Day 273: Friday The 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan

Friday The 13^th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan

I heart movies that actually take place where they say they do

As I expressed in my review of Resident Evil: Retribution, it becomes increasingly difficult for a movie franchise to stay fresh and entertaining the longer it continues. While the Resident Evil franchise has managed to stay relevant and fun, others have not been so lucky. Friday The 13^th is a prime example of what happens when studios become lazy and crank out a horror movie in hopes of making a quick buck based on villain recognition. Hellraiser has done the same thing, only on a much more franchise-ruining level. When you get to a certain point in a franchise, you're bound to run out of ideas so you just throw the main character into different locations or situations. While I'm still holding out for Friday The 13^th Part 11: Jason's Super Fun Slumber Party, today we'll have to settle for Manhattan.

Friday The 13^th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan is a 1989 slasher movie starring Kane Hodder (Jason X, Hatchet) as Jason Vorhees and Jensen Daggett (The Single Guy, Major League: Back To The Minors) as Rennie Wickham. One year after the events of Friday The 13^th Part 7: The New Blood, a boat's anchor rips through an underwater power cable, reviving the previously defeated Jason Vorhees. The next morning, the senior class of Lakeview High School boards the SS Lazarus and heads to New York City for their graduation. Rennie's uncle, biology teacher Charles McCulloch (Peter Mark Richman, Naked Gun 2 ½, Beverly Hill 90210) chaperones the trip, ensuring that no one causes any trouble.

Unbeknownst to the passengers, Jason has climbed aboard the ship. He kills some of the students and the ship's captain as the boat heads towards New York City. Jason throws one of the students onto the ship's control panel, sparking a fire. Rennie, Charles, the captain's son Sean (Scott Reeves, General Hospital, The Young and the Restless), and a few others are forced to abandon ship, taking a small row boat to New York City. There, Rennie is kidnapped by two thugs and injected with heroin. They attempt to rape her, but Jason, who followed the group to the city, kills them both. Jason than chases Julius, a boxer, to the roof of a building. Julius unloads a flurry of punches to no effect, tiring himself out. Jason throws an uppercut that literally knocks Julius's head off his body. With Jason on the loose in the dangerous city, how will Rennie and her friends survive?

I can make it anywhere!

Full disclosure, I watched this movie because I knew it wasn't going to be good. For those that don't know (or couldn't tell) most of the movie takes place on a boat instead of Manhattan. Time and budgetary constraints forced the majority of the movie to not be shot in New York City. I can understand why you would want to have Jason running around in New York during the 1980's. It was dirty, scary, and dangerous. Times Square wasn't the family destination it is now with Disney Stores and restaurants. By having Jason in New York, you can add a lot more kills to the movie, having him take out thieves and drug dealers, sort of like a horror version of Death Wish. That's the entire point of interest for anyone picking up this movie. Sadly, this is not the case and instead we're forced to sit through Jason Takes A Dingy.

The plot is very, very predictable as by now the series had just become “Let Jason kill lots of people”. By now, we all know who Jason is, but the movie does attempt to talk about his origins. Rennie's weird visions of a young Jason asking for help and her connection to Crystal Lake at least try to make sense of things. On paper it's a half-decent idea, but on screen it's a hot mess. The characters are not predictably interesting and it's tedious having to sit through mindless dialogue with barely-there development. There's some sub plot about Rennie and her uncle, not approving of her life, but it has no relevance other than to kill time until Jason shows up. Another reason why I watched this movie was to see the incredibly ridiculous fight scene on the roof. It is so funny for all the wrong reasons. Take a look for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQov9F8t4rM. As a former boxer, I have to say that Julius is carrying his left hand way too low and leaves himself open for a counter-punch.

The acting is fine for what's required, but that's not saying much. If you ever wanted to see a young Kelly Hu (X2, The Scorpion King) in her first movie role, this is your chance. There are a variety of creative kills throughout the movie and the audience ends up cheering for Jason by the time he gets to New York. The portrayal of Manhattan is very silly even by 80's standards. If your only knowledge of the island came from this movie, you'd think the city was made up of bums, thieves, steam-spewing pipes, and toxic waste. Yes, I said toxic waste. For whatever reason, there are barrels of toxic waste just hanging out in alleys, just waiting for Jason Vorhees to dunk someone in them. You didn't know that the city flushes toxic waste in their pipes? Well now you do! In the 80's, New York City was grittier and more dangerous than now. The movie, though, makes the city look like a cartoon version of itself. I can only imagine what someone from say Kansas thought of New York if they saw this movie.

This is awkward. We're wearing the same thing!

