Yumper and Svo Take Manhattan

Friday The 13^th (1980)

• Directed by Sean S. Cunnigham
  • A Stranger is Watching
  • Spring Break
• Written by Victor Miller
  • Wrote tons of Books on Kojack
• Starring Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Jeannie Taylor, and Kevin Bacon.
• Budget of $550,000 and Box office of $59 million.
• Trivia
  • Film was inspired by John Carpenter’s Halloween.
  • The movie was filmed at Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco in New Jersey. The camp is still in operation, and it has a wall of Friday the 13th (1980) memorabilia to honor that the movie was set there.
  • Betsy Palmer said that if it were not for the fact that she was in desperate need of a new car, she would never have accepted the role of Pamela Voorhees. In fact, after she read the script, she called the movie “a piece of shit.” Over the years, however, Palmer did warm up to the film, as it made her more famous than infamous, and made appearances at conventions and in documentaries to discuss it.
  • While most of the cast and crew stayed at local hotels during filming, some of the most dedicated, including Tom Savini and Taso N. Stavrakis, stayed at the actual camp site. They had Savini’s Betamax VCR and only a couple of movies, such as Barbarella (1968) and Marathon Man (1976), on videotape to keep themselves entertained so each night they would watch one. To this day Savini says he can recite those movies by heart.
  • Tom Savini was one of the first crew members on board for the film because the producers idolized his special make-up effects in Dawn of the Dead (1978).
  • The snake killed was really killed, the owner was not infromated about what was going to happen.
  • Composer Harry Manfredini came up with the now classic “ki ki ki ma ma ma” vocals attached to the score. It’s his voice as well.
  • Victor Miller admitted that he was purposely riding the success of John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978). Director Sean S. Cunningham even approached Halloween producer Irwin Yablans to produce the film, but he declined, as he wasn’t interested in doing another horror movie
  • (at around 19 mins) Special effects supervisor Tom Savini performed the arrow shot that narrowly missed Brenda when she was setting up the archery target.
  • After the film’s success, Adrienne King was stalked by an obsessed fan. Terrified, she asked that her role in Part 2 be small as possible. She did not take any other roles or make convention appearances for almost 20 years after its release.
  • Betsy Palmer tells fans she has no idea who this character in the hockey mask is since her son Jason drowned in 1957.
  • Sally Field was offered the role of Alice Hardy, but turned it down.
  • This film is rumored to have been inspired by the real life Lake Bodom murders in Espoo, Finland on June 5, 1960.
  • Lead Adrienne King recalls auditioning even as there was no script available. The actors were given snippets of possible dialogue to perform.
  • Most of the cast had theater backgrounds and little to no film/TV experience.
  • Ari Lehman is from Chicago!! ( Played the First Jason and Special Effects Master)

Friday The 13^th Part 2 (1981)

• Directed by Steve Miner
  • Warlock
  • Friday The 13^th Part 3
  • Chicago boy
• Starring Betsy Palmer, Amy Steel, John Fruey, and Steve Dash as Jason.
• Budget of $1.2 million and box office of $21 million.
• Trivia
  • In the scene when Jason crashes into the window and grabs Ginny, the actor, Warrington Gillette was actually hurt. He tried to break into the window, only it didn’t break, and he ended up banging his head really hard on the glass.
  • Following the release of Friday the 13th (1980), Adrienne King had numerous encounters with an obsessive fan. The situation escalated into a stalker case, and she decided to avoid any further acting opportunities. She has not done any on-screen film work since, but has done voice over work on several films more than 15 years later.
  • According to co-producer Dennis Stuart Murphy, the idea to have Jason wear a burlap sack over his head in Part 2 came from their costume designer, who figured it was the type of readily available item Jason could have conceivably and easily procured.
  • A shot of the infamous double-impalement was cut to avoid an “X” rating, yet a gory still photo of this censored shot appears on the back of the videocassette box. The footage of the censored portion was finally recovered in 2020 from an old VHS of the gore shots that Carl Fullerton kept for his portfolio and was included on the Scream Factory deluxe collection of the films.
  • With Tom Savini unavailable, they turned to Stan Winston to deliver the gore for Part 2. Unfortunately, Winston was forced to leave due to scheduling conflicts, making way for Carl Fullerton. Within 5 years, Winston won an Oscar for his work on James Cameron’s Aliens, and his Stan Winston Studios would go on to be responsible for the design work on The Terminator, Alien, Jurassic Park, and Predator series. After a decade in gore, Fullerton ascended to the A-List of Hollywood make-up artists with Glory, The Godfather Part III, Silence of the Lambs, and Philadelphia.
  • The actors stayed in the cabins on-set. John Furey, Bill Randolph and Russell Todd came to Lauren-Marie Taylor’s (Vickey) cabin to play a prank on her. They scratched on her screen window, and she hyperventilated until she fainted.
  • Jason’s original name was Josh, but screenwriter Victor Miller decided that wasn’t scary enough, so they changed it to Jason.
  • 48 seconds were cut by the MPAA to avoid an X rating.
  • “Jason” was the original working title of the movie.
  • Amy Steel would star in another slasher after this, April Fool’s Day.
  • Originally it had been intended for Amy Steel’s character Ginny to die, but producers decided someone needed to survive. They loved Steel’s performance, and wanted to sign her up for part three. Her agent told her not to, stating she’d get better roles, and she chose to listen. Years later she shared that she regretted that decision. While she did get a few other roles here and there, she largely left acting and instead became a marriage and family therapist.
  • This was the only Friday the 13th film that Roger Ebert did a print review for (he gave it only 1/2 a star out of a possible 4). In the review, he finished by simply penning “This review will suffice for the ‘Friday the 13th’ movie of your choice.”
  • During the climactic fight between Jason and Ginny, Jason raises the mattock to block Ginny’s machete swing. Amy Steel said that during the first take, the timing was wrong and she accidentally hit Steve Dash’s finger, causing him to have to go to the emergency room. Steve Dash has photos of him being treated in the ER in full costume, fake machete still stuck through his shoulder. After his finger was stitched up, he returned to set that night and insisted they complete the scene. She said they simply put a rubber cot on his finger, and applied make-up to make it look dirty.
  • Both this film and Halloween II (1981) feature their villains killing a law-enforcement officer with a hammer to the head (although Mr. Garrett in Halloween II is a security guard, not a police officer or sheriff’s deputy). Both movies were also released in 1981. This film, in May, and Halloween II in October.

