Friday the 13th: Part 8 ~ Film Review
One year after a telekinetic teen sentenced Jason back to the depths of Crystal Lake, Paramount released the next installment of the Jason Voorhees franchise. Friday the 13th: Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan starts on a cruise ship with a slew of graduating teens and then follows Jason as he terrorizes a few throughout Manhattan. This film is the final sequel for Paramount; Jason Goes to Hell and Jason X is released through New Line Cinema. Rumor has it the underwhelming sales for this film led to Paramount selling the rights, and to be honest, I’m not surprised. As with the Halloween franchise, a drop-off in quality this late in the game is expected. Jason Takes Manhattan delivers this drop-off with flair; it has worse-than-ever acting, a horrifying portrayal of New York City, and a plot that left me searching for a book to read while the movie was on. The only thing this film has going for it are some wicked excellent death sequences, but even that’s not enough to save this film.
I’ll start with the one good thing this film had — wicked excellent death sequences. I’ve said it before, and I’ll repeat it, Jason is my favorite villain for many reasons, but one of them is that he is excellent at utilizing nearby objects for weapons. Sure, the machete is Jason’s weapon; it’s what he’s known for. Lucky for viewers, though, he has no problem shaking it up and using other items. In…
