Thirty-five years ago, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan promised New York City slaughter.
That’s not what they gave us and we’re still not over it.
To some modern readers, that tagline might seem silly.
Why would producers lump Jason Voorhees in with those other issues?
Sadly, it turns out that New York didnt need to worry about Jason at all.
Outside of a killer crane shot in Times Square, most ofJason Takes Manhattantook place on a boat.
And that still hurts today, 35 years later.
Jason Takes a Chance
In 1984Paramount Pictureswanted the story of Jason to end.
So the curtain was coming down.
Part VIIIpromised to change up the franchise in the most audacious way yet.
But theFriday the 13thfranchise was never about innovation.
It was about the shameless embrace of lucre.
Hedden held to those ambitions, even as budget realities set in.
Dupree) that lasts just a few minutes.
That isnt to say thatJason Takes Manhattandoesnt have compelling ideas.
Whatever the value of these concepts, they dont make this a movie about Jason in New York.
Its a Jason movie where he happens to burst onto the Big Apple for the final few minutes.
In other words, it invites inevitable disappointment.
This generic team logo captured in a dull, uninspired shot captures the full disappointment of the series.
Sure, other franchises since have put the slasher movie in New York, most recently the solidScream VI.
But Jason is a true icon, one greater even than Ghostface.
But they never actually sent him to New York.
