Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan

Oh, the missed opportunity.  Might've been the best pitch ever.  Jason Vorhees, that unstoppable killer in the FRIDAY THE 13TH series, roams New York City.  It's a scenario that even someone with the most limited of imaginations could run with.  The story would almost write itself.  But instead we have 1989's FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN, just another cheesy '80s slasher.  But late '80s cheese, a special brand which makes everything seem so benign and almost, cozy.   I didn't find it scary or even especially gory.  Certainly not as gritty as the earlier movies.  It resembles a television horror movie in many ways, despite the use of Panavision.

Most of the movie takes place on an overgrown tugboat (supposed to be a cruise) upon which a group of graduating high school seniors plan to party down before arriving in the Big Apple.  Their aged, crabby biology teacher chaperone is around to be a pooper, and all around prick.  There is a plotline involving the main young woman, the heroine, who has had a lifelong fear of water.  Also, a strained father/son relationship between the boat's captain and his offspring.

Jason, who has been brought back from the dead, again, climbs aboard and picks each unfortunate off in a variety of grisly ways.  Some are imaginative and well executed.  My favorites involved a sauna, and another with a shattered mirror.  The head punch (and fight leading up to it) is some kind of classic.  The death by flying-V guitar (nice period wink, there) was also OK.  We get brief introductions to the grads but barely get to know them before their meet their fates.  Frustrating, but you know the drill in this series.  There's even a weird guy warning everyone that they're gonna die.

Another moment I liked -one victim retreats to the ship's dance floor, all festooned with lights and decorations and loud music, just waiting for kids who will never arrive.  Never to enjoy a night that will usher in the rest of their lives.  The scene lingers long enough to entertain such musings.  Co-writer/director Rob Hedden does nice work here (before the inevitable dispatch) and a few other places.

Yes, in the NYC scenes.  Only takes the movie well over an hour to get there.  I won't divulge details, but the fact that Jason, who must be one hell of a swimmer, even reaches the City is one of many implausibilities you're not supposed to think about.   We finally get the good stuff we had hoped the entire film had contained - Jason interacting with New Yorkers.  Jaded restaurant customers, punks, onlookers.  The few moments we get with them are low grade fun, and hint at what JASON TAKES MANHATTAN should've been.  I read that Paramount wouldn't pony up the budget necessary for such a movie.   Too bad.  A good, nasty entry in this disreputable franchise might've revived that damned hockey mask sufficiently.  Nonetheless, more sequels and inevitable reboots would follow.....