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Some of the weird stuff in Jersey

CAMP NO-BE-BO-SCO: WHERE JASON VACATIONS
–MM
On June 13, 1980, a movie opened which would make a real splash in the horror film genre, and keep more than a few young campers wide awake all night shivering in their pup tents. The movie was called “Friday the 13th,” and the plot revolved around a machete wielding, hockey mask wearing young maniac named Jason, who stalked the grounds of the fictitious Camp Crystal Lake. Audiences around the country were soon screaming in their theater seats and clinging to their dates for dear life as the seemingly remorseless Jason hacked away at campers and counselors alike, until just about every character in the film was eviscerated.

This relatively new, more gruesome (and some would say senseless) trend in on-screen violence became quite popular with young adult audiences, and “Friday the 13th” not only spawned a seemingly infinitely string of sequels, and even a TV show, but also gave rise to a number of copy-cat slasher films which would persist for the next decade.

The original “Friday the 13th” was shot over a three month period from September-October 1979 at a Boy Scout camp outside of Blairstown, NJ, called No-Be-Bo-Sco. I was quite shocked to learn this fact recently, as I had spent two blood-curdling weeks there myself as a Boy Scout in the mid- 1970’s. (Though the scariest thing that I ever witnessed there was a “finless brown” floating in the swimming area of the lake.)

The film’s budget was a mere $500,000, but it would eventually gross in excess of $37 million. The series of movies as a whole has taken in over $250 million. Director Sean Cunningham says “Jason started as a gimmick at the end of that first one. Having him lurch up out of the water was a way of going out with a strong visual image...I didn’t know that Jason would be stalking summer camps for the next ten years.” In the final sequence of the movie the sheriff of the town tells Alice, the sole surviving camper of Jason’s murderous rampage, “...we didn’t find any boy.” To which Alice replies “Then he’s still there.” Sleep tight little campers.
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I can't believe you posted this! I stayed there for a whole week. AFTER THE MOVIE CAME OUT. And, we all knew that was where Friday the 13th was filmed. The funny part about it was every morning we would leave the cabin for breakfast, in the "dead" of winter, with lots of snow on the ground, there was very little WHITE snow along the wall next to the door of the cabin.
...the outhouse was about 50 yards away on the edge of the woodline. Red Face

That brings back memories!

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