FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE LOST SCENES

Throughout its thirty year legacy, the Friday the 13th franchise has boasted some truly memorable moments. But there were several scenes that were cut, either from the script or the finished film, for a variety of reasons. Here’s a few that, in a perfect world, would have made their way into the series...

JASON X –
Whilst failing to live up to the promise that the set piece promised, one scene to have made its way into Todd Farmer’s script but not the movie was a sequence in which an explosion on board the Grendel results in a temporary loss of gravity. With both cargo and crew floating aimlessly, ship android Kay-Em manages to grab hold of the wall using her magnetics and attempts to rescue her friends, who desperately try to escape from Jason. This scene would involve several characters who were eventually omitted from the movie (Thorgan, Rizzo, Boeman, DeLongpre) forming a ‘human chain’ as Kay-Em tries to stop them from drifting towards Jason. Sadly, despite a few promising moments, the scene would not result in any zero gravity bloodshed but could still have made an interesting sequence.

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI: JASON LIVES –
Having been rescued from the depths of Crystal Lake by Megan, Tommy Jarvis looks out at the water and declares ‘It’s over, it’s finally over. Jason is home.’ The next scene to have originally been included in writer/director Tom McLoughlin’s tongue-in-cheek script would have been the introduction of Jason’s as-then-unmentioned father, Elias Voorhees. Martin, the cemetery caretaker (who had not been killed in the script), is knelt down pulling weeds from off of a tombstone when a large shadow is cast over him. Quickly turning around, he nervously says ‘Nice to see you again, Mr. Voorhees…Haven’t seen you in Crystal…er, Forest Green, in quite some time.’ Martin insists to the imposing figure that he has been taking care of both his wife and son’s graves as he is passed his regular payment. Left alone to inspect the resting place of his family, McLoughlin describes that ‘These eyes are truly evil. Cold. Dark. Demonic.’ Elias Voorhees was once again set to appear in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday but was eventually cut from the story.

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3 –
Instead of the generic re-tread of the first film’s infamous climax, in which this time the rotten corpse of Pamela Voorhees would jump out of the lake and pull heroine Chris under the water, only for the event to be revealed as just a dream, a planned alternative ending for Steve Miner’s 3D spectacle Friday the 13th Part 3 would have been far more shocking. Having seemingly defeated Jason and survived until dawn, Chris opens the door to discover that Jason is still very much alive and, with a swift blow of his machete, slices her head clean off. Again, this was to have been a dream and the character would have been shown to still be alive at the end, but the sequence would have packed more of a punch. Another effect which the filmmakers attempted saw Jason having his stomach hacked open, causing his guts to spill out at the camera in 3D. Sadly, nervous executives at Paramount chose to ignore both endings and eventually went with the one used in the theatrical cut.

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII: JASON TAKEN MANHATTAN –
Avoiding the usual criticism of very little of the film actually being set in New York (due to budgetary issues), one minor incident to have been removed from the script was on the characters’ first arrival in the Big Apple. Having made their way to shore after the massacre that took place on board the S.S Lazarus, the kids head off into the city whilst Jason climbs out of the water. His first evil deed would have been to brutally kick a dog, presumably just for the sake of it (Hodder’s performance was at Jason’s most angry). But, surprisingly, the actor refused to do the scene, stating that the one thing Jason would never do is hurt a dog. A somewhat redundant argument as he succeeded in doing just that in the second film, but perhaps the way that writer/director Rob Hedden had scripted it was a little too savage.

FRIDAY THE 13TH –
The original opening for Sean S. Cunningham’s movie would have been a more dramatic and action packed sequence than the one eventually used in the finished release. Having left the campfire to be alone, young lovers Barry and Claudette were to have taken a walk around the lake as the unseen killer slowly follows them out-of-sight. A chase would have then ensued around the boathouse, instead of them simply being stabbed in the barn. This drastic re-write was necessary as, on the first night when the sequence was due to be filmed, snow would caused various technical problems and a more simple scene was required.

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART V: A NEW BEGINNING –
Probably the most uninspired killing in Danny Steinmann’s otherwise ultra-sleazy Friday the 13th movie A New Beginning was the death of punk chick Violet. Whereas her friends had been dispatched in a variety of brutal and inventive ways, Violet’s demise came with a simple stab to the gut. But that was not how Steinmann had originally envisioned it. Whilst performing her bizarre-yet-awesome robot dance to the tune of Pseudo Echo‘s ‘His Eyes’, Jason would slowly sneak into the room and make his way towards her. Sensing a presence, she turns around as a machete is thrust violently up between her legs, the blade digging deep into her crotch. Realising that the movie would fall foul of the censors (it would eventually take nine attempts to get the film passed the MPAA), Steinmann panicked and re-shot the sequence.

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD –
Whilst it would hardly have made a drastic change including the brief scene, The New Blood would have originally featured an epilogue after the action packed finale in which a fisherman is seen out on the lake enjoying a leisurely morning, when suddenly Jason jumps out from under the water and drags him down below. Perhaps, with similar sequences having already been used in both the first and third film, director John Carl Buechler decided against using the shot.