- This film has one of the longest pre-credit sequences in cinematic history, nearly 15 minutes in some versions.
- Jason in this film is dressed to look exactly the same as the killer from The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1977).
- 48 seconds were cut by the MPAA to avoid an X rating.
- A shot of the infamous double-impalement was cut to avoid an "X" rating, yet a still of this censored shot appears on the back of the videocassette box.
- The lead character Ginny Field was named after Virginia Field, who was the production designer on both the first two Friday the 13th films.
- During the climactic fight between Jason and Ginny, Jason raises the mattock to block Ginny's machete swing. Amy Steel said that during the first take, the timing was wrong and she accidentally hit 'Steve Dash''s finger, causing him to have to go to the emergency room. After his finger was stitched up, he returned to set that night and insisted they complete the scene.
- The film made $21,722,000 with a budget of $1,000,000.
- Throughout the final scene, the mummified head of Mrs. Voorhees is noticeably an actress wearing makeup rather than a fake head. The final shot is a close-up of the head, ending in a freeze frame before the credits roll. Originally this shot ended with Mrs. Voorhees opening her eyes and smiling, but at the last minute Steve Miner decided this effect was hokey and cheapened the movie's impact.
- Although Warrington Gillette is credited as playing Jason, in most of the scenes the character was played by stuntman Steve Dash. Gillette only plays the unmasked Jason in the sequence where he bursts through a window. Dash was upset at being uncredited in the role, as he has most of Jason's screen time. When archival footage from this film was used in the next sequel, only Dash is credited as playing Jason.
- When the filmmakers asked Adrienne King to reprise her role as Alice, she said that she wanted to be on screen for a short period of time because there was an obsessive fan who was stalking her, broke into her apartment, and she feared for her life.
- Following the release of the movie, Adrienne King had numerous encounters with an obsessive fan. The situation escalated into a stalker case, and she decided to avoid any further acting opportunities. She has not done any on-screen film work since, but has done voice over work on several films more than 15 years later.
- The first Jason scene in the movie is a shot of Jason's legs walking across the street toward Alice's house. This is the only time in the series Jason was played by a woman. Jason's legs belonged to Ellen Lutter, the film's costume designer.
- Ginny finds the body of Crazy Ralph in the pantry. In the first movie, Ralph is also found in the pantry (but not dead).
>>> WARNING: Here Be Spoilers <<<
Trivia items below here contain information that may give away important plot points. You may not want to read any further if you've not already seen this title.
- SPOILER: Body Count: 9. (Plus one character presumed dead, but it's unconfirmed. If you count the bodies from the dream sequence recapping the end of the first one, you can add three more to the total body count.)
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