It was an uncomfortable shoot, Bacon recalled, what with the craned neck and the fake blood. Bacon also noted that the filmmakers only had the budget to construct one latex throat, so no one could screw up:
“I was on my knees with my head through a hole in the bed, with my neck back. It was very uncomfortable, I had to stay there for a really, really long time. And there was only one neck and chest, so everything had to work perfectly.”
As it so happens, the blood pump — likely just a plastic tube with a rubber squeeze ball on the end — broke just as the arrow started to emerge from Jack’s throat. Bacon did what he could to act like he was dying, and was able to take direction in that moment, but also heard from below him that there was a sudden tech issue. Luckily, while Tom Savini was handling the arrow, his assistant had a split-second spark of resourcefulness:
“Someone was under the bed to push this arrow through, somebody else was going to pump the blood. I had to have the right [look] — I don’t even know how you rehearse getting that look. And they rolled camera and the arrow came through. But the pump broke on the blood plumper, so the special effects person grabbed it and started blowing through it as someone’s saying, ‘Make your eyes roll back.’ And then it was done. And they got it in one take, which was good, because there was no second neck.”
According to Metal Floss, the hand in the scene — presumed to be Jason’s, but actually that of his mother Pamela — was played by still photographer Richard Feury.
