FILM · 1986 · USA
Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI
46 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
46 Interesting Facts About Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI
Interesting Facts (34)
- #001
Director Tom McLoughlin took home several props from the film, including the tombstone that stood outside Jason's house and was designed to look as if Jason were buried in the yard, as well as the coffin kept in his garage. The DVD box set includes a segment in which he displays these props at his home and recounts how a municipal worker refused to enter his yard to read the meter because he believed a body really was buried there.
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- #004
The little girl who has the recurring nightmares is named Nancy, which many fans interpret as a reference to the protagonist of A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) played by Heather Langenkamp. However, director Tom McLoughlin actually named the girl after his wife, Nancy McLoughlin, who plays Lizbeth in the film.
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- #009
Additional death scenes were filmed after the movie was shown to test audiences: the death of Martin, who is not killed in Simon Hawke's novelization, and the double impalement of Steven and Annette, which also does not appear in the novelization. In addition, Sissy's death was actually filmed rather than only showing her being pulled out of the window and her head being found later, as in the movie.
- #010
- #011
The exciting scene in which Megan attacks Jason with an outboard motor was actually shot in three different locations: the underwater shots were filmed in a temperature-controlled tank in Los Angeles, the above-water shots were filmed on a dark Georgia lake, and the shots of the motor cutting Jason's mask/neck were filmed in Tom McLaughlin's father's swimming pool, which was actually damaged in the process when the pool filter broke.
- #012
- #013
Tom McLoughlin was initially hired only to write the film, but producer Don Behrns pushed for him to be allowed to direct as well. Behrns later said that otherwise the studio would probably have rehired Danny Steinmann, director of Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985), whom it refused to work with again following their previous poor working relationship on The Unseen (1980).
- #014
- #015
Composer Harry Manfredini said in an interview that the music used in the scene where Jason's corpse is dug out of the ground was borrowed from the Latin hymn "Dies Irae." He noted that he had sung it as a child in choir school and wished for an orchestra to perform it for the film. He chose the piece because it suited the film's gothic tone. This piece of music had been used a few years earlier as the main theme of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.
- #016
- #017
The film's print version includes the entirety of the sheriff's grueling death. The ending was also changed somewhat: it excludes the profanities Tommy says to Jason, and the fight between Tommy and Jason that emerges both above and below the surface of the lake is longer. In addition, the shot of blood spilling into the water in the scene where Megan saves Tommy and pushes the boat's propeller into Jason's neck is removed.
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Although Mancuso retained control over the film's casting, he deferred to McLoughlin's decision. The only caveat was that the final girl had to be a "very attractive blonde."[14] To meet this requirement, McLoughlin cast Jennifer Cooke based on her performance in the series V. The role of Hawes, Tommy's would-be sidekick who dies in the film's first five minutes, went to another television veteran, Ron Palillo, famous for his role as Horshack on Welcome Back, Kotter.
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- #033
Tommy's character was initially planned to be the new Jason/killer, but the producers chose to bring Jason back instead; however, if Tommy had never dug up Jason's body, Jason could not have been resurrected and claimed more victims. Though he is not technically the killer, Tommy is partly responsible for their deaths.
- #034
Behind the Scenes (4)
- #035
- #036
The last scene to be shot was the camper van collision. Director Tom McLoughlin was terrified during filming because there could be only one take and the crash made the scene incredibly dangerous for C. J. Graham, though it remains unclear why Graham would be inside the van when it flips, since his character is not seen until he tumbles out.
- #037
When Jason lunges through the car's windshield at Nancy McLoughlin's Lizbeth with a spear, the stunt performer was supposed to aim at the opposite side, but the impact through the windshield redirected the trajectory of the real, very sharp spear toward McLoughlin, who narrowly escaped being impaled.
- #038
(At around the 32nd minute) During the close-ups of the children sleeping in the cabin, one of them has a copy of French existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre's novel "No Exit." This is most likely intended as a joke. The book's plot concerns three dead souls brought to Hell who lie about the reasons they were sent there. One of the characters, trapped there with no way out, concludes that "Hell is other people."
Characters & Cast (2)
- #039
Crew member Dan Bradley played Jason on the first day of shooting, which is why Jason's build differs in the paintball scenes and why his eye color changes during the film. Paramount saw the chaos of that first day and, deciding Bradley looked too large for the role, asked that Jason be recast, so the part went to Graham.
- #040
Actress Kerry Noonan later auditioned for a film called "Birthday Bash," in which a serial killer named "Ethan" faces a girl with telekinetic powers. At the audition she asked the producers, "Hey, is this Friday the 13.? I was already in one of these!" She was right: "Birthday Bash" was the fake working title of Friday the 13th: The New Blood (1988), and "Ethan" was the alias given to Jason in the scripts to protect the film from leaks during pre-production.
Easter Eggs & References (6)
- #041
The original script contained material referencing Jason's father, and to this day it remains the closest the franchise has come to shedding light on that mysterious character. In the script, Pamela's tombstone stands beside Jason's, a nod to the fact that someone paid to have Jason buried and an explanation, as the mayor says in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985), for why he was not cremated. There is also a final scene in which Jason's father visits his son's grave, apparently aware that Jason is not there. These scenes were never filmed but were used in the film's novelization; the 2009 Deluxe Edition DVD uses storyboard art and voiceover work to complete the scene.
- #042
Melanie Kinnaman, who played Pam in the previous film Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985), was actually signed to reprise her role in this film, which appears to indicate that the producers did not accept the claim that Tommy killed her in the final scene (after first seeing it in a dream). The producers decided to take the film in a new direction by not making Tommy the new Jason, and Kinnaman's character was not included in those plans. Although Pam's fate was left open, the fact that Tommy is not in prison for killing her (he is still being treated for his mental problems but is not incarcerated) suggests he let her live.
- #043
The film contains numerous references to other horror films and/or people connected to them. Megan mentions Cunningham Road, a reference to Sean S. Cunningham, director of Friday the 13th (1980) and creator of the series, while Tommy mentions a grocery store called Karloff's, a tribute to famous horror actor Boris Karloff, known for playing Frankenstein's monster. In addition, Sheriff Garris mentions a town called Carpenter, a reference to filmmaker John Carpenter, director of Halloween (1978); the name Sissy perhaps refers to Sissy Spacek, who starred in Brian De Palma's Carrie (1976), adapted from a Stephen King novel. Sissy also wears a jacket with "Baker" written on the back, likely a reference to Angela Baker from Sleepaway Camp (1983) and/or special effects master Rick Baker.
- #044
Although the film's central premise is Jason being resurrected from his grave, the series' previous film (Friday the 13.: A New Beginning (1985)) had mentioned that Jason was cremated. This film suggests that this was deliberately false information given to people, since even Sheriff Garris brings it up repeatedly.
- #045
- #046
For much of the film, the sheriff believes the real killer is Tommy Jarvis rather than Jason. This is probably a nod to the original plan suggested in the previous film (Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)) to make Tommy the series' new killer. Because of the negative fan reaction to the ending of Part 5, that plan was scrapped in favor of resurrecting Jason, as seen in this film.
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Reference databases
- IMDb
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