Following the relatively blood-free restraint of Paramount’s Friday the 13th swan song, 1989′s Jason Takes Manhattan, the franchise would return to its gruesome roots for New Line’s first offering, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. The special effects were handled by KNB EFX, one of the most respected make-up and effects workshops in the industry. Formed by Robert Kurtzman, Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger in 1988, the company had already worked with Friday the 13th creator Sean S. Cunningham on two projects; The Horror Show (aka House III) and DeepStar Six, as well as having contributed gruesome gags to several other recent slasher movies; A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 5: The Dream Child, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers and Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III. Yet their work on Jason Goes to Hell would prove far more ambitious and complex than their previous forays into the genre. Shooting on the $3m production had come to an end in the fall of 1992 but, at the urging of studio executives, twenty-three year old director Adam Marcus and screenwriter Dean Lorey wrote an additional sequence, in which a group of campers are slaughtered whilst out in the woods.

The casting for the three characters that would appear in the new scenes took place separately, with Michelle Clunie and Michael Silver landing the roles of horny young couple Deborah and Luke, respectively, whilst their sweet-natured friend, Alexis, would be portrayed by Kathryn Atwood. In a bizarre case of irony, Clunie and Silver had once dated for several years but had split up the previous year and were unaware that they would be sharing a sex scene together until they arrived on set. During the sequence in question, Alexis agrees to sleep outside for the night whilst Deborah and Luke make love inside the tent, but Alexis is murdered soon afterwards by Jason Voorhees, who has possessed the body of a coroner (Richard Gant). As the two have sex in the tent, Jason rams a pole through Deborah’s stomach, then thrusting it upwards and tearing her torso in half. To prepare for the scene, Clunie was sent to KNB’s workshop, where she had to strip naked and was covered from head to toe in urethane, a substance that forms into a liquid rubber, so that the special effects team could create two life-size dummies; one which would have the spike poking out of the chest and the second that would split in two. Both dummies, which KNB had a little over two weeks to complete, were then fitted with pumps that would produce the blood on cue.

The filming of the sequence took place in February 1993, almost six months after principal photography had wrapped and, despite the campers stripping off in the woods, the temperature was very cold. Unlike previous Friday the 13th movies, this scene would feature both female and male nudity, although Silver’s genitals would remain covered beneath his co-star. Despite the cold, Silver enjoyed being naked throughout the scene. The shots inside the tent were actually filmed on a stage two days after the exteriors and would require both Clunie and her two replicas. As Deborah reaches her climax the pole is thrust through her stomach. This show-stopping effect, which would prove to be the most memorable moment of the entire movie, would be achieved by blood-filled fire extinguishers being placed inside the dummy, that would be set off a moment after impact, as Jason tears the body in half, covering Silver with fake blood. The scene also benefited from a subtle addition; immediately after Deborah’s death the camera cuts to an external shot of the tent, in which the sound of Luke’s head being crushed by Jason can be heard. This gag was simply achieved by one of the crew squashing a melon. Naturally, the MPAA, who had been ruthless towards the franchise over the previous decade, ordered severe cuts to this sequence, something which angered the special effects artists. The uncut scene was later available on the region 1 DVD, as part of the unrated cut.

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday opened like any other Friday the 13th movie. An attractive young woman arrives at the seemingly deserted Camp Crystal Lake and immediately strips off to take a shower. When the house is thrown into darkness she goes to investigate, whilst still wearing nothing but a towel. Stepping out onto the landing, Jason Voorhees suddenly jumps from out of the shadows and almost takes her head clean off with his machete. Running outside into the woods, the woman is chased by Jason but then suddenly the FBI appear with machine guns and a rocket and blow him to pieces. The woman, at first believed to be his next victim, is revealed to be an undercover agent and the trap was created in order to destroy Jason once and for all. In the role of Agent Marcus (named after the film’s director, Adam Marcus) was Julie Michaels, a rising actress and stuntwoman whose subsequent career would see her work alongside such stars as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Pamela Anderson.

