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13 Fun Facts About ‘Friday the 13th Part 2!’

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Friday the 13th Part 2

Today marks the 35th anniversary of the ultimate slasher sequel Friday the 13th Part 2, the film to introduce a grown up Jason Voorhees to terrified audiences everywhere! It is arguably one of the better entries in the franchise and features the strongest final girl in the series history. It is a film that deserves to be celebrated, even if it is basically a rehash of the first film. We thought we’d celebrate the occasion by looking at some fun facts made public by the fantastic documentary Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th. While any Friday the 13th aficionado undoubtedly knows all of these facts, they’re still fun to read about! Enjoy these interesting little factoids and share your memories of Friday the 13th Part 2 in the comments!

1. Adrienne King was originally meant to star in the film, not just cameo in the first scene.

Unfortunately for Ms. King, her agent wanted too much money (it was originally believed she didn’t want to be in the film due to a stalker she obtained after the success of the first film). Funnily enough, she wasn’t even aware of her character’s fate until she arrived on set. They refused to show her a script beforehand! To add insult to injury, they made her wear those atrocious green overalls. Just look at this outfit!

Friday the 13th Part 2

2. In one of the takes of Alice’s death, the prop ice pick didn’t retract and injured King

As if that outfit wasn’t bad enough, one of the prop guys had it out for King too and didn’t do his job right!

Friday the 13th Part 2

3. Stan Winston was set to take over the makeup effects after Tom Savini’s departure.

Savini couldn’t work on the film due to his commitment to Midnight, so legendary special effects master Stan Winston was going to be brought in. Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts, Winston had to back out and Carl Fullerton was given the job. Fullerton would go on to do the makeup for films like Glory, Godfather 3, Silence of the Lambs, and Philadelphia.

Friday the 13th Part 2

4. Three actors played Jason in the film

For the first and only time in the series, Jason was played by a woman in the film’s opening shot. Those were costume designer Ellen Lutter’s legs walking through the rain puddles on Alice’s street. Warrington Gillette played Jason throughout most of the film, but he did not (or could not) do his own stunts, so Steve Daskawisz was used for all of Jason’s stunts.

Friday the 13th PArt 3

From Left, Lutter, Gillette and Daskawisz.

5. The deaths of Jeff and Sandra were deemed too graphic by the MPAA.

Their uncut death scene (where you actually see the penetration of the spear through their bodies) has never been released in its entirety. This is a shame. On another interesting note, the death scene is nearly identical to a scene in Mario Bava’s Twitch of the Death Nerve (aka Bay of Blood). Cunningham claims he had never heard of the film before Part 2‘s release.

Friday the 13th Part 2

6. In fact, 48 seconds of the film were cut to avoid an X rating.

It doesn’t sound like much, but 48 seconds could be 48 shots of really cool gore effects.

Friday the 13th Part 2

7. Marta Kober, who played Sandra, was underage at the time of filming.

The actress originally had a scene with full frontal nudity, but when Paramount discovered her real age they had the scene deleted completely.

Friday the 13th Part 2

8. Ginny didn’t pee her pants. It was the rat!

This one was news to me. I always thought Ginny peed her pants out of fear when she was hiding under the bed. Apparently it was (supposed to be) the rat. Could have fooled me!

Friday the 13th Part 2

9. Steve Daskawisz gave the emergency room quite a scare!

During Ginny and Jason’s big showdown, there is a moment when she brings an ax down on Jason’s pickaxe. Unfortunately for Daskawisz (who was doing Jason’s stunt at the time), the ax came down on his finger and he had to go to the emergency room. Bear in mind, this was after the part of the film where Ginny brings a machete down on Jason’s shoulder, so when Daskawisz walked into the showroom he had a machete sticking out of his shoulder, giving the doctors and nurses quite the scare!

Friday the 13th Part 2

10. Amy Steel was not a fan of the scene where Jason jumps through the window to grab her.

Her frightened reaction is very, very real. The scene took three takes and she would tense up and get scared every time the camera started rolling.

Friday the 13th Part 2

11. Paul’s fate even confuses the actors involved in the film..

Do we even know if Paul died? The film leaves his fate so ambiguous, that everyone involved even agrees that it’s one of the series’ most confusing endings.

Friday the 13th Part 2

12. An alternate ending of the film had Mrs. Voorhees’ severed decomposing head winking at the audience and smiling.

The footage has been unreleased, but the sequence was apparently never seriously considered for the film’s actual ending.

Friday the 13th Part 2

13. Both Friday the 13th Part 2 and Halloween II  feature their villains killing a law-enforcement officer with a hammer to the head. Both movies were also released in 1981.

Crazy coincidence or secret conspiracy? You decide!

Friday the 13th Part 2

Share your memories of Friday the 13th Part in the comments below!

A journalist for Bloody Disgusting since 2015, Trace writes film reviews and editorials, as well as co-hosts Bloody Disgusting's Horror Queers podcast, which looks at horror films through a queer lens. He has since become dedicated to amplifying queer voices in the horror community, while also injecting his own personal flair into film discourse. Trace lives in Austin, TX with his husband and their two dogs. Find him on Twitter @TracedThurman

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

LEPRECHAUN

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

LEPRECHAUN RETURNS sequel

Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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