Friday The 13^th Part 3

• Directed by Steve Miner
• Starring Dana Kimmel, Tracie Savage, and Richard Brooker as Jason.
• Box office of $36.7 million on a budget of $2.3 million
• Trivia
  • Only movie where no one says Jason’s name
  • The house, barn, and lake were all purpose-built on location. The man-made lake wasn’t properly sealed, and, subsequently, the water drained into the soil during the first week of filming.
  • This was the first of the Friday the 13th films to use the iconic hockey mask, which has been in every sequel since.
  • The original plan for the film involved Ginny (Amy Steel) from the previous film being confined to a psychiatric hospital. Suffering from the trauma inflicted on her during the ordeal with Jason, she eventually finds that, intent on revenge, he has tracked her down, and he begins to murder the staff and other patients at the hospital. Steel ultimately declined the offer to return to the series as she was busy with other projects, but has since said that she thinks she should have accepted.
  • To prevent the film’s plot being leaked, the production used the fake title “Crystal Japan,” after a David Bowie song. This began an on-again, off-again tradition of giving “Friday the 13th” films David Bowie song titles during filming.
  • Former trapeze artist Richard Brooker was chosen to play Jason simply because Steve Miner needed a big man for the role. Being 6’3″ tall, but not that bulky, the slim and toned Brooker wore foam padding under his clothes and did all of his own stunts.
  • This was Paramount’s first 3-D film since Ulysses (1954) 28 years earlier.
  • For the original ending, Chris awakens in the canoe on Crystal Lake after the events of the previous evening left her as the lone survivor. Chris rows the canoe back to shore and begins walking towards the house with an exhausted demeanor. She suddenly hears a noise from the house, and thinking it’s Rick, begins to run to the porch of the house. Once she arrives at the front door, it suddenly bursts open and Jason emerges, to the surprise of Chris. Jason then grabs Chris by the hair and chops her head off with a machete.
  • This is the first, but not only, Friday the 13th film where Jason starts off with no mask. The others being Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986) and Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989).
  • These images show the original look of Jason Voorhees as well, which was a mask designed by effects artist Stan Winston. After the decision was made to excise this original ending, the look of Jason was completely overhauled to what we now see in film today.
  • Tracie Savage quit acting after this and earned a journalism degree. She became a reporter, but continued to receive fan mail from Friday the 13th fans through her entire career.
  • Two different masks were actually used in the film. One hero mask and one stunt mask. The hero was lost to time nailed to Marty Becker’s shop door after the movie whereas the stunt mask went on to feature as the hero in part IV The Final Chapter and part V A New Beginning.
  • One of the inspirations for ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic’s “Nature Trail to Hell,” emphasizing the sequels and the 3D, the other being Sleepaway Camp (1983). Further, Jason is one of Weird Al’s guests in the “Town Talk” segment of UHF (1989).
  • Several deaths in the film had to be cut to avoid an X rating from the MPAA, which include the following: Andy’s death, which showed his leg being cut off and his stomach being ripped open, Vera’s death for too much gore and looking too real, Edna’s death was cut because of excessive blood flow, Chili’s impalement was cut because of a shot showing steaming blood hitting the floor, Debbie’s death scene was also trimmed, which originally showed blood running down her chest and splattering on her face

