butterworth@a1.mscf.upenn.edu (David N. Butterworth) (08/06/89)
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII -- JASON TAKES MANHATTAN
Reviewed by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 1989 David N. Butterworth/The Summer Pennsylvanian
Followers of the ever popular "Friday the 13th" series, i.e., those warped
enough to have suffered through the previous seven chapters, won't want to miss
this latest installment. It's certainly no worse than those earlier entries --
just as mind-numbingly awful, just as irritatingly stupid as all the rest.
With the possible exception of relocating the hockey-masked assailant to
New York City, FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII -- JASON TAKES MANHATTAN follows the
same exact plotting as its seven predecessors: 1) bring Jason back from the
dead; 2) knock off teens; 3) leave finale open-ended.
Right on cue, the film opens with Jason Voorhees -- who by now must hold
some kind of underwater breath-holding record -- being revived from his watery
grave. He boards a vessel upon which a libidinous bunch of graduating seniors
are about to set sail on a celebratory cruise to New York. The scene is set
for mayhem of an ocean-going nature. Call it Camp Crystal Lake at sea, if you
will, or "The Love Boat," splatter style.
As with previous films in this interminable series, there has to be some
catalyst, some connection between Jason and the current short list of soon-to-
be dead teenagers. The link here is Renny (Jensen Daggett), haunted by visions
of a facially disfigured boy from her past. However, it is revealed that the
Camp Crystal Lake killings took place over thirty years ago. Isn't Renny a
little young, therefore? Don't expect anything in this film to follow any kind
of logic.
These would-be hackees are chaperoned by Barbara Bingham (as Mrs. VanDusen,
whose role is simply that of excess baggage) and the familiar Peter Mark Richman
(who plays Renny's uncle and legal guardian Charles McCullough). For a guy who
doesn't believe in walking corpses, Richman gives a pretty lifeless performance.
Actually, the film's title is somewhat misleading as Jason and his quarry
don't hit the Big Apple until about two-thirds of the way through the movie.
And, even then, they predominantly frequent the dark back alleys and sewer
systems of Times Square. We might as well be back in the woods at Crystal Lake
for all the audience cares. The producers wasted a great opportunity to parody
New Yorker's acceptance of bizarre looking outsiders. The closest the film
comes to lampooning itself is when a bemused Jason notices a billboard
advertising an ice hockey game, replete with appropriate headgear of course.
In the nine years since the original -- and best -- film in the series,
the audience appears to have changed somewhat. Mothers with an entourage of
five- and six-year-old children seem to have replaced necking teenagers. In
earlier films, the on-screen characters habitually stripped off before being
macheted or axed to death and the killings were always inventive, with an
emphasis on the graphic. One could always go to these movies first to be
titillated, then grossed out.
But now the characters don't even have to take a shower before being
sliced or diced. Jason disposes of his victims so matter-of-factly these days
that it's hard to determine what the real attraction is.
But, like it or not, there's something about this series that cannot be
dismissed. Successive films have reputedly made more money at the box office
than their predecessors, and the string of hits has even spawned a television
series. Not only that, but no best-dressed Halloween party attendee would be
seen dead without his or her hockey mask.
Maybe we're all missing the point here. Maybe Jason is a self-appointed
champion, combatting adolescent promiscuity -- notice how any sexually active
teen is permanently laid to rest? Or maybe he's an anti-drug proponent -- not
one but two abusers in this film are efficiently done away with shortly after
indulging. Or maybe it's simply a question of the bigger the body count, the
bigger the box office bucks... .
It's no coincidence that FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII -- JASON TAKES MANHATTAN
is labeled a "Horror, Inc." production for the film is about as pre-packaged
as they come. As shrink-wrapped slaying goes there is no equal and, until
moviegoers demand otherwise, the uninspired trail of blood and body parts will
continue.
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| Directed by: Rob Hedden David N. Butterworth -- UNIVERSITY OF PA |
| Rating (L. Maltin): *1/2 Internet: butterworth@a1.mscf.upenn.edu |
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