7 facts about Friday the 13th that you may not know

Strike while the iron is hot

Two years before the release of Friday the 13th, Halloween dominated the horror world, which also relied on the title of a well-known holiday to inspire the elements of its story.

Writers Victor Miller and Sean S. Cunningham initially thought up the film's title and placed ads in trade magazines to find financiers before they had even written a script. When the pair began writing the screenplay, they cautiously considered naming the film. Long night at Camp Blood.

Miller took two weeks to write the slasher, which is set at a summer camp, even though he himself has never been to a summer camp and had to rely on his own imagination to describe the experience.

“Halloween” connections

In addition to Miller’s admission Halloween is what inspired him to write this film. The franchise and its main character have another interesting connection to John Carpenter's classic.

In New Jersey there is a small town called “Voorhees”, the surname of Friday the 13th's murderer. Less than ten miles from Voorhees lies a town called “Haddonfield”, and in the Halloween In the films, Haddonfield, IL is the central setting of the horrific events. In reality, there is no Haddonfield in Illinois.

Memories of summer camp

The film was shot at Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco in rural New Jersey, which required members of the cast and crew to trek into the wilderness every day.

However, some members of the film crew preferred to live in the camp's cabins so they could avoid the daily commute. Special effects master Tom Savini was one of many who stayed at the camp, bringing his VCR and Betamax to entertain himself and his neighbors.

His film collection was rather limited, but included Marathon Man And Barbarellawhich he said he watched so regularly that he could still recite lines of dialogue from it today.

Critical issues

While the film has gained a large following among horror fans over the years, its initial reception was not positive. Audiences devoured it, but many film critics criticized its glorification of sex and violence.

Gene Siskel, in particular, was so against this film that in his review he told everyone about the surprise twist at the end. He even challenged fellow critic Roger Ebert to host a special edition of their show devoted to misogyny in slasher films. He even went so far as to post the address of one of the film's actresses, Betsy Palmer, to encourage readers to direct their concerns to her. Fortunately, the address was actually wrong and all the attention only led to better ticket sales.

Forget about fact-checking

The number 13 and its religious connections are the reason why many people initially considered this date to be unlucky. Friday also gained a reputation as one of the unluckiest days. The superstitious belief that Friday the 13th is a bad omen dates back to the 19th century and has gained traction over the years.

In the film's opening sequence, two camp counselors are murdered on Friday, June 13, 1958. In the film's “present,” it is June 13, 1979. Interestingly, June 13, 1979 actually fell on a Wednesday, not a Friday.

Once and done

Another attempt to replicate the success of Halloween In Alive, the main character Alive appeared in several sequels, where she regularly defeated the antagonist. However, during the film's run, actress Adrienne King acquired a stalker, which caused her to avoid any further connection to the series. Her character was then killed off at the beginning of the film's sequel.

King wasn't the only one who had no interest in a sequel. Writer Sean S. Cunningham also thought the idea of ​​Jason Voorhees returning again and again to kill advisors was a stupid idea and would never work. Although there are ten sequels featuring the return of Voorhees, Cunningham admits he was wrong about his original ideas.

Chi-chi-chi, ha-ha-ha

One way to Friday the 13th tried to be different from Halloween was through the use of music, or rather the lack of music. HalloweenScreenwriter and director John Carpenter created an impressive synthesizer score with a memorable opening theme, while F13 Composer Harry Manfredini only wanted to use music when the murderer was nearby.

The sounds that accompany the killer's appearance are often imitated as “Chi-chi-chi, ha-ha-ha” noises, although in reality the lyrics are quite different. Manfredini spoke the sounds “ki” and “ma” into a microphone with a delay effect, meaning the actual lyrics are “Ki-ki-ki, ma-ma-ma.” The reason for this is that the film's killer imagines her son urging her to take revenge, whispering to her, “Kill, Mommy.”