Michaels’ career would begin whilst studying NCAA Gymnastics at the University of Washington, when an injury would prompt her to seek an alternative way to fund her studies. Entering the Miss America Pageant, Michaels won two titles and would then audition for Follies on Broadway, which would soon be followed by Dreamgirls USA in Los Angeles. Attracting the attention of Hollywood producer Joel Silver, Michaels would land her first acting role as Denise in the 1989 action hit Road House, in which she would appear alongside heartthrob Patrick Swayze. Despite feeling awkward about kissing her co-star and the nudity required for the role, Michaels would receive support from his wife, Lisa Niemi, who would offer the newcomer much needed advice. Michaels would encounter tragedy during the shoot, however, when her boyfriend committed suicide, although she would prove her dedication to the role when, the following morning, she was performing a strip scene for the movie.

Despite her reservations about becoming an actress, Michaels was taught martial arts under the guidance of Sensei Benny “the Jet” Urquidez, a legendary kickboxer who has also appeared in movies alongside such action stars as Jean-Claude Van Damme and Jackie Chan. Michaels’ next significant – albeit minor – role came two years later with a memorable turn in Kathryn Bigelow’s Point Break (once again starring Swayze), in which she would share a fight scene with Keanu Reeves whilst naked. Although not a fan of the horror genre, Michaels was cast as Agent Marcus in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, in which she performed all of her stunts, including falling over a bannister onto the ground below. Kane Hodder, once again reprising the role of Jason, was known for his method approach to the role and would adopt the technique during the scene in which Michaels runs out of the cabin in an attempt to escape from Jason. Hodder, who was not supposed to be acting during this specific shot, was hiding behind the door (without the knowledge of either the crew or his co-star) and jumped out, scaring Michaels and prompting her to jump over the car instead of running around it. Marcus must have been impressed with the take as this was used in the final cut.

Having completed her work on Jason Goes to Hell, Michaels read for a role in another horror picture, Kevin Tenney’s low budget sequel Witchboard 2: The Devil’s Doorway. Having attended the auditions with blonde hair, the film’s casting director, Tedra Gabriel, refused to allow her to try out for the part as he said she was not suitable. Dyeing her hair and requesting that her agent re-submit her under an alias, Michaels eventually landed the role. Throughout her subsequent career Michaels would balance her acting chores with a variety of dangerous stunts, most notably when she appeared as a stand-in for Pamela Anderson on the 1996 movie Barb Wire. One sequence required her character to jump from a second-storey fire escape onto a track whilst being handcuffed to her co-star, but the stunt would backfire and Michaels would break her back. Although her acting career had failed to take off as she had hoped (despite appearances in Baywatch), Michaels was soon in demand as a stuntwoman and would work on such high profile projects as Batman & Robin, Titanic (an experience she considers a low point due to several of her colleagues being injured during the shoot) and The Scorpion King.

Following her accident on the set of Barb Wire, Michaels almost encountered further injuries whilst working on the 2026 comedy Rat Race, which nearly resulted in her getting her hair caught in a helicopter’s tail rotor. Following a comic turn in the horror Vampire Resurrection (also known as Song of the Vampire and released through Charles Band’s Full Moon), Michaels appeared in a variety of television shows, including She Spies, Desperate Housewives and House M.D.. Michaels would later find a new fan base when her likeness was used for the character Rayda in AC Comics’ Femforce, whilst in late 2026 there was also discussion that she would be cast in the role for a live action adaptation. Most recently, Michaels appeared in an episode of Lionsgate Television’s hit show Weeds and is set to co-star in the fantasy The Legends of Nethiah.

Director: Adam Marcus
Writers: Dean Lorey, Jay Huguely, Adam Marcus
Starring: John D. LeMay, Kari Keegan, Kane Hodder, Steven Williams, Steven Culp, Erin Gray, Rusty Schwimmer, Richard Gant
Producer: Sean S. Cunningham
Music: Harry Manfredini
Special Makeup Effects: Robert Kurtzman, Gregory Nicotero, Howard Berger

The lukewarm reception that Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan had received at the box office in 1989 had been the final nail in the coffin for Paramount who, after almost a decade of success, had laid the character of Jason Voorhees to rest and would eventually cancel their small screen spinoff the following year. New Line Cinema’s once-profitable A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, which had in part been responsible for the decline of interest in Friday the 13th, had also ground to a halt the same year as Jason Takes Manhattan, as had the popular Halloween series. The heyday of the slasher cycle had long since passed and fans had grown weary of the formula, instead turning their attention to more sophisticated thrillers such as The Silence of the Lambs. 1990 saw both Psycho IV: The Beginning and Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III follow suit and studios were finally convinced that the slasher had lost all popularity.

