Venerdì 13: parte VIII - Incubo a Manhattan

Every movie series has its ups and downs. This was definitely Friday the 13th's "down" For some reason, this movie just wasn't that great. Don't get me wrong, I liked it and all...just didn't have that thrill that the others had. It shouldn't be called "Jason Takes Manhattan". Should be something like "Jason takes a cruise" or something. Although Kane Hodder played a great Jason, the character of Jason in this movie was disproportional. His abilities and whatnot. Some of the characters were the worst in this movie, the acting was pretty bad. I do like some scenes however. But they didn't fully redeem this movie from the horrific outcome. I give this a 5/10, this is probably my least favorite of the series.

What's up with all these high schools in the movies having these insane senior trips? The kids in Final Destination flew to Europe, and these kids go on a freaking cruise? I went to Magic Mountain for my senior trip! Oh, well, I guess the payback is that in the movies they all get killed. Magic Mountain sounds a lot better in that sense. By this point in the lengthy Friday the 13th saga, it's clear that even the writers of these movies (generally the last people to catch on when they come up with idiotic ideas) have noticed that a lot of teenagers going up to Camp Crystal Lake to be rebellious and get slashed all up is getting a little bit old, so in this installment they decided it would be a good idea to have the movie take place on a whole ship full of high school students.

Moving someone like Jason Voorhees from his home on Camp Crystal Lake to an unfamiliar setting is actually a really good idea for generating more interest in the series, because although it's a given in a series like this, I think audiences always like to see familiar characters come back from other stories. So while you already know Jason is going to be in the movie because it's a Friday the 13th, you at least see him in an unfamiliar atmosphere, which removes a lot of the automatic cynicism that is now being generated toward the teenagers who are still stupid enough to go out to the lake. Now we see Jason killing all kinds of kids unsuspectingly on their school trip and then more people on the streets of New York. Amazing the things we find entertaining these days, isn't it?

There are a lot of fairly innovative deaths aboard the ship in the first half of the film, such as a guy relaxing in the sauna getting one of the hot rocks shoved through his stomach, a guy getting impaled on the communication antenna on the boat, and throat slit by a machete, an amazingly botched scene. You would think that since it was so obvious the knife didn't even touch that poor guy, they would at least not have done it in such a close-up.

Ironically enough, the part that I was anticipating to be the most interesting was the least creatively done. After realizing what is going on on the boat (meaning, after just about all of them had been killed), the surviving students on board get the life raft and escape, rowing out into the dark ocean in hopes of hitting land. Eventually, they see the New York City skyline and jump for joy. I was anticipating a creative and fun romp through the streets of New York, maybe with Jason confused at his surroundings and therefore going even more nuts, which would create havoc among the population. I mean, LOOK at the guy. He spent the time between the last movie and this one rotting on the bottom of the lake, and he certainly looks like it through this entire movie.

Unfortunately, the filmmakers not only revealed the modesty of their budget through the lack of anything really interesting happening, they also displayed a massive lack of understanding of the geography of the city of New York. I've never even been there myself, but it seems like pretty much basic logic that they would not design the city so that the dirtiest slums had the finest waterfront property. Meaning, I doubt you could row up to New York from the ocean, right alongside the Statue of Liberty, and climb up onto land, finding yourself surrounded by endless alleyways full of things like gun-toting rapists and standing barrels of toxic waste. New York is a big city, and all cities throughout the world pretty much have to have things like this somewhere, but generally not right on the water and right next to major monuments. I happen to know, for example, that if you go to San Francisco, you won't find the crime-ridden slums right under the Golden Gate Bridge, and I doubt that you would find open barrels of toxic waste ANYWHERE.

But anyway, they certainly find some room for effective comic relief (although notably less than other films in the series), my favorite example of which is the scene where Jason looks curiously at a picture of a hockey player on a billboard wearing exactly the same mask that he has on, a sort of self-realization that has since been overshadowed by the T-1000 pausing to look at a metallic mannequin in Terminator 2. I love that stuff, it gives even the most two-dimensional bad guys a sort of self-consciousness, so that they're not just mindless killing machines but have some semblance of actual thought in their heads, seeing and analyzing their surroundings and pausing when they see something that they don't understand. Makes the inhuman killers more human, you know?

Speaking of which, there was also a scene that was really funny for much the same reason, and feel free to make fun of me for seeing it this way. There's a scene pretty near the end of the film where Jason is pursuing the few remaining kids through the streets of Manhattan, and he passes by some street punks hanging out and smoking on the sidewalk and listening to some ridiculous 80s music ('Livin' inna city ain't no big deal, livin' inna city ain't no big deal. If the drugs don't getcha then the hooka's will….' And so forth…), and as Jason walks by, he kicks their boom-box across the sidewalk. Being tough gutterpunks, of course, they stand up and pull out their switchblades, informing Jason that he just dug his own grave. Jason's response is to turn and face them and lift up his mask so they can see his face. I liked that scene, because like the one above, it shows a self-consciousness. Jason KNOWS that he looks terrifying. He always has, and rotting on the bottom of the lake made it even worse. It also shows that he can deal with people in a way other than cutting them all up and still have it be pretty satisfying to the audience.

