The Big Apple's
in big trouble, as indestructible psycho-fiend Jason Voorhees hits
the road to New York City - and paints the town "red".
After a shocking
return from beyond the grave, the diabolical Jason ships out aboard a teen-filled
"Love Boat" bound for New York, which he soon transforms into the ultimate
voyage of the damned. Then one of his terrified victims escapes into the
nightmarish maze of Manhattan's subways and sewers, only to confront Jason
one final time.
"This voyage is doomed."
- Deck Hand |
Jason Takes Manhattan
is an OK movie in this very good series. What I think holds this film above
others is the fact that it tries to twist our usual plot up a bit. Taking
Jason away from Crystal Lake may be viewed as good, or bad. I don't know.
I thought Crystal Lake was getting very dull after Part 7. It didn't have
the eerie atmosphere, the closed in feeling, the feeling of a small climate,
or the isolation. Either way, taking Jason out of the camp was a
clever turn. Jason only takes Manhattan for about 32 minutes, but these
scenes deliver enough goods, especially the doomed boxing match between
Julias and good ol' Jason. Another highlight is stabbing a drug dealer
with his own needle. Also, the scenes on the boat are pretty good. The
boats tiny hallways and bedrooms give it an even more isolated feeling.
I mean, in the middle of the ocean, in a storm, on a boat, in a small room, stalked
by a vicious, gigantic killer (who looks even more gigantic in the ships
small space). I like that idea. But, the movies also full of holes in plot
(strange how the small, maybe mile long, lake turned into an ocean going
to New York) but as the purest of silly entertainment, the movie hits the
mark. Some actors are so unbelievably horrible that you won't believe it
(all the Friday films have bad acting, but none of the other actors ever
smiled while they were being stalked by Jason, as that Susie character
does). Jensen Dagget is awful as the disturbed teen, Rennie. She plays
the character in such an amazingly dull fashion you don't [care] if she
lives or dies. But, Peter Mark Richmond is really good as the paranoid,
maybe evil (no question needed) uncle, and Kane Hodder possesses Jason
with such brutal strength and evil.... oh, he's great.
The movie opens
with Jason being brought back to life by an electric shock from an anchor.
He kills two teens who can't act, and makes his way onto a boat of graduating
teens who are heading for New York. The murders begin, on every two, three,
minutes or so. He disposes of a rock star chick with her own guitar, as
well as a boxer with a sauna rock... and so on. But the problem is, NO
GORE! MPAA (Motion Picture Association Of America) really chopped this
movie (and the others) up more than Jason could do in all his movies combined.
(Assholes!) So, all the deaths with the possibility of extreme gore are
cut down to pretty much nothing. Fortunately Jason Goes To Hell would go
to extremes to make sure that the gore was endless.
I'd say Jason
Takes Manhattan is a good overall entry in the series, very cheesy, badly
acted, lots of obvious mess-ups. Rent it. It's better than credited.
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- The
original poster for the film featured Jason ripping through an "I Love
NY" poster. However, the poster was dropped following a complaint from
the New York Tourism Committee.
- Fred
Mollin wrote the original music for this film, as he did for Friday
the 13th Part VII: The New Blood.
- The
prologue of the film foreshadows all the places that Jason will chase the
teenagers: downtown with the gang members, the diner, the alley with the
drug addicts, and the subway.
- The
last third of the movie is set in Manhattan; however, the only scenes that
were actually filmed in Manhattan were the scenes in Times Square. It took
three days of shooting to film them.
- In
the scene where Jason reaches through the porthole and grabs Rennie the
actress who played Rennie was reportedly really terrified. Her face was
just inches from a large and very sharp piece of glass that had become
stuck in the window frame, and the actor who played Jason was (unknowingly)
pulling her towards it.
- In the diner, the man Jason throws into the mirror is Ken Kirzinger, who
would go on to play Jason in Freddy Vs. Jason.
- Wrtier/Director Rob Hedden originally wrote more of the movie
to be set in New York. He had written scenes at Madison Square Garden,
the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Empire State Building. But Paramount told
him that budget would not allow him to spend that much time in New York,
so he was forced to rewrite the film and spend more time on the cruise
ship. Hedden says he agrees with fans who complain that not enough time
is spent in New York, given the title Jason Takes Manhattan.
- In the original script, when Jason makes it to the dock, a dog
starts barking at him and he kicked it. Kane Hodder, who was playing Jason,
felt that kicking the dog was going too far and so the scene was dropped.
- This was the last film in the Friday the 13th franchise
to be produced and distributed by Paramount, due to declining box office
returns. Subsequent entries were handled by New Line Cinema.
- The deckhand who's warning everybody that they're "doomed" is
based on Crazy Ralph from Friday the 13th: Part I and II.
- Kane Hodder says that one of the most fun parts of his tenure as Jason
was the scenes in Times Square. He says that spectators were lined up and
down the block watching the filming, and he didn't want to take off the
mask to destroy their illusion of Jason. He said that every once in awhile,
he'd turn his head and look at them, and watch them all go crazy.
- Peggy Hedden, the New York waitress, is the director's sister.
- In one shot, the subway bears graffiti reading "Quayton lives".
Quayton was part of the name of a high school band that director Rob Hedden
was in.
- Actor V.C. Dupree actually cut his hand in the phone booth when Jason shatters
the glass around him.
- The dog Toby is named after a dog the director once had.
     
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