Alex Biese

@ABieseAPP

It was 35 years ago, in the Warren County municipality of Blairstown, that a down-on-his-luck independent filmmaker changed movie history.

"Friday the 13th" director Sean Cunningham's 1980 slasher picture, which gave horror icon Jason Voorhees to the world, was filmed in September and October of 1979, with shooting primarily taking place at Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco on Sand Pond Road in the township.

A facility around since 1927 and still in use by the Boy Scouts of America, No-Be-Bo-Sco filled in for the now iconic "Friday the 13th" location of Camp Crytal Lake, the site of a series of gruesome summer camp murders in the film.

The film's' production, which also took place in downtown Blairstown and the nearby Warren County township of Hope, is chronicled in Canadian author David Grove's comprehensive new book "On Location in Blairstown: The Making of 'Friday the 13th'. "

Blairstown, according to Grove, proved to be the ideal spot for Cunningham and company to bring their dark vision to the big screen.

"It had that kind of Normal Rockwell, American apple pie look and feel to it," Grove said of the township. "And, I just think part of the effect of the film is the idea that these horrible murders could take place in such an all-American place. And, of course, the camp itself is very isolated from the town.

"So, I think that all played into making it an effective location."

And the camp itself, Grove said, "had everything they needed in the script. It was isolated, it had a lake which had a great look to it."

"The lake was separate from the campground, so it was a very creepy place to shoot, and it was essential for the final scene, where Jason jumps out of the lake. And, it was such a low-budget film — it also had lots of extra cabins for the crew to stay in, so they didn't have to pay for hotels."

The film came at a crucial time in the career of Cunningham, an exploitation filmmaker who'd toiled on everything from adults-only erotic dramas to "Bad News Bears"-inspired kiddie fare after first achieving infamy as a producer on Wes Craven's 1972 break-out picture "The Last House on the Left."

"The movie was a success and made him wealthy, which is important to him because he struggled for so much. But as a filmmaker, unfortunately, it forever overshadowed his ambitions," Grove said of the effect "Friday the 13th" had on Cunningham's career. "It put him squarely into the exploitation genre. He was never able to escape the exploitation genre as much as he wanted to. So, it was kind of a blessing and a curse for him."

Since the film's 1980 release, Cunningham has served as a producer on three of the film's 10 sequels, as well as its 2009 remake.

"On Location in Blairstown" marks Grove's third work of horror cinema scholarship, following 2004's exploration of the entire series, "Making 'Friday the 13th' " and the 2010 biography "Jamie Lee Curtis: Scream Queen."

"For me, 'Friday the 13th,' the first film, represents a vestige of my childhood in the early to mid-'80s," said Grove. "I know it's not a truly great film, but the experience of watching it was as powerful as when I saw 'Superman' or 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' or 'The Empire Strikes Back.'

"The first time I saw it in 1982 on television, I went upstairs and hid under the covers. And then, of course, I remember at school everyone talked about the movies and the sequels at well. So now, especially, it's a fondly remembered time capsule of my youth."

ON LOCATION IN BLAIRSTOWN: THE MAKING OF 'FRIDAY THE 13TH'

WHAT: The new book by David Grove on the classic 1980 film

INFO: $24.99, available through AuthorMike Dark Ink

ON THE WEB: http://www.authormikedarkink.com/Dark_Ink/On_Location_In_Blairstown.html