Friday the 13^th IV: The final Chapter (1984)

• Directed by Joseph Zito
  • The Prowler
  • Invasion USA
  • Red Scorpion
  • Missing in Action
• Starring Erich Anderson, Judie Aronson, Crispin Glover, Lawerence Montison, Corey Fieldman and Ted White as Jason.
• Budget of $2.6 million and a Box office of $32.9 million.
• Trivia
  • (at around 35 mins) The strange dance which Jimbo performs at the party was contributed by actor Crispin Glover and was based on the eccentric way he actually danced in clubs. On the set he was dancing to “Back in Black” by AC/DC as the scene was filmed. In the film however an edited version of “Love Is a Lie” by Lion was dubbed into the scene.
  • 58 years old at the time, Ted White is the oldest stuntman/actor to portray Jason Voorhees. White, who died in October 2022, was the longest-lived cast member (96 years old)
  • Last film in the series to pick up immediately where the previous film left off.
  • (at around 9 mins) The nurse’s name tag reads “R. Morgan, RN,” an homage to actress Robbi Morgan, who played Annie in Friday the 13th (1980).
  • Joseph Zito had previously directed The Prowler (1981), but they wanted him to both direct AND write Friday the 13th Part 4. He said, “But I’m not a writer,” to which they said, “Here’s a contract paying you double to write and direct,” and then he responded, “Yeah, I’m totally a writer.” Zito used the extra salary to hire Barney Cohen to somewhat secretly write the script. Their process entailed Zito taking nightly one-hour phone calls with Phil Scuderi to discuss the story and script for Final Chapter. The next day Zito would meet Cohen in an apartment in New York to relay what notes and ideas Scuderi had offered, which they would then turn into new script pages to be sent later that day to Scuderi in Boston to be discussed again over the phone that night.
  • (at around 1h 18 mins) Corey Feldman was legitimately terrified during the window shot. As per series tradition, Jason was played by yet another stuntman in ‘The Final Chapter,’ this time Ted White, a seasoned veteran of 40 years who had doubled for Clark Gable and John Wayne. He did not like Feldman, calling him the “meanest goddamn little kid” he’d ever dealt with. When it came time to film the famous scene near the end when Jason reaches through a broken window to pull Tommy out of a house, White got to act out his frustration. They had worked out the timing of when White would grab Feldman beforehand, but during filming White waited a couple of beats to the point that Feldman assumed the stunt had gone wrong. So, just as he let his guard down White grabbed him exactly as you see in the film, meaning Feldman’s screams of horror were completely authentic.
  • Though he disliked being involved with the film, Ted White is considered by many fans to be one of the best Jasons.
  • At the time, this installment of the series contained the most nudity and gore.
  • (at around 9 mins) The moment where Jason’s hand moves in the morgue was done by Ted White after Joseph Zito had called cut on the scene. However, the camera was still rolling, and caught this movement, and it was included in the film.
  • This is the only film in the series to shoot new footage using sets and locations from a previous film. The beginning takes place on the set of Friday the 13th: Part 3 (1982), before moving to a new location.
  • Director Joseph Zito wanted Jason’s hockey mask to explode apart in the opening credits, but there was not enough time in post-production to pull off this gag.
  • Film critic Roger Ebert called this film “an immoral and reprehensible piece of trash”, after he had paid his own money to see it.
  • According to Jason performer Ted White, Corey Feldman maintained a bratty attitude on set. Feldman maintains that this was due to poor treatment by director Joseph Zito and that during filming of the scene in which he attacks Jason with the machete he was pretending that the sandbags he struck were Zito. Even with his attitude, White stated in interviews that Feldman was a very impressive actor
  • Due to the production’s low budget, several actors had to perform uncomfortable or dangerous stunts themselves including Judie Aronson, who was required to remain submerged in a lake in near-freezing temperatures and Peter Barton, who was actually slammed into the shower wall when Jason attacks him. Ted White, who portrays Jason, advocated for several of the actors, requesting that Barton be allowed to use a crash pad and threatening to quit when director Joseph Zito refused to allow Aronson to get out of the lake between takes, which was so cold that she started crying and got hypothermia. White and Zito ultimately developed a combative relationship on set which resulted in White demanding his name be removed from the credits, calling the film “a piece of shit.”
  • Ted White is the second tallest actor to play Jason at 6’4″.

