Thirteen Facts About Friday The 13th Part II: 1. Although actor Warrington Gillette received screen credit as Jason Voorhees, Steve Daskawicz (aka Steve Dash) portrayed the character in many key scenes, although his only screen credit was as "Jason Stunt Double." During the filming of the shrine scene, an accident occurred in which actress Amy Steel, who played heroine Ginny Field, nicked Daskawicz' finger with the machete; stitches were required, and Ms. Steel felt terrible because of the mis-hap. 2. Make-up effects maestro Tom Savini was asked to work on the film, but he declined the offer in favor of contributing effects for The Burning. 3. "Crazy Ralph" actor Walt Gorney was so devoted to the role that he was frequently overheard talking to himself on the set, presumably to remain in character. 3. The shot of the double-impalement of Jeff and Sandra (Bill Randolph and Marta Kober) originally included an insert shot which was excised in order to secure an R-rating. The original VHS slipcover, however, features a still of the unused shot. 4. Carl Fullerton, who created the special make-up effects in Savini's stead, later helmed the make-up effects in Silence Of The Lambs, for which he won a Saturn Award for Excellence in Special Effects Make Up. 5. For the scene in which the unmasked Jason crashes through the window to attack Ginny, the riggers failed to score the glass. So in the first take, Gillette painfully smacked head-first into the glass and simply bounced back. The oversight was then corrected and the shot properly accomplished, with an irritated Gillette successfully breaking the glass and, as he later reported, "feeling like I really could kill that girl." 6. Although the counselor training center in the script is meant to be located a few miles away from Camp Crystal Lake, the film was actually shot at a completely different lake in Kent, Connecticut. 7. The film's conclusion leaves a heretofore unanswered mystery in the Friday The 13th canon: the fate of Paul Holt (John Furey) is not, nor has ever been, revealed to the audience. 8. Actor Tom McBride, who portrayed wheelchair-bound Mark, passed away in 1995, one of several Friday The 13th cast alumni deaths; others include Steve Susskind (Harold in Part III), Walt Gorney (Crazy Ralph in Parts I and II), Mark Venturini (Vic in Part V), Vernon Washington (Grandpa in Part V), Rex Everhart (Enos the trucker in Part I) and Sally Anne Golden (Sandy the waitress in Part I). 9. Despite the script's vagueness about why the supposedly-drowned Jason is stalking the woods of Crystal Lake, director Miner categorically stated in 1981 that in his vision, Jason never really drowned but survived to live like a hermit in the woods. The nature of Jason's predicament has sparked much debate among fans of the series. 10. The filmmakers were lucky enough to persuade Betsy Palmer to reprise her role as Mrs. Voorhees for the shrine sequence, despite her indifference to the original film. Mrs. Palmer has in recent years warmed to her horror fans and her notoriety as "queen of the slashers," participating in conventions and even accepting a villainous role in the upcoming Bell Witch. 11. Despite the enthusiasm afforded its predecessor, Fangoria magazine readers voted Friday The 13th, Part II as the worst horror film of 1981. 12. Fullerton's make-up design for Jason and the pillowcase hood worn by the character were coincidentally similar to those of the title character in David Lynch's concurrent feature The Elephant Man. A minor degree of "copycat" criticism ensued, none of which were of consequence; the critics' general hatred of this genre of movie and its violence fueled the majority of the negative reviews this film garnered. 13. The reported box office gross was $19.1 million, considerably less than that of its predecessor, but still a formidable take. << Back