Friday the 13th Part 2
Short description
Set five years after the killings at Camp Crystal Lake, this horror film follows a group of young counselors who arrive at a summer camp near the site of the earlier massacre to complete a training course. Most of them treat the deaths as a campfire legend, unaware that Jason Voorhees survived the drowning he was long believed to have suffered and has been living in the surrounding woods. Alice, the only survivor of the first killings, is murdered in her apartment, and the counselors soon find themselves facing the same threat, with Paul, their group leader, and his girlfriend Ginny among those caught up in it.
Steve Miner directed and produced the film, working from a screenplay by Ron Kurz. It was Miner's first feature as director; his next film in chronological order was Friday the 13th Part III the following year. The cast includes Amy Steel, John Furey, Adrienne King, Russell Todd, Kirsten Baker and Stuart Charno, among 24 credited performers and 66 credited crew members. The production had a budget of about 1 million US dollars and grossed roughly 22 million worldwide, a return that made it a commercial success relative to its cost. Audience response was moderate: it holds 6.1 out of 10 on IMDb from around 87,000 votes and 6.2 out of 10 on TMDB from nearly 2,000 votes. Critics were less favorable, with a critics' rating of 4.8 out of 10 from 51 reviews, well below the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The credits state that Jason was played by Warrington Gillette, but in reality, his stunt double Steve Dash played the character for a significant portion of the scenes. Gillette played Jason without a mask only when he breaks through the window. Dash was indignant that his name wasn't even mentioned, even though Dash actually played the character almost all the time Jason was on screen. Dash’s surname (and his alone) was listed in the credits only in the next film in the franchise.
- According to a poll by the American horror magazine Fangoria, the second part of "Friday the 13th" was named the worst horror film of 1981.
- During the filming of a scene where his character chases Amy Steel’s heroine, Steve Dash fell awkwardly and broke his ribs.
- Tom Savini, who had worked on the first "Friday the 13th" film, was initially invited to work on the special effects, but he declined, preferring Tony Maylam's "The Burning." Instead of Savini, Carl Fullerton became the special effects artist – the same one who would later win a Saturn Award for similar work on "The Silence of the Lambs."
- According to co-producer Dennis Stewart Murphy, the idea for Jason to wear a burlap sack on his head came from the costume designer, who suggested Jason could find such a sack anywhere and easily put it to use.
- During the filming of a scene where Jason, played by Warrington Gillette, breaks through a window and grabs Ginny (played by Amy Steel), the actor was injured because the glass didn't break, and he hit his head on it hard.
- The film had the longest opening sequence in the history of cinema: approximately 12 minutes pass from the beginning of the film until the credits with the names of the creators and actors.
- Ted is one of the very few characters in horror films who violates the so-called "rules of survival" in this genre. The second rule of this code states, "Don't drink or take drugs. Otherwise – death." Ted remains alive precisely because he continues to drink and spends the whole night at the bar.
- With a bag over his head, Jason Voorhees looked like John Merrick from David Lynch's "The Elephant Man," which was an additional reason for negative critical reviews.
- During the filming of the fight scene between Amy Steel’s heroine and Jason, the latter raises a pickaxe to block a machete wielded by Ginny. In the very first take, she accidentally hit Steve Dash’s finger, requiring him to seek medical attention. His finger was stitched up, and he returned to the set, insisting on continuing the filming.
- Jason first appears on screen walking towards Alice’s house, but only his legs are visible. This was the only time in the franchise that Jason was portrayed by a woman – costume designer Ellen Lutter.
- The unexpected plot of the film disappointed many. Betsy Palmer (1926-2015), the actress who worked on the first film, director Sean S. Cunningham, and special effects artist Tom Savini all made highly critical statements about the fact that Jason, it turns out, is alive.
- After the release of the slasher film "Friday the 13th" (Sean S. Cunningham, 1980), Adrienne King began to be pursued by a persistent fan. Eventually, the actress started refusing roles offered to her. Only 15 years later did she appear several times as a voice actress.
- The killer in the film looks exactly like the one in "The City That Never Sleeps" (1976).
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