'Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter' Featured Violent, Unsettling Scene Based on a Real Murder
The movie features a scene with a man being slaughtered in a basement, which was inspired by a real-life killing.
Whenever Friday the 13th rolls around, fans of the slasher franchise that shares a name with the superstitious will likely try to check out at least one or two of the movies featuring machete-wielding murderer Jason Voorhees. While the films are all pure fiction, there is a tragic legend that the fourth movie — Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter — featured a violent and unsettling scene that was based on a real murder. Screen Rant previously shared the history of the scene, which featured E. Erich Anderson's character Rob Dier being murdered by Jason in a basement.
Surprisingly, the scene lacks the level of gore for which the franchise has come to be known , but it was still deeply cruel and haunting, nonetheless. It turns out, according to director Joseph Zito in the Crystal Lake Memories book, Rob's death was based on a crime he read about in a newspaper. Zito shared that he'd read about the tragic story, in which a man was being stabbed to death while yelling, "Please stop hurting me, please stop killing me." This had a significant impact on Zito, as the idea of the victim speaking to their attacker was profoundly unsettling for him. This led him to create a scene where one of Jason's victims would speak during their death, resulting in Rob dying while yelling, "He's killing me!"
The first Friday the 13th film was released in 1980. It went on to spawn nine sequels, as well as a mash-up film with Jason's fellow horror film icon Freddy Kruger — 2003s Freddy vs. Jason — and the remake in 2009. Since then, the franchise has had trouble getting back off the ground. A number of planned follow-up reboots failed to make it past the scripting stage, and a subsequent copyright lawsuit brought the series to a screeching halt.
Back in 2018, it was reported that NBA champ Lebron James was going to be joining the Friday the 13th franchise as a producer of a planned reboot for the series. According to a Bloody Disgusting report at the time, James and his production company SpringHill Entertainment were said to be working with Vertigo Entertainment on a new launch for the iconic horror movie. There have been no updates on this since, but a new prequel series based on the franchise is coming soon to Peacock.
All of the original Friday the 13th movies are available to stream on Max, for subscribers of the service. This includes Friday the 13th (1980), Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981), Friday the 13th Part III (1982), Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984), Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985), Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986), Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988), Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989), and Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993). Additionally, Max viewers can also stream Freddy vs. Jason (2003) as well as the Friday the 13th remake from 2009.