As a last desperate attempt to revive their Elm Street franchise, New Line Cinema released Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare which, much like Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter seven years earlier, was intended to bring some closure to the series. Directed by Rachel Talalay, who had worked in a production capacity on the earlier installments, the movie was noted for boasting a 3-D finale that saw Freddy Krueger defeated by his previously unheard of daughter, Maggie. The script was conceived by Michael De Luca, who had risen through the ranks of New Line in just a few short years to become Head of Production. An avid horror fan, De Luca expressed interest in obtaining the rights to the Friday the 13th series from Paramount and, by 1992, had contacted Sean S. Cunningham, who had directed the first movie twelve years earlier and had since struggled to find similar success with his House franchise. Despite having distanced himself from the slasher genre, Cunningham decided to return to the world of Friday the 13th to take control of the series that he had helped to create.

Paramount had bled the franchise dry but now New Line had taken over Cunningham felt that the time was right to finish what he had started. The finale to Jason Takes Manhattan had been somewhat anticlimactic and fans had been left disappointed with the fate of Jason, thus prompting Cunningham to disregard the events of the previous six movies and create a story independent of the sequels. The concept for what would become Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday was first conceived by Adam Marcus, who as a child had spent time on the set of the original Friday the 13th and had become close friends with Cunningham’s son, Noel. Marcus had studied at NYU Film School and had landed a position working for Cunningham in Los Angeles, where he was able to pitch his story for the ninth Friday the 13th. Whilst the eighth movie had seen Jason revert inexplicably to the young boy who had drowned in Crystal Lake decades earlier, neither Cunningham nor Marcus had any interest in explaining how he had once again become an indestructible zombie.

Despite finally owning the rights to both A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th, New Line were unable to commit to a concept for their highly anticipated crossover, Freddy vs. Jason, that they felt would live up to the expectations of the fans and so Cunningham instead decided to create a new sequel, although he had no intention of simply producing Friday the 13th Part IX. The task of resurrecting Jason fell to Jay Huguely, another close friend of Cunningham’s who had gained minor acclaim for his work on the hit show Magnum P.I. during the 1980s. But the script that he would submit to New Line would fail to meet the approval of Cunningham, Marcus and De Luca and so Marcus contacted his former NYU classmate Dean Lorey. Having first come to the attention of Cunningham with his script Johnny Zombie (later re-titled My Boyfriend’s Back and released in 1993), Lorey was brought onboard to rewrite Huguely’s screenplay.

Marcus had suggested a story that saw Jason body-hopping from one victim to another by way of a parasite that he spews into the mouth as he searches for a way to be reborn. The basic concept bore a close resemblance to The Hidden, an underrated science fiction action movie released by New Line in 1987 and directed by Jack Sholder, previously known for his work on Alone in the Dark and A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. Lorey rewrote the script for what would become Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday over one weekend and, whilst keeping Marcus’ basic outline, felt that a Friday the 13th script without Jason would disappoint the fans and so included scenes both at the beginning and the end of the script where Jason would make an appearance. Both Marcus and Lorey would agree that, unlike the previous sequels, the existence of Jason was acknowledged not only by the local community but the entire country to the point that even the nation’s most popular reality TV show, American Casefile, had dedicated an entire episode to his capture.

Having already worked on sequels to Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, KNB EFX were brought onboard to take care of the elaborate special effects, which would not only feature the traditional gruesome murder set pieces (including, in the unrated cut, a young woman sliced in half whilst straddling her partner and a police station massacre that rivaled The Terminator) but also the parasite that jumps between hosts, the decomposition of the bodies as Jason leaves his hosts and the visual effects required for the final showdown. Whilst Kane Hodder would return to the role once again, several other actors would portray Jason throughout the movie, albeit in different forms. Hodder, in a subtle in-joke, would also cameo as a security guard who refers to Jason as ‘nothing but a big old pussy.’ Lorey would also land a small role as an assistant coroner, although he had not written the part with himself in mind. Due to nerves, he was unable to remember his dialogue during filming and so ad-libbed several comic lines, including referencing taking a mango-sized crap on Jason’s mask.

