Thirteen Facts (13 facts on each F13)
Thirteen Facts
About Friday The 13th:
1. For Jack's (Kevin Bacon) arrow-through-the-neck murder sequence, the blood tubing became detached during the shoot. Tom Savini's quick-thinking assistant Taso Stavrakis, who was under the bunk, impulsively took the tube into his mouth and blew into it, which produced the gurgling effect of the artificial blood, actually enhancing the effect.
2. The axe murder of Marcie (Jeanine Taylor) was originally supposed to include a frontal insert shot of the axe striking the face of a Savini-created false head of Ms. Taylor. The shot was jettisoned from the final product because the axe impact caused the head to shift out of frame.
3. Harry Crosby, who portrayed the character Bill, is the son of legendary entertainer Bing Crosby and the brother of television actress Mary Crosby.
4. The late film critic Gene Siskel objected strenuously to a major studio like Paramount Pictures distributing the film, which he found repellent and exploitative, and he personally wrote the company as well as headlining star Betsy Palmer (Mrs. Voorhees) to voice is disapproval.
5. Director Sean S. Cunningham's young son Noel had made friends with a boy his age, Adam Marcus, who ran coffee for the elder Cunningham on the set. Thirteen years later, Marcus would direct the Cunningham-produced ninth installment of the series, Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday.
6. In the interest of safety, prop weapons used for violent sequences were cast in foam latex by Tom Savini and painted to look genuine so as to avoid accidental injury.
7. The summer camp used in the film is located in New Jersey; it is called Camp Nobebosco.
8. When Brenda's (Laurie Bartram) lifeless body suddenly crashes through the window before a horrified Alice, it's not Ms. Bartram at all. It's none other than Tom Savini, who is also an accomplished stuntman, having donned a nightgown and wig to emulate Ms. Bartram for the stunt.
9. Paramount Pictures' recent DVD-transfer of the film is by no means uncut; Annie's (Robbi Morgan) murder does include a few seconds of extra footage, though. But only the out-of-print Japanese laserdisc edition presents the most complete cut of the film, including extra footage for the deaths of Jack, Marcie and Mrs. Voorhees.
10. Although the script is credited to Victor Miller, director Cunningham was an uncredited contributor. The two later had a falling-out during production of the 1981 teen comedy Spring Break and haven't spoken since.
11. Score composer Harry Manfredini's master stroke, the invention of the "ki-ki-ki ma-ma-ma" sound effect, was inspired by the works of composer Krystoff Penderecki, who used random-syllable choral effects in some of his works. Here, Manfredini wanted to suggest that Mrs. Voorhees "heard voices," and those voices were syllabic abbreviations of "kill" and "mommy."
12. The pre-drowning Jason Voorhees character was designed as a hydrocephalic child, with a malformed head. However, the sparse lighting and quick cuts in the shots showing him in that form often make it difficult for viewers to realize that he has a deformity.
13. The reported domestic box office gross was $37.5 million. With a budget of less than $700,000, this was phenomenally successful.
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