DID YOU KNOW?
1. Veteran 'Friday the 13th' actor Kane Hodder was passed over for the role of Jason in this movie because New Line wanted someone bigger and bulkier, but with more sympathetic eyes. What a bunch of crap. Ken Kirzinger can't lace Kane's boots. Remember what Kane did to Ken in Part 8? Right, that's what I thought. They screwed Kane, no question about it. The man paid his dues for 15 years as Jason, and this is what they do to him? All corporate bullsh*t, if you ask me.
2. Ken Kirzinger had to undergo some dental work during filming, but it would have taken too much time to remove his makeup and costume and reapply them. When he arrived at the dentist's office still dressed as Jason (without the hockey mask), people were afraid he was an escaped psychopath and almost called the police. I wish they would have.
3. Betsy Palmer, who played Jason's mother in previous 'Friday The 13th' movies, was asked to reprise her role as Mrs. Voorhees, but turned it down because she felt the part was too small for her.
4. Brad Renfro was originally cast as Will, but had to be replaced less than a week before shooting began. Jason Ritter, who actually got the part, had initially tested but they hadn't felt he was right for the role.
5. During test and advance screenings, the ending was not added to the film. Instead, the following text appeared: "On August 15th, 2003, see the final sixty seconds and see who has survived...and what is left of them." This is a direct reference to the tagline for the original 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre', which is "Who will survive and what will be left of them?"
6. The call letters of the news station shown on the TV in the hospital are KRGR, obviously a reference to Freddy Krueger. It is also the name of the radio station that Glen (Johnny Depp) is listening to right before he dies in 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' (1984).
7. Freddy's "how sweet, dark meat" line is a variation of the line "how sweet, fresh meat" from 'A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master' (1988).
8. Jason's regeneration at the start of the film is very similar to Freddy Krueger's regeneration in 'A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master' (1988).
9. Westin Hills is Freddy's birthplace and was featured in 'A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors' (1987).
10. The TV that is on in Westin Hills is showing 'Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III' while they are handing out the hypnocil.
11. The kids go to Westin Hills to look for the experimental drug Hypnocil. Hypnocil was the drug that Neil Gordon (Craig Wasson) discovered was being taken by Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp) when they first met in 'A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors' (1987). Nancy was also the one who suggested that Westin Hills prescribe Hypnocil to the patients.
12. The goat shown in Blake's early nightmare sequence is a reference to Tina's nightmare involving a goat in the original 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' (1984).
13. Ronny Yu originally turned down the directing job because the script didn't indicate who won. He agreed to take the job when Robert Shaye told him he could make that decision himself.
14. Robert Shaye, the producer of all the 'Nightmare' movies (including this one), appears as 'Principal Shaye' (credited as L.E. Moko).
15. New Line first attempted to make this film in 1987, when they tried to team up with Paramount Pictures to make it as 'Friday the 13th Part VII', but there was never an agreement made.
16. Actor Kyle Labine, who played Freeburg, was a teenage partygoer in 'Halloween: Resurrection' (2002), making him the first person to appear in a Freddy, Jason *and* Michael Myers film.
17. The sack placed over Jason's head in the Crystal Lake nightmare is a reference to the sack Jason wore in Part 2 before he started wearing his trademark hockey mask.
18. When Jason impales Frisell and Gibb is a reference to Part 2, where he does the exact same thing to Jeff and Sandra.
19. Gibb is always shown wearing a red baseball hat. This is a reference from 'Carrie' (1976), where P.J. Soles' character would always wear a red baseball cap. Isabelle also co-starred in the TV remake of 'Carrie' (2002).
20. One early version of the script called for the beginning of the film to take place in medieval times, while another called for the beginning to start out at Camp Crystal Lake, with Jason getting arrested. Another script was to have the beginning of the film take place on the eve of the millennium.
21. When the original script proved to be too long, the characters of Tommy Jarvis and Jenny were eliminated. Jarvis was to have been played by Jason Bateman, and Jenny by Katherine Isabelle. The producers felt Isabelle had the makings of a Scream Queen with a horror-loaded resume, so her part was then switched with Lauren Lee Smith. So Katherine Isabelle became Gibb and Lauren Lee Smith became Jenny, who unfortunately was no longer in the script.
22. During the montage of past 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' films, Alice can be heard saying "Die, motherf*cker!" before impaling Freddy with a pool skimmer. When this scene was first shown in 'A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child' (1989) her original line was "Where is she?" while the line in the original draft of the script was, "Why don't you just SHUT UP!"
23. The way Jason looks at his hand after Freddy cuts off his fingers is a nod to Part 4, when Trish stabs him in the hand between his fingers. In Part 4, Jason, played by Ted White, stops what he's doing and looks at his hand the same way.
24. When Jason knocked down the two different doors at Westin Hills, its a reference to 'Jason X' (2002), where he knocks down multiple doors aboard the Grendel.
25. When Jason is impaled on his own machete, Freddy uses some iron plates to push the machete in deeper. The last three plates that fly through the air, form the New Line Cinema logo.
26. David S. Goyer did an uncredited rewrite of the script to make it shorter. One of his contributions to the script was the combination of the two characters of Gibb and Jenny.
27. While filming the scene in the fiery cabin where Freddy and Jason confront each other, actor Ken Kirzinger (Jason) actually caught on fire. A stuntman for over twenty years, Kirzinger remained calm while stage hands rushed in with fire extinguishers to put him out. This incident is discussed on the DVD commentary for the film.