Friday the 13 Part 5: A New Beginning (1985)

• Directed by Danny Steinmann
  • The Unseen
• Starring Melanie Kinnaman, John Shepherd, and Anthony Barrile.
• Budget of $21 million and Box Office of 2 million.
• Trivia
  • Deborah Voorhees said in a recent interview that when she went in for an audition, one of the things that caught the director’s eye on her photo was she had the same name as Jason. Nowadays, she doesn’t really get recognized, but some people freak out when they see her last name. She tells them Jason Voorhees is her husband and that it’s a real bitch getting blood stains out of his laundry.
  • Friday the 13th producer Frank Mancuso Jr. didn’t get on with the films director Danny Steinmann. Mancuso called Steinmann a pervert and called the film a soft core porn sex movie rather than a slasher horror film
  • There was originally a 3-minute long sex scene with Deborah Voorhees, but the MPAA forced them to cut it to 10 seconds.
  • Ted White, who played Jason in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984), stated in interviews that he was offered the opportunity to reprise the role in this sequel and the follow up, but turned it down. White also stated that he regretted that decision.
  • The film was originally written to have Corey Feldman as the star, reprising the role of Tommy Jarvis. However, he was already working on The Goonies (1985), therefore the script was rewritten to have Feldman’s appearance limited to a cameo.
  • Contrary to popular belief, “A New Beginning” was a hit at the box office. Producer Frank Mancuso Jr. was so pleased with the take at the box office opening weekend, he called up director Danny Steinmann and claimed the numbers were like “the golden times.”
  • This is the first film in the series where Jason is actually referred to by his full name: Jason Voorhees. In Friday the 13th (1980), Friday the 13th: Part 2 (1981), and Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984), he is only referred to as Jason, while he is not referred to by name at all in Friday the 13th: Part 3 (1982).
  • ‘A New Beginning’s’ editor, Bruce Green, had previously been an assistant editor to future Oscar-winning editor Michael Kahn on Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). Kahn put his neck on the line for Green, offering to edit ‘A New Beginning’ for free if the producers didn’t like the job Green did.
  • The hockey mask in this film has blue markings on it instead of red ones, foreshadowing that the real killer isn’t Jason at all.

Friday the 13^th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)

• Directed by Tom Mcloughlin
  • One Dark Night
  • Date with an Angel
  • Friday the 13^th: The series
• Starring Thom Matthews, Jennifer Cooke, David Kagen, and CJ Grahm as Jason.
• Budget of $3 Million and Box office of $19 million.
• Trivia
  • Director Tom McLoughlin took home some props from the film, including Jason’s tombstone – which sits outside his house, made to look like Jason is buried in his yard – and his casket, which sits in his garage. The DVD box set includes a scene in which he shows off these props at his home and tells of how a city employee refused to enter his yard to read the meter because he thought a body was really buried there.
  • Aside from Alice, who has a minor role in the second film as well as the starring role in the first, Tommy Jarvis is the only recurring protagonist in the series, albeit played by three different actors.
  • Crew member Dan Bradley played Jason on the first day of shooting, which is why Jason’s build in the paintball scenes are different. This is also why Jason’s eye color changes during the film. Paramount had seen the first day’s rushes and asked that Jason be recast, feeling that Bradley looked too bulky for the role. Therefore Graham was given the part.
  • After becoming a born-again Christian, John Shepherd, who starred as Tommy in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985), did not want to reprise the role and it went to Thom Mathews instead.
  • The first and only film in the series – including New Line Cinema’s three “Jason” films and the 2009 reboot – to feature absolutely no nudity, although there is one sex scene. Reportedly, writer-director Tom McLoughlin had approached actress Darcy DeMoss about appearing topless in her sex scene (she refused) but admitted later he felt uncomfortable about suggesting such a thing but had tried to appease his producers, who felt that the hardcore audience had come to expect it. It is also the lowest earning film in the franchise, though the two factors very likely aren’t connected.
  • The original script contained material that alluded to Jason’s father, which, to date, remains the closest the series has ever come to shedding some light on the mysterious character. In the script, Pamela’s headstone is next to Jason’s, a reference to the fact that someone paid to have Jason buried, explaining why he was not cremated as the mayor said in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985). As well as this, there is a final scene in which Jason’s father visits his son’s grave, seemingly aware of the fact that Jason is not inside it. These scenes were never filmed but made it into the film’s novelization. The 2009 Deluxe Edition DVD uses storyboard art and voiceover work to complete the scene.
  • McLoughlin was actually offered the chance to direct Scream in the mid-90s, the gig Wes Craven eventually accepted. He declined, but during that process he met Kevin Williamson who admitted that the fantastically self-aware Part VI was an influential film for him on his path to eventually writing Scream.
  • The film made $19,472,057 with a budget of $3,000,000 marking the first time that a “Friday the 13th” installment did not gross over $20,000,000 and beginning the general decline in box office returns.
  • The final scene to be shot was the crashing of the RV. Director Tom McLoughlin was terrified during filming as there could only be one take and the crashing made the scene incredibly dangerous for C.J. Graham, although it remains unclear why Graham would be in the van when it flips over, as his character is not seen until after it flips and comes to a stop.
  • Ted White stated in interviews that he was offered the opportunity to return to the role of Jason Voorhees, who he portrayed in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984), but he turned the role down. White stated that in hindsight he should have accepted the offer.

