8 Behind the Scenes Details From Friday the 13th (1980), From a Real Camp to a Real Snake

Friday the 13th came out 46 years ago, and the camp where it was filmed still exists today. That is only the first of eight details from behind the scenes of the 1980 slasher. They range from a lead actress who took the job because her car broke down to one of the worst things I've come across on any horror set.

The Friday the 13th camp is still standing in New Jersey

The movie was filmed at a camp in New Jersey that spans over 380 acres of dense, remote wilderness. During filming the property was a Boy Scout camp. I believe it still is to this day, and it hosts many youth events. It sits within Hardwick Township, in a rural part of the state.

When filming started, nobody expected the movie to do well. Because the budget was so low, the production had to use everything already at the camp. That is why you may spot Boy Scout signs on the walls in several scenes. Every structure except the bathroom was already there and used by the camp counselors and campers.

Since the camp is still operational, it even runs Crystal Lake Tours in the fall. I've always wanted to go and visit. It's about five hours from me, and it seems like such a fun time.

Betsy Palmer played Pamela Voorhees because she needed a new car

Betsy Palmer, who plays the iconic role of Pamela Voorhees at the end of the film, thought the movie was a piece of garbage. Her first reaction to reading the script was that it was terrible. This was a very low budget production, and the people involved thought it would not do well. It was almost like a cash grab after the success of Halloween, so when it did well, everyone was surprised.

Palmer was already a movie and television personality at the time. She was offered the role for $10,000 and initially planned to reject it. Then her car broke down, and a new car cost $10,000.

She wasn't a major fan of the movie and did it for the money at first. Over the years, though, she admitted that she warmed up to the film, and she was very grateful for the role after it became a huge success. I feel like anyone in her situation who needed a new car would have done the same. It ended up being one of her most iconic roles, and one of the most iconic roles in any horror movie.

The cast had no idea Mrs. Voorhees was the killer

The filmmakers wanted to keep the killer's identity a secret during production. None of the actors truly knew who the killer would be when it was revealed to be Mrs. Voorhees at the end of the film. The last few pages of the script were kept under lock and key.

Whenever someone was being killed on set, a stunt man stood in for her, and the actors were never told who was actually killing them. When Palmer arrived on set, the actors, extras and crew members thought she was a nice older lady who was there to help the girl and save the day, just as the audience did. Everyone was shocked when she turned out to be the killer, the same way audiences were in theaters when the film first came out.

Jason's jump from the lake was not in the original script

The ending scene where Jason jumps out of the water was not supposed to be in the film. The original script ended with Alice drifting peacefully on the lake as the police arrived.

The special effects artist thought about Carrie and the moment a hand pops out of the grave, and decided it would be great to have a jump scare at the end of this movie too. So they filmed the scene of Jason leaping out of the water.

It was a great scene. It opened up more of a storyline for Jason in the future movies, and it would eventually lead to the hockey mask Jason. It was 100% the right decision.

A real pet snake was killed during filming

This is one of the darkest details in the entire film, because it is real. In the original Friday the 13th, the camp counselors kill a snake that has gotten into the cabin. That snake was someone's pet, and its owner was watching nearby.

The scene was added at the last minute and was unscripted, and the filmmakers decided to use a real snake rather than a prop. At the time, animal organizations were not as strict on movie sets. Due to some miscommunication, the actors really killed the snake, and the owner had no idea it was going to happen.

In a valid reaction, the owner was so upset that crew members had to hold him back because he wanted to go after the director. I don't know how they got this so badly wrong, but it's one of the worst behind the scenes details of any horror movie I've covered. What happened afterward has never been fully reported, but supposedly the owner was compensated.

Jason Voorhees was almost named Josh

Jason's famous name was originally going to be Josh. It was changed after one of the crew members suggested combining the names of his sons, Josh and Ian, into one name. So they went with Jason.

Voorhees sounded right to him as well. It came from a girl he went to school with, because it was her last name. From there, the famous Jason Voorhees was born.

Friday the 13th was made to cash in on Halloween

Most of the people in the movie thought it was a cash grab trying to make money off Halloween. Slasher movies were becoming extremely popular, with Carrie coming out in 1976 and Halloween in 1978. The studio wanted a movie that could generate a lot of revenue by taking advantage of that craze, so it made Friday the 13th on a $500,000 budget.

In spite of all this, it did extremely well and has become one of the most successful horror movies ever. Like Halloween, Friday the 13th was also supposed to be an anthology series, with each movie following a different character and story. But just as with Michael Myers, everyone wanted to see what happened to Jason and see him come back, so every movie ended up involving him.

Jason ranks third among horror icons by kill count

Jason's kill count across the Friday the 13th movies is extremely high, so here are the top 10 horror icons by kill count. Most of these are estimates that include offscreen deaths. At number 10 is Leatherface, at around 30 to 50. Number nine is Ghostface, with an estimated 50. Number eight is Jigsaw, with around 50 to 60 plus. Number seven is Victor Crowley from the Hatchet franchise, at around 60 to 65.

At number six, and I was surprised by this one, is Chucky from the Child's Play and Chucky franchise, at 67 plus. At number five is Freddy Krueger from the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, at 80 plus. Number four is the title character of The Invisible Man, with an estimated kill count of over 122.

The last three may surprise you. At number three is Jason Voorhees, with around 160 to 170 kills. At number two is Michael Myers, who, between the Halloween trilogy and the different franchises, has around 140 to 200 kills depending on the timeline. And at number one, from the Hellraiser franchise, is Pinhead, with an estimated kill count of 320.