A barking dog was supposed to get kicked by Jason Voorhees in 1989’s Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. Kane Hodder, the actor behind the hockey mask, says he objected before the scene was filmed because it crossed a boundary he’d set for the killer he played.
“I just knew that action wasn’t in Jason’s character,” Hodder said in 2020. “Jason doesn’t harm animals.” He described Jason’s motive as wanting “to get revenge on summer camp workers for letting him drown as a child.”
Hodder believed Jason should never hurt a child, either. An adult human, he said, “could be a potential threat, so that’s the one whose head he’s going to cut off.”
Part VIII was Hodder’s second film as Jason, and he said that gave him “a little clout” to challenge the script. In his account, writer-director Rob Hedden “ultimately agreed,” and the dog kick was never shot. Hodder went on to play Jason in four films, becoming the first actor to return to the role.
That boundary was Hodder’s own interpretation of the character. In a 2013 Reddit AMA, he said Jason “identifies with animals and kids,” adding, “It’s the adults that are assholes.” He also acknowledged, “I may have built up some of the backstory about that.”
The franchise does carry a complication. Part 2 includes a mangled dog, though its killer isn’t shown onscreen and Hodder wasn’t yet playing Jason. And in Jason Takes Manhattan itself, Rennie’s Border Collie, Toby, survives to reunite with her in Times Square.
