Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)

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Up until now, Jason has been a home turf kind of killer. A trapdoor spider, awaiting his victims to stumble onto his territory so he can pop up, lash out and claim another unsuspecting victim. But it's only a matter of time until all of the ideas seem to have been done, and it's time for our Mr. Voorhees to head out into the real world and spread his wings. Fans were ready for Jason's biggest adventure when this chapter came along! Surely, taking Jason out of Crystal Lake and into the big city is a cool idea, right?

I still believe that, on paper, this concept is a good way to change things up, especially in 1989, when Manhattan was basically known as a crime-riddled area. There was some potential for Jason to amp up his anti-hero status, seeing him decapitate people like killers and rapists and whoever else we think might deserve the Jason treatment. However, a low budget for a horror movie can also be its undoing. It turns out, New York City is a pricey place to film, so the majority of this chapter takes place on the cruise ship... if you can even call it a cruise ship. So if you come into this movie expecting something more along the lines of 'Scream VI', you're in for a major disappointment.

For me, this is among the worst of the bunch, and that's frankly saying a lot. Mostly, these movies are a guilty pleasure, reflecting the slasher genre of the 80s. But there are still good chapters and bad chapters. This mainly "bad chapter" opens with the resurrection of Jason (Kane Hodder) via electricity from an anchored boat, which also provides him with his first couple of victims. The next day, a cruise ship is boarded from Crystal Lake by a graduating senior class, ready to head to New York City. Among them is our new lead, Rennie (Jensen Daggett), someone trying to overcome her aquaphobia, which somehow seems to tie in with Jason's drowning.

Rennie also has to deal with her overbearing uncle/teacher, Charles (Peter Mark Richman) who is the most obvious secondary villain to this. But she does take her inspiration from her teacher, Colleen Van Deusen (Barbara Bingham) who sees her as a shining star when it comes to her creativity. One is almost immediately reminded of the relationship between Tina, her Mom and Dr. Crews from the previous film. In the meantime, our other lead, Sean (Scott Reeves), is the kid who doesn't wanna follow in his sea captain father's footsteps. Neither character is particularly memorable, however, and it makes one either miss some of the previous heroes or finally conclude that this whole thing has officially run its course.

For once, I'm not gonna do a whole roll call for the cast because they are all incredibly "throw-away" with, perhaps, two exceptions: Julius (Vincent Craig Dupree), a winning boxer who really takes the fight to Jason and even goes one on one with him, weaponless, and Tamara Mason (Sharlene Martin) who, while not very important, does still play a tertiary villain here, much like Melissa, again from the previous film. So, just to break it all down, what we have here is essentially the exact same relationship dynamic between characters 'The New Blood' had, along with false promises of the film taking place in New York.

To be perfectly fair, a few of the ship's survivors (including Jason) do eventually make it to New York, as the film suggests. But besides a few establishing shots, plus one good scene of characters taking in Times Square, it could be any old city - and actually is, as most of it was filmed in various back alleys of Vancouver, BC, Canada and Los Angeles, CA. Once they are here, things do get kinda fun with Jason, and there are a few subtle laughs to be had. But it's just not enough to save the film. Sincerely, anything I do like about this film is based around humorous moments involving Jason, the film's jazzy soundtrack (I actually enjoy "The Darkest Side of the Night"), and seeing it as a film that's almost in the "so bad, it's good" category.

With all-around forgettable one-off characters, following the formula of the previous film and the overall disappointment that only about 30% of this movie takes place in New York instead of the other 70%, this is definitely one of the weakest entries in the series. While a lot of Jason's films can be considered guilty pleasures, this is one of three in this review series that I consider to be just plain bad, but not without a good moment or two. Unfortunately, this is the beginning of a chain of three, which makes it a crying shame that Kane Hodder, who may be the best Jason Voorhees there ever was, got stuck with them. All I can say is the man works well with what he has! But for me, 'Jason Takes Manhattan' marks the beginning of the end for Jason Voorhees.

2/5

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