Director: Rob Hedden
Writer: Rob Hedden (Screenplay) Victor Miller (Characters)
Starring: Jensen Daggett, Kane Hodder, Todd Caldecott, Barbara Bingham, Alex Diakun, Scott Reeves
Plot: A boat of graduating high school students bound for Manhattan pulls Jason Voorhees along for the ride. Look out, New York – here comes Hell in a hockey mask.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Questionable Sequel
Story: Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan starts as we follow two horny teenagers that give us the legend of Jason Voorhees (Hodder) before bringing him back from the dead once more with deadly consequences. Jason is back now and ready to build up his body count.
Moving onto the main characters which are the rest of the classmates going on a post-graduation cruise from Crystal Lake to New York City, teachers Colleen Van Deusen (Bingham) and Charles McCulloch (Richman) with students that include Rennie Wickham (Daggett) and Sean Robertson (Reeves), the cruise is a celebration but Jason tags along too.
When the bodies start piling up the students look to take on Jason heads on but Rennie’s connection to Crystal Lake and Jason proves to be a stumbling block for her and Jason. Arriving in New York things only get worse for the students but Jason gets to pile on the body count with fresh victims.
Thoughts on Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
Characters/Performance – Rennie is our leading lady that has been through a hard life but showing the promise of making it through with this trip being the final part of her therapy. Jason is the killing machine that gets to interact with his surroundings to find new ways of killing his victims. Sean is the potential love interest for Rennie that is also looking to prove himself to his father. The rest of the characters are all what you would have come to expect from the franchise.
Performance wise, Jensen is a good leading lady with the rest of the cast all doing the job they need to, it is Kane Hodder as the imposing Jason figure that dominates the screen.
Story – The stories behind the Friday the 13th Films have been easy to follow even if slightly repetitive at times, Jason kills horny teenagers in Crystal Lake, this is all fine, but what if we took things away from the Lake, you know what sounds like a good idea, New York City where Jason only hunts down the few teenagers while ignore anybody else he could kill for fun. Where this film loses any creditability in the story is by having Jason walk by people like whatever only targeting the innocent students, it just doesn’t add up.
Horror/Thriller – Slasher fans will enjoy this because the body count is high but it also isn’t scary in any moments.
Settings – Most of the film is set on the boat heading to New York but once we are in New York you could easily forget it is the Big Apple.
Special Effects – The effects are a mixed bag because the CGI is poor but the practical effects all come off great.
Final Thoughts – When you get to the 8th installment of a film franchise you know you are not going to be having the strongest entry, this has plenty of kills without being one of the best but the boxing kill will be remembered as one of the more memorable ones.
Overall: Standard late franchise sequel.
Rating
