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The hockey mask that became a horror icon

JHBorfy oorhees Masked Menace Movie nioiiiiaS

^ The moment that made a horror icon - Jason with mask and machete.

Jason Voorhees Masked Menace

The Crystal Lake slasher in

his most unmistakable guise. The slasher movie goes stereoscopic ~ the startling 3-D effects in Part 3.

hifiiite sfopy

/ The Friday The 13th phenomenon ‘ T - how It all began.

Fear factor

Find out how the movie-makers have us hooked even before the film is released.

Ato Z of Ipoppoi*

Delve into more juicy facts and trivia I / about weapons, themes and characters.J?[ f

Alan Jones is an ind Inally recagnis»d horror

expert. Author of thd dling The Rough Guide

to Horror Movi^t ||s for Fangoria and

VISIT W^^SIT^ regularly tuming up«i| the UK's biggest horrorl www.horror-collectjon.co.uk It's been a long night at the lake and homicidal monster Jason Vooriiees goes head to head with the final teenager, Chris Higgins.

Here, for the very first time in Friday The 13fh history, we see Jason as the icon of popular culture he has now become - bearing hockey mask and machete. V %

It is during the last campaign of carnage in Friday The 13th Part 3 that we

f ' witness Jason as he would never be forgotten.

As the action moves to the barn, the Trademark • That infamous only surviving teenager, Chris Higgins, is machete gripped goalie mask, now seemingly trapped. There's nowhere to reedy to malm synonymous with run, nowhere to hide... horror

Deformed

9kull 1)611111(1 the mask

Blood-splattered clothes, from 'a grisly nl^ht of Backed up against the door, Chris turns homicide to face Jason. The image before her is formidable... a brute of a man, a killing machine, stomping towards her, with no other intention than cold-blooded murder. Stah* wound With a hockey mask covering his face and a .inflicted N. (now) trademark machete ready to rain down earlier hy a bloody blow, this is the image that people feisty teen associate with the name . ...Chris Higgins

This time the teenager dodges the machete, but the struggle is far from over.

Friday The 13th Part 3 saw Jason

Voorhees don that world-famous hockey mask for the first time. No one knew it then, but from that moment on Jason would y\- forever be intrinsically linked to the mask. StomjJiLng boO' ^ made 'for 'V- stalking This symbol indicates a close-up

feature on pages six and seven. .

1 "T

1 B ^ Having escaped the machete, dTFTs hides ^Chhs succeeds and finds a winch rope ^ Part 3 was filmed with amazing 3-D in the upper level of the barn. Jason is to fasten round the unconscious Jason's effects. Jason's hanging scene worked

quick on her heels, but he cannot hnd neck. The barn, with all its implements, particularly well viewed through 3-D ^

her. at first. The tension is palpable as ropes and recesses, is the perfea setting glasses. As Jason comes hurtling towards

we wonder whether she'll have a chance for killing sprees. This one was specially the camera, cinema-goers would have

to strike him before being discovered. designed and built for the film. been jumping out of their seats!

C^s opens the door to a seerhlngly ifH ^ Chris descends and breathes a groan ^ ^ With Jason on the loose again, some of relief, which the viewers share. To Jason. But true enough, it's not quite unexpected help arrives from (assumed

emphasise that the danger is over the over yet. Jason comes back to life and dead) biker, Ali. This further shock is

screeching soundtrack stops, as well. But lifts his mask to reveal his grotesquely heightened by the gross-factor of on-

is this just a horror trick? Are we being deformed face - a shock factor that is screen gore; Jason hacks Ali's arm clean

lulled into a false sense of security? deliberately saved for the end of film. .. - off, before finishing him off completefy."

Our heroine seizes the opportunity to ^ Chris plunges the axe into Jason's head. ^ He can't last much longer though, arm herseK with an axe. Dana Kimmell, This must be it for him now.,.? But no, in and sure enough the massive monster

who played Chris, admits to finding the another jump-out-of-your-seat moment, collapses in a heap at Chris's feet. Finally

closing scenes of the film - during which he's jerking, arms out stretched, and it's over, and Jason is really dead,..

' she uses several weapons^- particularly lurching towards her - and the audience. Until, that is, the next sequel,

"tough, because she doesn't like violence. Another spectacular shot in 3-D. of course. Wotfte

' l- . M ^though tb« bjf biker gaiig doesn't Before being slashed to pieces (off-screen),

give the vacationing teens at Higgins' tnsiorparm gets sliced clean off in a juicily

effect / II- Retreat the skest of welcomes, one of gory special effect. To achieve this a

' the tt)ugs does get the chance to salvage his cast of his arm, stuffed with blood-soaked

Ifepijtation at the end oPlh® f^eviously meat was used. Savage thought the effect - presumedde^ck'Ali appears from the tecesses was great: "It really did look real 1 had to

' it!" ‘iof the bam-andjumps^tlte unsuspecting “ctieck my own arm after I saw Watch

Jjiason. Nick Savage, who played Ati, was the shot of his arm

4 quite proud of his role: *1 thought it was cool (pre-chop) 5that AN can^.backfrom the dead and tried -carefully,

to save thfgirl- . . HJiked the fact that All got though, and

' f the cjianceto redeem himself," Unfortunately you'll spot

his'second chance doesn't last long^ he is where the cast

%fter alt pitched against a machete-wielding fs attached to his ^ ^madman. ^HrSASMlVIVOR

he' heroine of Friday The 13th because she fought back, i didn't want her

Part 3. like many before and-ffter to be ar^imp. I wanted her to someone - T her, has a special role teplay in the who could surviye and she did." film. She's different from the rest ofthe-i-

t^ens, who get dispatchW methodicatry;'-

.•one by one (starting, of course, with

those who have sdkof take drugs). The

- heroine's the one whoJias guts, she*^

the on^who gets to defeat the baddie.

