Happy Friday the 13th!
In the history of horror cinema, the Friday the 13th franchise looms large, and its legacy is synonymous with hockey masks, machetes, and campfire tales of terror. But behind the screams and the suspense, there's a fascinating history of the makeup effects that brought the iconic character of Jason Voorhees to life.
In this exploration, we dive into the Stan Winston Studio archival vault and share some never-before-seen photos revealing the making of Stan Winston's original, although eventually unused, Jason Voorhees look for Friday the 13th Part III 3D.
Jump To Section
- Friday the 13th Part 2: Betsy Palmer's Severed Head
- Stan Winston Designs Jason Voorhees Makeup for Part 3
- Covering Stan Winston's Jason's Face with a Hockey Mask
- Getting Back to Tom Savini's Jason Design
- Is the Stan Winston Jason Ever Seen in the Film?
(Stan Winston, actor Steve Susskind, actor Richard Brooker as Jason Voorhees, and director Steve Miner together on the set of Friday The 13th Part III 3D (1982). Image credit: Steve Susskind.)
Friday the 13th Part 2: Betsy Palmer's Severed Head
For Friday the 13th Part 2, director Steve Miner was keen to recapture the gruesome magic that Tom Savini had conjured for the original film. Savini, however, was busy working on another project, The Burning, in Buffalo, New York. So the hunt for a new makeup effects expert began. Miner reached out to Stan Winston, who at that time had made a name for himself through, among other projects, his work on the Dan O'Bannon-scripted film Dead and Buried.
Due to the logistical challenges presented by the film being shot in Connecticut and Winston's studio being located across the country in California, Winston was unable to participate, and the job went to Carl Fullerton. But Winston did eventually help the production by lifecasting Betsy Palmer's face for a now infamous severed head sequence that would be used several times throughout the film.
Stan Winston Designs Jason Voorhees Makeup for Part 3
The profits generated by Part 2 were more than enough to convince Paramount Pictures that a third part was a no-risk investment. Initially, Stan Winston had been tasked with sculpting Jason's makeup.
(Actor Richard Brooker wearing 'Jason Vorhees' prosthetic dentures during his lifecasting session at Stan Winston Studio.)
Stan Winston Studio designed and sculpted a one-piece pullover mask on a headcast of Richard Brooker, the actor set to play Jason Voorhees. Winston took the character in a new direction by discarding the dislocated eye look of the previous two films. The sculpture was molded and cast in foam latex and then painted.
"I went to Stan's lab. They made a mold of my face," said actor Richard Brooker, "and then they made a latex mask, and that's what I wore all the way through the movie."
(Douglas J. White applies the prosthetic dentures to Richard Brooker prior to lifecasting his face Stan Winston Studio.)
(Richard Brooker poses next to his lifecast at Stan Winston Studio.)
Covering Stan Winston's Jason's Face with a Hockey Mask
Although Richard Brooker wore Winston's foam latex mask in most of his scenes, by the time shooting commenced, there was dissatisfaction with the design.
(The Jason Voorhees' foam latex mask during the painting process at Stan Winston Studio for Friday the 13th Part III 3D.)
"For some reason, they didn't like the mask," noted Brooker. "I think three guys on the set were Detroit [Red Wings] hockey fans, so they came up with the idea to cover it with a hockey mask. Before the hockey mask, you never really saw [Jason's] face anyway, but [I was wearing] the Stan Winston mask."
(Jason Voorhees foam latex masks during the painting and finishing process at Stan Winston Studio.)
Getting Back to Tom Savini's Jason Design
"I remember when I saw the Stan Winston version, it was like, 'Ooh, that's a really nice piece.' However, to the best of my recollection, I recall the director, Steve Miner, thought it wasn't grotesque enough. When I say grotesque, I mean in the idea of the drooped eye, the Quasimodo feel. Eventually, it changed once they got the new makeup they wanted. Until that point, we used the Stan Winston version underneath the hockey mask until the new makeup was ready," said Kenny Myers, who applied the film's makeups alongside Douglas J. White.
(The in-progress Jason mask during the sculpting process at Stan Winston Studio.)
Friday the 13th Part 3 was already more than two months into filming when scheduling conflicts prevented Winston from participating in the redesign of Jason Vorhees, so Steve Miner and the film's producers called upon Douglas J. White to create Jason's new makeup in less than a week.
The challenge was to bring back the feel of Tom Savini's work from the first film. "Originally, Steve said that he wanted a combination of Tom's and Carl Fullerton's design, but then we focused mainly on Tom's and tried to create a grownup version of the Jason that jumped out of the lake at the end of Friday the 13th," said White.
(A look at the back of the Jason Vorhees head sculpture in progress at Stan Winston Studio.)
White's new makeup was a nine-piece appliance with a glass eye to recreate Jason's offset gaze, while the back of Jason's head maintained continuity with Winston's design. "In Stan's version, Jason's eyes were level, and I had to make alterations because Jason has a droopy eye. We did keep part of Stan's design in terms of the back of Jason's head, so when I made my design, I had to be conscious that the back of Jason's head had to look exactly like Stan's."
(Douglas J. White poses with the unused Stan Winston Jason Vorhees mask on the set of Friday the 13th Part 3. Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures/Horror, Inc.)
Is the Stan Winston Jason Ever Seen in the Film?
Stan Winston's version still can be briefly seen in the supermarket scene, the dream sequence with Chris, and in the scene where Jason watches from the barn as Shelly and Vera leave for the village in the Volkswagen Beetle.
(Douglas J. White with producer Frank Mancuso, Jr. and Richard Brooker as Jason Voorhees filming the rejected ending sequence. Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures/Horror, Inc.)
The Winston mask was also originally used for the climactic scene where Jason beheads Chris. But the ending was re-shot featuring the new makeup for the unmasking sequence, designed and sculpted by Douglas J. White and applied by White and Myers.
(Richard Brooker in Stan Winston's unused Jason makeup on the set of Friday The 13th Part III 3D (1982). Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures/Horror, Inc.)
- Blog assembled by Dimitar Dimitrov with selections from:
1. Making Friday the 13th: The Legend of Camp Blood by David Grovend
2. Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday The 13th by Peter M. Bracke
3. Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th Documentary by Daniel Farrands
Special thanks to Kenny Myers for additional information and commentary.
Courses to Create Your Own Horror Character Mask and Effects
- How To Lifecast: Head, Hands & Teeth with Mark Viniello
- How To Make A Latex Rubber Mask - The Sculpture Process with Tim Martin
- How To Make A Latex Rubber Mask - Mold Making & Casting with Tim Martin
- How To Make A Latex Rubber Mask - Patch, Paint & Finish with Tim Martin
- Character Hairwork: Hair Laying For Prosthetic Makeup with Aimee Macabeo
- Character Makeup - Multi-Piece Prosthetic Application with Bruce Spaulding Fuller
- How To Paint A Monster Mask with Steve Wang
- Articulated Mask Making On A Budget: Lifecasting, Sculpting & Teeth with Patrick Magee
- Articulated Mask Making On A Budget: Fabricating Flesh, Painting & Hair Work with Patrick Magee
- Out Of The Kit Makeup Effects with Joel Harlow
- Blood FX: Rig, Apply & Shoot with Mike Mekash
- Transformation Makeup - Bladder FX: Design, Create & Test with Gary J. Tunnicliffe and Mike Jay Regan
- Transformation Makeup - Bladder FX: Apply, Paint & Shoot with Gary J. Tunnicliffe and Mike Jay Regan