Customer Reviews

Friday the 13th, Part VIII - Jason Takes Manhattan

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(25)
2 star:		(26)
1 star:		(30)

 

 

this is one boring movie.i had to fight from turning it off before the
end.there are a couple of funny moments,particularly the reaction(or
rather non reaction)of the New Yorkers to Jason.mostly though,the movie
is just silly.i guess most of the movies in the series are silly,but
this movie is silly even in the confines of the series.for me,it's the
worst one of the first 8.but that's just me.my vote for Friday the 13th
Part VIII:Jason takes Manhattan is a 2/5

Jason's my main man, and you know that - but Friday the 13th Part VIII - Jason Takes Manhattan is absolutely horrible in just about every way imaginable. It is far and away the worst film in the entire series. I simply have nothing good to say about this film. The only way I can even stomach its existence is to theorize that Freddy Vs. Jason might never have been made were it not for this cinematic atrocity. In other words, had this film not been such a flop at the box office (earning little more than fourteen million dollars), Paramount might never have sold the franchise to New Line Cinema, and I don't think we would ever have seen a battle royale between Jason and Freddy had the two slasher icons not been brought together under the same network.

Warning: beware of plot holes and inconsistencies of gigantic proportions. I won't even bother to tell you how Jason gets resurrected from the bottom of Crystal Lake yet again because it is extremely hokey. Suffice it to say that Jason's back, and this time he makes his way onboard a ship full of graduating seniors headed for a visit to New York City. As luck would have it, Rennie Wickham (Jensen Daggett) defies her uncle's wishes and decides to come along - despite her intense fear of water (which may or may not have something to do with Jason). Her uncle (Charles McCulloch) is one of the school's teachers and the man in charge of the big trip to the Big Apple - and he is an insufferable, stuck-up bore with some serious control issues when it comes to his guardianship of Rennie, whom he took in to his home after her parents were killed in a car wreck some years earlier. Guess what happens? Jason gets to work killing everyone on board the ship, and then he goes after the small band of survivors who manage to find a dock and escape into and under the mean streets of the Big Apple.

Even Kane Hodder was unable to show the least bit of inspiration or excitement in his work as Jason this time around. The whole film is just surreal, partly because it takes Jason out of his natural element, but mostly because the script is awful, the cinematography is awful, the acting is awful, and the ending is just ridiculously lame. I don't know what writer/director Rob Hedden had going through his head during filming. You have a dog that disappears and then reappears with no explanation, Rennie periodically sees vision of a young Jason trying to reach out for her, pointing to a past connection that would never fit into any possible Friday the 13th timeline, and the ending is just plain stupid. Then there's the soundtrack featuring some of the worst music I've ever heard in my life. Between that and the female actresses' hairstyles, I just have to hope and pray that young people today and in the future don't pick up this film and start to think it represents even the first thing about life in the glorious 1980s - or the otherwise sound Friday the 13th series as a whole.

Um, let's see: Jason's reanimated and on the killing rampage again, using just about every edged weapon at his disposal to systematically take out several teens until the prime hero/heroine finds a way to end his reign of terror. Oh yeah, that ain't a familiar scenario at all, heh...

But wait-- we can't forget a few elements the writers have thrown into the mix to try and give this a more distinctive look and feel from all the other 'Friday' flicks. Ya know, like the new "ship-of-death" and Manhattan settings. Or the primary heroine's weird quasi-hallucinatory 'flashbacks' linked to Jason and her legal guardian that pop up from time to time, none of which really make any sense or have any logic to 'em. Then there's the whole Jason 'death' scene, which pretty much blew all laws of logic and plausibility right out the door! Oh God, why do I torture myself by watching this trash?! But the sad thing about it is, the next time I visit the local rental store I'm gonna pick up the next installment in this horror schlock-fest to view and review! I am NOT a well person...

On a bit of an upside, I did get treated to the funniest Jason-kill I've ever seen when he literally knocks one teenage victim's block off! I was so astounded by how cheesy this scene looked, I hadda rewind the tape and watch it again to see if I really saw what I saw! Sure 'nuff, I did! AH HAHAHAHAHAHAHA-HAAAH!!! Oh man, that bad-boy was ten times funnier than all of Jason's other so-called 'scary' kills in this movie combined! Though it's not quite as guffaw-inducing as the scene from 'Killer Klowns From Outer Space' that it blatantly ripped off...

'Late

Not the best in the series, but Jason in a new setting! An unwelcome stowaway on the graduation trip to New York, he starts in killing the teens one at a time. The best part of the movie is when they actually get to New York, which is about the last 30 minutes of the movie. Humorous to see my favorite killer chasing teens through subway tunnels and well lit streets and NO ONE SEEMS TO NOTICE! But most of the movie takes place on the boat. Fast forward to when Jason really takes Manhattan! If you don't, Jason will come for you! Tonight!

I just ordered this DVD, and I cannot WAIT for it to arrive. I've never seen this movie. I haven't read any reviews, and I've avoided hearing anything about it -- I don't want anything to spoil the surprise. I've closed my eyes and copied/pasted any comments I've stumbled upon into one big document so I can go back after I've seen the movie, to read what other big "Friday the 13th" fans have to say!

I'm giggling in anticipation of seeing Jason Voorhees tear his way through New York City for at least 90 minutes of carnage!

More than a decade years ago, I was coerced into attending a screening of "Star Trek V: the Final Frontier." Before that film began, the theater dimmed to blackness. A trailer began. The screen blazed with the Manhattan skyline at night; the speakers pulsed with the melody of Frank Sinatra's famous song. The camera panned left, fixing on the back of a lone figure gazing at Gotham's towering lights. Closer...closer the frame crept to the onlooker until * GASP! * he whipped around to reveal the famous battered hockey mask that haunts us all. Screams and cheers filled the theater; it was a magically horrifying moment.

