Friday the 13th Filming Locations

IMDb 6.3/10 (177,870 votes) | 1980 | USA | Horror, Mystery, Thriller | 95 min | English

Friday the 13th (1980) is an American slasher film directed by Sean S. Cunningham and written by Victor Miller. Set at the fictional Camp Crystal Lake, the story follows a group of young counsellors preparing to reopen a summer camp with a history of unexplained deaths. Adrienne King stars as Alice Hardy, alongside Betsy Palmer as Pamela Voorhees, Robbi Morgan, Kevin Bacon, Harry Crosby, Laurie Bartram, Mark Nelson and Jeannine Taylor. Although Jason Voorhees would later become the franchise’s central character, the original film revolves around the mystery of an unidentified killer stalking the camp. Produced on a modest budget, Friday the 13th became one of the most successful independent horror films of its time and helped establish the summer-camp slasher as a recognisable subgenre.

Friday the 13th was filmed primarily in Warren County, New Jersey, using Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco in Hardwick Township, Blairstown and Hope, with additional filming in Freehold. Principal photography took place during September and October 1979, with the working Scout camp providing most of the film’s cabins, woodland paths, utility buildings and lakeside locations. The neighbouring towns of Blairstown and Hope were used for the opening scenes involving Annie Phillips (Robbi Morgan), whose journey to Camp Crystal Lake combines several real streets and buildings into a fictional small-town setting. The production also used the Blairstown Diner for scenes involving camp owner Steve Christy (Peter Brouwer), while the film’s famous final encounter with Jason Voorhees was photographed at Turkey Swamp Park in Freehold.

Blairstown provides some of the film’s most recognisable early locations. After the opening sequence set in 1958, Annie is introduced walking across Main Street Bridge over Blair Creek, with the old bridge parapet, a building displaying a Frank’s Delicatessen sign and a white house visible in the background. Part of the historic Old Mill can also be seen at the far right of the frame. The film then shows Annie descending Blair Place, a short sloping road leading towards Main Street, before entering the covered walkway beneath The Old Mill at 12 Main Street. The former grain mill dates from 1825, and its four distinctive brick-framed arches were added in 1903. Annie walks into the passage from the Blair Place end and emerges through the second archway, apparently preparing to cross Main Street. However, the next shot places her walking downhill along Old Academy Drive, another small street leading towards the same road. The two streets are only a short distance apart, but the editing creates an unusual geographical inconsistency: Annie effectively approaches Main Street twice from different directions, despite the sequence presenting her journey as a continuous walk through town.

Other Blairstown landmarks appear as Annie continues her journey. She walks along Main Street past the former First National Bank and Blairstown Theatre, also known as Roy’s Hall, whose historic frontage remains recognisable. Another sequence shows her on Bridge Street, where she encounters a dog near a pair of old petrol pumps that have since disappeared. The film uses these different parts of town without preserving their actual geographical relationship. Annie eventually arrives at a general store, represented externally by the wooden building at 26 Main Street, later home to the Blairstown Museum. Its upper veranda and entrance can be seen as Annie approaches the shop to ask for directions to Camp Crystal Lake. Although the exterior was filmed in Blairstown, the interior belongs to an entirely different building in the neighbouring town of Hope.

The general-store interior was filmed at Hartung’s General Store, at 331 High Street in Hope, approximately ten kilometres south of Blairstown. Inside, Annie asks how to reach Camp Crystal Lake, but the people gathered around the counter react uneasily when she mentions her destination. She learns that the camp has a reputation for misfortune and is offered a lift by truck driver Enos (Rex Everhart). The scene continues outside near the junction of High Street and Walnut Street, where the eccentric Crazy Ralph (Walt Gorney) warns Annie about the camp’s supposed death curse. Enos then drives her through the surrounding countryside, eventually dropping her off near the entrance to Moravian Cemetery on High Street. The cemetery’s distinctive entrance is visible as Annie continues towards the camp on foot. She subsequently accepts another lift from an unseen driver, who takes her away from her intended destination. The rural roads and wooded surroundings of Hardwick Township were used for the subsequent journey and the sequence in which Annie attempts to escape her murderer.

Most of the remaining film was shot at Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, a working Scout camp established in 1927 beside Sand Pond in Hardwick Township. The property represents Camp Crystal Lake throughout the film, beginning with the opening sequence set in 1958, when two young counsellors, Barry (Willie Adams) and Claudette (Debra S. Hayes), are murdered after leaving a gathering in one of the camp buildings. The main storyline takes place more than twenty years later, as Steve Christy prepares the abandoned camp for reopening. The entrance road, wooden Camp Crystal Lake sign and surrounding forest appear as the new counsellors arrive, including Ned Rubenstein (Mark Nelson), Jack Burrell (Kevin Bacon) and Marcie Cunningham (Jeannine Taylor), who are seen travelling along nearby Millbrook Road in a pickup truck. Several original camp buildings were used without major alterations, including Van Dusen Lodge, which provides the communal room and kitchen where the counsellors gather, prepare meals and play strip Monopoly.

Other buildings within Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco appear in some of the film’s most memorable sequences. The cabins provide sleeping quarters for the counsellors, including the room where Alice discovers a snake beneath one of the beds. The shower building is used for Marcie’s murder, while the generator shed becomes an important location after the camp loses electricity and Bill (Harry Crosby) investigates the power failure. The camp’s office also appears when Alice and Bill attempt to telephone for help, only to discover that the line has been cut. As the storm intensifies, the surviving counsellors move between the darkened buildings, eventually leading to Alice’s confrontation with Pamela Voorhees. Much of the climax takes place around the camp’s main lodge and neighbouring woodland, with the real buildings and surrounding paths forming a continuous setting for the action.

Sand Pond, the small freshwater lake beside Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, represents Crystal Lake throughout most of the film. Its wooded shoreline, swimming area and wooden dock appear repeatedly as the counsellors swim, relax and work around the waterfront. The lake is also central to the camp’s history, as it is where Jason Voorhees supposedly drowned as a child in 1957. During the final confrontation, Alice fights Pamela Voorhees near the waterfront before eventually decapitating her. Exhausted and traumatised, Alice escapes onto the lake in a canoe and drifts away from the camp. Although Sand Pond provides the main waterfront location, additional filming for the closing sequence took place at Turkey Swamp Park in Freehold Township, considerably farther south in New Jersey.

The Blairstown Diner, at 53 Route 94, appears during the stormy evening while the murders are taking place at Camp Crystal Lake. Steve Christy visits the roadside restaurant for coffee and talks with the waitress about the young people working at his camp. The film shows both the diner exterior, with its illuminated sign and rain-soaked parking area, and the interior where Steve sits at the counter. The rain outside was created with assistance from the Blairstown fire department, which supplied water for the production. Steve eventually leaves the diner to return to Camp Crystal Lake, unaware of what has happened to his counsellors in his absence.

Sand Pond at Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco also provides the setting for the film’s famous final shock sequence. After surviving the confrontation with Pamela Voorhees, Alice Hardy (Adrienne King) drifts out onto the lake in a canoe and falls asleep. At dawn, she awakens to see police officers approaching the shore, apparently bringing her ordeal to an end. Suddenly, the decomposing figure of young Jason Voorhees (Ari Lehman) rises from the water behind her and pulls her out of the canoe. The sequence was filmed at Sand Pond over three separate mornings, with the filmmakers using additional cameras, including a slow-motion camera, to capture the attack. King later recalled that the temperature was below freezing during the final shoot and that neither she nor Lehman had wetsuits. The scene ends with Alice awakening in hospital, uncertain whether her encounter with Jason was real or a nightmare.

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