I knew Friday The 13^th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan was going to be bad and I wasn't disappointed. That's losing while still winning. Most of the movie doesn't take place in New York and when it finally gets there, we're bombarded with one ridiculous scene after another. There is plenty of violence and creativity in the killing, but nothing we haven't come to expect. There isn't much in the way of plot or character development as most of the movie is just a vehicle for Jason to kill people. You can't expect much by the time you've gotten to the eighth of anything, let alone the eighth movie in a horror series. Jason Takes Manhattan is good for a laugh and for some over-the-top violence. Other than that, you're better off with the original.

4/10

Day 195: Friday The 13th

Friday The 13^th

It's Friday, Friday

Happy Friday the 13^th everyone! This day is considered unlucky in Western culture dating back to the 1800's. Nowadays, though, Friday the 13^th is more closely related to the unkillable murder machine, Jason. This day is sort of a holiday for horror fans with only Halloween topping it. Just today, I saw donuts with powdered sugar in the shape of Jason's iconic hockey mask. Friday the 13^th is one of the longest running slasher series. I had a wide array of movies to choose from for this special day, but I thought the only way to truly honor it would be to watch the original.

Friday The 13^th is a 1980 slasher movie starring Adrienne King (Saturday Night Fever, Friday The 13^th Part 2) as Alice. In 1958, two camp counselors at Camp Crystal Lake snuck away from their group to fool around. They are caught by an unseen assailant and murdered. Flash forward to the present day where the camp has been reopened by Steve Christy. Annie (Robbi Morgan), a new counselor hitches a ride halfway to the camp and is warmed by the driver about all the mysterious murders that have occurred at the lake over the years. She gets a ride from an unseen driver who speeds past the camp. Afraid, Annie leaps from the speeding car only to be captured by the driver and killed with a hunting knife. Back at the camp, several of the counselors (including a young Kevin Bacon, Footloose, Tremors) being refurbishing the camp while Steve heads to town. The counselors drink and do drugs and even play strip Monopoly, unaware that a killer is slowly picking off members of the group one by one in brutal and gruesome fashion. When Steve returns to the camp, he is also murdered by the unseen killer. Alice and another counselor, Bill, discover that the phone lines have been cut. Bill goes to check on the generator and when he doesn't return, Alice goes searching for him and discovers his corpse pinned to a door with arrows. Fearing for her life, Alice tries to flee and runs into a middle-aged woman, named Pamela Vorhees (Betsy Palmer, Penny Dreadful, Knots Landing). Alice tells her of the murders, but the woman interrupts her to tell the story of her son Jason Voorhees, a camper at Crystal Lake who drowned when the counselors weren't looking. Enraged, Mrs. Vorhees lunges at Alice with a knife. How will Alice be able to survive?

Go ask Alice

Friday The 13^th came about based off the success of Halloween a few years earlier. There are some similarities such as the quiet killer, scenes shot from the first person perspective, the use of knives, and the focus on teens as victims. The movie does a great job of keeping the identity of the killer a secret. The most we ever see is just a hand and some flannel clothing and the killer is only addressed in pronouns. We are never tipped off as to who the killer is and don't even know the killer's gender. When Mrs. Vorhees is finally revealed, it is extra terrifying to think that a middle-aged mother is capable of such carnage. Betsy Palmer is just great in her role and is very convincing as a deranged mother seeking vengeance for her dead son. The movie has plenty of action and loads of bloody gore, thanks to Tom Savini (Dawn Of The Dead, Creepshow). There are a few scares, but not as much as you would expect from a “classic” slasher movie. There are various kills and some good creative uses of common items. There was one scene where a snake is killed and from what I can tell, they actually did kill a snake. This bothered me and I really wish they had not killed the creature. Animals should never be hurt for entertainment purposes. To make things worse, it's not like it added anything to the movie and could have easily been implied. I'm not going all PETA on the movie, I just feel it was cruel and unfortunate.

Where the movie succeeds in classic horror mayhem and violence, it fails in storytelling. The pace is dreadfully slow at times and is only tolerable thanks to killings sprinkled throughout the hour and a half. The movie doesn't give much motivation to the characters other than “be teenagers”. There is little in the way of character development which is painfully clear when only Alice is left. All she does is scream. And scream. The audience is not cheering for her to survive because we know very little about her. She's just one of the counselors and has no unique connection with the viewers. There is not much story to go on other than “people are killed” and not enough time is given to explaining Jason and Mrs. Vorhees' motivation. The ending is a pretty good twist, but could have and should have been far better.

I've seen that look at many Black Friday events

Friday The 13^th spawned many sequels, a crossover with Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare On Elm Street and a remake (which I completely forgot existed). It also inspired countless other slasher movies and video games, some good and plenty bad. The killings throughout the movie are fun and bloody with a good amount of creativity thrown in to the mix. The movie does a good job of hiding the killer and Betsy Palmer is great as the deranged Mrs. Vorhees. The story lacks a lot of depth and there is little in the way of character development. There are some scares, but not as many as you might expect. Friday The 13^th is still an important movie in the horror and slasher genres and is a fun, if not a sometimes boring, watch.

6/10