Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan
Short description
The eighth film in the Friday the 13th series sends the undead killer Jason Voorhees onto a ship full of graduating high school students heading for New York. After a group of teenagers and their teachers board for the trip, Jason stalks them through the vessel, and the surviving passengers eventually reach Manhattan, where he continues pursuing them through the streets and tunnels of the city. The story centres in part on Rennie Wickham, a young woman whom Jason has a connection to from her childhood.
Rob Hedden directed and wrote the film, his first feature as director; his next film came more than two decades later, in 2011. Barbara Sachs and Randy Cheveldave produced, and Jensen Daggett plays Rennie, with Sharlene Martin, Scott Reeves, Tiffany Paulsen, Alex Diakun and Amber Pawlick among the cast. The production cost about 5 million dollars and took in roughly 14 million worldwide, a modest return relative to earlier entries in the series.
Reception was weak. On IMDb the film holds 4.5 out of 10 from around 48,000 votes, and on TMDB it has 4.9 out of 10 from about 1,250 votes. A critics' rating of 3.2 out of 10 from 28 reviews places it below even the audience scores, making it one of the least favoured instalments of the franchise.
What's left behind the scenes
- Filming of the movie took place in Vancouver.
- The son of Steve Mirkoovich, the film’s editor, played young Jason in the episodic scenes.
- The initial poster design depicted Jason hacking at a poster with the inscription 'I LOVE NEW YORK' with his machete. However, the New York tourism committee objected, and the project was rejected.
- Commercially, the film was the least successful part of the saga.
- Elizabeth Berkley and Didi Pfiefer auditioned for the role of Rennie.
- The film does not explain how the boat was able to travel from Crystal Lake to the Atlantic Ocean, and even the actors themselves wondered about this, but did not voice their concerns to the producers or director, as they were happy to appear in the famous saga in any capacity.
- When Jason Voorhees broke through the hold's window with his hand and grabbed the heroine, Jensen Daggett, the actress was genuinely terrified, as Hodder unintentionally pressed her face directly against a protruding shard of glass.
- Following a storm of criticism from fans of the franchise, director Rob Hedden disowned the film and repeatedly apologized for the result.
- The prologue of the film shows all the locations in the city where Jason will pursue his victims: the street, the cafe, the alley, the subway.
- Director and screenwriter Rob Hedden initially had two different ideas for the film – "Jason on a Ship" or "Jason in the Big City." Paramount suggested he not choose, but simply combine them into one.
- Actress Jensen Daggett, who played Rennie, later auditioned for one of Oliver Stone's films. After reviewing her resume, Stone asked, "You really starred in "Friday the 13th"?" after which she was rejected for the role.
- The eighth "Friday the 13th" is the only installment in the series for which the music was not composed by Harry Manfredini, but by Fred Mollin (Jason's signature motif only appears in the end credits).
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