Director - Rob Hedden (Friday the 13th: The Series, Star Trek: Enterprise)
Starring - Todd Caldecott (21 Jump Street, Fear), Tiffany Paulsen (Daredreamer, Love 101), and Kane Hodder (Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings, Jason X)
Release Date - 1989
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "New York has a new problem"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection)
Rating (out of 5):
When I was in elementary school I watched the entire Friday the 13th series with my grandmother for the first time, at least the movies that were released up to that point. I had watched Jason Goes to Hell several times before this but I had never seen most of the other films before. I was at my grandmother's house for the night and one of the channels was running a marathon. We decided to check them out and I watched them and fell in love with them. They were all fun but I was so shocked by how much better most of the movies were than Jason Goes to Hell. One that always stuck out with me was the 8th installment. Jason Takes Manhattan is never the Friday the 13th movie that fans talk about but I absolutely loved it. In fact, I would say that it's probably my favorite in the series. I know it's not as good as the other films but, to me, I have the most fun with it.
This one, once again, follows Jason as he is accidentally freed from his watery grave by a boat anchor. He then finds himself aboard a cruise liner going from Crystal Lake to the Big Apple taking students there as part of their class trip.
I know Jason Takes Manhattan is one of the weaker installments. It has a chaotic and unorganized story, it has some of the worst character out of the entire franchise, and there is a complete subplot that not only doesn't make sense but it's so absurd that most people can't look passed but I fucking love it. With that being said, I'm not so self absorbed that I don't know when something is bad. I know it's bad but holy fuck do I have fun with it. The acting in this one is easily the most lackluster of any of the films. The characters are flat and painfully cliched with the cast giving it a minimal effort. I watched a bunch of direct to video horror titles from the 90s when I was growing up and this movie puts a good bit of them to shame. The story for this one is outlandish before you even toss in the sub-plot following the film's lead who was almost drowned by the kid Jason in the lake. Yea, you read that right. The sub-plot follows the film's lead, when she was younger, who was dragged under water by the child Jason...the same Jason that actually grew up into adulthood. Why, you ask? Because, fuck you. That's why. It makes no sense but I guess they used it as a distraction to make everyone forget that Jason just boarded a cruise liner and is headed to New York. I know this is stupid and most fans hate this but I fucking loved him in New York. This was a welcomed change from the previous 7 films that was rather becoming stale. The outlandish changes in recent films didn't really bring about change. The sub-plot should have been scrapped and the New York adventure should have been fully embraced. Finally, this film still delivers on the kills. We get the standard slasher fair with plenty of blood, practical and make-up effects, and the best looking Jason to date. Overall, Jason Takes Manhattan is not the most original or important installment in the series but I will always have a soft spot for it. However, it is one of the weaker films in the series regardless of how I feel about it. I still recommend checking it out.
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