Thirteen Facts About Friday The 13th - The Final Chapter: 1. With a 13 April 1984 release that left it with in the #1 slot for the week, plus a gross of $42.6 million, this was the most commercially successful film in the series. Since more sequels followed, the film was later unofficially dubbed Friday The 13th, Part IV. 2. It's widely noted that Tom Savini returned to the series on this one to "finish off my monster" ("plus, they paid me a fortune," he added with a wink). But originally Greg Cannom was hired for the job, and due to a miscommunication with the producers when he took leave to work on an Ozzy Osbourne video (for the single "Bark At The Moon"), Cannom decided to leave the project and was replaced with Savini. 3. Director Joseph Zito had previously worked with Savini on his 1981 feature The Prowler. 4. The original script had character Tommy Jarvis (Corey Feldman) splitting Jason's head open with a machete at the conclusion. Savini wasn't particularly enthused with this lackluster method, and after a member of his effects crew (John Vulich) toyed with a prop machete used in Dawn Of The Dead, Savini got the idea of having the machete blade plowed into Jason's head, followed by the hilt hitting the floor and the villain sliding headfirst down the blade. 5. For this installment, veteran stuntman Ted White was cast as Jason. During the same year, White also appeared in speaking roles in Romancing The Stone, Against All Odds and Starman. Although he refused screen credit for his Jason performance, he reported being pleasantly surprised when he finally saw the finished film. 6. Several expositional scenes were shot but not included in the final cut of the film. A few can be seen as supplements in the 2004 DVD box-set, as well as in the television edit of the film, which turns up on late night broadcasts from time to time. The most noteworthy is a deleted scene in which Tommy demonstrates to Rob (E. Erich Anderson) a fake guillotine among his toys. 7. In a remarkably admirable move to provide inter-installment consistency, the opening sequence, showcasing the aftermath of the slaughter at Higgins Haven, was shot at the Valuzet Movie Ranch, as had been the events of the previous film. 8. For the first time in the series, Mrs. Voorhees' first name is revealed to be Pamela, as seen on a tombstone in one scene. Also notable from that scene is that the tombstone lists her death year as 1979. That throws a damning monkey wrench into the timeline, since the first film is supposed to be set on Friday, June 13th. In 1980, June 13th fell on a Friday, but in 1979, it didn't. So much for that aforementioned consistency.... 9. Savini's make-up design for Jason in this movie was created specifically to be a forty-year-old version of the hydrocephalic child he designed for the original, albeit with some sinister enhancements. 10. Heroine Trish Jarvis was played by Kimberly Beck, who made her film debut in the 1976 cult classic Massacre At Central High. 11. Shooting the final confrontation scene, Feldman was required to wear a bald cap which exacerbated the 102-degree temperature he was running that day. 12. During the shoot of Samantha's (Judie Aronson) death on the raft, the actress became so uncomfortable in the cold that she began to cry. Of all people, Jason himself (actor Ted White) came to her rescue, threatening to quit working if the crew didn't allow her to get out of the raft and warm up a bit. They did. 13. Despite the "final chapter" promise in the title, plans for a "new beginning" were commenced before this one even left theatres. An item from USA Today in late 1984 even announced the planned sequel, although it included the misinformation that Betsy Palmer would return as Mrs. Voorhees. << Back