Halloween, but thanks to some gruesome kills and a genuinely creepy atmosphere, it became a surprise success. The low cost/high return formula of the original convinced the studio to press ahead with a sequel, which had to overcome the tricky issue of the film's killer – Pamela Voorhees – being quite dead by the end.

Friday The 13th Part 2 overcame this by explaining Pamela's son Jason was still alive, despite the original explaining he drowned as a child. Jason soon became a slasher icon like Michael Myers, due to his iconic hockey mask and creative use of sharp implements. The second film also established a rigid formula that nearly every sequel followed; teenage camp counsellors arrive at Crystal Lake, and Jason stalks and kills them one by one until he comes face to face with the final girl.

Related: Jason Blum Wants To Reboot Friday The 13th

The only survivor of the original Friday The 13th doesn't fare nearly so well in the sequel, with the extended opening revealing Alice is still haunted by her experiences, only for Jason to arrive and kill her with an ice pick. It's a shocking way to open the film, though conflicting stories about why the character died so fast have emerged over the years, including King requesting Alice's death. Now in a Q&A for the first film at the Nite Owl Theatre (via 1428 Elm), King revealed she didn't know Alice was going to die until she arrived on set.

I actually said to them that I would do whatever they needed for the segue, I was theirs. And I was very happy — and I never got a script. Didn’t even get a script. Then there was a car that picked me up, and little did I know, but I get up there and the crew’s almost gone. Everybody had gone. I didn’t realize, but they had actually filmed the movie already.

Nobody was certain of the success of Friday The 13th Part 2, so the studio didn't put much thought into the story. Those involved with the original were opposed to the idea of Jason being alive since it didn't make sense from either a timeline point of view or explain why Pamela Voorhees was killing people to avenge her son's death in the original. Nonetheless, horror fans lapped it up, and a Friday the 13th sequel would arrive annually until the eight instalment Jason Takes Manhattan.

The Friday The 13th franchise is currently stuck in development hell, and there hasn't been a new movie since the 2009 reboot. Rings led to it being cancelled. Now Victor Miller – who wrote the original film and created the character of Jason – has launched a lawsuit attempting to gain control of the series, and until the suit is decided there won't be another movie for the foreseeable future.

More: Jason Voorhees Statue Left In Lake To Scare Divers

Source: Adrienne King Q&A (Via 1428 Elm)