*And more'importantljt she's the one '

who gets to survive.

Oaia Kimmpll, v^o played Chris,

was not unlike her virtuous oni6creen

’ cfaraadr - agparen^y ^h^^sed to . SCREAM QUEEN take her clothes off for the film, anyl • ^ "You catt’t ‘wen ^sked produce^ank Mancuso.Jr. Pana Kimmell v>ho plays Chris Higgins

to tflpiolowfT'some oT the fcxual stuff alwaysJoked that shegot the part

really well. beaNvo!" . in the saipt^3espitefmdifi^ filming "a because she screams little stressl^(i towards the^d", tOmmell Apparently that's pretty much all she

• was'pleasVd^ith hepart, which had to do in the audition. ^ | CliritIBi she found empowering' "Hiked Chris V . .

AXEDI

(Zou would think that an axe to the Chris can't quite decide whether she should

skull would be enough to finish laugh or cry.

someone off - it seems to work , who played Voorhees

for most of Jason's victims at least. But in this film, says he loved acting the part

the masked monster himself is, of course, where his hands stick straight out. "We

different: after all he has just survived a rehearsed those movements quite a bit," he

bash round the head with a shovel and recalls, "and I really wanted to make sure

a seemingly-lethal hanging. Still, when that I played Jason as a monster who was

Jason's arms suddenly jerk out towards the constantly being fuelled by rage.* Well, he

long-suffering Chris, having just had an axe would have been enraged had he himself

embedded in his head, we still can't quite faced the axe. In actual fact a puppet was

believe It. It!^ a great moment, a 3-D joKer, used in this scene and it was special effects

^almost comical, in fact. Even man Douglas J White, who really took the

e hysterical brunt: "I basically took a steel sleeve and put

hand in there and that's what took the

not Richard's head."

'! the most athletic Jason in the entire any instant reaction ^ series' history. to hb grotesquely T ^

The expert opinion Most horror films released in the flawed features. ' ' wake ofFriday the 13th's success were From now on, ifhe could ^ Sfunnir^ 3-D added a unique reality based. They mined the dread of help it, he woufdgo nowhere f ^ *• X dimension offerror to Friday man's dark inhumanity to their fellow men. without it.

the !3th Fart 3. But the real A serial killer could be sat next to you on Then there's the

primal frights still came courtesy of a bus, a train or in a cinema andyou 'd machete, normally used as a too! to

Jason Vooti)ees — this time revampedand never know! Their surface normality, cut throng thick vegetation in tropica!

accompaniedby his two brandspanking their anonymity, was a perfect disgube countries. But here Jason uses the loig

new customisedprops: the hockey mask for seethirg whirlpools ofwarped thin blade, considered the best knife to

and the machete. emotions. And that's exactly what Jason cut down evil spirits in Latin American

Former circus trapeze artist b seekirg when hegrabs the nearest folklore, as hb primary weapon. The

Richard Rrooker was bigger and stronger concealing outfit in the aftermath of machete is perfect for effectively slicing

than the actor who hadpreviously played prankster Shelly's murder. He is clearly through anyone in his dementedpath.

Jason in Part 2. He was deliberately reborn, reinvented andempoweredbehind Add all three elements together and H's

chosen for the part precisely because of hb beloved hockey mask. For it turns no surprise that thb iconic pose struck

his impressive stature, which made the his disfigured face into an unresponsive goregold to become a significant piece of

Camp Crystal Lake maniac look far more blank canvas so that the looks ofhorror Americana, one that permeated^oba!pop

powerful and imposing an adversary. on hb victims ' faces are more to do with culture. Like a sharp machete through

Brooker has the honour ofremaining hb impressively threatening attitude than the skull, in fact! :

Just how did that deformed boy in the lake turn into the hockey- mask wearing, machete-wielding maniac we know and love?

he huge pofJuIaHty'of Friday The have him luricing in the woods ready to mete

13th left its cfegtors with a big oljt his machete brand of rough justice. r dilemma. What hook could provide '.the basis for another^^Sular slaughter ‘Jfappy accident

Mjpree? With“Ramela Voofhees, Jason's crazy JJo one at this point knew Jason would

I^iother. dead and out of the sequel, there become one of the most enduring villains in

Jwas deari^honricidal maniac vacancy jt .film history. It was the inventive and graphic

Camp Cry^flake.Despite disfigored Jason death scenes that were considered the key

t not being 3^iain in the famolis shock clintax triumph. All that charrged with Friday The

^ahd being aiguably just a sad frg^nt 13th Part 3 when Jason transformed from

_'of 's HTia^nation - he was the only i scrawny psychopath covered by a burlap

' ^character left alive in aucHeoce memory who bag into a brawny killing machine wearing ^ could become the of a hockey mask. « / a whole nfw story. So Friday Having Jason don a hockey mask to

,* ?3thAa/t 2 screenwriter conceal his facial deformity was a complete •

\ Roakurz had Jason survive accident born out of 3-D test necessity. Yet

became the indelible ^ drowning years betre; only to this meaningless prop j

rKE MANY MASKS SriaSON

Ori^nall^ in Pari 3an actual PetroH Red Wir^s

hockey mask was proposed as Jasons disguise.

