Since its release in 1980, there has been a rumor among fans of the “Friday the
13th” series about the opening scene of the first installment of the legendary
franchise, which suggests that the scene was originally even longer and
bloodier.
The final sequence.
The prologue to the classic “Friday the 13th” introduces us to the murders
of the first two victims in the entire series, the teenagers Barry and
Claudette. Two counselors at Camp Crystal Lake, they sneak off together to a
barn and are killed by the person who would later be revealed to be Pamela
Voorhees.
As we all know, the screen freezes before showing us the death of young
Claudette. However, it is known that a more elaborate opening scene and
murder had originally been planned, which gave rise to an urban legend about
a lost, deleted prologue to “Friday the 13th.”
The original sequence.
According to the original screenplay written by Victor Miller, the opening
scene was supposed to take place in broad daylight in a forest clearing.
The killer (Pamela Voorhees) was supposed to attack Claudette with an axe,
while Barry would try to defend himself with a hunting knife.
During the struggle, Barry was going to cut off Mrs. Voorhees’s little
finger. The camera would have shown a close-up of the severed finger
falling onto the moss. This idea was intended as a clue for the audience
to notice the killer’s missing finger at the end of the film, but it was
scrapped before filming began.
Production issues.
Despite the original descriptions, director Sean S. Cunningham adapted the
script to set the story at night and planned a tense chase scene. The
teenagers were supposed to be stalked around a boathouse near the lake.
But nature had other plans. An unexpected snowstorm at Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco
(New Jersey), followed by extreme cold, caused the production crew’s main
generator to break down completely, leaving them in the dark outdoors.
With the actors freezing and no electricity, Cunningham canceled the
outdoor chase scene. The production crew gathered their belongings and
took shelter in a barn/storage building inside the camp. That location had
its own connection to the power grid (which solved the lighting problem)
and, being an indoor space, completely shielded them from the snow falling
outside. There, they improvised the quick, claustrophobic ambush that made
it into the final cut, ending with the famous freeze-frame on Claudette’s
face.
The urban legend.
In addition to the above, the existence of promotional material from that
era (“lobby cards” or posters for movie theaters) in which Claudette is
clearly seen cornered with the blade of a machete pressed directly against
her throat led to the rumor that legendary special effects artist Tom
Savini had created a gruesome death scene for Claudette, and that censors
forced it to be cut from the film.
However, it is officially known that Tom Savini wasn't even on set the day
this prologue was filmed. Because of his absence, the crew had neither the
experience nor the materials to create a complex practical effect.
According to extensive research on the history of the production
(including the monumental documentary book "Crystal Lake Memories"), it is
possible that the 35mm cameras captured an additional fraction of a second
in which the blade of the weapon merely threatened or touched Claudette’s
skin, but without showing a bloody, drawn-out murder.
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