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| from: Crystal Lake Memories |
The alternate ending to Friday the 13th: Part III seems to be one of the more talked about lost scenes in the franchise. Here are excerpts from the Friday the 13th: Part III novel by Michael Avalone, a book written before the movie was finished based on the original shooting script. They are from Pages 186 - 200, taking up after the scene where Chris puts an axe into Jason's head.
The version that had been used in the finished movie did not include this sequence, but a shorter dream scene where Chris awakes to find Jason staring at her through the cabin window. This unreleased scene had chris awaking from a sleep in the cabin, surrounded by cops and doctors and they don't believe her story. She sneaks out to look for her friend to be greeted by Jason who beheads her.
One more interesting thing is that this movie was supposed to end with the transient Abel being arrested for the murders. An additional scene between Abel, Chris and Rick was also removed from the finished movie, most likely developing his character more to be a more viable scapegoat.
In the master bedroom of the rustic cottage at Crystal Lake in Pinehurst County, Chris lay in a huge bed, the coverlet tucked up to her chin. [...] She had slept the sleep of the mentally deranged, a fact the man standing at her bedside was quick to note. He was a doctor and somehow, he bore an uncanny resemblance to the old bedraggled bum of Chris’s yesterday—Abel, the whiskered weird one.
[...] “I asked you both before about my friends,” she quavered in a little girl’s voice. “I want to know. They’re all dead, aren’t they?”
The chief looked at the doctor. The doctor looked at the chief. The doctor was shaking his head, concerned. Chris got angry at that and rallied, plucking at the coverlet with nervous fingers.
“Do you think I made it all up?” she demanded, angrily “Why haven’t you found them? They’re all out there—at the cottage. And he killed them all! I killed him.”
The chief grunted. “Best thing for you to do now is get some sleep. Like I told you, everything’s just fine.” [...] “Someone should watch her, all right. In her state of mind, she’s liable to do almost anything.” The chief eyed him closely running his forefinger along his nose. “What do you think did it?” The doctor stared at the closed bedroom door
“Hysteria. Too much imagination. [...]
As soon as the young officer closed the bedroom door, Chris opened her eyes. She waited for a long moment and then sat up, listening. When she was sure he was gone, and not biding behind the door, she left the bed. [...]
She slipped down the hall like a wraith, turned at the staircase and glided down its length without a whisper of sound. The sleeping young officer did not stir He was snoring lightly. [...]
She was on her way to the barn where the answers to everything lay. Where they had to be— before she went out of her mind completely. The sun poured into the empty barn, a place now totally barren of all its nightmarish remembrances of the previous night. [...]
The random sunlight illuminated the haystack rising before her Something glittered there, like a lost jewel, shining, twinkling, iridescent something. She started—her heart skipped a beat. Glints of red and green were shooting from the haystack, caught by the bright sunlight. She crawled forward on her hands and knees, like someone seeing the miracle at Lourdes.
She moved to the spot on the haystack, her hands going out in a pawing gesture. An odd dark shape now defined itself as a hand—a human hand! And on its black fingers, red and green gleamed. Rings. . .Wincing, she picked up the hand. A bloody piece of evidence. Of proof. But she remembered the big black man coming to life. Jason and his machete chopping off a hand. . .the savage murder right before her very eyes. . . right here. . .in this barn! Last night!
She attacked the haystack like a woman possessed, pawing, scraping, ravaging it with eager hands. She did not care what she found, no matter how grisly Her sanity was at stake. As long as she found something! Anything! Her wildest hopes were realized, her greatest horrors proven. She found a human leg. A human foot, and then a mutilated arm lying under the first layer of bloody straw. She probed deeper, her heart in her mouth. What was left of Vera. . .Shelly. . . Andy. . . Debbie. . .Chuck. . .Chili. . .and those black strangers. Fox, the woman. . . and Loco and Ali. . . and Derek, poor wonderful Derek. [...]
“I found them!” she shouted for all the world to hear. “In the barn! They’re all dead! Help me, help meeeee!’
The young sleeping officer must have heard her. The front door of the house was swinging wide when she got there, throwing herself at that door, still screaming and pounding. “Open the door! I found the bodies! Let me in! Help! Please let me, can’t you!”
The door pulled back, opening wide. A huge shadow stood there. Jason. His arm drew back, coming down from on high. Something glittered in the dazzling sunlight of the new day. Chris started to scream again, but not before the machete lopped off her head, bringing the nightmare full cycle.
The young officer left on duty in the house yawned awake. Guiltily he looked at his watch. He had been cat-napping for a good hour. He got up from his chair, stretched and walked toward the master bedroom. ‘There was a curious expression on his face. He reached for the doorknob. He turned it lightly, gently and opened the door.
He peered into the room once more, as he had before, and saw the young girl sleeping peacefully on the big bed. The golden sunlight was still touching the damp blonde hair, making it radiant to see. He waited only a second longer, nodded to himself, and then closed the door again. All was well. The juicy blonde was okay for the time being. Everything was still cool. The smile on Chris’s face was almost angelically serene. The young officer was pleased.
Ed Harris Station KLTZ’s Early Morning Reporter, was back on the job that day Indeed, all of Pinehurst’s bewildered and terrified citizenry wanted to know all they could, and more, about the crime wave circulating in the county Hell, if a maniac was on the loose and people were getting slaughtered like flies, it was high old time the police department got on the ball and caught the person or persons responsible. What were people paying taxes for? [...]
“Local police arrested a man today who walking on the back roads behind Crystal Lake. Calling himself only Abel, the man is an obvious vagrant. He was wearing old hand-me-down clothes and is somewhat of a Bible quoter. He is a tall man with full white whiskers and his eyes are unusually bright. Officials estimate he is well over seventy but he is by no means feeble. It took three officers to bring him into custody Authorities are holding him for further investigation. As of now, no one knows the suspect’s true identity The only note of interest here is that when in custody the old kept saying over and over again, ‘It is Judging Day. The time has come. Repent, ye sinners, and I will take you to Him who will save us all.’ Unquote. And now, tuning to the local sports action...”
All Pinehurst County shuddered. What was going on in their peaceful little community? Only Chris knew, and nobody was listening to her.
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