But when placed on the Jason head cast, special

effects artist Poyg White realised the mask model

looked far too small. So VacuForming, a silicone

ceramic fibre method, was used to increase its

size threefold. The Petroit Red Wings targe

red middle stripe was also finessed info

three red wings to make the design

more uni<^ue. The complexity of ^ 3-P filming also meant many varying over-sized masks

'K were created to accommodate

' ' certain argles so each would

work to the best threatening

effect in the forcedperspective medium. frightens so persistentry; Although 3EK;HQIK£l«jlSK Jason eventually uttered wordsin Jason Goes to Hell (his parasitic

A/b one involved in Frida;^ The Bth Part 2 was fully satisfied with the spirit transferring to surviving

look ofthe disfigured Jason Voorhees. tf also took nearly 6 hours to members of the Voorhees clan),

apply on the actor's face. A less costly and time-consummg option his virtual silence is another

was needed, hence the burlap sack that affectionately became creepy quality. He never offers any i-r'' i knownas “thebag". But that was ccnsideredjust “Not good enoygh" explanation for his gruesome actions

by producer Frank Mancuso Jr when Friday The ITth Part 3became and there's no reasoning because he

a reality. What happened next was the sit^e most important step can't understand anyone else's point

in Jason's iconic transformation. Because the 3-D filming techniques of view. But what truly sets Jason

demanded exactirg detail, creating Jasons new make-up was apart from most other horror heavies

considereda real chore and left to the last minute because no one is that he's unstoppable. This A-List

wanted to do it. So when director needed to film a make- bogeyman is always going to get

up test to ensure the look worked in 3-D, special effects man Martin you, no matter what. It's not that

Becker needed a fast ahemative. Knowirg many crew were Canadian Jason doesn't feel pain. He just

and hockey fans, Beekersaid, “Well, we don t have anything else so has no fear. He's been cut up.

let's put a goalie mask on him". biown up, shot and slashed,

Luckily 3-D supervisor Martin Jay Sadoffalways kept and yet he still keeps coming

his sports bag wHh him andpulled out his Detroit Red back. And his iconic status

Wiigs mask. . . Jason's move from serial slasher to as a horror hero we

monster movie legend was now complete. all ioveto hate was

forever sealed when

Jason was

image responsible for propelling Jason to the familiar to sports awarded

fear front line. Its appearance is explained fans and hardly suggesting ' the MTV

in a brief shot showing one of his victims psychopathic tendencies Lifetime }

' (Shelly) wearing one and Jason grabbing it lurking beneath. Which is Achievement Award in

for convenience. precisely what works in Jason's 1992, the first completely

favour and why his vi&ms allow fictional character ever to be

. Masking emotions him to get so close before panic sets in. so acclaimed.

Central to Greek tragedy and pagan ritual, masks have traditionally played an important Sharking instinct “Don’t ask me ’ part in horror movies. They are used either Friday The 13th creator Sean S

to conceal identity or hide a hideous face. Cunningham invested Jason with

Here the hockey mask is a solid immovable embodiments of universally felt nasty what your

I object without any means of expressing characteristics that scare children trying emotion. It's the perfect facade for the purely to sleep in the dark. But it was Parts 2/3 motivation is. slaughter-driven Jason who shows no feeling direaor Steve Miner who conceived Jason

or remorse, just the still face of inescapable as a 'killing machine". His animal kingdom

urder. And what could be more normal than comparison was the Great White Shark, Just kiii her!’’ hockey mask? something without any motivation other

JasOn isn't wearing something scary than a relentless pursuit of prey. It's that DTreetur tme Wmi ii lauR wur te mstil terror in his viaims. It's ordinary, uncontrollable single-mindedness that lidMnllnttar The first two Friday The 13th films had been box office smashes, leaving no doubt that there would have to be a third. To compete with these previous successes, it was clear that Part 3 would need a fresh hook to bring thrill-seeking fans back to the shores of Crystal Lake.