The climax of the film is bogged down pretty badly by some heavily botched logic and another massive lack of understanding of the underbelly operations of a major city. First of all, none of the passersby up on the streets take a second look at this gigantic, wet, rotting man walking down the street with a hockey mask. I know New Yorkers can be cold and indifferent, but even THEY would not take something like THAT as normal. But even worse, as the kids escape into the underground sewage system (which does not run through wide walkways beneath the sidewalks in ANY city that doesn't want to smell like it's own waste), they run into a sewage worker who informs them that the sewers (in which they are currently standing) fill with toxic waste every night at midnight ('Exactly ten minutes from now!'), and is then killed by Jason before being able to show them how to get out.

I won't get into the fact that there is no imaginable reason for any underground pipe system to fill with toxic waste every night at a certain time other than to create false suspense for a movie like this, although that is most of the reason that this climax falls so completely flat. We do get something for the kids to run away from and a time-limit for them to get out of the sewer, and we do get a glimpse of Jason's hideous face as he melts into the waste, but it is a completely contrived setting that has no basis in reality, which is the one thing that always makes horror films (or films of almost any genre, for that matter) more effective. Friday the 13th VIII, obviously, is not very concerned with that, which makes it one of the less interesting installments in the saga, although at least it takes place in a different setting so we have a reason to slap our foreheads other than because there is yet ANOTHER group of morons going up to Camp Crystal Lake to taunt the legend of Jason Voorhees.

Renowned film critic Leonard Maltin calls "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan" the highlight of the series. Of course Maltin rated virtually every other "Friday" film a dud, so that's not saying much. In any event, he's wrong. But while this eighth installment is comparatively inferior to most that preceded it, it's not as bad as reputed outside Maltin circles.

"Jason Takes Manhattan" is one of those movies that's impossible to love unconditionally. There are simply too many flaws, from ridiculous plot elements (Jason can teleport???) and an uneven pace to a lack of chills and incompatible attempts at humor. Indeed this entry represents a bitter come-down after the absolutely stellar parts VI and VII.

In many ways, "Jason Takes Manhattan" doesn't feel like part of the franchise. The Jason here isn't scary like we know he can be. His deadly moves, be it the electric guitar impaler or decapitatingly powerful right hook, seem contrived. Kane Hodder looks like a guy in a Jason suit rather than the real deal. Director Rob Hedden fell into the trap of gore for the sake of gore, but that's never been what "Friday the 13th" is all about. It's all in the build-up, and sometimes, even in low-budget '80s horror, less is more.

With all of that said, "Jason Takes Manhattan" isn't a total loss. The mere sight of the rapidly decaying villain storming through the mean streets of the Big Apple is worth at least four stars. Aside from the change of scenery, the film offers a semi-compelling storyline or two. And the masked one does have his frightening moments, smashing through portholes and firing harpoons at horny teens. As usual, the climax -- this time a chase through the city and sewer -- is the highlight.

For better or for worse, "Jason Takes Manhattan" marks the last true "Friday the 13th." This was Paramount's last stab (pun intended) at things before selling the rights to New Line Cinema, which basically destroyed the series with absurd ideas like Jason switching bodies and rampaging through spaceships. Not great, but not godawful, this film carries limited appeal outside of fanboy circles.

After seven previous instalments, three of them at Camp Crystal Lake, it was time for a new locale for Jason to carve up his latest bloodbath. Non-filmmaker Rob Hedden, a former executive at Universal Studios, approached Paramount with the idea of putting Jason Voorhees in Manhattan. They loved the idea and he went to work on the script. Jason was going to jump off the Statue of Liberty, go boxing at Madison Square Garden, go on a killing spree on the Brooklyn Bridge, among others. Then Paramount vetoed the budget for filming in such locations and Rob Hedden had to quickly shift the balance. Jason would take Manhattan, eventually, but first he'd go for a long cruise.

With little continuity to Part VII, Jason is still stuck at the bottom of the lake, where Tina's dad left him in chains. Somehow Camp Crystal Lake has reappeared at the far side of the lake, even though it wasn't there before. A power surge gives Jason new life and the killing begins once more as he climbs on board a pleasure boat and makes light work of the kids inside. Somehow Crystal Lake is now connected to the Atlantic (actually Pacific) Ocean and Jason drifts downstream where he ends up on board the Lazarus, a pleasure cruise for teens who have just graduated from Crystal Lake High.