Friday the 13^th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)

• Directed by John Carl Buechler
  • Troll
  • Ghoulies II
  • The Dungeon Master
  • Special effects
    • Reanimator
    • Ghoulies
    • Demonic Toys
    • Halloween 4
    • Nightmare of elm street 4
  • Starring Terry Kiser, Jennifer Banko, John Otrin, and Kane Hodder as Jason.
  • Budget of $2.8 Million and Box office of $19. Million.
  • Trivia
    • During filming, Kane Hodder’s dressing room was a quarter of a mile down a dirt road. One night filming ended at 2 a.m. and while still in the Jason costume he decided to walk through the woods on a path to his dressing room. As he was walking someone approached him and asked if he was with the movie. He didn’t reply, because he thought it was a pretty stupid question to ask, as he was standing there in full Jason costume. When the man asked again, Kane took a little lunge at him and grunted. The guy took off, tripping and running. The next day director John Carl Buechler told Kane that the local sheriff was supposed to stop by, but he never showed.
    • Kerry Noonan, who played Paula in Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986), read for the role of Tina when she thought the title was “Birthday Bash.” She quickly realized that it was a Friday the 13th film and confessed that she’d starred in the last movie, so John Carl Buechler decided not to cast her.
    • Director John Carl Buechler has publicly fumed many times over the years about the number of edits required by the MPAA to avoid an “X” rating. The film had to be submitted nine times to the Motion Picture Association of America before being granted an “R” rating, and it stands as arguably the most heavily censored entry in the ‘Friday the 13th’ series.
    • In Kane Hodder’s book “Unmasked: The True Story of the World’s Most Prolific Cinematic Killer,” he notes that one of his fondest memories of the Part VII shoot was the film’s costume department making his mother a custom “Jason’s Mom!” crew member’s jacket, which he found very amusing. He says that she would wear it during the whole final two decades up until her passing. He noted that It would be over 90°F in his hometown of Sparks, Nevada, but she would still proudly wear it to the grocery store, hoping someone would say something. In case they inquired, her purse was loaded with signed autographs that he would send to her that were leftovers from his convention appearances. He noted that at times it got “playfully embarrassing” but because it made her beam with pride, he also oddly loved it and holds onto it as a positive memory.
    • This film was originally intended to bring Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger together onscreen for the first time. However, when Paramount Pictures (which at the time held the rights to the “Friday the 13th” series) and New Line Cinema (which holds the rights to the “Nightmare On Elm Street” series) couldn’t agree behind the scenes, the script was rewritten to pit Jason up against the telekinetic Tina Shepard instead.
    • Kane Hodder’s costume and hockey mask worn in this film are now owned by the Friday the 13th Props Museum, owned by Mario Kirner.
    • John Carl Buechler was so impressed with Kane Hodder when he ate live worms on the set of Prison (1987) that he pushed for Paramount Pictures to let him cast Hodder in the role of Jason. If it had not been for Buechler’s persistence, the role of Jason Voorhees would have been reprised by C.J. Graham.
    • Marta Kober, who played Sandra in Friday the 13th: Part 2 (1981) (a fact unknown to the casting directors), was offered a role in this movie and ended up getting the job, but when she eventually told the directors about being in Part 2 she was replaced.
    • Kane Hodder said he had difficulty with the scene where he kills the camper in the sleeping bag by bashing her into the tree because the dummy and fake blood inside was heavier than he thought it would be. The scene required a number of retakes because he kept swinging as hard as he could but no matter how hard he swung the sleeping bag he couldn’t get it to look right. By the final take, he was so fed up with the situation that after he dropped the bag he kicked it angrily. This is the shot that appears in the final film. In retrospect, Hodder said that was one of his favorite “kills” and he later recreates it in Jason X (2001).
    • (at around 1h 17 mins) On the Special Features of the DVD, Kane Hodder talks about a near-fatal take that’s in the movie. When Jason falls through the stairs, only a certain amount of the steps were meant to give way. Hodder’s head narrowly missed one of the actual steps as he went through.