Ithough the 3-D format had jabbing, spearing type shocks." And Part

> been virtually dormant since its 3 is littered with these: the spear in Vera's

heyday in the fifties, the early eye, the pitchfork through Fox’s neck, not to

i^hties saw a revival in stereoscopic mention that unrivalled 3-0 horror moment

film-making. Steve Miner, co-producer and when Rick's eye pops out!

director of the third Friday instalment,

recalls his moment of inspiration for the Optical illusions

3-D bloodbath; "It occurred to me that a How did the production team achieve

Friday Part 3 and 3-D would be a perfect these startling effects, at a time when 3-D

combination." 3-D, of course, lends itself technology was relatively underdeveloped?

perfectly to horror, which in its essence 3-D expert Martin Jay Sadoff was hired

is about making you jump. If Jason's axe and chose to use the Marks 3-D System,

of the screen towards which involves the use of two lenses on appears coming out ;

you. you're going to be leaping out of your one camera. Thus the camera "sees" in

seat before you can say "homicidal the same way that human eyes see, each

maniac". Miner says, in lens capturing the view of the left or right

terms of the script, "I eye respectively. Then both images are

specifically knew that photographed onto a single frame. Part

3 was the first feature film to be shot this Behind ihe wefws; the electfonkalty-

that fired out at the way and it was the first to use a camera

known as the Louma crane. This device not

only allowed the camera to be moved while

filming in 3-D (which up until that time had

not been possible), it also meant that shots

could be controlled electronically, i.e. the

operator didn't have to ride with the camera.

Headaches

All sounds pretty accomplished, right?

Well, sadly no. . . filming with 3-D turned

out to be the biggest headache of the

entire production. The Louma crane was so

frustrating to work with (the entire machine

fell over at one point) that the crew had

T-shirts made that said "I Hate the Loumal" 10 How much 3-D aaion can Moreover, the complexities of "A you fii in one film? Just som filming in 3-D added hours to

1 from Pan 3 everything, often necessitating < -i i ^ that were specifically filmed multiple takes. This proved tough for the 3-D effect (below). on the actors. According to

Jason actor Richard Brooker, the Producer/Pro( Director Steve close-up shots were the worst: MinerMii on Part 3 in 3*D

"We'd have to do things again and again and again. That one scene where of cinemas. This involved iwmssiyn Rachel Howard (Chili) gets stabbed with a kitting out theatres with 3-D ims

poker. . . took thirty-six takes to get it right." projectors, screens, teaching

operators how to use them ^

A 3-D arsenal and supplying as many 3-D -

Outfitting Jason for 3-D was a challenge too. glasses for every ticket

The weapons had to be oversized and shot bought. Sadoff recollects:re from several different angles or aimed at very "We got everybodyeverybo involved... precise points in order to work in It turned into a mammothn

3-D. Filming in the extra dimension also challenge." required extra light. It could sometimes ThankfullyThankful!; all the take three hours just to set up the lighting. effort paid off. UiUntil the

explains Steve Miner about the Marks 3-D release of FreddFreddy v Jason j

system "We were perpetually in research and in 2003, Part 3 remainedi development." second only to theth original

But the problems didn't end with as the most successfulsuccr film filming. until that time, 3-D movies had in Frank Up the series. As [producer Mancuso been released on a limited basis. Friday Jr. predicted. "This"Thi is Friday The 13th

The 13th Part 3, however, was to receive Part 3 and it's inir 3-D. Those two things are a nationwide theatrical release in thousands going to make ththis a hit." And he was right.

_ - J y -J'-j' FIMn FACT

The opening credits that come out of the screen i in 3-D gave audiences a taste of what was to ^

come. It was a favourite with viewers and crew:

"There were people in v the theatre ducking!" reports actress Dana '1? Kimmell. And production ^11^ designer Robb Wilson "

King said, "It was a " beautiful moment." ^ ^ . the Friday The 13th franchise has become a horror phenomenon like no other. Its maskeOTR^ac front man, Jason Voorhees, has stalked and slashed his way into the 2 eitgeist of more than one generation. But just how did it all begin...?

hough traditionally associated with Just getting It actually written and then made up while trying unsuccessfully to sell a TV

misfortune and calamity, in 1980 Friday was the first order of business. series to United Artists several years earlier: TThe 13th proved to be nothing but Cunningham was no stranger to the Friday The 13th.

lucky for director Sean S. Cunningham. The horror genre. In 1972 he produced (and part- film began life as little more than a part- financed) the Wes Craven-direaed shocker Getting there first formed idea propagated by the success of Last House on the Left. Then, in 1978, he Cunningham was convinced that if he didn't

another 'calendar' themed horror movie (John saw Halloween and was immediately struck act fast someone else would grab the name

Carpenter's Halloween), but turned into by its chilling depiction of a soulless killer as (says Cunningham: "I couldn't believe that

a multi-million dollar franchise spanning 25 well as the innovative first-person camera/ somebody didn't own it!"), so the first thing

years (and counting) - one that came to define killer technique. For Cunningham the film was he did was to take out an advertisement in

"slasher" sub-genre of horror. a revelation, inspiring him to want to make the July 4th, 1979 edition of Hollywood trade the so-called ,

The Friday The 13th movies have his own "scary movie", one that would be paper Variety promising, "the most terrifying

indelibly imprinted themselves on the public aimed squarely at a mainstream audience, movie ever made." That all he and co-

consciousness, largely due to the iconic status one that could terrify as well as be fun. producer Steve Miner had at the time was a

of their resident maniac and serial killer Jason title, a logo and an early draft of a screenplay

Voorhees and his trademark hockey mask. It's ail in the name scripted by Miller was rather glossed over.