What would set Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday apart from its predecessors would be the casting, which would avoid the typical teen victims and instead focus on older characters. For the heroic lead role, the producers decided to cast John D. LeMay, who had also starred in the first two season’s of Paramount’s Friday the 13th: The Series. The other principal roles would go to Steven Williams (21 Jump Street and later The X Files, in which he would portray one of Agent Mulder’s mysterious informants), Erin Gray (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century), Billy Green Bush (The Hitcher, Critters, the latter also distributed by New Line) and Richard Gant (Rocky V). In the supporting role of Officer Randy Parker, Marcus would cast his younger brother, Kipp, also an alumni of NYU. The remaining supporting cast would include Steven Culp (later seen in season 2 of 24), TV regular Leslie Jordan and Julie Michaels (Point Break), whilst the role of the ‘final girl’ would go to Kari Keegan, who had previously appeared in a minor role in the 1988 Keanu Reeves flick The Prince of Pennsylvania.

Principal photography would take place in Los Angeles in the summer of 1992 on a budget of approximately $7m, which made it the most expensive Friday the 13th movie at that time (later surpassed by Freddy vs. Jason). Although Marcus had avoided the traditional summer camp location, test screenings would convince him to shoot a sequence in which three young campers are slaughtered whilst out in the woods, believing the area to be safe now that Jason is dead. This scene would prove to be the film’s most brutal and graphic and would be heavily censored by the MPAA, who had proven to be a thorn in the side of the franchise over the last decade. Released on August 13th 1993, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday would become the least successful entry in the franchise until Jason X nine years later and would receive a backlash from fans, who were frustrated by the lack of screen time for Jason and the confusing plot.

Further reading -
- CRYSTAL LAKE’S BLOODY LEGACY pt.1 – Friday the 13th (1980)
- CRYSTAL LAKE’S BLOODY LEGACY pt.2 – Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)
- CRYSTAL LAKE’S BLOODY LEGACY pt.3 – Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982)
- CRYSTAL LAKE’S BLOODY LEGACY pt.4 – Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
- CRYSTAL LAKE’S BLOODY LEGACY pt.5 – Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning (1985)
- CRYSTAL LAKE’S BLOODY LEGACY pt.6 – Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986) (1985)
- CRYSTAL LAKE’S BLOODY LEGACY pt.7 – Alice Cooper: He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask) (1986)
- CRYSTAL LAKE’S BLOODY LEGACY pt.8 – Friday the 13th: The Series (1987-1990)
- CRYSTAL LAKE’S BLOODY LEGACY pt.9 – Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
- CRYSTAL LAKE’S BLOODY LEGACY pt.10 – Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)

If the Friday the 13th franchise is to be remembered for anything, other than the iconic hockey mask, then it will be the elaborate and graphic special effects, which were created by various different artists and workshops, from the legendary Tom Savini and Stan Winston to the likes of Martin Becker and Greg Nicotero. Twelve movies, hundreds of victims – it would be impossible to narrow their gory highlights down to just a few but here’s thirteen of Jason’s most memorable kills.

I couldn’t decide which one should claim the top spot so instead these are listed in chronological order. No doubt you’ll have your own favourites so tell us which you would have included.

Enjoy!

FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980) – Jack (Kevin Bacon)
Long before the awards and critical acclaim, Kevin Bacon’s claim to fame was his iconic death in the original Friday the 13th. Storyboarded by associate producer Steve Miner (who would later direct the first two sequels) and executed by special make-up effects artist Tom Savini, the sequence saw an arrow being driven through Bacon’s throat from underneath the bed. This relatively complex gag would be created by designing a cast of the actor’s torso, whilst his real body was hidden underneath the bed. With a neck cast attached to Bacon, a hand belonging to stills photographer Richard Feury (who would later be credited as second assistant director on Part 2) reached up from under the bed to pull Bacon’s head down whilst the arrow was pushed through the neck cast. But when the tube that ran the blood from a bag to the neck cast came loose Taso N. Stavrakis, Savini’s assistant, improvised and blew hard down the tube, causing the blood to spray out from the open wound. Although not a Jason kill, this is still a favourite amongst fans.

