Is Paul Holt from Friday the 13th Part 2 dead? This is a mystery that has gone unanswered for nearly four decades. Many Friday the 13th fans firmly believe he was killed off-screen by Jason, and there won’t be any changing their minds. Some fans are just as confident Paul survived the night. Others are probably somewhere in between. Because it never definitively says so in the films, it’s impossible to be completely certain, but today we’re going to take a look at all of the evidence, and you can draw your own conclusions.
First, let’s go over the set-up. In the climax of the movie, Paul distracts Jason long enough for Ginny to plant a machete deep into his shoulder. The two believe they are safe when they retreat to a nearby cabin, only for Jason to burst through the window soon after and grab Ginny. The final girl passes out, and when she wakes up, neither Paul nor Jason is anywhere to be seen. So, what happened to Paul? Did Jason kill him after Ginny blacked out, or did Paul manage to fend him off?
Now, let’s examine one of the biggest clues surrounding Paul’s fate, which, for many fans, seems to confirm Paul’s death. When Part 2 was released on DVD, an image on the back of the case showed Paul with a shocked face, appearing to be dead. Because no such moment is seen in the film, this immediately brought about speculation that it was from an unused death scene for Paul, thus suggesting he was killed by Jason after all.
Unfortunately, the image ultimately proves nothing, as it’s apparently not actually from a deleted death scene. According to Friday the 13th Franchise, Friday the 13th artist Crash Cunningham explained the true story behind the picture in 2012. “This photo is one of a few that was taken on set during the filming of the end cabin sequence. Or more specifically, while they were blocking in or rehearsing the scene before the cameras rolled,” Cunningham explains. “Notice that John is wearing a jacket over his wardrobe to stay warm. According to other photos I have and production stories, John was quite a character on set. He’s just goofing it up in this photo.”
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There you have it. Because the image is nothing more than a fun behind-the-scenes photo of actor John Furey, it can’t be used to accurately determine whether Paul lives or dies in the film. It’s an interesting image, but it unfortunately doesn’t bring us any closer to actually solving this mystery.
Our next big clue has to do with an alternate ending that was actually shot, only to be cut from the film. Speaking with author Peter M. Bracke in the book Crystal Lake Memories, screenwriter Ron Kurz admits he intended for Jason to kill Paul off-screen, and his death would have been implied by Mrs. Voorhees. Like the DVD photo, this information has also convinced some fans Paul is definitely dead, but that can still be debated for reasons we’ll talk about below.
From Crystal Lake Memories:
“My intent was this: Paul is, in fact, killed by Jason. Ginny survives. She asks, when found, ‘Paul! Paul! Where’s Paul?’ Then we cut to Jason’s shack, and a close-up on Mrs. Voorhees’ head. It’s bathed in faint light, staring at the camera. Slowly, distinctly a diabolical smile forms at the corners of its mouth.
In other words, in answer to Ginny’s question, the smile tells us that Jason has killed Paul. That is how I wrote it and that’s how Steve Miner filmed it. Granted, as it appeared on screen, shot and edited as it was, I can see cause for some confusion.”
While the intentions of the writer and director for any given movie do carry some weight, it’s important to remember that deleted scenes are not canon. Even if Paul’s death was meant to be implied by a smiling decapitated head, the point became null once the footage hit the cutting room floor. As it was, the ambiguous ending did little to completely prove Paul’s death, but that the scene was nixed especially means it has no bearing on what really happened to the character.
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Sometimes, despite a filmmaker’s initial intentions, cutting certain scenes can, in fact, save a fictional character’s life. It’s easy to point to what happened with Kevin Smith’s 1994 comedy Clerks as another example. An alternate ending originally had an armed robber shooting the lead character to death after closing time, which would have obviously been a huge bummer to close out the comedy film with. By cutting the ending, it was no longer canon, and Brian O’Halloran has been reprising the role in Kevin Smith movies ever since.
Really, what matters more than the smiling Pamela scene is what’s revealed in the next installment of the series. Unfortunately, Friday the 13th: Part 3 stops short of showing if Paul officially survived the previous film, leaving his fate mostly ambiguous. However, the sequel does give us some vague hints to go on, and the outlook is a tad more promising than the ending for Paul that Miner and Kurz had in mind.