Which is perhaps curious when you consider Another thing that had impressed Sean about Nevertheless, the advertisement

that Jason himself was not the killer in the Carpenter's film had been its title. "It was struck a chord, and within days of the ad swamped with first fr/c/ay The 13th movie, and didn't such a great title that. I think, even if they'd appearing, Cunningham was

even don the hockey mask until the third made a bad film, it would've done very well," phone-calls and enquiries, all regarding a film

(and was absent entirely for the fifthi) In fact, It didn't take him long to ditch his first choice that didn't exist. If he was to benefit from the

"franchise” was the last thing on the minds of a title - Long Night at Camp Blood buzz it had generated he needed a proper - of Cunningham and screenwriter . and replace it with one that he had thought script and fast. Cunningham told Miller about

“I didn’t know Jason would be stalking summer camps

for the next ten years” “sesiptin hand, theshootfhgoTfnd^ The' unctefscore^'^-Ki-Ki.unctefscore.q^'d^-Ki-Ki. Ma-lVU^a",Ma- based ‘'j

13th got underway la September 1^P9. Set on the rrumnts in the movj^hen emela <

In and aroun^Blairsjwn, ItewJerseyNsing Vooifieesjntmics the voiced her deal son

Lake No-Be-6o4iu^ the pitoary location jesonrSayrntf^lfifl her, Mommy, kill herllL

for Camp Crystal ^e, the mo«fe fe'atures a

cast otfthen) largely End of story

unknow actors, The famous and hugely popular "shock"

the oa^ exception ending, in which a hideously disfigured

be^i^etsy Palmer Jason Voorhees surfaces from the lake and

•MSh actress known drags (who plays Alice) under

predominantly for the water, was not actually in the original

light comedy roles shooting script. Cunningham admits that the

on TV), who was cast scene was only Inserted at the last minute:

against type in the "Jason started as a gimmick at the end of

role of the vengeful that first one. Having him lurch out of the

Pamela Voorhees. water was a way of going out with a strong

Cunningham had hired the New York based visual image." Even Jason's disfigurement

casting agents Julie Hughes and Barry Moss was a late call from the producers. Miller

to find his cast. He told them he was looking says that the original intention was for Jason

for "Likeable, reasonably good-looking kids to be a "normal cute blond kid". Accidental

who you might see in a Pepsi commercial", as it may have been, it was that end scene

and that "they had to be able to read that would kick-start an entire franchise.

dialogue fairly well, and work cheap too." The movie was completed on a

budget of just $500,000, at which point

The gore factor Cunningham sold the rights to Paramount

Cunningham knew from very eariy on that (although merchandising rights to the entire

the success of Friday The 13th would Friday series are now managed by New Line

He in making Its special effects as realistic Cinema). At the time. Paramount sensed they

The advertisement Cunningham placed in Hollywood paper as possible. He also knew there was only could turn Friday The 13th into a major

ITaryety (above) in order to generate investment. The boy one man capable of the job - . box office money-spinner and spent over $4 that kickstarted a multi-million dollarfranchise (middle). And A Vietnam veteran who had served as million on the publicity campaign. The movie all grown-up - the unmistakeable killer, Jason Voorhees (top). a combat photographer and used his was finally released on over 1,000 screens

Halloween and encouraged him to study experiences to influence his craft, Savini was nationwide in 1980. Friday the 13th went it and learn the techniques of the genre, riding high, thanks to his ground-breaking on to make $37 million in the USA and some then the two men sat down and thrashed work on George A. Romero's zombie classic. $70 million worldwide. It turned out to be out the plot over several days. Miller came Dawn of the Dead. Cunningham offered one of the biggest hits of that year. up with the location of the summer camp, him $20,000 to craft his magic and Savini A sequel, , the fact that it was cursed by an ancient evil signed on. duly followed a year later. But while Miner and the notion that sex equalled death and Finally, the soundtrack was returned as producer/director, Cunningham within a couple of weeks he had written the provided by jazz musician opted out and Victor Miller washed his first draft. With the finances in olace, and a - who created that enduring and hypnotic hands entirely of his creation (even though .

he's credited as Jasott's d^ator'on all There have been Jason oomfc books, action

’ the sequel^ Miller remembers: "the figures and even d musical! Yoq caft get Jason

full Jason cos^mes^^soa-lffe . original vision I had centred around masks and

Tason's mother and the evfl charaaers have featured in cbmmercbis, TV

1 ffcrget P shows and music videos- who can the caused. The pro^cers had ^different ! ; vision." Even Cijnningham no time Eminem showed upBn stage^aring a ;

idea that the m^ete-wietdi(^ anti- hockey-mask and brandishing*Slpower tool? [m I 3 But perhaps Jason's (and the Friday he4^ouldgoteto

series as a whole) most enduring i Sean S. Cunningham was born in New I becomVflnedfthe most The 13th

recognisable "scream" legacy is to the horror genre itself. Although ^ York in 1 941 . He considered becoming #

