Friday the 13th Part 8:
Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
- written January 2004
|
Jason is back for the 6th time and this time he has travel plans. Jason's slumber is disturbed when a yacht floating on Crystal Lake has its anchor scrape along the bottom. This scraping causes electrical current to flow through Jason re-igniting him. Jason takes out the boaters and travels via the boat to the port where other local teens are off to visit the Big Apple. We follow the case of Rennie, a girl scared of the water but determined to enjoy herself. The other classmates are all interested in getting laid and having a good time (not necessarily in that order). While aboard she must deal with her Uncle, who's the Chaperon in charge, as well as a potential boyfriend in Shawn, the ship captain's son. Once Jason appears, people die one by one. But Rennie seems to have a special connection with Jason as she continues to have visions of him as a child. Once most of the crew are dead, the remaining 5 abandon ship and row to shore. Once in NY Harbor, they attempt to escape but Jason has been traveling along the whole time. At this point, Rennie discovers some horrible family secrets while realizing that killing Jason won't be that easy. They better work fast before Jason gets out into the open!
Overall: Lots of problems with this film. Let me start with the fact that many horror films "work" because the killer has his own niche to work in. Freddie Kruger had his new neighborhood, Pinhead had his underworld in the box, and Michael Myers had Haddonfield. When one of these badguys goes outside the normal area, it makes the film go from fantasy and into farce. It doesn't work. So when Jason walks on the subway and down Times Square the air of unbelieveability is high. Jason walking in woods, is ok. Jason being propositioned by whores isn't. Also, Jason appears to have no actual mission in this one. He spent part 2 killing to avenge his mom, parts 3 & 4 to return home, part 6 to kill Tommy, part 7 to kill those who awakened him (he should be grateful), and now who does he have? He killed the 2 who awakened him but not once does he appear to know where he's going or why. We assume the whole time he's off to kill Tina but we never find out why! Next, for some reason Jason is brought to life while chained up when he was only chained in part 6's ending, and in part 7 he was drowned. Small error. Also, after being chased for 85 minutes, the 2 lovers end up finding time to kiss and hug, knowing the badguy is still after them. How unbelievable is this? I half-expected them to have intercourse the way they went at it. Oh, but being chased by a knife-wielding killer isn't stressful enough that smooching is in order? The scenes with Jason drowning, reenacting part 1 are very different here, especially since parts 1-4 portrayed Jason as a deformed child and here we have a handsome young boy. Doesn't work. Finally, if Jason can be drowned (3 times, including in part 1), then how is it he doesn't drown when swimming from the abandoned boat to NY Harbor? Death Count = 20, Overall = 115 (written 1999) 12/26/04 - Ok, so I got the DVD box set for X-mas this year and I took the time to start watching everything. The Chronicles feature of this film has bunches of interviews regarding the making of this film. The Director totally supports his decision to take Jason out of the city and I will still respectfully disagree. I admire the decision to try new things and frankly, the prior sequels were the same boring crap anyway...but again, keep the bad guy in the environment or don't do the film at all. Anyway, the director did indicate he never intended to have so much film on the boat. His idea was basically have the first 30 minutes be about the camp and the boat, the final hour all in NY City. As budgets go, he had to make it more about the boat. You can tell he really wanted to make a good film for the fans but ultimately he didn't get to make all the decisions that mattered and this is how the film got released. So there ya go. My Title: Friday the 13th Part 8: Jason Chases Boaters |
Links to other sites at The Sinning Room
Friday the 13th Review Page
Friday the 13th Part 9 Review Page
Horror Films A-K Review Page
Horror Films Review Page
