Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)

Genre

Horror

Director

Rob Hedden

Country

USA

Cast

Kane Hodder, Jensen Daggett, Scott Reeves, Barbara Bingham, Peter Mark Richman, V. C. Dupree, Kelly Hu, Sharlene Martin, Martin Cummins, Gordon Currie, Saffron Henderson, Alex Diakun, Warren Munson, Tiffany Paulsen, Amber Pawlik

Storyline

Jason Voorhees (Kane Hodder), imprisoned at the bottom of the lake by telekinetic Tina in the previous film, is reanimated yet again, and continues his killing spree aboard a ship on its way to New York.

Opinion

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

If you have been following my journey into the FT13 world you know I'm not a fan of the franchise. What I know now, after watching this eighth instalment, is that I feel terribly sorry for having been that harsh with the previous films, because this one tops all of them.

Dreadfully acted, dull, and pathetic, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan is less pleasing than sitting on the chair of torture for 100 minutes. 

The change of location, from Crystal Lake to the Big Apple, could have been a breath of fresh air in the franchise, but I'm afraid it doesn't work when the only thing involving New York is the title, and the last 15 minutes or so of an unjustifiable overlong film.

The plot is nonexistent and utterly ridiculous, dragged for the eternity, and barely involves Jason. 

Also logic and Jason Voorhees are apparently two things that can not coexist, proved by the huge amount of absurde scenes. Trying not to linger too much on Jason's resurrection - ridiculous like everything else in this movie -, it's unbelievable how a slow walking man is always a step ahead of people running. Does he teleport or what? The boat sinks, Jason is on the boat, still he joins the others in New York. Once in New York, he kills a man with a syringe, that must have the longest needle in the world to pass from side to side. Jason acknowledges his ugliness and takes off his hockey mask to scare people, but he doesn't kill them because all he wants is Rennie, this film's heroine. After seeing things people wouldn't believe, you finally get to the end, when Jason, immersed in some sort of radioactive slurry, returns a child and probably dies.

My suggestion is to avoid this crap: you'll save money and time.