"I other slasher films may have set the whole a doaor, until he realised he didn't / Wj icons of all time. didn't

| actually want to practise medicine, f know Jason would be ball rolling, it was Jason who really picked

f it ran with it. The success of Friday 'But if the young Cunningham # stalking summer camps up and was squeamish around blood, / A' ^ for the next ten years," he The 13th set in motion an early eighties of horror/stalker/slasher movies, it didn't last long. Shortly after said in one interview in the explosion

gaining a Masters in Drama and Film at Stanford nineties, "I really had no idea." including A Nightmare on Elm Street. Horror big business again, >1 University, he began his career managing theatre movies were

companies around the USA, before moving^into Jason mania and horror franchises thrived. Friday The

of mayhem film production. His first film was what's kjoown Nevertheless, over the next 25 years 13th's cheerful brand bloody

resonant chord with its older in the industry as a "white-coater", in other or so, another ten sequels followed struck the most

it a status in words soft porn billed as medical or educational - including one shot in 3-D, plus a teen audience, guaranteeing

material. Thereafter he moved briefly into the head-on confrontation film history that perhaps t-f realm of exploitation movies, teaming up with with A Nightmare on its content (viewed as

brutal Street's Freddy individual films) might i, director Wes Craven on the revenge Elm ' and murder movie Last House on the Left Krueger in Freddy vs not suggest. In its 25 - years (and counting), (1 972), a partnership he was to renew some ten Jason, 2003 and in the 13th years later on A Nightmare on Elm Street. that time Jason has well Friday The

(Sean helped Craven out by directing a chase and truly crossed over into series has grossed in

excess of $250 million. scene in the first Nightmare. Cunningham / other media. A Friday The that can’t consequently gets a special thanks in the film’s 13th TV series ran from And surely,

to luck! closing credits.) Two low-budget, kid-friendly 1987 to 1990, with all be down

films followed, but it was Cunningham's 72 episodes to its

decision to secure the rights to the title Friday name, and Jason

- The 13th and then turn it into a skilful fusion also cropped up in

of two popular genres, the horror movie and a 1987 video game

t^ summer camp movie, that really made his (where the piayer is a

(lame in Hollywood. Since then, Cunningham camp counsellor, trying

has continued to successfully produce and direct to avoid Jason and even

movies. He returned to Friday The 13th (as his mother’s flying head!)

producer) for 1993's Jason Goe5,to Hell and Rap star Eminem in Jasor-influenced subsequent (2001)^d Freddy the get-np (far right). And some of the

Jason (2003). He is currently at work»/aB many Jason comics and books available ^ VS executive producer) on an, as yet, unnamed *

Friday sequel. Watch this space. . 14 m

When director Sean Cunningham and particular the towns of New Preston

screenwriter Victor Miller originally conceived and Kent. Thereafter, the filmmakers

the idea for their teens-in-perll horror moved production of Friday The 13th

movie, the sticking point proved to be Part 3 to Hollywood, as they needed

where exactly to set it. Locations such as a more controlled environment for the

an apartment building, a fun house and an 3-D effects featured in

amusement park were all considered and the movie. A new lake

rejected. Finally, Miller remembered how, place in the end was Camp setting was chosen

as a child, he'd always been too scared to No-Be-Bo-Sco (North Bergen for the sixth Friday.

go to Summer Camp, and had listened to Boy Scouts) in Hardwick namely Hard Labor

his brother's stories of shared dorms with Township, New Jersey, not Creek State Park, north

something approaching horror. He took the far from Blairstown (where of Rutledge, Georgia.

idea of setting Friday The 13th in just such the early scenes of the movie, For The New Blood

a place (but pre-season) to Cunningham, featuring the soon-to-be departed Annie (the seventh in the series), Brynes Lake in

who reacted enthusiastically, knowing how were shot). The production team had to wait Alabama was the setting, after which Jason

popular films involving kids' summer camps for the Boy Scouts themselves to go back to finally moved away from Camp Crystal Lake

were at the time. school before they could take up residence to the bright lights of Manhattan, the dark

for the four weeks of the shoot, and they recesses of Hell and then the outer reaches

Scouting locations were obliged to make a contribution to the of the galaxy!

The search for an actual location for the Boy Scouts of America. 'The area was really

fictional Camp Crystal Lake was not an beautiful and we all loved being there."

arduous task. "We were lucky being on recalls Cunningham.

the East Coast, because there are so many Though the film is ostensibly set

wonderful areas." says Cunningham. Their in the early part of the summer, filming

requirements were specific, but easily aaually took place over three months, from

met: "We needed an archery range, some September to November 1 979. Because of

cabins, a certain feeling of isolation, and of this, an autumnal tint can clearly be seen

course, a lake," he elaborates. The chosen on the trees. Incidentally, the scene where

Adrienne King is attacked out on the lake

by Jason had to be filmed “The area was really no less than three times - each time it was later in

the season and the water that beautiful audweall much colder.

Moving loved being there.” with the times For Friday the 13th Part 2,

filming moved

Director. Sean S. Cunningham County area of .

