Chili (a character with an unknown surname, played by Rachel Howard) was the second victim Jason Voorhees claimed in Friday the 13th Part III after he donned his now-iconic hockey mask. The first victim was Vera Sanchez, whom Jason harpooned right after getting the mask from Shelly Finkelstein, who is the victim Chili discovers at the beginning of the above scene. Chili and her boyfriend were the stoner couple acting as the sort of the “chaperones” to the teenagers, know by avid Friday the 13th fans as the “Wild Bunch,” who all paid the ill-fated visit to Higgins Haven, on beautiful Camp Crystal Lake aka “Camp Blood.”
As for Rachel, her IMDb page shows just two acting credits other than this and states that she’s “no longer acting” and is “reportedly practicing medicine in California and lives a quiet life there.” The guys at Scabby Horror published a brief article four years ago, with a link to her website, which reveals she’s a psychologist (not a medical doctor) and includes a photo of her that, in this writer’s opinion (and I know it’s been over 30 years), doesn’t resemble an older version of Chili.
A few commenters have weighed-in at the Scabby Horror post with their reasons as to why Miss Howard quit acting and has declined interview requests regarding the film. Whether those reasons are true, false, or somewhere in between, I’d say it’s a safe bet that Friday the 13th fans won’t be seeing Rachael Howard at any horror conventions anytime soon or ever.
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