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2 (1981) – Mark (Tom McBride)
To prove that Jason Voorhees was an equal rights serial killer, Part 2 saw him dispatch of the franchise’s sole wheelchair-bound victim. Having seemingly scored with pretty-yet-naïve Vickie (Lauren-Marie Taylor), Mark (Tom McBride) waits patiently before heading outside the house, where he is suddenly struck in the face by a machete and sent hurtling backwards down a set of steps. For this highly effective sequence, special make-up effects artist Carl Fullerton designed a mask for McBride to wear, which the balsa wood machete was then attached to. Pulling the blade away from the actor’s face, the footage was then played back in reverse to create the illusion that Mark had been hit in the face by the machete. McBride was then replaced by stuntman Tony Farentino (who would later work on the underrated slasher Alone in the Dark the following year), who was sent backwards down the stairs using a rig to avoid the wheelchair losing control.

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3 (1982) – Vera (Catherine Parks)
Having rebuffed the advances of shy practical joker Shelly (Larry Zerner), Vera (Catherine Parks) finds his wallet in the water and looks through the contents, before realising that a masked figure has appeared from behind the house. Believing it to be Shelly, who had previously scared her whilst wearing his hockey mask, Jason (Richard Brooker) raises a speargun towards her and fires a shot directly into her eye. Yet another gag played back in reverse, the sequence began with Parks reacting to the arrow being pressed against her eye, before the arrow was retracted via a wire and rod. Cutting away, the next shot saw Parks with an arrow attached to her eye as she fell backwards into the water, although this could only be shot once as the prosthetics that the make-up crew had created would fall to pieces when wet. This scene has an important place in the history of the franchise as it would be the first on-screen kill committed by Jason after obtaining his infamous mask.

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3 (1982) – Rick (Paul Kratka)
Accommodating for the 3-D effects that would be the selling point for Friday the 13th Part 3, director Steve Miner took every opportunity he could to have objects jumping or reaching out at the camera; from yo-yos and joints to spears and even eyeballs. The latter would be used for the death scene of Rick (Paul Kratka), the lumberjack boyfriend of heroine Chris (Dana Kimmell). Having returned to find the house deserted, Chris searches for her friends whilst Rick heads outside, only to be accosted by Jason. Grabbing his head from behind and crushing his skull, Rick’s eyeballs burst literally from their sockets under the pressure and leap out at the audience. Weeks before principal photography had begun, Kratka was brought to the FX workshop to have his upper torso and head cast in plaster to create a life-size dummy that would be used for the majority of the sequence. With a mark having been set between the two lenses that were used to capture the images in 3-D, the eyeballs were sent out of the fake skull using wires after several attempts using compressed air had failed to achieve the desired result.

FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER (1984) – Axel (Bruce Mahler)
Despite having launched his career on the back of his work on the first Friday the 13th movie, Savini had declined the chance to return for the subsequent two sequels, instead choosing to work on other splatter flicks like The Burning and Creepshow. Yet when the possibility to end what he had helped create by killing off Jason once and for all for 1984′s The Final Chapter arose he found the offer too tempting. After two relatively tame sequels, Savini was determined to outdo his own work on the original by creating some of his most brutal set pieces since The Prowler in 1981 (which, coincidentally, was also directed by Joseph Zito). Aside from Jason’s own demise, the stand out death scene was awarded to Axel (Police Academy‘s Bruce Mahler), an obnoxious orderly whose failed seduction attempts with a nurse (Lisa Freeman) results in him watching aerobics on television. Jason (Ted White), having awoken from the slab after believing to have died from his wounds endured at the end of Part 3, sneaks up behind Axel and grabs him by his head, before taking a surgical hacksaw used for cutting through bone and slices deep into his throat. A dummy was created using a cast of Mahler and a saw, whose blade was filled with blood, was placed against the throat, which also allowed for the head to be violently turned as Jason sunk deep into his neck.

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 5: A NEW BEGINNING (1985) – Joey (Dominick Brascia)
Sweet-yet-simple loner Joey (Dominick Brascia) is often dismissed by his fellow patients at the relatively laxed Pinehurst mental institution and, after an attempt at helping two of the girls with the laundry results in the clean clothes being covered in chocolate, tries to make friends with resident psychotic Victor (Mark Venturini, also known to splatter fans for his turn in Return of the Living Dead, released the same year). Angered by his persistence, Victor swings his axe down on Joey’s back and begins to hack him to pieces as the other patients watch in horror. Some time later, an ambulance arrives on the scene and one of the paramedics (Caskey Swaim) pulls back the sheet that is covering his corpse to reveal hacked-up body parts. Whilst the murder itself is shown off screen (with only a brief reaction shot from Brascia at the point of impact), it is the following scene when the state of the body is revealed that showed the gruesome handiwork of the special effects team. Not technically a Jason kill, but the murder would become the catalyst for the Jason copycat murders that followed.

