Jason Voorhees (Kane Hodder)--the man with nine lives--is back again. After the events of the seventh film in the Friday the 13th series, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan takes the deformed terror to a place he’s never been before, the city that never sleeps. Jason’s journey to the Big Apple finds a number of individuals befall a fate that so many have seen before. A group of graduating high school students aboard the SS Lazarus must fight for their lives as, on the voyage to Manhattan, their lives, and the lives of those closest to them, are in grave danger.
While my thoughts on the acting throughout the series has not changed (because it is still atrocious), I am finding more and more that the poor acting is part of the allure of the series. Even as the series heads in a dismal direction, one of the most consistent aspects of the series is that the acting is less than adequate. It is attractive in some regards because it, in times of great loss and hardship, audiences are able to find some solace in the ridiculousness of the actors’ performances. Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan sees a new group of young actors fail to portray the most basic of human emotions, and, like before, their failures provide enjoyment for the audience.
Writer-director Rob Hedden continues to dabble in the occult, like previous writers and directors, but Hedden tries much harder than others to stick to things slightly more realistic than a telekinetic teen battling against a newly resurrected hockey player. What changes drastically in Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan from previous films is the setting. The fact that a portion of the film takes place in Manhattan is a significant difference, but having Jason attack a group of teens on a boat is a wonderfully terrifying idea. I always had the thought in the back of my mind that the campers and counselors staying at Camp Crystal Lake (and every other variation of the name) had the ability to leave camp and evade the death-ridden grasp of Jason. Having Jason present on a boat, where the potential victims have nowhere to run presents audiences with an entirely new level of horror. The thought of having nowhere to go and no way of escaping a surely grim demise is capable of haunting even the most seasoned fans of horror.
As the franchise had begun a downhill slide, Hedden manages to stabilize the series and re-intrigue audiences with his interesting and artistic approach to the Jason Voorhees saga. My hopes for the future of the franchise are low, but I am impressed with what Hedden and his crew are able to accomplish with Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan and their ability to rope audiences back in and provide some semblance of comfort with where the series has come. Even after being dealt a shitty hand, Hedden figures out a way to have his film appeal to audiences and right the wrongs of the franchise’s past.
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