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At the beginning of Part 3, Jason can be seen crawling away on the ground after taking that machete to the shoulder from Ginny. He later appears outside Edna and Harold’s store, where he upgrades his clothes. This implies that Ginny’s vision of Jason crashing through the window to grab her was actually a dream sequence, in which case Paul has most definitely survived. However, because it’s still possible Jason attacked Ginny through the window before wandering off to find new clothes; we can’t say with 100% certainty that it was absolutely a dream.
This brings us to our next key piece of evidence, which is perhaps the most important piece of information in this mystery. In the store in Part 3, Edna can be seen watching a TV news program reporting on the massacre at Packanack Lodge. “Ginny Field miraculously survived repeated attacks by the axe-wielding killer,” the reporter says. It’s worth noting Ginny is not referred to as the sole survivor, but the report still doesn’t clarify whether or not Paul or anyone else survived. Still, it’s what the reporter says next that’s most peculiar: “The names of the eight victims are being withheld…”
Let’s stop right there and take a moment to count the known victims of the Packanack Lodge massacre (not counting Alice, as she was killed years earlier). First, Jason murders Crazy Ralph, then goes on to kill Deputy Winslow, Scott, Mark, Jeff, Sandra, Vickie, and Terry. If you’re counting along, you’ll notice that there are eight victims – the same number announced by the news program. If Paul is dead, shouldn’t that number be nine? While it’s possible the report was erroneous, or Paul’s body hadn’t yet been found, the number nonetheless suggests Paul has, in fact, survived.
The final piece of the puzzle we have to go on here comes in asking the basic questions. What’s clear is Ginny blacked out at some point during the night, whether the window scene itself was a dream or not. If Jason really killed Paul, then why leave Ginny behind instead of finishing the job? He had been trying particularly hard to kill her just moments before. Another question – who called the police? Someone had to do so while Ginny was unconscious. While we can’t say for sure what happened, one easy way to fill all of these holes is to suggest Paul indeed fought off an injured Jason one more time when he tried to grab Ginny through the window, then called for help while Ginny was passed out.
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At the end of the day, there’s just not enough evidence here for us to definitively declare one way or the other if Paul Holt is dead. Based on the circumstantial evidence we have, it’s easy to argue for his survival, regardless of the original intent for the character’s fate. Still, unless John Furey shows up in a new sequel to reprise the role, this will likely always remain one of those unsolvable movie mysteries, and it’s up to you to draw your conclusions as to what happened to Paul.
What do you think — did Paul escape Jason’s wrath, or is he very much deceased? Let us know your opinion in the comments below and on social media.
One thing I recently discovered via YouTube was maybe a possible connection between Paul and Jason. Go back and study Paul with this in mind. How else did Jason know where Alice lived or how to use a phone or look up her number. Also Paul knew alot of detail about the first Friday murders and said so in almost a hypnotic state. How’d he know that Ginny was in Jason’s cabin or how did he even know where it was? Why did the other counselors never return from the bar? Did Paul and the other guy know something? So that’s why when Paul and Ginny left the bar he immediately asks the locals if there was any after hours spots around. It maybe far fetched but it also makes sense. That’s why we don’t know if Paul is dead or not. Maybe he’s on the run from Jason because of a possible betrayal. Or simply got picked up from the other counselors on their way back to camp. This theory would make for an interesting movie none the less. Til then I guess we’ll never know exactly what happened. Unless John Furey AKA Paul, tells us what he possibly knows.
Huh? Why would Paul know Alice or her phone number and address? lol
And “picked up by other counselors on their way back to camp?” Paul was already AT camp. And why would he have left Ginny anyway?
And Jason doesn’t have friends. No chance he’s “friends” with Paul and Paul gave him a phone number and address. That ruins Jason. And, there’s no “truth” or “rest of the story” to be known. This is fiction. What you see is all there is. It’s just ambiguous.
It’s obvious that he survived. He called the police and they came to the scene. That’s why in Friday the 13th part 3 it was stated that “The names of the eight victims are being withheld…” Jason only killed 8. Not Ginny or Paul.
She was asking where’s Paul over and over because she was unaware of what was happening around her. She did, after all, pass out from pain and shock. He was probably somewhere making statements to the police.
