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

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

Jason Takes Manhattan follows Rennie Wickham, who takes a cruise with her graduating class to New York City only for them to pick up an unexpected passenger in Jason Voorhees, turning an otherwise fun trip into an all out bloodbath. 

Though the series has flirted with novelty ideas ever since Friday Part III (in 3D!!!!), Jason Takes Manhattan (or more aptly titled Jason Takes a Boat to Manhattan because of how little this movie actually takes place in New York) is the first to really buy into it completely and boy is it utterly fucking hilarious. I don’t care what anyone says, this movie is a goddamn riot and should be treasured as the one truly comedic entry into the franchise. Of course, it’s filled with the classic, endless slaughtering of immature teenagers, once again dialed back thanks to the MPAA being pussies (no shock there), but it’s thanks to the MPAA giving us weak ass kills that we finally get something that borders on either being outright awful or comedic genius, you decide.

What the movie offers is so incoherent and brainless too, from Rennie’s strange and unnecessary past & fear of water (featuring hallucinations of a child Jason for some reason), our boy Julius challenging Jason to his first boxing street fight (a true highlight of the film), to my personal favorite, Jason stopping Rennie from getting raped #GoodGuyJason. It’s all so preposterous that I genuinely couldn’t stop laughing, especially once they finally hit New York, which is just a gold mine of bad acting, funny gags, and pretty spot on clichés. 

We get a dopey cast as well, starring Martin Cummins, Sharlene Martin, Barbara Bingham, Vincent Craig Dupree, Peter Mark Richman, Scott Reeves, Jensen Daggett, and Kane Hodder. There’s a reason why Hodder is a lot of fan’s favorite and it’s because he really understands the gravitas that comes with Jason, while allowing some of his cornier sides to show through.

Jason Takes Manhattan, directed by Rob Hedden, is no doubt one of the weaker Friday movies, not even really delivering on its own gimmick, but it’s redeemed a ton for me by just laying into how silly this franchise has become, having me laughing my ass off from beginning to end. 

5.2/10