Friday The 13^th Part VIII Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)

• Director Rob Hedden
  • Clockstoppers
  • The Condemned
  • Boxboarders
• Starring Jensen Daggett, Kane Hodder, and Todd Caldescott
• Budget 5 million and gross of 14 million
• Trivia
  • Kane Hodder says that one of the most fun parts of his tenure as Jason were the scenes in Times Square. He says that spectators were lined up and down the block watching the filming and he didn’t want to take off the mask to destroy their illusion of Jason. He said that every once in awhile he’d turn his head and look at them and watch them all go crazy.
  • According to an interview in Fangoria Magazine (August 1989), Kane Hodder vomited on cue in the final scene after drinking several pitchers of water. This was not a special effect.
  • Rob Hedden originally wrote more of the movie to be set in New York. He had written scenes at Madison Square Garden, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, and the Empire State Building. But Paramount told him that budget would not allow him to spend that much time in New York so he was forced to rewrite the film and spend more time on the cruise ship. Hedden says he agrees with fans who complain that not enough time is spent in New York, given the title.
  • In the original script, when Jason makes it to the dock, a dog starts barking at him and he kicked it. Kane Hodder, who was playing Jason, felt that kicking the dog was going too far so the scene was dropped.
  • Many fans disliked Jason’s unmasking in this as it was deemed unconvincing and unintimidating.
  • One of only three Friday the 13th movies not to be scored by Harry Manfredini.
  • The Julius Gaw character was a holdover from the original script. Writer/director Rob Hedden originally envisioned the scene taking place in Madison Square Garden, where Julius and Jason would engage in a boxing match before Jason eventually punches his head off. Actor Vincent Craig Dupree was actually really punching Kane Hodder because he was a big, tough guy wearing plenty of padding. So, to make it look real, Hodder just told him to go all out and actually punch him.

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)

• Directed by Adam Marcus
  • Wrote the 2013 Texas Chainsaw
• Starring John D. Lemay, Kari Keegan, Steven Williams, and Kane Hodder as Jason.
• Budget of $3 million and Box office of 15 million.
• Trivia
  • There was allegedly a comic book that bridged the gap between Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) and this film. It followed Jason after he was dipped in toxic waste in a New York City sewer, walked his way back to Crystal Lake. It also explains why the FBI has a task force specifically for Jason.
  • (at around 1h 18 mins) In the film, just before he handcuffs himself to Jason and a part of immovable furniture, Creighton Duke says “Son of a Bitch, you remember me?”. In the final film, this sounds nonsensical. In the audio commentary on the DVD and Blu-ray, it is revealed that the script at one point had it that Jason killed Duke’s girlfriend. His backstory initially explained that he was canoeing with his girlfriend in Camp Crystal Lake before Jason emerged from the water and dragged his girlfriend down into the lake. This is what led to his career in the police force, dedicating his life to hunting down Jason for revenge. This was ultimately cut from the film.
  • When Creighton Duke is being interviewed and he demands $500,000 for the capture of Jason, he says, “For that, you get the mask, the machete, the whole damn thing.” This is a reference to Jaws (1975) when Quint demands $10,000 to kill the shark. He says, “For that, you get the head, the tail, the whole damn thing.”
  • Kane Hodder, who portrays Jason, was severely burned over much of his body during a stunt gone wrong some years prior to this movie and, as a result, the skin below his neck is somewhat discolored and disfigured. One day after filming, he was peeling the Jason costume and make-up off his body when the young child of a crew member (who was brought to the set to see what it was like to make a film) became frightened of his burnt skin. Hodder calmly and sweetly picked up and hugged the child and told him that his body “just looked a bit different” and that there was nothing to be afraid of. Hodder let the child touch the skin on his arm to see that it didn’t hurt him; the child immediately calmed down and had a fun time talking to Hodder. It was seeing this and later hearing that Hodder spent much of his free time at children’s hospitals that made director Adam Marcus realize that, despite often playing violent or evil characters, “Hodder had a heart of gold”.
  • Jason’s heart was used in From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) as Monkey Man’s heart.
  • Steven Williams would only play bounty hunter Creighton Duke if he could dress as a cowboy.
  • This entry features the strongest clues as to the location of Crystal Lake. Namely, twice (once at the start, once when Steve Freeman sees the hitchhikers), a sign indicating that Crystal Lake is approximately 29 miles from Fairfield and 39 miles from Westport appears. Fairfield and Westport are both located in Connecticut. Previous films had indicated New Jersey or its environs. In part 3, a sign for Pick-It, the New Jersey state lottery, appears on the sign of a window at around 14 minutes into the film, while in part 1, Enos’ truck has New Jersey on the side, and at about 11 minutes into part 1, the gates for a cemetery also has New Jersey on it.
  • Adam Marcus wanted Keegan to do that shower scene completely nude, ala Glenn Close sitting in a shower naked and crying in The Big Chill. Keegan says she told them from the get-go she wouldn’t do nudity while Marcus maintains she was never upfront with him about that. Keegan counters that Marcus knew, but kept telling everyone he’d be able to convince her to change her mind. She never did, and during the scene she wore a flesh-colored bathing suit bottom and Madonna-like cone bra just with dixie cups instead of cones. The water was so hot, though, that she was literally crying from pain. Keegan complained about the whole thing to her agent, who then argued with on everyone in the production, especially Marcus. As a result, Keegan and Marcus briefly became enemies. It got so bad she walked off the set, even though they were mere days away from wrapping. So, Cunningham had to take the movie away from Marcus, and come in to direct the final couple of days. That’s the only way they could get Keegan back.
  • Tobe Hooper was originally considered to direct.
  • In addition to his roles as Jason and the Security Guard, Kane Hodder also played Freddy Krueger’s arm in the final scene, which technically makes him the only actor to play both Jason and Freddy.
  • At the end, when Freddy’s glove grabs Jason’s mask, was meant to be an inside joke, referencing the fact that a screenplay putting Jason and Freddy against each other had been in the works since 1987, and had been intended to be Friday the 13th part VII. However, it took too long to come up with a good script for that film, so another film (Jason X (2001)) was produced in the interval. Because New Line owned both properties, a joint project should have been easier to develop, but Freddy vs. Jason (2003) took several years (and sat untouched after several false starts) to come to fruition.
  • (at around 54 mins) The Necronomicon found in the Voorhees house is a prop created by Tom Sullivan for The Evil Dead (1981) and Evil Dead II (1987). Sam Raimi sent a letter asking Sullivan to forgive him for not asking permission to borrow Sullivan’s Evil Dead II (1987) props for this film. Tom Sullivan said he was not paid and would never again loan out props without granting permission.
  • At the end of the film, when the portal to Hell opens, Freddy Krueger’s glove emerges to snatch Jason’s hockey mask. If one accepts that Freddy was in Hell following his defeat in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) (which was released in 1991 but actually set in the future), interesting timeline clues emerge. Namely, “Freddy’s Dead” took place (according to the beginning crawl) “ten years from now”. As noted, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) came out in 1991. However, the “Nightmare on Elm Street” Companion website opted to interpret “10 Years from Today” as 10 years from 1989 (events of the prior film to the “Final Nightmare”, A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child (1989)). In any event, if “Jason Goes To Hell” follows the events of “Freddy’s Dead”, then it must take place in either 1999 or 2001.

