Friday the 13th Part 8 : Jason Takes Manhatten

Alternate titles : None

Tagline : "New York has a new problem."

Friday the 13th Part 8 : Jason Takes Manhatten Oh dear, oh dear. Awful, awful, awful. Just when I thought the series was looking up, Paramount hit us with this abomination, with an extremely misleading title, as very little of this takes place in New York.

So, Jason is still lying dormant at the bottom of Crystal Lake, when a passing boat conveniently snags its anchor on an underwater power cable and gives him a huge electric jolt.

Predictably, Jason re-awakes and bumps off the young couple on the boat in one of the most cringe-worthy scene's I've ever witnessed. Then takes their boat down river and stows away on a pleasure cruiser full of teenage kids who're setting off on a school cruise to New York City. Why? Who the hell knows!!!!

Pretty much the rest of the film is of Jason bumping off the kids and crew members on the boat, with only the last 15mins or so set in New York (most of which was actually filmed in Canada). Meaning a huge dissapointment for anyone expecting Jason on the prowl in the Big Apple.

Obviously they were trying to make another black comedy, but unlike Part 6, the humour just didn't work. Which along with the shoddy direction, annoying synth score, and the fact that Jason's killing methods are just cringeworthy, I would advise giving this film a miss. Unless of course you are a completist and want to see the entire series.

Overall Marks : 3/10.

Terrifying Trivia

Director Rob Hedden was offered the job after directing several episodes of the spin off Friday the 13th TV series.
The original script was set almost entirely in New York, however owing to budgetary constraints the director had to limit almost all the action to studio sets, hence why 95% of the film takes place on board the boat.
The films budget was $5,000,000
The chef in the diner who Jason (Kane Hodder) throws over the counter was stuntman Ken Kirzinger, who went on to play Jason in "Freddy vs Jason". He also doubled as Jason in a couple of scenes.
First film in the series not scored by Harry Manfredini. Instead Fred Molin, who also scored the spin off TV series, provided the soundtrack.
The films intro was shot at a Boy Scout Camp in Vancouver Canada.
The film was heavily censored by the US ratings board to get an R-rating, as a result the killings are virtually blood free. The most notorious cut being a death scene where one of the kids is killed by having darts thrown into his eyes. Instead they had to film an entirely different sequence, showing Jason plunging a red hot rock into the guys chest in the sauna. However even this had to be cut down, as they complained it was too bloody.
First time Jason has been played by the same stuntman twice, with Kane Hodder returning from Part 7.
The original UK video release removed a brief scene where one of the punks pulls out a butterfly knife when they confront Jason owing to the BBFC's policies on "imitable behaviour". This was re-instated for the DVD release after the censors revised it's classification policies.