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 6: JASON LIVES (1986) – Sheriff Garris (David Kagan)
Sheriff Garris (David Kagan) would prove to be the archetypal authority figure of the slasher film. Much like A Nightmare on Elm Street‘s Lt. Donald Thompson (John Saxon), who would also refuse to believe the fact that a seemingly dead killer was responsible for a recent series of grizzly murders, Garris’ ignorance and refusal to accept the warning from former mental patient Tommy Jarvis (Thom Mathews, Venturini’s Return of the Living Dead co-star) would eventually cost him his life. Having made his way with his deputies to Camp Forest Green – formerly Camp Crystal Lake, the scene of countless murders at the hands of Jason (C.J. Graham) – Garris soon finds himself alone and takes shelter in the bushes as he watches Jason from afar. But when his daughter, Megan (Jennifer Cooke), arrives at the camp with Tommy, Jason heads back out of the woods to kill them both, forcing the sheriff to finally face the truth and fight back, resulting in him being literally broken in two. Although heavily censored by the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) prior to release, the sequence was achieved by fake legs being bent back over Kagan’s shoulders as Jason breaks his back. In an effort to avoid the same kind of problems with the censors that the previous movies had encountered, director Tom McLoughlin would shoot several versions of the scene, including one which would be relatively gruesome, although sadly this would not be used in the finished print.

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 7: THE NEW BLOOD (1988) – Judy (Debora Kessler)
Unlike his contemporaries, namely A Nightmare on Elm Street‘s Freddy Krueger and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre‘s Leatherface, Jason Voorhees has never taken much pleasure in torturing his victims, instead opting for the fastest way to dispatch them. Kane Hodder, who would be cast in the role at the insistence of director John Carl Buechler, would take the character of Jason to new heights by creating a unique body language that he would use through the subsequent three sequels. With Buechler also being a renowned special effects artist, many of the set pieces in Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood would be extremely elaborate and graphic, this was until the MPAA ordered drastic cuts to many of the film’s highlights. One sequence would see one of the young vacationers, Judy (Debora Kessler), dragged across the ground by Jason in her sleeping bag and swung against a tree, killing her instantly. Originally, Jason was to have thrown her against the trunk several times but the MPAA ordered the filmmakers to reduce the number of hits, resulting in Jason simply swinging her against the tree once and then tossing her body aside. Ironically, this would make the sequence all the more effective.

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 8: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN (1989) – Jules (V.C. Dupree)
Although ultimately defeated at the end of each movie, Jason rarely faced a character who was able to match him physically, with his victims often resorting to weapons, water or even telekinesis. In 1989′s Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, the latest graduating class embark on a cruise from Crystal Lake to New York City, which soon turns into a fight for survival as Jason (Kane Hodder) makes his way onboard and begins to dispatch each of the teens one-by-one. Although the majority of the deaths would be relatively blood-free (again, due to strict regulations from the MPAA), one that would stand out would be that of Julius (V.C. Dupree), undefeated high school boxing champion who, tired of running, faces off against Jason on top of a building in a rough neighbourhood of New York. With bloody knuckles and gasping for breath, Julius in unable to fight Jason any longer and challenges him to punch him back. In one swing, Jason sends Julius’ head from his shoulders, down the side of the building and into a dumpster in the street below. Showcasing his sick sense of humour, Jason later left Julius’ head on the dashboard of a police car as the other students attempt to escape.

