Netflix Movie Review: Friday the 13th: Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan

5/7/2011

Holy wow there’s something to be said about a movies made in the 80s. Some of the faults of this film can be attributed to the era of horror movies to which this movie came from. Also the fact this is the 8th Friday the 13th movie. While I don’t deny the appeal that the Jason movies brings to the table, you think after 8 movies in a row, you’d stop for a breather to reflect on how terrible the film is.

Friday the 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan, is the eighth in the Jason horror franchise. The movie I think is very much catered to seasoned Jason movie aficionados. As far as any big name actors, you won’t see much of any. Friday 13th movies went downhill fast into low budget B-Rate horror movie quality fast, which the same could be said about the actors in the movie.

The film starts off again in Crystal Lake, where the other Jason movies are based, and immediately sets the stage for Jason’s return with a young couple who talks about Jason’s history and lore. Ironically enough, they are also the cause of his return by shocking him to life from his underwater resting place. Soon after, Jason comes up and just begins to kill, murder, and maim everyone he sees.

There seriously is no plot development. It is so thin that I could puncture it with the thought of my mind tools. The character development is practically non-existent. As soon as a new character is introduced, they immediately storm off, only to have their head blown off by Jason. It takes the passengers a full half movie to begin thinking that there’s something wrong when their friends start going missing. The biggest offense of the movie is that 90% of the film takes place on the boat. It’s only until the last 30 minutes of the film that then you see Jason ripping it up in Manhattan, and even then, he’s not going around the streets tearing people apart.

There are only two good reasons to watch this film, at best. Firstly being that Jason must have been a reject character for a Mortal Kombat game. While I found death of the characters to be predictable (and amusing), they were completely reminiscent of Mortal Kombat fatalities. Secondly, the telltale sound that the movie makes when Jason is about to kill someone is still relatively iconic and is welcome to hear every time time. Perhaps it’s because I couldn’t wait to see another terrible character/actor fall victim to Jason’s hands.

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