Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives

Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives is a 1986 slasher film, the sixth film in the Friday the 13th series. The film was written and directed by Tom McLoughlin.

Box office

The film opened in 1,610 theaters making $6.7 million its opening weekend. Domestically, the film has made $19.4 million.

Notes

• The film was the first film in Friday the 13th series that didn't gross over $20 million.

• The script contained material that alluded to Jason's father, which, to date, remains the closest the series has ever come to shedding light on the mysterious character. In the material we would see Pamela Voorhees' headstone next to Jason's; a reference to the fact that someone paid to have Jason buried, which would have explained why he wasn't cremated as the Mayor stated in A New Beginning; and a final scene in which Jason's father (known simply as "Mr. Voorhees" at the time) visits his son's grave, seemingly aware of the fact that Jason isn't inside. These scenes were filmed, but excised; however, they did make it to the film's 1986 novelization by Simon Hawke.

• In the original script, the deaths of both Nikki and Officer Pappas were more graphic. Instead of Jason pushing Nikki's face into the wall, as we see in the wide release, Jason squeezed her throat until blood spurted out. In Officer Pappas' death, Jason originally tore off his face (literally), leaving a faceless corpse staring ahead before falling down. However, veteran Friday the 13th producer Frank Mancuso, Jr. advised director Tom McLoughlin to tone down these scenes for the film, stating that the MPAA would never give the film an "R" rating with these scenes intact.

• An additional scene that has occasionally made its way onto television airings features deputy Rick locked in the jail cell, banging on the cell window, calling for help, and struggling to reach for the keys left on the floor.

• The workprint version, currently circulating as a bootleg, contains the sheriff's backbreaking death in its entirety. The ending is also slightly altered; it excludes the profanity Tommy spouts at Jason, and the ensuing fight between Tommy and Jason both above and below the lake's surface is longer. After Megan rescues Tommy and shoves the boat's propeller into Jason's neck, the shot of the gore spilling into the water is eliminated.

• Although Camp Crystal Lake is a camp for children, this is the only film in the series where actual camp kids appear.

• At 86 minutes long, this is the shortest Friday the 13th film by only a minute (Friday the 13th Part 2 was a close 87 minutes).

• This is the first Friday the 13th film to not feature any illegal drug use or full frontal nudity.

• Shavar Ross, who played Reggie in the fifth film, was going to be killed in the opener of this film, but Ross refused to do the role.^[1]

• In the opener, you see a pan-in of Jason's face before the title screen is revealed. The screen pans in to Jason's eye as a smaller image of Jason is revealed to walk from right to left, then slash the screen and a spurt of blood blankets the screen; flashing the title across screen. This can be noted as a Horror poke at earlier James Bond intros.

• Melanie Kinnaman, who starred in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) as Pam, actually signed on to reprise her role for this film. However, the producers decided to go in a new direction for this film, which excluded Kinnaman's character.