Movies
13 Days of F13: Day Nine – Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
Today we take a look at Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, which would ultimately become Paramount’s swan song with Jason, as future installments would be handled by New Line. But Jason definitely goes “out” with a bang, racking up some of the craziest (and numerous) kills in the whole series. But how does BC feel about the whole movie? Keep reading to find out!
For a horror fan, there is no escaping Jason Voorhees or Friday the 13th. Even if you have never seen a single movie (for shame!), you know who he is, what he does, and what he looks like. But that’s from my perspective. I grew up in the 80s, played the video game on a system known simply as Nintendo (now referred to as “The 8 Bit”), and suffered the indignity of that comic where he fought a talking Leatherface.
But what about those who grew up in the Jason-starved 90s? The only Jason films they might remember in theaters are the ones where he fights Freddy or goes off into space. The remake may be their first real introduction to the hockey masked behemoth that stalks teenagers at a place known as Crystal Lake. So for them, Bloody Disgusting and Horror Movie A Day would like to present this retrospective series: 13 Days Of Jason. Each day leading up to the remake’s theatrical release, BC will be showcasing one of the original films, with trivia, factoids, thoughts, and his own full blown review.
Bloody will also be presenting a few other articles that highlight some of the series’ traditions, such as the lovesick nerd character and Jason’s habit of using unique weapons. Because even if you don’t agree with BC’s assessment of each film, there’s one thing we can all agree on: Jason fucking rules.
AKA: “The one on the boat”
RELEASE: July 25, 1989 (1,683 theaters)
GROSS: $14,343,976
PLOT: After being resurrected in the least coherent manner ever (something involving an anchor and a power line running through the lake), Jason hops on a houseboat and takes it from Crystal Lake to the Atlantic Ocean, where he transfers to a cruise line and does his thing for an hour. Then the survivors make it to New York’s Vancouver borough, where they are pursued by Jason until he is done in by NY’s nightly toxic waste flood.
THOUGHTS: If nothing else, it’s a step up from part VII, in my opinion, thanks to some creative kills (a guitar! A heroin needle! Sludge!) and some actual blood to boot. Plus, finally, a new location. Sure, we’d all love more NY stuff, but the boat parts are still fun, and Kane’s performance is terrific. Also, at long last, a new composer, as Harry Manfredini’s score, while great, was starting to show its limits 3 films ago. It has its problems, but I’ll take it over any of Kane’s other entries.
(Read BC’s full review at Horror Movie A Day)
BEST KILL: A lot of good ones here, but Jason punching the guy’s head off is just that much better.
MOST “HUH?” MOMENT: The final 20 minutes of this movie make absolutely no sense. Jason ignores hundreds of potential victims while chasing after two dull folks you know he won’t kill anyway, and then they all end up in the sewer, where a flood of toxic waste (a nightly occurrence, so says a doomed sanitation worker) turns Jason into a child. Then the Final Girl’s dog demonstrates his ability to find his way from New York harbor to Times Square.
FUTURE STARS: Kelly Hu went on to appear in a few blockbusters, including X2 (she played Deathstrike), making her one of the few “future stars” to appear in an alltime highest grosser.
TRIVIA: This film was released in the middle of what was known as “Sequel Summer”, due to the then-inordinate number of franchise films being released over a span of about eight weeks. By the time Manhattan hit theaters, it was competing against Lethal Weapon 2, Ghostbusters 2, Indiana Jones 3 (Last Crusade), Bond 16 (License To Kill), and Karate Kid III. Also, it lost the weekend to Turner & Hooch, which means that people would rather watch a dog die than see Jason schmuck around on a cruise ship.
Check back tomorrow for Jason Goes To Hell!
Click here to keep up with all of our 13 Days of Friday the 13th coverage!
Described as “Ted meets ET,” David Mikalson’s raunchy comedy Goblin is being brought to life over at A24, and Will Forte (“The Four Seasons”) is now in talks to star.
Deadline first reported the news this afternoon.
Kenneth Branagh has been cast to voice the titular Goblin in the upcoming A24 movie, with the character said to be “green-colored” as well as “anatomically correct.”
Skyler Gisondo (Superman) is reportedly playing the Goblin’s human best friend.
The mysterious project sounds a bit like films including A Gnome Named Gnorm and more recently, Frankie Freako, though it’s important to note that it’s not billed as a horror movie.
Deadline details, “After [Mikalson] hatched the idea to make an outrageous buddy comedy about a goblin, using a practical puppet and operating outside the Hollywood system, his script quickly got him a rep team. While others might have eyed the raunchy comedy as a writing sample or planned to wait to see the micro-budget version Mikalson has been directing in Kentucky, A24 jumped all over it. The hot indie essentially has agreed to finance a full feature.”
“There was a lot of interest, but A24 came with what Mikalson really wanted, after spending all his money crafting the puppet title character: they acquired the movie and agreed to let him make it with a significantly increased budget than what he had left after creating the anatomically correct title character,” Deadline’s report goes on to explain.
What does the titular Goblin actually look like? Well, a cake that Mikalson had whipped up for his reps might give us our first look at what to expect. Deadline explains the photo you’ll see down below, “Take a look at the cake he commissioned with Marc Gravelle at Cake Art in West Hollywood, to present to his reps as thanks for making his dream come true.”
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