Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan

Friday the 13th VIII: Jason Takes a Boat. Jason Vorhees is once again brought back to life and goes on a kill crazy spree aboard a boat bound for Manhattan. As is the norm with the "Friday 13th" sequels, this one garners scorn and praise in equal measure, so you roll the dice and take your chance really. By now the makers were trying to come up with new ideas to keep the series afloat, here the gimmick is to take Vorhees out of his Camp Crystal Lake "comfort" zone, and pitch him on a boat - a boat which naturally is full of ripe high schoolers who are ripe for killing in variously gruesome…

Absolutely ridiculous, and a totally misleading title. Jason still kills stuff, and that's fun I guess, but what a trashfire ending to an already pretty bad movie. _Final rating:★★ - Had some things that appeal to me, but a poor finished product._

***Jason takes a cruise to the big city!*** Released in 1989, "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan" is a nice change of pace as the series was suffering from banality at this point; the previous installment is a prime example (people complain about Part V but at least it had an interesting new story angle with Tommy Jarvis going to the halfway house in the woods seeking succor for his psychological trauma, etc.). Part VII tried something new with the Carrie-like protagonist, and that entry has a great finale, but it was hampered by a subpar, amateurish script. Part VIII changes…

It's Jason. It's a Jason-movie This isn't the best, but it is not the worst. It is Jason, he does his Jason-thing. The people around him are likable enough to be mourned when they inevitably get chopped up. There is a side-plot, which does not actually amount to very much. It is ok, we're not here for that really. We're here for Jason, his shenanigans, and the turmoil. This movie delivers on that.