I’m aware that the original script had him dead and Mrs. Voorhees decapitated head opening its eyes in acknowledgment of his demise….. but that was scrapped. In fact, it was completely disregarded when pt 3 announced that the 8 bodies had been found.
I suppose that the real question here was what became of Paul or Ginny after the events of part 2. Ginny would probably STILL be in the hospital considering that part 3 and part 4 only covered a period of a few days after all the events of part 2.
I think that Paul is alive.. I think the paramedics didn’t answer Ginny about Paul bc they were more concerned with her injuries.
Honestly, I think Paul was killed. I just could never figure out the ‘when’. I suspect Jason killed him in that room when the room was dark and Ginny kept saying someone was in the room. How she put that machete in Jason, without Paul’s help, I couldn’t begin to guess at.
I think it was a dream sequence at the end. I think they either got back to the cabin together, Ginny passed out from blood loss (that’s why we see the dog and Jason leap through the window) and Paul called the police. Or sticking with the dream sequence idea and Paul died fighting Jason in the shack and Ginny blacked out and made it out alone and the scene with Paul, the dog and Jason jumping through the window was in her head.
Paul definitely survived. Most likely, Ginny dreamed up the final sequence after Paul had to carry her back to the camp.
In the news they say there were eight victims, but we never see the police arriving at Jason’s ranch, so Terry’s body shouldn’t be counting unless they assume she’s dead. I think it’s a matter of timing, if the first scene in F13 III is before attacking Ginny through the window then it would be possible that Jason just did everything after attacking both in the cabin.
There’s something that I need to confirm. Wasn’t Muffin murdered by Jason? If that’s so, then the whole sequence must a dream and probably Paul left before Ginny to talk to the police. Or maybe as a suspect of the murders.
I am also starting to think that the final sequence with Jason jumping through the window was a dream. That dog that Sandra and Jeff found was indeed Muffin. There is just no way that it wasn’t Teri’s dog. It looked just like her. The odds of there being another dead dog that looked exactly like Muffin in that exact spot at that exact time is almost impossible. Also, Muffin couldn’t have opened the screen door at the end when Paul and Ginny are in that cabin. The door was closed good. The dog might have been able to open it with her nose if it were half open, but you hear it slam when they go in the cabin. All of it points to a dream sequence for me and Paul and Ginny both surviving. I think that Ginny blacked out from blood loss and Paul called the cops. Or the other counselors came back, saw what happened and went for help. Paul was probably talking to police when Ginny woke up. That last scene reminded me a lot of Part 7 when Tina wakes up and asks where the guy/boyfriend was (I forget his name) and it showed him lying next to her in the back of the ambulance.
What we see on screen is canon, what is not seen is only speculation.
What do we see on screen in the series that are relevant to this event?
–Paul Disappears
–Only 8 bodies are counted by police/coroners
–A small cemetery near the lake houses from part 4 has at least one Voorhees relative buried in it.
–When badly injured, Jason turns into a body swapping demon worm… jumps into the nearest human body then looks for a blood relative’s body (dead or alive) to inhabit.
–Once regenerated in a relative’s body, he is dressed exactly like he was when he died.
–Non-Voorhees host bodies Jason uses end up melting into flesh puddles and disappearing once Jason’s spirit leaves them.
–In Parts 6, 7, and 8 Jason’s skin is grey like a zombie and his skull is smooth… in part 9 his skin is the ruddy flesh color of a person with Anglo-saxon heritage who lives in north America and his head is lumpy… implying that his regenerated body is more alive and can look different.
–In Part 6, we see that the cemetery caretaker fills in excavated graves at sunrise and lies about said activity when questioned by police.
So…What can I infer about the time between Parts 2 and 3 that would fall in line with these onscreen details?