I also remember the fabled "I [heart] NY" version of the movie's poster, with Jason ripping through. Legal issues forced the recall of that brilliant marketing design, sadly lost to the mists of time.

Thanks to a strict Creationist upbringing, I was never allowed to fulfill my desperate wish to see "Jason Takes Manhattan" in a movie theater, and my rigorous home-schooling prevented me from obtaining a home-video version before this day.

However, the release of "Freddy vs. Jason" spurred me to seek out the temptations of my adolescence.

Finally, I'm on the verge of laying all my daydreams and speculation to rest. I can only imagine the hundreds of creative ways the filmmakers will utilize Jason's skill for slaughter in an ultra-urban setting. Subway cars, manhole covers, skyscraper spires, hot dog carts...these are things nightmares are made of! Whether they're used BY Jason or AGAINST him, the trappings of a big city can be used to terrible effect on the human (or inhuman) body. There's no way such potential can fail to re-invigorate the sagging "Friday the 13th" films.

I'm also hoping for a cute Central Park reference to Jason's habit of stalking people through woods--that would be a clever nod to the series' tradition.

Plus, thanks to my connections in the NYC Sanitation Department, I know for a fact that Manhattan's sewers are flooded with toxic waste every night. I'm sure this is a detail the writers will have worked into the screenplay somehow.

But I'm MOST excited to learn exactly HOW Jason makes it to the Big Apple (though I hope they don't spend too much time on the issue). I'm not positive exactly where Crystal Lake is supposed to be located, but with Jason's thirst for depravity and sin, it's not hard to believe he would home in on New York City like a beacon. Perhaps a multi-state-long trail of corpses simply traces his path across the Hudson River.

And just think of the possible body-count! In the past, Jason has been limited to a small number of victims (per movie) who happen across his neck of the woods. But with the throngs of people who inhabit New York, I'm sure there will hardly be time for dialogue in this film!

Some might say I'm setting my hopes too high. I scoff -- how could a reputable film studio like Paramount Pictures ever fail to make the most of the wealth of ideas presented by placing one of their most iconic horror properties in a completely new environment? Jason Voorhees + New York City = can't miss hit!

Best of all, thanks to the magic of DVD, I'll be able to revisit that trailer...the one that, for me, started it all!

There's no way I'll be disappointed!

This film is nowhere near a classic, but it has a few memorable parts.(SPOILERS)One of my favorite scenes is when the gang members are mad at him and start talking trash then he takes off his mask and shows them his face;it was so funny.Then the gang members are like oh it's cool man where sorry then they run off.Some of the film is very silly.If your a fan check this one out if your an average viewer don't waste your time.After an electricity from a torn cable revives him on the river bottom where his body lies, masked slasher Jason Voorhees stows away on a cruise ship carrying a graduating class of Crystal Lake teens to the Big Apple. Along the way, the ship braves a storm, which is nothing compared to the violence that the hockey mask-wearing psychopath inflicts on the passengers. Upon arriving in New York (in the film's final twenty minutes), Jason's ways don't seem out of place, and the locals hardly pay him any mind.(5/10)

How often can one series have so many horrible sequals that could of been really good!

ONE OF MY FAVORITES IN THE SERIES I LOVED THE OPEING WITH NEW YORK AND THE SONG DARKEST SIDE OF THE NIGHT THEN TWO TEENS MAKING LOVE ON A BOAT JASONS RESURECTED BY LIGHTNING AND KILLS ONE WITH A HARPON AND RIPS OUT HEART AND HIS GIRLFRIEND IS GUTTED WITH A HARPON THEN A BUNCH OF TEENS ON A TRIP TO THE BIG APPLE AND JASON COMES ABOARD AD KILLS A GUIATAR GIRL WITH INTO SLAMED INTO HER FACE I LOVED THE CHARACTER RENE AND HER BOYFRIEND THERE REALASIONSHIP ISA STRONG POIT IN THE MOVIE THE NEW YORK SETTING IS GORGEUS I LOVED THAT JASON KILLS MOST OF THE CHARACTERS ON THE BOAT THOUGH ABOT 14 OR 15 OR MORE BUT IN NEW YORK THE ACTUAL CITY HE ONLY KILLS 7 PEOPLE ONE IS BURNED TO DEATH IN A CAR AFTER A CRASH ONE OF THE TEACHERS IT STILL COUNT IT WAS JASONS FAULT BASICALY A MUST BUY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Perhaps one of the most hated movies of all-time has Jason Voorhees who secretly sneeks on to a boat on its way to Manhattan for some kind of high school thing. The janiter on the ship is like Crazy Ralph from the first 2! When the survivors get of the ship in to a life boat they sail to the Big Apple! Then you see drug addicts in the streets and tons of stuff from the 80's. Then Jason tracks them down...

Dont bother thinking the title "Jason Takes Manhatten" will make you think this film is about Jason in New York! The title should have been "Jason Goes To Manhatten...Eventually"!

Jason is yet again back and boards a run down cruise ship with a bunch of teenagers heading on a feild trip to New York...why Jason boarded the ship is anyone's guess? But he does, he does his typical stalking and slashing aboard the ship! Most of the movie takes place on the ship! Then for about the final 10 minutes of the movie a few of the members on the ship have managed to make it to New York alive. And Jason has followed. Its over the top, unbeleivable, the story is stupid and ending will leave you thinking "what a load of ****"!

If your intrested in seeing it, Rent it first if you can? I'd only buy it if it was cheap as chips or wanting the whole F13th collection and needed it for the set! Other wise its just not worth while!