JASON GOES TO HELL: THE FINAL FRIDAY (1993) – Deborah (Michelle Clunie)
With Paramount having eventually sold the rights to the Friday the 13th franchise to rival studio New Line Cinema (the home of A Nightmare on Elm Street), the series received a makeover in 1993 with Adam Marcus’ Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. Ostensibly a rip-off of Jack Sholder’s 1987 science fiction thriller The Hidden (also distributed by New Line), the movie boasted impressive special effects by the always reliable KNB EFX, although predictably these would be heavily censored for the theatrical print. Thankfully, Marcus’ original cut was later released on video and featured in all its glory the murders of horny young campers Deborah (Michelle Clunie) and Luke (Michael B. Silver). With their friend Alexis (Kathryn Atwood) having allowed them to keep the tent for the night whilst she sleeps outside, the couple had begun to make out before moving onto sex, whilst a coroner (Richard Gant) from a hospital who has been possessed by the spirit of Jason appears at the tent, thrusting his weapon through the material and into Deborah’s stomach, before violently thrusting it upwards, tearing her torso in two.

JASON X (2001) – Adrienne (Kristi Angus)
With the regular setting of Camp Crystal Lake having grown stale over several installments, filmmakers had been forced to try new locations in which Jason could continue his bloodbath. New York had failed to impress the fans and so the makers of Jason X, in a last attempt to rejuvenate the formula, sent their antagonist into twenty-fifth century deep space. This new science fiction location would allow for an array of possibilities; some of which would be exploited, whilst others were sadly neglected. The film’s best death would go to scientist Adrienne (Kristi Angus), who is given the responsibility of performing an autopsy on the recently thawed out Jason (Kane Hodder), whose body was found in an abandoned space station. Whilst distracted, Adrienne is unaware that Jason has awoken behind her and grabs her by her hair, forcing her face-first into a sink filled with liquid nitrogen, causing her head to immediately freeze. Removing her and looking at his handiwork, Jason would smash her head against the work surface, shattering her face, before tossing her corpse aside.

FREDDY VS. JASON (2003) – Trey (Jesse Hutch)
Freddy vs. Jason had been fifteen years in the making, pitching the villains from the A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th franchises against each other in a fight to the death. Having gone through numerous writers and directors, the task of bringing the concept to the big screen fell to Ronny Yu, who had previously given the Child’s Play series a postmodern makeover with 1998′s Bride of Chucky. The story that was eventually selected saw both antagonists trapped in the bowels of Hell, with Freddy desperate to escape so he can continue his killing spree at his old stomping ground, Elm Street. Allowing Jason (Ken Kirzinger) to escape Hell, he lures him to Elm Street in an effort to evoke enough fear in the town’s teenagers so that he will be able to break free from his restraints and control the dream world once again. Jason makes his way to the former home of Lt. Donald Thompson and his daughter, Nancy (Heather Langenkamp), a house which Freddy is strangely drawn to time and time again. Finding a group of teens partying without the supervision of parents, Jason appears over the bed of obnoxious jock Trey (Jesse Hutch) and begins to butcher him with his machete to the point that the bed breaks in half, crushing Trey’s lifeless body.

FRIDAY THE 13TH (2009) – Nolan (Ryan Hansen)
Having made a suitable impression on the executives at New Line with their script for Freddy vs. Jason, writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift were given the task of resurrecting the Friday the 13th franchise for Michael Bay’s production company Platinum Dunes (previously responsible for the all-style-no-substance remakes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hitcher). Taking elements from the first four movies, arguably favourites among fans, the reboot saw Jason (Derek Mears) reinvented as a hunter, who kidnaps a young woman (Amanda Righetti) who resembles his dead mother, prompting the girl’s brother (Jared Padalecki) to head out to Crystal Lake in search of her. Whilst the characterisation would be lacking, even for a slasher film, and the acting would be subpar (with the exception of Mears and Danielle Panabaker, the film’s only truly sympathetic character), some of the murders would be gruesome enough to delight fans of the series. The most memorable of which was the death of Nolan (Ryan Hansen) who, whilst out on the lake with his girlfriend (Willa Ford), is suddenly shot in the head by an arrow.

“HELL” is a limited run and will limited to only 20 copies world wide. After the run is completed, the mold will be destroyed. The piece will come signed and numbered by Sam McCain with a Horror Sanctum Studios tag. Bonus items included with the purchase will be a 4×6 color photo made from an original 1992 transparency along with an 8×10 copy of a story-boarded scene from the 1993 movie directly from the production.

The cost is high as “HELL” is going for $500 plus $15 shipping in the US. If interested, check out www.horrorsanctum.com for more details.

Yes, I really want one!

Recently, Dean Lorey made himself available on Formspring to answer any and all questions on his career and of course Jason Goes To Hell questions were asked. Below are some highlights of the questions, with most pertaining to the JGTH.