Was it the 3-D glasses, the tagline that promised gore-galore, or the assurance that "it really happened" that had you queuing at the box office? An entire arsenal of creative techniques exists to promote horror

films - find out about just some of the marketing ideas that wilt have you sold and screaming for more. .

f the modem is the into a frenzy of anticipation even before

equivalent of an old-fashioned the film is finished. There are so many fresh - I carnival fun house, then the avenues to reach the ticket-buyers beyond marketing department is the equivalent of sticking posters on the side of buses or the barlcer - the fellow who stands outside running trailers in every ad break on every TV the attraaion hailing the passing trade with station. These days you get "viral" internet a spiel that promises untold thrills, horrors, campaigns, trailers downloaded to your excitement and titillation for anyone who lays mobile phone, weird little novelty giveaways down the price of admission. (from keyrings to condoms),

Horror is a crowded field (especially electronic press kits and media in October) and it's no longer enough just blitzes. Not to mention personal to put a poster outside the cinema or run a appearances by the stars (or trailer with last week's programme to haul stand-ins in masks), or opening in the punters. Nowadays elaborate publicity supermarkets with chainsaws campaigns which range from the subtle to the or machetes (don't laugh - it's gross (no one will ever forget the time live happened). snakes were sent to every video shop in the

UK - though few remember the film being The big sell promoted) are designed to whip up viewers Nevertheless, many marketing

campaigns still depend on the methods

that have been used in Hollywood

since the silent days - posters and

trailers. With mainstream movies, a

film is usually screened complete to the

marketing department, who then

have to come up with a range of

poster images or original trailers Oscar nominations or a current controversy

to sell the stars, the story, the featured in the film. Horror, however, is

slightly different. Some old-style horror

moguls, especially in the fifties, would think

up the titles and have poster art designed

- then show these to film-buyers and decide

whether to make the films depending on reaction to the selling materials. More than prequek. Again the ma rkttiii g Is already in away too much. Ten h o rrt^fcw an one fifties' creature feature was sent back to place - the prequel film promises to explain - anyaolNcnown names-MthtMA^are the studio with a demand that the monster the whys and wherefores behind the (up until likely to be unbilled cameos or before-they- promised by the poster actually appear in now mindless) killings: "Come and see this were-famous actors who got thetrTin* the film! This praaice isn't as common today film and you'll find out why this psychotic role in a horror flick. This means tfwre's »b as it - was but the business of pre-selling a maniac is such a psychotic maniac!" requirement that an acto^ace dominate movie before it's in production has evolved. the poster (incidentally, big movie stars have studios Now, remake movies that were hits What's in a name? clauses in their contracts about the size their a generation ago (i.e. already marketed) Posters - which, since the seventies, have faces must be on all advertising material). or deliver strings of sequels to recent been valuable ancillary merchandise as well The stars of most franchise horrors are successes so audiences (and exhibitors) get a as a marketing tool - have to come up with continuing horror characters, who follow the known quantity. The latest fad, of course, is an image that sells the film but doesn't give Hollywood course from jumped-up bit-player

in their breakthrough picture to above-the-

title billing (and other perks) as the series We Want More... progresses. The early Friday The 13th or Nightmare posters did not feature Jason

These every film days what studio wants qualify), there are a dozen one-offs, which or Freddy at all (Jason, you remember, didn’t

is a franchise - not just a hit movie, but may well be great films but just don't become the killer till Part 2, or put on his

a hit movie that will yield sequels, many quite have what it takes to inspire more trademark hockey mask till Part 3). It wasn't

maybe a TV series and eventually a activity. Interestingly, most franchises are until the series went on that they became

remake to kick things off all over again. built around characters. But the films that • more popular, and so promotional materials

Not to mention the tie-in novels, comics, deliberately try to introduce an enduring began to be built around them.

action figures, clothing, novelty items, monster rarely click - fans prefer to find was so clearly the stand-out of the original

card games, DVD box sets with plentiful their horor heroes lurking in the depths of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre that

extras and a general rush of memorabilia the supporting cast and elevate them to his image did show up on most of the

and merchandise. Franchises are nothing stardom themselves. posters, which perhaps led to his increased - new in horror ask Frankenstein, Dracula prominence in subsequent films and remakes.

or Godzilla - but the psycho killer stars The first films in any series tend to be'

who came to the fore in the seventies and - sold on their assertions "Who will survive . eighties the remain key franchise players and what will be left of them?" (the great

in the business - Leatherface, Jason

and Freddy, which is to say The Texas Merchandising Chainsaw Massacre, Friday The 13th products tor and A Nightmare On Elm Street. Sadly, die-hard Ians (or it seems impossible to set out to make a Halloween parties). franchise - the original film always has The Jason goblet to be first discovered and embraced by (left) and Jason fairy audiences, who then clamour for more. lights (right).

For every Final Destination. which makes it to franchise status (though that's only a trilogy at the moment

- it probably needs one more spin-off to Halloween tagline of The Texas Ch aiHtaw honor jeleases cluster around Killer Lines Massacre), “They wereMfflfid... they - and one even managed 6th June, 2006. are doomed,.. (Friday the 13th), or, of the taglines that have been most simply, "Sleep KittlT (A Nightmare Effects and gimmicks Some on Elm Street). Other well-loved marketing devices involve used for the Chainsaw. Friday and

special fiimographic practices - something Nightmare films are as renowned as the

Promises, promises... that will make a films themselves. Here's a pick of the best: • "Once you stop screaming, then you'll The publicity materials for all these movies horror film stand

start talking about it" pitched their high concepts, which is to say a out from the crowd 1974) bite-sized story hook that promised audiences - like the 3-D {TCM • jf I "You want scary? THIS scary ideas. The Texas Chainsaw used in Friday

