'Friday the 13th' returns to Blairstown

Star Ledger ^ | July 12, 2007 | Mike Frassinelli

[Coleus]

Jason lives!

More than a quarter century after it premiered, the horror cult classic "Friday the 13th" will be shown tomorrow night to moviegoers in the Warren County town where it was filmed.

When patrons at Roy's Hall theater in Blairstown see the slasher flick at 6:30 and again at 8:30, they will have the unique experience of watching it from a building seen in the 1980 film.

"It's not often you get to see a classic slasher film in the environment in which it was filmed," said Robert Armin, artistic director of the theater at 30 Main St.. "It think it's a dream for a lot of people who have been waiting to see the film here in Blairstown. There was a sense of pride about the film at the time."

Northwestern New Jersey is all over the low-budget, high-grossing film that starred a young Kevin Bacon as a camp counselor and spawned a television show and 10 sequels.

The movie was about a summer camp called Camp Crystal Lake that reopened on a Friday the 13th in 1980, 23 years after negligent camp counselors apparently let a young boy named Jason Voorhees drown.

Angry that the camp was reopening, Jason's mother stabbed and axed the counselors before getting beheaded by the last remaining counselor. The killings were preceded by the spooky chants of "ki-ki-ki-ma-ma-ma!" - short for "Kill, mommy!"

The reel-life Camp Crystal Lake is the real-life Camp NoBeBoSco (North Bergen Boy Scouts) in Hardwick Township, just north of Blairstown. Scenes also were shot at the Blairstown Water Works near Roy's Hall, and at Blairstown Diner and the Moravian Cemetery in Hope. A fuel truck from Stanhope drove past.

[Coleus]

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The infamous mask worn by Jason Voorhees in the film "Friday the 13th."