Jason X (2002)

• Directed by Jim Isaac
  • SPeicial Effects
    • Return of Jedi
    • Gremlins
    • Arachnophobia
    • The Kiss
    • Looks whos talking 2
  • Starring Lex Doig, Jeff Geddis, Peter Menash, and Kane Hodder as Jason.
  • Trivia
    • While this film was a critical and financial failure in its initial release in theaters, it made more than triple the cost of production in DVD and post-theater sales. Statistically, It is one of the most successful ‘Friday the 13th’ films.
    • Once again, just like with Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993), New Line Cinema was unable to legally include “Friday the 13th” in the film’s title as Paramount Pictures still owned the Neither casting director Robin Cook nor director James Isaac initially wanted to do the virtual reality scene with the naked campers. Cook was so adamant the scene was nothing but gratuitous nudity that she refused to cast the roles of the two topless girls, relegating those duties to her casting assistant Andrea Kool. Isaac agreed that it was clearly just nudity for nudity’s sake, and the only way he could personally justify it is if they had fun with it and poked fun at it including naked teens in its films. The two actresses Kool ended up casting, Kaye Penaflor and Tania Maro, were very excited about doing the scene because this was the biggest film either of them ever appeared in trademarked title.
    • (at around 39 mins) Brodski mentioned a gun while the soldiers were suiting up called the “BFG”. This sci-fi gun is well known to players of the PC games Doom (1993) and Quake II (1997) as the most powerful weapon. “BFG” is an acronym for “Bio Force Gun” or “Big Fucking Gun”, as some called it.
    • Kane Hodder’s final appearance as Jason. Ken Kirzinger assumed the role for Freddy Vs. Jason (2003) and Derek Mears took the role for the reboot Friday the 13th (2009).
    • During Jason X’s development process, director Jim Isaac, producer Noel Cunningham (Sean’s son), and screenwriter Todd Farmer kicked around any scenario they could think of, typically “Jason in [insert blank] (the hood, snow, New York City again, underwater, the arctic, in L.A. fighting gangs, on safari).” They even considered something involving the NASCAR circuit. Farmer suggested “in space” because he knew Freddy vs. Jason was on the way, and it’d be best if Jason X was set after the events without interfering it. So, they needed to jump into the future, but was intended for a futuristic city but was too expensive, eventually cutting down to space. They were a little scared of doing a horror sequel in space [see: Hellraiser, Leprechaun, and Critters.], but they thought it could be fun to do a mash-up of Ridley Scott’s Alien and James Cameron’s Aliens with not one but two strong Ripley-type females on a ship of bad-ass space marines hunted by Jason instead of xenomorphs.
    • David Cronenberg’s cameo was done as a favor to his former protege Jim Isaac (director of Jason X) for loaning his Canadian-based production crew to him. In exchange, he wanted to get killed on screen.
    • The final scene in Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday (1993) shows Freddy Krueger’s bladed glove grabbing Jason’s discarded mask, which was a setup for Freddy vs. Jason (2003). As that film was stuck in development hell for many years, this one was made in between to compensate, before its eventual theatrical release 2 years later.

