Jason Takes Manhattan is perhaps the most hated of all Friday the 13th films, particularly amongst the die hard fans. Its promise of Mr. Voorhees marching around the Big Apple, hacking his way through yuppies and tourists, failed to deliver, with the majority of the film’s running time set on a cruise ship, with the remaining half an hour mostly shot on Vancouver instead of New York. Fans have never been keen about filmmakers taking the action out of Crystal Lake and the poor box office returns (then the worst of the series) prompted Paramount to give up the ghost and sell the rights to rivals New Line. Now, whilst considered the last of the ‘classic era’ Fridays, fans are still hostile to this entry and consider it the low point of an uneven franchise. Its ludicrous premise, lack of gore and full-on eighties soundtrack seemed to be catering for a whole new audience and would bring the decade to a close on a rather bum note.
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Taking its name from the children’s movie The Muppets Take Manhattan, the seventh Friday the 13th sequel suffered from major budgetary issues, which would result in a severely neutered film. Writer/director Rob Hedden had planned for the majority of the movie to take place in New York, but when Paramount insisted on the film being made for only $5m, Hedden was forced to find a more enclosed environment. The script also proved to be illogical – why is Jason only obsessed with killing the Crystal Lake kids in New York when the city seemed awash with sinners, and why does he become a child once again after drowning in the sewers? But the film does have its plus points. Hu and Martin are incredibly sexy and Hedden succeeds in creating a few memorable kills (most notably Julius’). But by far the film’s greatest asset is Hodder, whose turn in Friday the 13th Part VIII proves to be his most impressive as Jason – an angry, unstoppable killing machine, somewhat reminiscent of the shark from Jaws. Whilst the MPAA cuts resulted in the film being relatively bloodless and Hedden’s script being full of plot holes, Jason Takes Manhattan is still a relatively enjoyable addition to the series and, whilst by no means being amongst the best, was still an improvement on most slashers from the late eighties.
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brainroids said:
ahahaha yeah!! Not my favorite, as the setting of a boat & NYC dosn’t quite have the same scary appeal as cabins in the woods….but historically relevant nonetheless. Saw Jason Goes to Hell on TV, trash minus the classic end scene cliffhanger.
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magicjuan posted this
