Movies - TV
The Friday the 13th Scene Jason's Actor Refused
to Film
By ANYA STANLEY
In “Friday The 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan,” the hockey mask-wearing camp counselor killer, Jason Voorhees, was played by Kane Hodder. An actor with the distinction of having portrayed or done stunt work for Leatherface, Freddy Krueger, and Victor Crowley, Hodder was credited with breathing new life and menace into the character.
Hodder took the role very seriously and declined to shoot one scene for the film because he felt it was out of character. Once ashore in Manhattan, Jason was to kick a dog upon climbing out of the water, but Hodder famously refused, asserting that even Jason, with over 200 kills to his name, would never be so cruel as to harm an animal.
It seems odd that Hodder was down for his character to cut a swath of carnage through the woods, but gave a hard pass to hurting an animal that's just as new to him as any Camp Crystal Lake visitor. However, when viewed as the perpetual man-child of Mrs. Voorhees, Jason becomes a big Baby Huey who hurts horny teens and feckless cops but not man’s best friend.
Anyone who has seen the film series might argue that Jason has been cruel to animals before, even dogs; in “Friday the 13th, Part 2,” camp counselors Sandra and Jeff discover the off-screen remains of a dog in the woods. While this kill could be attributed to Voorhees, the role of Jason was not played by Hodder, who came aboard on “Part 7.”
Not surprising, most of the other slasher villains have no issues with being pet killers, with Michael Myers holding the title for Most Pets Killed with a whopping four dogs dispatched across the franchise. While "Jason Takes Manhattan" has an impressive body count — 20 human victims — no pups were harmed in the making of this movie.