The Night Friday The 13th Came Back To Crystal Lake

Anyone who has left home for an extended amount of time and then returned to their childhood stomping grounds immediately is hit with a strong feeling of nostalgia and then a rush of fond memories come flooding back. A homecoming is a natural progression of life as a person or community can come full circle and a journey will feel complete. It was inevitable, then, that Jason and Mrs. Voorhees would go back to the town that started it all for the Friday the 13th franchise.

This merger of past and present was quite the event and unfortunately was missed by our website in the Summer of 2007.

On Friday July 13th, 2007 Blairstown, New Jersey screened the original Friday the 13th right in town on Main Street., the very same street that Annie (Robbi Morgan) walks down to find a ride to Camp Crystal Lake. The film was screened at Roy’s Hall and can be seen in the photos below.

According to the Blairstown Theater Festival website, Roy’s Hall use to be a silent film theater up until the early 1930’s. It was permanently shut down in the 1960’s and was most recently reopened for film viewing after extensive renovations were completed around 2005. The 2007 screening of Friday the 13th was a big hit and sold out all three showings that night and was covered by the New York television station WPIX-TV.

There was a video with coverage of the Friday the 13th screening by the station, but it has since been removed from their website and cannot be found. In the mean time, check out some photos from the event below including some interior shots of the converted auditorium! If you want more information on Roy’s Hall, check out the Blairstown Theater Festival. A big thanks to that website for the information and pictures from town.