Jason, Friday the 13th - Trivia and Costume Facts
The infamous Jason Voorhees from the film Friday the 13th, has been played by a number of different actors. Not only is the film famous for being a great horror film, it spawned the manufacture of thousands of Halloween costumes that are still popular today. In the original 1980's version, the actor Ari Lehman who still makes personal appearances at horror festivals and on various online discussion boards, played Young Jason, most noted for first wearing the now-famous, white Jason mask. The second version of the film was released in 1982 and credit was given to Warrington Gillette, although stuntman, Steve Daskawisz, played most of the scenes because Gillette was not skilled enough to perform the required stunts. Gillette is still living, although narrowly escaped death when wearing one of the Jason Halloween outfits for a publicity appearance, a female fan wearing a fancy dress jumped onto the stage and struck him with an ax and slashed his hand. The woman was subsequently charged with attempted murder and sentenced to a 10 year deferred sentence. The 1982 version if Ted White who is currently acting and performing as a stuntman played the film. There are many other incarnations of Jason in 11 subsequent films, including one spoof made in 1989, The Resurrection of Michael Myers, Part 2, starring Joachim Lindman.
Since the inception of the Jason, Friday the 13th films, Halloween costumes that feature the Jason mask have become hot sellers. Forget the tuxedo. Forget the fancy dress. The Jason Halloween outfits are still one of the most popular Halloween costumes. The actual design of the costume that was worn in the first film has changed radically through subsequent versions of the film. The first version of the film showed Jason wearing nondescript, dark-colored shirt and pants with a tattered lighter-colored jacket. He wore heavy black work boots, gloves and wielded a machete. Some scenes in subsequent films showed him wearing a grey/blue sweatshirt that had burned patches, rips and tears all over it, with a collar sticking out of the top of the sweatshirt. He looked to be dressed as a typical high school boy who had gone through hell and back. In other versions of the film, Jason's character wears a jumpsuit or mechanic's overalls that have red bloodstains on them.
The only consistent identifying characteristic about the Jason costume has been the hockey mask, and even that has been altered from film-to-film, by changes in the markings that appear on the front of the mask. Originally designed by Tom Savini, Jason's costume morphed through the years to include a leather suit with shards of metal sticking through it, mud-covered, Hockey shirt and even a potato sack or burlap bag, in the second film. The signature piece, of course, is the hockey mask. In the most recent remake of the film, the character of Jason wore a burlap hood as well as the hockey mask. Without a doubt, variations on the Jason theme are among the most beloved and popular fancy dress costumes worn since 1980. With each passing Halloween season, new versions of the costume emerge that scarier and more compelling than the last year's. Some people go so far as to add real mud to their costumes or even wet them down with water for the more authentic look.
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