28. This was the first Freddy movie not filmed in the United States, and the filmmakers had to search for a new house that would resemble the famous Freddy Krueger/Elm Street house from the first seven 'Nightmare' films.
29. The two stunt performers who doubled for Monica Keena and Jason Ritter melted their wigs because of high heat of fire on the set.
30. According to Robert Englund, his Freddy makeup was so thick that he didn't really know how hot it was from the fires during the filming. When he got in to have his makeup removed, it had literally bonded itself to the side of his face.
31. Freddy's boiler room in the movie was not a built set; it was actually an old boiler room redressed by the crew.
32. According to writer Mark Swift, producer Robert Shaye seemed a bit more interested in the Freddy side of things which made a huge elimination in their screenplay (and in the film) from the Crystal Lake/Jason side of things.
33. There were reportedly over 300 gallons of fake blood used in the film.
34. David S. Goyer ('Blade') did an uncredited rewrite of the script to make it shorter. One of his contributions to the script was the combination of the two characters of Gibb and Jenny.
35. In the first interview concerning about the film, Ken Kirzinger did the whole video interview in Jason's costume wearing the mask, clothes and make-up, in order to make the viewers more confident in him and his loyalty to the character.
36. Although Ken Kirzinger was chosen to play Jason, many re-shoots were made late in the production process and Ken was not available to work. The producers then used their next choice for Jason, actor Douglas Tait. The most notable scene shot with Tait is the very last scene in the movie, just before the credits, where Jason emerges from the lake carrying Freddy's head.
37. While filming the scene in the fiery cabin where Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees confront each other, actor Ken Kirzinger (Jason) actually caught on fire. Kirzinger remained calm while stage hands rushed in with fire extinguishers to put him out. This incident is discussed in the DVD commentary for the film.
38. The scene which featured Jason's bed kill was originally rejected by New Line studio executives, but writers Mark Swift and Damian Shannon fought hard for filming it. They acted it out on the floor to convince director Ronny Yu. After he liked the idea, the scene was filmed and it turned out to get the biggest reaction of audience during the test screening.
39. Writers Mark Swift and Damian Shannon were disturbed by the homophobic insult Kelly Rowland's character directed at Freddy Krueger and both writers pointed out in interviews that this was not something they had written in their script.
40. Rob Zombie ('Halloween' remake) was offered to direct the film, but turned it down to work on his pet project, 'House Of 1000 Corpses' (2003).
41. Katharine Isabelle was quite upset with director Ronny Yu when she learned that by accepting the role of Gibb, something Yu suggested, she was expected to do a nude shower scene. She refused to do it, so Tammy Morris replaced her as a body double for the scene. As a result, there was great friction between Isabelle and Yu for the rest of the shoot.
42. There were originally 17 different scripts submitted for this film, all of which were condensed into one. Other writers on the project included Peter Briggs, Brannon Braga, Mark Verheiden, Ethan Reiff, Cyrus Vorus, and David J. Schow.
43. In unused scripts, Peter Briggs wanted to end the film with an agent from Springwood going back in time and forging his signature on Freddy's search warrant, thus undoing all of his handiwork; In Mark Verheiden's script, a character named Lizzy would have the ultimate haunted house that Freddy and Jason would eventually end up in, and Freddy would be revealed as the counselor who let him drown in 1957; and in David J. Schow's script, he wanted to open at a popular shopping mall and just have Freddy and Jason go on a crazy killing spree that would have gone down in the horror record books. He also had a gag of a scene where Jason was knocked out in the van while the group goes to the drive thru at a fast food restaurant. When Jason wakes up and comes out of his nightmare, he brings the entire Crystal Lake with him, and the van (and everything around it) floods out.
44. The budget of $25 million was the highest of any 'Friday The 13th' film.
45. According to Ken Kirzinger, the hardest thing he went through as Jason was sinking into the lake. They shot the scene in a tank which was highly chlorinated and had debris to make it look like lake water. He was lying on top of the water and had to let himself sink down to the bottom of the tank without breathing and keeping his eye open. Kirzinger really held his breath, and the chlorine in the water burned his eyes.
46. In the documentary 'Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy' (2010), screenwriter Mark Swift revealed Kia's original final stand involved her telling Jason she wasn't afraid of him anymore in the way Nancy stood up to Freddy at the end of the original 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' (1984), not realizing this would have no effect on him. Freddy then taunted her by saying "Wrong one, bitch" before killing her.
47. The death scene of Trey (Jesse Hutch) was almost cut from the movie entirely, and was only filmed on the very last day of shooting.
48. Actor Ken Kirzinger (Jason) wanted to do the cornfield fire stunt, but director Ronny Yu would not let him, fearing the worst if an accident were to occur. Instead, stuntman Douglas Tait performed it.
49. Director Ronny Yu wanted a more emotional Jason so that fans could be more invested in him as a 'good' guy, to counter Freddy's 'bad' guy persona.
50. Wes Craven, creator of the original 'Nightmare On Elm Street' (1984) film, found this movie to be "brutal and non-imaginative".
51. Corey Feldman was slated to make a cameo appearance as Tommy Jarvis, but things never materialized in the final script.
Know any assorted facts that we don't have here? E-mail them to us at: lairofhorror@yahoo.com and you will get credit for them.
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