Friday The 13^th (2009)

• Directed by Marcus Nispel
  • 2003 Texas Chainsaw Massacre
  • 2004 TV Movie Frankenstein
  • 2011 Conan The barbarian
• Starring Jared Padaleck, Amanda Righetti, and Derek Mears as Jason
• $19 million Budget and $91 million box office.
• Trivia
  • Richard Burgi wasn’t cast as Sheriff Bracke until 12 hours before they needed to begin filming his character’s scenes.
  • Adrienne King, star of the original 1980 film, was approached by producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller to do a cameo appearance during preproduction. A few days later, the producers called her back and told her they didn’t want anyone from the original film to appear in the remake.
  • Including the 2009 remake, Jason has killed around 200 people throughout the “Friday the 13th” series.
  • Victor Miller, the screenwriter of the original Friday the 13th (1980), said the script was written in such a way that it could be deemed a sequel as opposed to a remake, because that meant they could pay him less if the movie qualified as a “sequel.” This explains why the plot of the film is more of an amalgamation of the first four films, as opposed to a re-telling of the original film. Miller took legal action, because he felt the script they showed him was more of a remake, but the story he came up with was condensed to the first few minutes of the film, he lost the battle, and was paid less. He was surprised later to see the film advertised as a remake.
  • A wheelchair and a sweater can be seen in Jason’s tunnels during the film. The character Mark (Tom McBride) was a paraplegic who was killed by Jason in Friday the 13th, Part 2 (1981) and Mrs. Voorhees wore the sweater in the original version of Friday the 13th (1980). There’s also a bicycle propped against the wall, just under the wheelchair. It’s likely Ralph’s bicycle, also from the original Friday the 13th (“It’s got a death curse!”).
  • With $42.2 mil, had the biggest opening weekend of a horror-remake beating out former record holder The Grudge (2004) ($39.1 mil).
  • The first film in the series released by both New Line Cinema and Paramount Pictures. Originally, Paramount owned the rights to the series after the original was released in 1980, but sold the rights to New Line Cinema in the early 1990s after poor box office returns of Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989). New Line bought the rights to the characters of Jason Voorhees and Pamela Voorhees, the Crystal Lake name, and the trademark for the title “Friday the 13th”. All footage from the first eight films and the remake rights for the first film remained the property of Paramount. New Line Cinema released Jason Goes to Hell (1993), Jason X (2001) and Freddy vs. Jason (2003). When Platinum Dunes came aboard to develop the new film, they wanted the freedom to use scenarios and characters from the films still owned by Paramount. After a legal dispute, the companies decided to co-produce the 2009 film.
  • In this movie Jason wears both the legendary hockey mask and the burlap sac, although neither of those appeared in the original Friday the 13th (1980). The burlap sac was the first mask worn by Jason in Friday the 13th: Part 2 (1981) and the hockey mask did not appear until the final third of Friday the 13th: Part 3 (1982).
  • Producer Michael Bay allegedly walked out in the movie premiere, stating that the movie featured too much sex.
  • Derek Mears is the ninth actor to portray the adult Jason Voorhees in the series, following Steve Dash, Warrington Gillete, Richard Brooker, Ted White, C.J. Graham, Tom Morga, Kane Hodder and Ken Kirzinger. As of this movie, Hodder is the only actor to have portrayed the character more than once, with four films under his belt from 1988 to 2001.
  • Warner Bros. (through its New Line Cinema label) distributed this film in North America while Paramount distributed the film in most all other territories. The 1980 original was distributed by Paramount in North America, with international distribution being handled by Warner Bros.
  • After Chelsea is stranded in the lake and sees Jason waiting for her at shore, she was originally supposed to drown due to exhaustion as Jason waited her out from the shore of the lake. In the final film she is stabbed in the head from underneath the bridge while trying to hide.
  • Unlike in the later films where Jason started to randomly appear out of thin air, the remake instead approached with the idea that he traveled via a series of underground tunnels. That concept was in Mark Wheaton’s original script, but Mark Swift and Damian Shannon claimed to have never read Wheaton’s script until the film was finished, having come up with the same idea about the tunnels on their own. As for the marijuana plant farm which Jason appears to use to lure teenagers into traps, apparently no writer can claim that as their own. According to Swift and Shannon, that was actually director Marcus Nispel’s idea from early on in the development process, and it was their job to work it into the script.
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