On board is aspiring writer Rennie (a very cute and innocent Jensen Daggett who was actually a teenager at the time) and her dog, her overbearing teacher/uncle Mr. McCulloch, English teacher Miss Van Deusen, and her estranged boyfriend Sean, along with the usual extra meat for the chopping board. As the ship steams off for New York Jason begins to off the meat in amusing ways.

Eventually, they arrive in Manhattan, for about five minutes before they end up in Vancouver doubling as New York. Part VIII has endured immense criticism over the years for failing to deliver much of the promise made by the title. It's perfectly valid. Why on Earth would Paramount approve the script only to not pony up the cash for the necessary locations? Despite this damning problem it's still fun to see Jason in a new environment. As much as I like most of the movies they really should have taken him out of Crystal Lake sooner and experimented.

Kane Hodder comes back for his second (of four) rounds as Jason and really does embiggen the role with his cromulent performance (Simpsons joke). The Jason make-up is rather terrible for this round, but it's mainly hidden behind the mask. This time he's all slimy and gooey (and rather cute and cuddly, strangely) and game for some welcome humor. There is a scene where they apparently try to make his teleportation powers apparent when he's stalking Kelly Hu's character, but I don't think that this was in the script, it comes across as a joke by editor Steve Mirkovich who tried to have fun with the scene in post-production instead of something that Ron Hedden intended. Though we're talking about a man who wrote a scene where Jason swims many miles to Manhattan docks when the reason he's dead in the first place is because he drowned as a child due to his inability to swim.

There's plenty of shortcomings, but it's slick and fun, if a little goofy. It does deserve criticism, but not hate. Keep a lookout for the scene where Jason smashes through a greasy spoon diner. That angry cook he throws against the wall is none other than Ken Kirzinger who would go on to play Jason fourteen years later (much to Kane Hodder's annoyance) in Freddy vs Jason. I suppose that scene is sort-of Jason vs Jason.

Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan is a guilty pleasure of mine. I know this movie was also cut by the MPAA like was Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood and it is most of people's at least favorite film mine isn't. I am one of the fan's that I think it is not that bad film at all, like many of people are claiming. I will admit Jason Takes Manhattan and Jason X are guilty pleasure of mine and In my opinion are not that bad of a films.

I know this film is more Jason Takes A Cruise Ship then Manhattan because 1 hr is mostly set on the cruise ship and the first hour goes slow around. This movie is slow and boring at first but when the characters come in to the city New York the film get's really quickly around and interesting yes I love movies in the city's. Predator 2 get's a bad rap because the story was set in the city. But in my opinion it is good and a great sci-fi action slasher film. Maniac Cop was also set in the city and it was a good action slasher film. Why everyone dislike this movie I don't know I thought it was an okay film.

Kane Hodder was good as Jason Voorhees I didn't mind him in this movie I thought he was an alright Jason. I like the kills I also like the cast and the soundtracks for this film.

I like Jensen Daggett and Scott Reeves in this movie they are not that bad, this movie also has some action like police car explosions I love that. In here we also have Kelly Hu when she wasn't famous but she is now. Saffron Henderson was hot babe in this movie too bad she was killed in the beginning of the film. Sharlene Martin was great hot sexy babe in this. The gore scenes in my opinion wasn't that bad but were still good.

The reason Part VII and VIII were so toned down in gore and violence is the MPAA took an absolute hatred and developed contempt for these movies. Their minds were already made up before they sat down to review it. Sad to have this kind of censorship in modern times.

I love the song Darkest Side Of The Night by Peter Freddette. Director Rob Hedden also wrote the song for this film Tamara's Bio Project and he performed.

I know I said I dislike Friday the 13th Part 3: 3D and Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning but in my opinion I have simply enjoy this movie more I really like that Jensen Daggett and Scott Reeves were on the train and Jason was chasing them, I like that Scott Reeves electrocuted him and Jason still walked ha ha that was funny.

I love that toxic waste killed Jason on the end of the film, but what was I confused was why Jason suddenly turned in to young boy after he was killed by toxic waste? I don't understand that at all. But the ending was satisfying for me I didn't except a lot but it was alright and it has happy ending. I like happy endings in horror movies and I was rooting for the good guys.

The reason why this movie was on a cruise ship and was filmed in Canada was because they run out of the money so they filmed on a cruise ship mostly scenes in Canada because it was cheap. The last scenes were filmed in New York they didn't had properly money to make it as an awesome movie but I like it.

It is not great but it is at least watchable tough it doesn't take place in Crystal Lake. Before I forgot I love that funny scene in which we see Jason with Hockey Mask and we just see with hockey mask a poster hanging on it and he looks right in the camera boy was I laughing that scene was entertaining.

This movie get's C+ 6/10 the most underrated movie ever this is guilty pleasure of mine I am still going to watch it when I will have time.