I think Jason tried to abscond with Ginny, as shown in the jumpscare scene at the end of Part 2 and was unsuccessful… I believe Paul fought with Jason… possibly putting Jason on (or past) the edge of death. Then, Jason either gained the upper hand in the fight or while dead, hypnotized Paul with his accursed heartbeat. Paul becomes Jason’s vessel and, overnight, goes to the area of the Cemetery seen in Part 4… where he digs up a Voorhees body and is regenerated at full strength with his same part 2 clothing (but apparently a new face, as seen in Part 3). Hearing the approaching sirens and understanding that the cops will be looking for him, he makes his way across the county line from Cunningham County into Wessex County (intentionally or by accident). Then he follows a defunct rail line to a decommissioned whistle stop station that Harold and Edna have converted into the store we see in Part 3. (Hence the store’s railroad motif.) He stops there to change clothes and kill the couplebefore moving on toward Higgins Haven.
Meanwhile, Paul’s body melts into the soil of the open grave before Martin the caretaker comes by at dawn to cover up the open grave and not mention it to authorities.
But that’s just me…. that’s how I think it happened, based purely on the series as a complete text.
I have always believed Paul Holt survived. Actually, it does not make much sense otherwise. The scene with Jason coming through the window at the end to attack Ginny was a dream sequence, just like Jason attacking Alice at the end of the original movie. The biggest clues we have are:
1. We know Muffin found Jason and was, with reasonable certainty, killed. We even saw a mangled dog body that was highly likely to be Muffin. So, Muffin appearing at the end indicates a dream sequence. If this wasn’t a dream sequence, then nothing makes sense. If we were to assume this is not a dream sequence, we would have to assume after Jason attacked Ginny, Paul fought him again and somehow a near mortally wounded Jason somehow killed Paul. Then, we would have to assume Jason dressed Ginny’s wounds, put her to bed, called EMS, and carried Paul off. Yeah….not buying that.
2. Paul Holt is major character in this movie that already fought Jason twice before. Major characters in these kinds of movies are not killed off-screen. Even minor characters in these kinds of movies are not killed off-screen. These types of movies are all about the unique way in which each individual is killed. The only movie in which I have ever seen a major character killed offscreen was decades later in No Country for Old Men.
3. Jason suffered a devastating injury with the machete buried deep into his shoulder. This is not the type of injury one shrugs off in a couple minutes. Jason did not become “superhuman” until Friday the 13th Part VI. In the opening sequence of Part 3, when they recapped Part 2, they left the dream sequence out, and the final shot of Jason is him weakly crawling away. Very strongly indicating that Jason crashing through the window was a dream sequence.
4. In Part 3, the news announces the body count from Part 2 as 8 persons. Of course, this excludes the scene of Alice being killed at the beginning since that took place 5 years previous and somewhere else. So, if Paul had been killed, the count would be 9. Also, the body count includes the bodies that were at Jason’s shack – Terry and Deputy Winslow. To find all the bodies as quickly as they did, Paul must have shown them where it was or told them where to find it.
So, the sequence with Jason coming through the window at the end of Part 2 is a dream sequence. Paul got Ginny back to the cabin, dressed her wounds, and called EMS. Or….some of the other counselors made it back from the bar and went and got EMS. Ginny had some severe lacerations and blood loss. It is likely she passed out during the night. When she was asking for Paul, he was either talking with Police, leading them to Jason’s shack, had already been taken away in another ambulance, or was in the ambulance Ginny was loaded into to ride to the hospital with her.
Ginny Fields and Paul Holt survived. A film with Ginny and Paul Holt (now married) would be awesome.
This is 100% the most accurate theory I have read period. I fully agree with u. I believe Ginny actually passed out while Paul was carrying her to the cabin. So yes, that entire scene “inside the cabin” was a dream sequence. Jason weakly crawled away and the next time he shows up he is looking for clothes at Harold and Edna’s store. I was also reading another article as to why Jason had no hair and beard in part 3 but he did in part 2. If he had enough sense to look for new clothing to change his appearance since he was evading authorities then he could’ve just as easily stopped somewhere and shaved all of his hair off as well. I know this wasn’t talked about in this article. My bonus addition. Haha. But yes I believe your theory to be correct. And alas, poor Muffin. 😢
I want to believe Paul Holt survived. I am not convinced one way or the other. The only thing that stands out to me is the number of bodies the news claims to have been killed and it doesn’t include Paul in the count. I agree that main characters usually get killed on screen, but I guess we will never truly know. The end sequence was for the big reveal of Jason’s face as an adult. I think that’s what took people’s breath away. But, I think the ending is meant for exactly what it does….. keeps you guessing!!!