okay, I've got a question for you guys.
At the end of Friday The 13th Part 2, after Jason breaks through the window and attacks Ginny, in the very next scene Ginny wakes up on a stretcher while being wheeled off to an ambulance and starts asking for Paul. And then when Paul doesn't show up she starts yelling "Where's Paul?"
I know that the producers intended for this to indicate that Jason had killed Paul. But I personally never saw it like that, because to me that just doesn't make any sense.
My question to you is "Do you see the ending to Part 2 the way the producers intended? Or are you more like me and feel that Paul actually survived the movie?"
Here's why I don't think Jason killing Paul makes any sense. I think the intention was that, unlike Jason jumping out of the lake and attacking Alice at the end of Part 1, Jason bursting through the window and attacking Ginny was NOT a hallucination. Paul ran to Ginny's aid and Jason killed him. The problem with that scenario is, "Why the hell did Jason let Ginny live?" She's injured, unconscious, and helpless. With Paul dead, there's nothing stopping him from finishing her off. It's not like he cares about giving his victims a fighting chance. One of his victims was in a wheel chair for Christ's sake!
I suppose there are a few ways that Jason COULD have killed Paul that would make sense. For instance, if you watch Jason closely when Ginny hacks into his shoulder while he's fighting Paul, Jason is bringing a pick-axe down on Paul's head at that exact same moment. Maybe the pick-axe connected, and everything after that was a hallucination brought on by shock, blood loss, and the trauma of the evening's events. But if that's true, then how did Ginny get back to camp on that injured leg?
Another possibility is that Jason killed Paul during their initial confrontation. Then Paul showing up to save Ginny was just a hallucination brought on by shock, blood loss, and psychological trauma. But if that's the case, then how the hell did Ginny manage to beat Jason without Paul's help?
Maybe Jason killed Paul during their initial confrontation, and everything that happened right up until the very end actually did happen, including Paul saving Ginny and Jason busting through the window to attack her. But the Paul that saved Ginny in Jason's shack and carried her back to camp when her injured leg would no longer carry her weight was actually Paul's ghost. But that would take the story into the supernatural territory that they were trying to stay away from at that time. If it WAS Ghost-Paul saving Ginny from Jason Swayze style, then they probably would have kept the original end shot where Mrs. Voorhees's severed head smiles and winks at the camera.
My personal theory? Paul survived the initial attack by Jason at the camp. He came to several minutes later and found both Jason and Ginny gone. He used his advanced wilderness survival training to track them to Jason's shack, where he finds Jason and Ginny locked in a life or death struggle. Paul comes to Ginny's aid, and the two of them kill, or at least grievously wound, Jason. During the long walk back to camp, Ginny collapses and Paul carries her the rest of the way. It's during this time that Ginny passes out due to exhaustion, shock, and blood loss. From there on, everything that happens between Ginny getting carried to camp and her waking up on a stretcher is a hallucination. While she's unconscious, the rest of the counselors in training return to camp, find out what happened, and then run and fetch the police. When the police get there, Paul leads them to Jason's shack, where they find his mother's mummified head sitting on an altar surrounded by the dead bodies of the town sheriff, Terry, and Alice from the first movie (also mummified), but no Jason. It's at this time that Ginny wakes up and starts asking for Paul.
So what do you guys think? Is Paul alive or dead? And if he's dead, then how the hell does Ginny survive the night?
