Friday the 13th: 8-Movie Collection (1980-1989)

[Matt89]

It's also just so f*cking STUPID. The whole idea that they can somehow take a boat from CRYSTAL LAKE all the way to NYC?? How is that even possible? Crystal Lake is not connected to another body of water. At least, that's what the geography suggests from the earlier entries. Dumb as all hell.

~Matt

[dylrichard02]

Originally Posted by Matt89

It's also just so f*cking dumb. The whole idea that they can somehow take a boat from CRYSTAL LAKE all the way to NYC?? How is that even possible? Crystal Lake is not connected to another body of water. At least, that's what the geography suggests from the earlier entries. Dumb as all hell.

~Matt

I also don't understand how a boat ride from NJ to NY would take one day and almost two nights to arrive, but somehow it does so.

[raptors661]

I really like the remake. Yeah, the characters suck, but they do in most Friday movies. I just love how aggressive Jason is.


I saw this movie theatrically on a date with a girl I had a huge crush on that took me months to finally ask her out. She said she loved the Friday the 13th movies, and it came out Valentines weekend, so what better time? She HATED it, thought it was so violent and had way too much nudity. She thought we were seeing a new FRIDAY film, the Ice Cube franchise. She had never seen a Jason movie before. I felt like I dodged a bullet there.

When I was a kid, I thought Jason Takes Manhatten was my favorite. I loved the idea of Jason on a boat. Now that I am in my 30s, I realize what a pile of crap that one is. A nostalgic pile of crap I watch at least once a year.

[badfingerboogie]

I enjoy the hell out of having a F13 movie on a boat, but I understand why a lot of people loathe it.

The best outcome here, in my opinion, would have just been two totally different films, suitably marketed - just do a whole film of Jason on a ship of some kind (maybe a cruise ship to add some more variety to the decks etc). Have the movie end with the ship sinking as the final girl/couple get away on a lifeboat, then cut to Jason's lifeless body underwater (a la several other endings in the franchise). Pan up from his corpse to reveal... New York City.

Then, the next movie is just straight up Jason taking Manhattan, for a full film - divers inspecting the ruins of the ship from the last film wake up Jason, we get a couple underwater kills for the prologue, then he hits the streets of NY and the mayhem begins.

[DR Herbert West]

Originally Posted by Matt89

Ugh, Jason Takes Manhattan was such a wildly missed opportunity. The poster was great, the trailer was awesome. But then you watch the movie and it's just Jason on a boat for over an hour and he finally makes it to Manhattan in the last like 25 mins of the movie. The fact that the title is so misleading makes it even worse. They could've done so much more with it. They wouldn't have even had to fully shoot it in NYC (and they did shoot a lot of it in Vancouver anyway) but you could've expanded a lot of those scenes with Jason in NYC, him going on a rampage in the subways, stalking people on the city streets, maybe have him go apeshit in a nightclub, a strip club, a police station, have him wander around 42nd street with all the sleazy movie theaters, maybe throw a couple people off the top of the Twin Towers (which tbh probably wouldn't have aged very well post-9/11 lol) but it's something. This way it would've at least lived up to its name.

~Matt

And the "We didn't have the budget to pull it off." excuse is pretty weak. Maniac Cop 1 & 2 were able to do an unstoppable killer in New York (some scenes shot in L.A.) with less money.

I still like the idea of Jason on a boat (a cruise ship would be better), but JTM does nothing interesting with it.

[Jay H.]

Jason Takes Manhattan is dumb, but there's something kinda charming about how dumb it is. Whether it's Jason's ability to teleport or the toxic waste that runs through the sewers every night, it's clear this movie doesn't have a single brain cell. Plus, I like the way the movie looks like it was made for The Disney Channel.

I enjoy watching this more than one of the installments that many F13 fans hold in high regard, but I think is boring as hell. Like I said, this movie is dumb... but I'm somewhat drawn to it.

[rocknblues81]

Originally Posted by Jay H.

Jason Takes Manhattan is dumb, but there's something kinda charming about how dumb it is. Whether it's Jason's ability to teleport or the toxic waste that runs through the sewers every night, it's clear this movie doesn't have a single brain cell. Plus, I like the way the movie looks like it was made for The Disney Channel.

I enjoy watching this more than one of the installments that many F13 fans hold in high regard, but I think is boring as hell. Like I said, this movie is dumb... but I'm somewhat drawn to it.

The teleporting thing drove me nuts as a kid. I get that Jason manages to catch his victims in unlikely ways through the series, but the teleporting thing just shows how they just stopped caring.

Despite how bad the movie is... I'll still watch it from time to time.

[Cherokee Jack]

Defended Manhattan on here before but I’ll reiterate my fondness for it. Worst aspect of course is the misleading title but we all know why Hedden couldn’t do what he originally wanted to do so probably best to get beyond that after 30+ years. The boat sequence is the best part of the movie anyway with several well shot kills designed to work around the restrictive MPAA mandates at the time (unlike New Blood which just looks hacked to pieces). Hodder is at his best as Jason here and he looks fantastic with the mask on. The less said about the ending and reveal of his face the better however…

[snipemonkey]

It's just me, but the problem with Jason Takes Manhattan is the entire premise. Take Jason out of the woods and he's just another stupid sub-Luchador masked guy with a knife. It's not Friday the 13th anymore. Same with Jason X (only worse, if that's even possible). Jason as a "character" (LOL) is a gigantic ZERO. He's the spirit of evil in the Crystal Lake woods. Take him out of his element and you've destroyed what little point these dumb little movies even had. They're campfire tales. I don't care about seeing Leatherface in Las Vegas or Michael Myers on the International Space Station either.

