Friday the 13th Part VIII - Jason Takes Manhattan

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Start spreadin' the news... Jason Voorhees, the cleaver-hoisting man in the hockey mask, has finally left Crystal Lake behind and taken his vagabond shoes to the Big Apple. Actually, Jason spends most of his time on a cruise ship bound for Manhattan, carving up the unluckiest high school graduation party ever. You'd think the change of scenery might breathe new life, or death, into the series, but chapter 8 is standard stalk 'em and slash 'em fare, albeit with a nautical slant. The title hints at a comic tone, but except for the one-joke idea that Jason fits right into the menacing urban scene, forget it. (The comedy would wait until the surprisingly entertaining Jason X.) This one does have a pretty leading lady, Jensen Daggett, whose visions of the young drowned Jason are occasionally creepy. The grown-up Jason, like "these little-town blues," is melting away. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

The Worst in the "Friday the 13th" Series of the series.......2007-09-07

If not for the travesty that is Jason X, this would be the worst movie in the series. I tend to not give movies 1 star ratings because there's usually something redeemable in every movie. No, not this time. Everything in this movie is bad, the acting, the plot, the script, the "fauz" location, even though I know why more of the movie didn't take place in New York. Even the ending was terrible.

I can't say that I recommend this movie to anyone. The Friday the 13th buffs may even want to pass on this one.

what a find.......2007-09-04

my husband really wanted this movie and you were the easiest one to get it from and it was cheaper!

I Liked it Much Better When the Muppets Took Manhattan.......2007-07-25

I'm not so sure there is a lot to say. My brother asked me to watch and review Friday the 13th part 6: Jason Lives and I told him I would do better than that and I would review every last one of these movies because I tend view them as one phenomenon and rarely as films that stand to be judged alone, despite their amazing record for failing to deliver accurate continuity. Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan is one of the silliest movies ever made. Its dialogue, effects, story and overall direction are so horribly bad it allows parts seven and nine to sort of hide behind it. Although I've found time to skewer those films as well. In my eyes, part 8 is not quite the worst of the series but its real close.

Jason is electrocuted again from an underwater cable that hit a boat's anchor. He wakes up and jumps aboard the boat. The boat is on its way to New York and is full of young adults ripe for some killing. It takes a while before the boat actually gets to New York, which I'm sure bothered some people because the audience was likely looking forward to seeing Jason rampage through a different locale and the title certainly suggested more of that than we actually get. So Jason hangs out in a boat and has ample time to murder quite a few people. The boat sinks and only five people remain. Jason gradually kills them during his run through the Big Apple. The highlight of the movie is actually when he takes about twenty or so punches to the head from a boxer and then he punches the boxer's head off. Classic campy killing that keeps my smiling years later. Jason ends up in the sewer and gets drowned by a flood of toxic waste. For some reason it shows Jason as a little boy again after the flood clears out from the sewer. That part was never addressed in the final two sequels in any capacity whatsoever. Then again continuity is by no means expected from these films, especially by its seventh sequel.

Even as a kid I was very disappointed with part 8. Audiences agreed for the most part as it grossed just $14 million and cost $5 million. Compared to the rest of the movies before it this showed that the film series was on the decline. Some people view this as the best of the series and others absolutely despise this film. I lean more toward the latter of these opinions. It is incredibly silly and doesn't deliver in the way it could have. If it was the Jason from part 6 that rampaged through New York we may have had the comedic masterpiece of the series, but Jason Takes Manhattan pulls far too many punches...well, except for when he punched that dude's head off.

Awesome film hghly underrated.......2007-07-13

The only reason I dont give this 5 stars is because The early 80s friday films are perfect. So many people bash Jason takes Manhattan. i cant understand why. even though this is friday the 13th part EIGHT it's still an 80s movie! 1989 to be exact, which makes this film almost 20 years old. All 8 Fridays films are old school movies in my opinion. This film has some excellent scenes of carnage. The scene where Jason smashes that huge rock into the kids chest in the Sanau is awesome. The film's beginning reminds me a bit of Fulci's "Zombie" and Paul Lynch's "Humongous". The boat full of kids setting sail oblivious to the slaughter they are about to experience. Kane Hodder IS JASON. PERDIOD. This film being his second, is just as good if not, better than friday pt 7. As I'm watced this film on DVD for the first time, I noticed that many of the death scenes appear to be edited? or censored perhaps?! Correct me if Im wrong. Ithas always been known that Paramount Pictures was embarrassed by the success of the Friday the 13th franchise, and only held on to the franchise due to high profits the original film and the endless sequels generated. I think that Paramount needs to sell the right to Fridays pt 5 - 8 to New Line Cinema. New Line should give Jason takes Manhattan the same DVD treatment they gave Jason goes to Hell. regardless of what some dumb people say about the later Friday films, I love Jason Takes manhattan and I hope that New Line Re-releases this awesome 8th installment of Friday the 13th along with parts 5, 6 and 7, unedited, uncensored the way the director's intended them to be! Kane Hodder made his debut as Jason in 1988's pt 7 New Blood and 2008 will mark the 20th anniv of Kane Hodder's first Jason film so how about a New Line DVD Special edition for Friday pt 7!!!

JASON.......2007-05-12

THE EXCITEMENT DIDN'T START TIL THEY ALL WENT TO NEW YORK.JASON SWAM ALL THE WAY THERE.THEY ALL KNEW JASON WAS REAL-SO THEY ALL PANICKED AND RAN.DOWN IN THE MANHOLE RANINE POURED ACID ALL OVER JASONS HEAD AND FACE. THAT SLOWED HIM DOWN.THIS WAS A GREAT MOVIE!

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