I am a huge fan of Jason Goes To Hell and your role as the coroner assistant. What were your major contributions to the Jason Goes To Hell script? How did you prepare for an acting gig on a studio film?

I did a big rewrite of JGTH mostly over a weekend. The plot was already set in stone (body-jumping) but I fleshed out a lot of stuff and added the character of Creighton Duke. As for acting in it, I was a nervous wreck and couldn’t remember my dialogue but, since I was also the writer, I just made new stuff up on the day…

For Jason Goes To Hell, what was it like in the makeup chair preparing for your death? How long did it take and were nervous of the appliance of the makeup?

The makeup took about an hour and I wasn’t nervous about the appliance of the makeup, but getting a cast made of my head so they could make the appliance was a little nervewracking. The KNB guys encased my entire head in some cold goop that hardened and stuck straws in my nose so I could breathe.

Since Kane Hodder was stunt coordinator on JGTH, did he work with you on your death scene? How were you picked up to be slammed on the metal table?

I wasn’t actually picked up. I stood on an apple box and was shoved down (and, to this day, it bothers me that I didn’t put my hands out in front of me, which is the most natural reaction in the world) and then they cut to a shot from underneath the grate where I just pulled backwards while wearing the appliance.

If you had the chance, would you act in any other cameo roles in tv shows or films you have written?

I love doing little acting roles! And I actually have a cameo in the next episode of Running Wilde — when Steve is talking to the Romance Novelist… I’m him. We’re talking spin-off.

Since you were part of the creative process on JGTH, did you help with storyboarding scenes or help Adam Marcus on set with trying to figure out how to shoot something from your script?

Didn’t do any storyboarding and mostly went to set for the free food. Adam and I were roommates at the time, so we saw plenty of each other on and off set. And I had more questions than answers, like “why is that guy strapped to that table completely naked?” Adam’s answer: “Because it’s creepy.”

If you had a crack at Jason again, what would you write for his next adventure?

Instead of JGTH, I wanted to do Jason Takes LA. This was fifteen years ago, when the Bloods and Crips were a big deal. I wanted to drop him into the middle of a gang war and have him kill EVERYONE, forcing the gangs to team up to fight him. But Sean went with the body-jumping instead.

What do you think of Adam working on the new Texas Chainsaw film? It is cool that he will have a chance to bring two iconic horror figures to the big screen!

Didn’t know Adam was working on the new Texas Chainsaw but I’m sure he’ll do an awesome job!

Below we have some great photos to share of the Jason puppet being sculpted. There is an enormous amount of detail given to the figure which is too bad as it was never seen on film. Compare the sculpt with the image of Kane in the body suit and see how close the suit and sculpt appear to be in detail.

The sculpt photos below were posted at the TGIF13 forum and are a great window into the production of the film. Enjoy and share your thoughts!

One of the callaborators, Ken McCabe has been nice enough to update us on the progress of these sculpts. His initial email explains the future plans of these custom figures.

I recently partnered up with a really close friend and we are going about this together 50/50 on the commissions and clothing etc.. We are planning to do EVERY JASON from a child up to the remake. Once these sculpts come to fruition and we get the proper bodies, accessories and props to create the perfect 1:6 scale figure we will be offering these for sale as either unpainted kits or fully painted figures. The one thing we are trying to focus on is keeping the cost down as these custom jobs aren’t cheap.

Now below is Jason’s concept for the full size Hell Demon creature. He mentioned that an actor that was born with no legs was fitted into the demon suit that was born out of his concept. The photos below are creepy and more streamlined than the finished product and might have looked better in the film moreso than what made it into the deleted scene.

I recently partnered up with a really close friend and we are going about this together 50/50 on the commissions and clothing etc.. We are planning to do EVERY JASON from a child up to the remake. Once these sculpts come to fruition and we get the proper bodies, accessories and props to create the perfect 1:6 scale figure we will be offering these for sale as either unpainted kits or fully painted figures. The one thing we are trying to focus on is keeping the cost down as these custom jobs aren’t cheap.

The recent update on these customs was just received, and I must say, sign us up for the Jason Goes To Hell figure now. Take a look at the Part 3 Jason and Jason Goes To Hell pics below! Click on the thumbnails for larger images.