[RandomMovieFan]

I think Manhattan is okay but i hate the Jason visions are dumb

[SeanJoyce]

I was getting agitated seeing all of the criticisms for Manhattan before finally seeing people comment about the teleporting...that to me is its most egregious fault. Jason is already unstoppable anyways, so giving him the ability to be anywhere makes any notion of escape or resistance utterly futile.

But if we're going to be fair, the Metropolis song Darkest Side of the Night isn't a bad 80s horror anthem, Jason straight powering through a punk sidewalk vigil with a radio punt will never not be awesome, and I wrote this a while back about the Julius/Jason rooftop confrontation in another Friday thread:

While you'd probably be right in saying that Jason is just sadistically toying with him, I love how he let the guy give him his best shot and didn't retaliate until he was completely spent...and it's almost like he rewarded his bravery with a quick, clean death, if we can assume Jason has the capacity to respect a victim.

It recalls Matt's valorous demise in The Terminator; even though the result isn't pretty, you have to respect both guys for having the balls to go mano-a-mano with two indestructible killing machines.

[sxerunner]

I’ll also defend Part 8. Sure, it’s one of the weaker F13 movies and the advertising was misleading, but it still has its moments. The boxing kill, the radio, the needle, the sheer aggression Kane brings to the kills and Jason himself. Plus it was made at a point where they clearly stopped caring so it also borders on parody at some points which in itself is entertaining. And I’ll throw in another vote for “Darkest Side of the Night” being a banger.

It’s a fun movie but the false advertising poisoned the well. I’ll still take it over “Goes to Hell” and the remake.

P.S. I know “Goes to Hell” has defenders and I’ll give it props for trying something new, but it just didn’t work for me.

[HarrisonJohn]

I watched a video on YouTube that tried to explain what is happening in a lot of the teleporting moments of JTM. For example, when the teacher goes into the building, there's another entrance for Jason to go in that is on screen very briefly, we just don't see him go in. Then he comes back down that way off screen also. OK, but did they not catch that this does not translate at all, and why should it be this hard to make sense of anything? And it happens throughout the movie.
The whole vibe I get from the movie is "oh it doesn't matter if it makes any sense, these movies never make any sense so who cares" which drives me nuts because it's just lazy. Then there's a TV movie feel to it that also doesn't feel right.

[slimdude]

Originally Posted by stvn1974

This release is missing the two best films of the series...Jason Goes To Hell and Jason X.

You want the Definitive Friday the 13th Collection boxset from Shout Factory.

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by HarrisonJohn

I watched a video on YouTube that tried to explain what is happening in a lot of the teleporting moments of JTM. For example, when the teacher goes into the building, there's another entrance for Jason to go in that is on screen very briefly, we just don't see him go in. Then he comes back down that way off screen also.

Bang-up explanation. Now do the same for the dance floor scene...

[dylrichard02]

I actually like 7 but can see why others wouldn't, but nothing in the franchise post them, beat 1-6. I actually enjoy Jason Goes to Hell too, but same as 7, I understand why some would dislike it. 8 and Jason X are probably my least favorite, I think I had higher expectations for both of them though, which was probably a bad idea.

[Jay H.]

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

Bang-up explanation. Now do the same for the dance floor scene...

Simple: we saw her doing cocaine before that scene.

[rocknblues81]

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

I was getting agitated seeing all of the criticisms for Manhattan before finally seeing people comment about the teleporting...that to me is its most egregious fault. Jason is already unstoppable anyways, so giving him the ability to be anywhere makes any notion of escape or resistance utterly futile.

But if we're going to be fair, the Metropolis song Darkest Side of the Night isn't a bad 80s horror anthem, Jason straight powering through a punk sidewalk vigil with a radio punt will never not be awesome, and I wrote this a while back about the Julius/Jason rooftop confrontation in another Friday thread:

While you'd probably be right in saying that Jason is just sadistically toying with him, I love how he let the guy give him his best shot and didn't retaliate until he was completely spent...and it's almost like he rewarded his bravery with a quick, clean death, if we can assume Jason has the capacity to respect a victim.

It recalls Matt's valorous demise in The Terminator; even though the result isn't pretty, you have to respect both guys for having the balls to go mano-a-mano with two indestructible killing machines.

The professor guy gets a disgusting death because he is an a--hole. It might sound crazy, but I love to replay that scene multiple times. lol

[SeanJoyce]

Originally Posted by rocknblues81

The professor guy gets a disgusting death because he is an a--hole. It might sound crazy, but I love to replay that scene multiple times. lol

Not really sure why you replied to me since I said nothing about that specific character/death, but I agree it was a pretty shitty way to go, and seemed to be in congruence with his attitude/actions.

[rocknblues81]

Originally Posted by SeanJoyce

Not really sure why you replied to me since I said nothing about that specific character/death, but I agree it was a pretty shitty way to go, and seemed to be in congruence with his attitude/actions.

Because you were throwing out the idea that Jason gave the boxing guy a quick death because Jason respected his braveness... It could be the other way for the professor? Maybe he gave him the more torture type of death because the guy is an *******?

Honestly, I think these two deaths are handled the way they intentionally. It's some of the few things that actually work in the film and are satisfactory.