Vendredi 13, chapitre VIII : L'Ultime Retour

Yep this movie is stupidly entertaining, with Jason on a cruise ship.

Is it good? No Is it Bad? No Is It watchable: Sorta Was It Needed? No Why did they make another one? $$$ Money, this one made 20 million, hey it's the 8th sequel, that's pretty good. Would I watch it again? Maybe Rating: 5 outta 10

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.

I'd been told from multiple sources that Jason Takes Manhattan is a weak link in Jasons legacy. Though hardly impressive I'd say its no worse than many of the others.

Finally taking Jason away from the camps we see the majority of the movie take place on a ship with it's perhaps last third in the bustling city of New York.

Same cut away deaths, same lack of storyline, but same Friday 13th charm. Also Kane Hodder is Jason so that's an immediate win right there.

I do have to ask, what is it with Friday 13th and inconsistencies and poor endings? This one is no different and I feel like I could rant about it for an hour but will resist the urge.

Jason Takes Manhattan is a worthy addition to the franchise even if the events that transpired in the finale are not explained in part 9.

The Good:

Kelly Hu

Kane Hodder

Refreshing new setting

The Bad:

Why'd they have to kill off such a great character so early?

Ridiculous ending

Weak deaths

Jason Takes Manhattan has a pretty bad rep in the horror community, but I'm not sure why. Does it make a lot of sense? Probably not, but the filmmakers some so eager to please that I can't help but hop on the cruise ship and go along for the ride.

By this point, the franchise was obviously running on fumes having stretched out an already thin idea into 7 movies, but there's still a good bit of energy here. Yes, the film should probably be titled Jason Takes A Cruise (most of the film takes place on a cruise ship that's on its way to Manhattan), but he had to get there somehow.

The cast is fairly appealing and likable enough which isn't always a given with these kinds of movies. The death scenes are inventive, if light on gore (then again, the MPAA had it out for these movies since the original, so that's probably their fault), and the pacing is pretty tight. It's not the best Friday sequel by a long shot, but it's far from the disaster everyone makes it out to be.

'Friday the 13th' may have been panned by critics when first released but since then it is one of the most famous and influential horror films, the franchise containing one of horror's most iconic villains. The film is popular enough to become a franchise and spawn several sequels of varying quality and generally inferior to the one that started it all off.

'Jason Takes Manhattan', the seventh sequel and the eight film in the series, is one of the lowest rated 'Friday the 13th' films on IMDb. Apart from a couple of interest points, personally have to agree with those who consider 'Jason Takes Manhattan' one of the series' weakest (whether it's the very worst is debatable). It's not terrible and not quite as bad as some have said, but it is lacking in a lot of areas.

There are merits here. When it comes to the photography, 'Jason Takes Manhattan' is a strong contender for the best shot 'Friday the 13th' film, very stylish and crisp with a lot of atmosphere.

Regarding the music, the music has always been one of the best things consistently, that is the case here, once again being hauntingly eerie and quite catchy even.

Kane Hodder returns as Jason and does a valiant job, and very nearly is as spine chilling as he was in the previous film (the make-up lets him down though but the performance itself is spot on). A couple of the deaths are memorable.

It was also nice to have a change in location, the most interesting thing of 'Jason Takes Manhattan' and what makes it stand out among the rest in this regard.

However, 'Jason Takes Manhattan' has a lot of severe drawbacks. And no, the misleading misnomer of the film's title, considering there is too little of Manhattan and it takes too long to get there, is actually the least of its problems. Of the acting the only good performance comes from Hodder, everybody else is either irritating or with the range of a broomstick, meaning the film is one of the series' worst acted.

The dialogue also makes the film one of the series' worst-written, not just crude, tonally muddled and simplistic but sense is pretty much neglected. The stereotypical characters are the most bland and annoying ones of the series, with the most illogical and stupidest decision making. Am aware that these assets have rarely been strengths in the 'Friday the 13th' films, but not to this extent in comparison to the previous films.

Storytelling is also not great to put it mildly. It takes silliness and senselessness to extreme breaking point, the concept poses a lot of confusion and errors in continuity and too much of the film is too ridiculous to even be entertained by it let alone take seriously. The climax is one of the series' most confusing (incoherent even), head-scratching and laziest. One also feels every minute of the rather too long length, due to the story being a stale rehash pretty much that feels tired.

Make-up and effects are subpar, Jason looks both cheap and goofy, none of the unsettling gruesomeness of 'The New Blood'. Like that film, The humour is more goofy and annoying than tongue-in-cheek and witty (a big problem considering the over-reliance on it, some of the humour felt unintentional too), there is a real shortage of suspense, far too tame scares and the creativity and creepiness of the death scenes are wildly variable and even the best of them are nowhere near close to being on par with the series' most memorable.

Overall, not terrible but rather lacklustre. 4/10 Bethany Cox