\ scary!" Massacre used the oldest selling trick in The 13th Part is (TCM 2003) • / "Witness the birth of the book, the "it's all true" gimmick {even 3 and Freddy's W Q “ Amityville Dead: The Final . fear" {TCM 2006) more successfully applied to The , and/t Nightmare On Elm Street Nightmare. "Fridays will never be the Florror) ( llJIJ same again" (Fr3) sold the idea that the bogeyman could get Novelty : • "The body count you in your dreams. Although controversial giveaways can continues..." (Chainsaw was initially refused a certificate also do the trick IF13:2)

• "Nothing this evil ever UK), these films got enough good - vomit bags in the / dies" (F13:6) reviews for print adverts to use “pull quotes" were distributed PT»»-

- tiny extraas from the critics, which jerve as on some X) thumbs-up endorsements (AlexanderWalker, original upgrade" (Jason • "K Nancy doesn't later a vigorous pi^censorship campaigner, Chainsaw wake up screaming was extensively quoted on the original The play dates, won't wake up at Texas Chainsaw Massacre posters). not to mention plastic she

all" (NOES) Friday The 13th went the other route transformer Jason eggs

- sometimes using bits of reviews, which had and

been written by stuffy, easily-offended, fuddy- Christmas decorations!

duddy critics who young audiences would As mentioned above,

naturally ignore and enjoy defying. the marketers have now

Other marketirig devices involve hit on all manner of new

providing "hooks" for a release date electronic media to get

- amazingly, the first Friday The 13th was to us -and soon they

released in the US on May 9th, 1980, though will have achieved their

goal, total there was a Friday 1 3th in July of that year ultimate

(when the film opened in Britain). Many saturation coverage.

“Who will survive and what WILL BE LEFT OF THEM?”

Tagline fob The Texas Chaixsa » .Massacbi (1974) HORROR GLOSSARY

Get more terrifying New Line horror terminology under your belt.

This issue moves on to the brutal and beastly letter B...

.'lirHOsrryflcujefS, The 13th series. Firstly at the beginning of 'zxAft (:

Teenagers beware: as a general rule, the The Final Chapter (see Axel below) and then The 11th victim in Jason X. Has his back

authority figures in slasher films are not to be in Jason Goes To Hell, where the coroner broken over Jason's knee.

relied upon. Parents, doctors, policemen and devours Jason's heart and becomes possessed

sheriffs are continually disbelieving, unhelpful by his evil spirit.

and at times just rotten to the core. Prime ‘VAUOtlF. HfCHAFL

examples from the New Line films include Author of The Official Friday The 13th

Nancy's mother Marge Thompson from the first Part 3 3-D novelisation, printed in 1982.

Nightmare: the exploitative Avallone's book is a sought after collector's

Dr. Crews from the seventh item, because it details an alternative ending to

Friday: and Sheriff Hoyt the one that was chosen for the film. from the Chainsaw AVORIAZFAfiTASTIcmtinSnVA!

remake and prequel - A festival that took place annually in France

to name but a few. from 1973 to 1993. In 1985 Wes Craven won

the Avoriaz Critics Award for A Nightmare SAOSTORy On £lm Street. Horror films often attribute

AXf a backstory to their villains, going 10 80 . The weapon of choice for many a which helps explain

Rie. murderer, Jason Voorhees what has happened M«t9e Thompson hi A Nightmare on Elm Street particularly likes using before the action in the

^urosAjwcf »*D one to dispatch his victims. film began; it's a way of

In the Nightmare series, Penny Bros. Auto In total, seven people are revealing a villain's motives,

Salvage Yard is the place where the vigilante killed with an axe in the Friday as well as developing

parents of Springwood hide the remains of The 13th series (and one with a the plot. Jason's backstory

Freddy Krueger, after they've burned him hatchet). And in Part 3, it's Jason is revealed at various points in the series,

alive. It's also where the characters in Dream who's on the receiving end of one! beginning with the first film. In which his

Warriors bury his remains with holy water to AXU fFi5:4) mother, Pamela, reveals how he supposedly

rob him of his dream-stalking powers. In The In Friday The 13th: drowned at Camp Crystal Lake. We find

Dream Master, Kincaid arrives at the auto The Final Chapter out all about Freddy Krueger through his

salvage yard in a dream, where he becomes autopsy assistant Axel backstory: the circumstances of his birth,

the fatal witness to the resurrection of the is the first victim of his criminal history and his "family life". And

Springwood slasher. a resurrected Jason, Leatherface's backstory has been turned into - HiTOPsy who slices his throat a film of its own, the prequel The Texas

Autopsies feature in two films in the Friday with a surgical saw. Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning.. . Fear the worst - get the lowdown on phobias.

behind Freddy's ill-fated victims. .

. them .

save doomed

will

are

nothing

.They

. . 13th,

warned the

were Friday

.

Itiey were warned . . .They are doomed . . And on Friday the 13th, nothins will save them.

A 24 hour nightmare of terror. mm riH n w 1 m s vmij i m% p mui IlliKi lillMUfiMHI iirainvnniiKUiDiHu \ \\. »« nn 1 HI 91 91 S ClIKIil I iilH MEIIK IKH Hli s?; wiNirai^.