Alternate versions

The UK video version was cut by 1 second to remove a brief shot of a butterfly knife being twirled. The cut was restored in 2002.

A "Deluxe Edition" DVD was released with over 10 minutes of "Slashed Scenes" that feature extensions on deaths and dialog such as more gore on Jim's Death, and the never before seen original death where the Boxer gets darts shoved in his eyes.

Some network television airings feature altered shots of Jason when he decapitates Julius

German CIC Video VHS release was cut for violence by 67 seconds to secure a "Not under 18" rating. Some death scenes were shortened to reduce violence. The 2002 DVD release waived this censorship. Also, in 2009, the movie was removed from the BPjM index list, and shortly afterwards, the uncut version was re-rated to "Not under 16" by the FSK.

As described by the director on the DVD commentary, the following shots were cut or altered in order to receive an MPAA rating of "R" instead of an "X":

• Jim's death was much gorier. Originally, Jason shoves the entire spear gun through his stomach, then rips it out, causing Jim's intestines to slide out along with a large amount of blood.
• Suzy's death was disturbingly gruesome. Jason shoves the spear through her stomach and twists it non-stop. There were close-up shots of Suzy's mouth gurgling blood and blood rapidly oozing from the spear wound. J.J.'s death was an alternate shot. In the original shot, we actually see Jason smashing J.J.'s head with the guitar.
• Tamera's death in the original print was completely different. Originally, Jason repeatedly stabs her with a mirror shard in a shower while she's completely nude. Blood rapidly oozes from her stab wounds and Jason keeps stabbing non-stop. Later on, when Eva finds Tamara's corpse, the original shot was one featuring Tamera's fully nude body with dozens of shards of glass protruding from it.
• The scene where the uncredited boxer gets the hot sauna rock shoved into his chest cavity was a re-shoot. Originally, Jason jammed two darts through his eye sockets, but it was deemed too graphic, and the MPAA forced the crew to re-shoot it. Even with the re-shoot, the scene had to be trimmed. Originally, there was more blood and steam, but the MPAA found even that to be too graphic.
• The scene where the captain gets his neck sliced by Jason's Bowie knife was shot five different ways. The director's desire was a shot of a huge gash wound spurting blood, but the MPAA made him choose the least gory shot, which is what appears in the final cut of the movie.
• Wayne's death originally featured him being electrocuted for a few seconds longer.
• The full version of Miles' death scene actually saw him land on the spikes, rather than just showing the aftermath as we see in the "R" rated version.
• When Jason kills the first gang banger, the uncut print featured Jason's hand and the needle going all the way through the gang banger's body.

On the DVD commentary, the director stated that the original version of the movie was over two hours long, and he cut the following scenes for time restrictions:

• Several scenes with Miles, who is shown to have been an Olympic diver.
• A brief scene at the beginning in which Sean hears that Rennie won't be on the cruise, and is disappointed.
• Several additional scenes of Tamera and Eva together were cut.
• Before Rennie gets pushed into the water, there was originally a longer conversation between her and Colleen.
• A brief shot of Rennie touching Jason after he is electrocuted on the subway tracks.