Lost Scenes: The Discovery Of Harold In Friday The 13th Part 3
One of the most well known and expected aspects in Friday The 13th films is that of the body discovery of friends and colleagues that have been killed by Jason Voorhees, or his mother. In fact, the "discovery" sometimes lends some insight into what happened to characters that were killed off-screen or were shown to die with a quick edit. Usually, the MPAA forces these edited scenes, but in the case of Friday The 13th Part 3, that was not always true.
After the Epilogue of Part 3, where Jason escapes from his shack featured in Friday The 13th Part 2, he sets his sights on the Hockett's (Harold and Edna) to get some new clothes, and possibly food, en-route to a different area of Crystal Lake. Of course, he can't leave without killing the couple to leave another trail of mangled bodies. In the film, Harold is killed by Jason during his trip to the bathroom. Edna hears Harold's screams for help and goes to investigate. She never finds Harold, but does discover a mouse which causes her to back up into Jason and her missing knitting needle. What if Edna actually found Harold and discovered a more horrific scene of death before her demise?
In Michael Avallone's novel, based on the original Friday the 13th Part 3 script, Edna does indeed discover Harold's body in a very black humor sort of way! Read below to find out the entire scene that never made it into the film.
Edna heard the crash from the other room where she sat. She turned off the television set was a frown and a habitual sign. Clumsy Harold again. The man was all thumbs all the time!
“Harold?”
When no answer came, she left her seat on the couch and went to the bathroom door. It would not budge when she pushed against it. At her feet, she saw fluid seeping out from underneath the door. She stooped, dipped her finger in the stuff, and sniffed. The toilet was no flushing inside and it didn’t stop the way it should have, as if someone had left their hand on the lever. “Harold, what’s taking you so long in there? You all right?”
Her nose had already provided her with some kind of answer even if Harold hadn’t. He had been hitting the bottle again!
“Whiskey. I thought so.” She grimly told herself.
She walked back to the desk in the living room, found the skeleton key she had placed there for emergencies such as this and hurried back to the door. But before she could insert it, to her shock she now found the bathroom door opened a crack. A tiny crack, but it was open. For a moment, she was nonplussed.
“Harold. . .?”
Gingerly, she edged the door inward. It swung wide, revealing the boxes, the crates, the dusty curtain.
The flushing noise was continuing unabated, a roaring Niagara.
Almost reflexively, she stooped to pick up the half-empty whiskey bottle. Then she turned toward the maddening sound of the toilet, to confront Harold with the damaging evidence of the bottle.
She screamed at the sight of Harold sitting on the toilet just behind the angled door, a Harold she had never seen before.
Harold, with his pants down, like a grotesque dummy of some kind, something red drooling out of the corners of his mouth, two twin streams of crimson. The meat cleaver thrust outward from his chest. One of Harold’s elbows was jammed against the flushing handle of the toilet tank.
Harold’s dead, sightless eyes were like two bits of broken glass.
The whiskey bottle feel from Edna’s senseless fingers. It hit the floor and shattered, scattering shining shards.
Edna began to scream uncontrollably. From somewhere behind her, the huge hand rematerialize. It did not hold a meat cleaver this time. It held the long, missing, knitting needle.
The hand drove the needle directly into the back of Edna’s skull with such force and strength that the striking end pushed out through her screaming mouth, all in one lightning-like movement.
Edna was gagging on her own blood as she died on the floor without ever knowing why.
Would this scene have been effective in the film? The flushing sound of Harold's dead body on the toilet could have made for a tension building moment before Edna found him. What do you think? Would you have liked to see have this scene in the film?
After the Epilogue of Part 3, where Jason escapes from his shack featured in Friday The 13th Part 2, he sets his sights on the Hockett's (Harold and Edna) to get some new clothes, and possibly food, en-route to a different area of Crystal Lake. Of course, he can't leave without killing the couple to leave another trail of mangled bodies. In the film, Harold is killed by Jason during his trip to the bathroom. Edna hears Harold's screams for help and goes to investigate. She never finds Harold, but does discover a mouse which causes her to back up into Jason and her missing knitting needle. What if Edna actually found Harold and discovered a more horrific scene of death before her demise?
In Michael Avallone's novel, based on the original Friday the 13th Part 3 script, Edna does indeed discover Harold's body in a very black humor sort of way! Read below to find out the entire scene that never made it into the film.
Edna heard the crash from the other room where she sat. She turned off the television set was a frown and a habitual sign. Clumsy Harold again. The man was all thumbs all the time!
“Harold?”
When no answer came, she left her seat on the couch and went to the bathroom door. It would not budge when she pushed against it. At her feet, she saw fluid seeping out from underneath the door. She stooped, dipped her finger in the stuff, and sniffed. The toilet was no flushing inside and it didn’t stop the way it should have, as if someone had left their hand on the lever. “Harold, what’s taking you so long in there? You all right?”
Her nose had already provided her with some kind of answer even if Harold hadn’t. He had been hitting the bottle again!
“Whiskey. I thought so.” She grimly told herself.
She walked back to the desk in the living room, found the skeleton key she had placed there for emergencies such as this and hurried back to the door. But before she could insert it, to her shock she now found the bathroom door opened a crack. A tiny crack, but it was open. For a moment, she was nonplussed.
“Harold. . .?”
Gingerly, she edged the door inward. It swung wide, revealing the boxes, the crates, the dusty curtain.
The flushing noise was continuing unabated, a roaring Niagara.
Almost reflexively, she stooped to pick up the half-empty whiskey bottle. Then she turned toward the maddening sound of the toilet, to confront Harold with the damaging evidence of the bottle.
She screamed at the sight of Harold sitting on the toilet just behind the angled door, a Harold she had never seen before.
Harold, with his pants down, like a grotesque dummy of some kind, something red drooling out of the corners of his mouth, two twin streams of crimson. The meat cleaver thrust outward from his chest. One of Harold’s elbows was jammed against the flushing handle of the toilet tank.
Harold’s dead, sightless eyes were like two bits of broken glass.
The whiskey bottle feel from Edna’s senseless fingers. It hit the floor and shattered, scattering shining shards.
Edna began to scream uncontrollably. From somewhere behind her, the huge hand rematerialize. It did not hold a meat cleaver this time. It held the long, missing, knitting needle.
The hand drove the needle directly into the back of Edna’s skull with such force and strength that the striking end pushed out through her screaming mouth, all in one lightning-like movement.
Edna was gagging on her own blood as she died on the floor without ever knowing why.
Would this scene have been effective in the film? The flushing sound of Harold's dead body on the toilet could have made for a tension building moment before Edna found him. What do you think? Would you have liked to see have this scene in the film?
