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Camp Blood marks decade of horror

“Friday the 13th” fans will hear plenty of “ki ki ki, ma ma ma,” a sound effect misheard as “ch ch ch, ha ha ha” in the movies, during The Mahoning Drive-in’s Camp Blood X.

The horror franchise’s first 10 films, 1980’s “Friday the 13th” through 2001’s “Jason X,” will screen in 35 mm Aug. 29-Sept. 1 at the Lehighton theater, Seneca Road, off Route 443.

“Final girls” Adrienne King and Amy Steel — survivors in the first and second films — will attend Aug. 30 and 31, with King also appearing Aug. 29.

King played Alice, an artist, while Steel portrayed Ginny, a child psychology major.

Sean S. Cunningham directed the first film, in which teen counselors fall victim to an unknown killer at Camp Crystal Lake, aka Camp Blood. On an estimated budget of $550,000, Paramount Pictures’ “Friday the 13th” grossed nearly $40 million domestically.

Steve Miner directed the 1981 sequel, which introduced pre-hockey-mask-wearing maniac Jason Voorhees.

This year marks the first all “Friday the 13th” Camp Blood.

Since 2015, the Mahoning drive-in has worked with Philadelphia-area film collective Exhumed Films on the annual event.

Camp Blood, created to combine 1980s slasher films with drive-in fun, also includes games.

“You are usually chased by Jason during the three-legged and Crystal Lake Morgue Body Bag races,” said Harry Guerro, Exhumed Films co-creator/programmer. “We also have an ‘eyeball’ toss and tug-of-war competitions in which our guests often get involved.”

Word-of-mouth has long left King and Steel wanting to visit. For King, Mahoning has “been on my bucket list for at least a decade. When I had the opportunity to make it, I was pulled out of the canoe,” the latter a nod to a scene in the first film.

Born in Oyster Bay, New York, King saw horror films prior to her breakout role. In her first year as a fine arts major at a New York City college, she watched 1973’s “The Exorcist” through fingers over her face.

Though “The Exorcist” scared King off horror films for a while, she landed full force in the genre with “Friday the 13th.”

Filmed at a Boy Scout camp in Blairstown, New Jersey, the stunt-double and prop-free movie featured, among others, Kevin Bacon and Betsy Palmer.

King, who returned to the New Jersey camp 40-odd years later to watch “Friday the 13th” on a big screen, had a reduced role in the second film. The chief reasons? Her then-stalker, at a time with no stalking laws, and “the boys club not wanting to pay any money to girls.”

She discussed the stalking upon meeting fans, which she calls “my campers,” for the first time at a 2004 convention.

With fans helping mend the small part of herself that had not healed, King again opened herself up to on-camera roles.

Two of King’s films in the last decade, 2014’s “Tales of Poe” and 2021 fan film “Jason Rising,” also featured horror-convention buddy Steel.

Born in San Francisco and raised in Westchester, Steel was not a horror fan growing up. She auditioned for “Friday the 13th Part 2” after observing the first film’s runaway success.

“At that time, I was interested in doing John Hughes’ movies. Horror was like a B genre. As a young actor, you want to be in the A. In hindsight, I should have dug in to horror.”

While shooting the second movie, Steel did not love the middle-of-the-night, cold, creepy conditions — “human beings are not nocturnal animals” — though she adores her character.

“I feel grateful to have been Ginny. No matter how many wolves are at the door, Ginny could fend them off. When things get tough, I show up and stand my ground.

“That’s how a lot of people felt about Jason,” she continued. “He kept coming back and standing his ground. He couldn’t be killed off.”

After receiving 50 pages of the third film’s script, Steel turned down the project.

Whether Steel or King appear in A24’s “Crystal Lake” prequel series for Peacock — the franchise’s first official work since a 2009 reboot film — remains to be seen. Brad Caleb Kane recently took over as showrunner after Bryan Fuller’s departure in May.

For now, Camp Blood X attendees will savor every bloody 35 mm moment in the 10 films.

Adrienne King, below, in a scene from 1980’s “Friday the 13th,” and Amy Steel, above, in a scene from 1981’s “Friday the 13th Part 2,” will appear at The Mahoning Drive-In Theater’s Camp Blood X. The event runs Aug. 29-Sept. 1 at the Lehighton area theater. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
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