Jason Voorhees is the main villain of the Friday the 13th film franchise and an icon of horror pop culture. However, his sinister reputation in the franchise was actually slow-going. For starters, he isn't the killer in the original 1980 film. It's his mother, Mrs. Voorhees, who becomes unhinged after her son drowns while away at Camp Crystal Lake. When Jason actually becomes the killer in the second film, he wears an everyday burlap sack over his disfigured face. His iconic hockey mask doesn't appear until the third film, Friday the 13th Part III.

Part III is the first film in the series to be in 3D and feature the appearance of Jason's famous hockey mask. The mask essentially serves no story or character purpose whatsoever. The script called for Jason to have a new mask replace the burlap sack he wore in the second film, but there were no specifications given in the early stages of production. It was previously established that Jason's face was disfigured and required special effects makeup and prosthetics. One day while performing a lighting check, the film's director Steve Miner called for Jason to show up in a mask. On a whim, a hockey goalie mask was chosen because the 3D supervisor Martin Jay Sadoff was a big hockey fan and happened to have a Detroit Red Wings goalie mask with him.

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In the context of the film, Jason grabs the hockey mask on a similar whim. He is partway through his killing spree in Part III when he picks up a discarded hockey mask to conceal his face and continue on his path of terror. He has no connection to hockey, the mask or even the original owner of the mask. In the 2009 remake film, Jason also starts his murder spree with a burlap sack, but later replaces it with the hockey mask much as he did in Part III. The only difference is, in the remake, the switch is a much more deliberate decision. His burlap sack is knocked off his head and when he goes to retrieve it, he sees the hockey mask and chooses that instead.

Jason Voorhees is a pop culture horror movie icon thanks in part to his distinctive trademark goalie mask. Considering how influential and memorable the style is, it's easy to forget that the mask didn't appear in the original Friday the 13th film or the sequel. It took until the third film for the goalie mask to debut. Even then, it only happened by accident, both behind the scenes and in the context of the film's storyline.

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