Product Details

• Actors: Barbara Bingham, Mark Richman, Jensen Daggett, Scott Reeves, V.C. Dupree
• Directors: Robert Hedden
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, Surround Sound, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Paramount
• DVD Release Date: September 15, 1989
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (270 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002DMJLVC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,532 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 09/15/2009 Run time: 100 minutes Rating: R

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars BRIEFLY THAT IS..., October 12, 2007

By 

Michael Butts (Berkeley Springs, WV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Friday the 13th, Part VIII - Jason Takes Manhattan (DVD)

First of all, the title is misleading. Due to budget restrictions, Paramount wouldn't let them film a lot in the Big Apple, so Jason's only in Manhattan for about twenty minutes of the movie.
The rest of the time he takes to slaughtering students on a graduation trip on one of the student's father's ship. It's all more of the same formula which was definitely getting tired by this 8th installment. There's little suspense and veteran character actor Peter Mark Richman looks embarrassed to be involved. The least entertaining of the eleven films to be sure.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Death to the director!, October 23, 2002

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Stanley Runk "Runkdapunk" (Camp North Pines) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Friday the 13th, Part VIII - Jason Takes Manhattan (DVD)

This has got to be the worst film ever made in the history of film. How this guy was given the green light to make this movie, I'll never understand. This is an Alan Smithee case if I ever saw one. But, ironically, I find this one of the most enjoyable in the series because of this. Being that this movie is so rotten, it's one of the most amusing and hilarious films I have ever seen. It is the perfect Mystery Science Theater party movie. Jason is(naturally) brought back to life(by electricity again. Who thought of this juvenile idea anyway? What is he, Frankenstein's monster?), and slaughters everyone on the boat. He may have been on the boat only an hour or two, but he knows the layout better than everyone else. He manages to teleport himself everywhere. He's huge, black, slimy, wears a hockey mask(not exactly a low profile), and manages to stroll about the ship without anyone noticing him. When they get to the Big Apple, does Jason go beserk and murder everyone? Nope, for some unknown reason he only goes after the surviving crew members who can't seem to shake Jason even in a city the size of New York(all you'd need to do is get in a cab and say "take me to the other side of town", and you'd lose Jason forever.). Of course they all roam about the alleys and side streets instead of staying out in the open. Jason also knows the layout of New York City as though he were a native. And what's with this stupid psychic link between the leading lady and Jason? Ever notice when a horror series goes on for awhile, they throw that stupid, unscary psychic angle in? Halloween 5 for example. The most unbelievable thing in this movie is when the two survivors run into the sewer. If you were being chased by Jason, would you run to a friggin' sewer? They meet a sewer worker who informs them(and I am not kidding here!) that the sewers fill with toxic waste at midnight. Maybe this is true in the New York sewer system, but I have never heard of anything so ridiculous in my life. Jason's unmasked and he's in much better shape than the previous movie. In fact, he looks about as scary as Steve from Blue's Clues. Jason's "death" defies any kind of rational explanation. There had to have been some serious drugs used by the filmmakers to come up with that crap, and even more serious drugs consumed by whoever agreed that it was a good idea. Watch this one folks, it's funnier than any intentional comedy out there.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I Liked it Much Better When the Muppets Took Manhattan, July 25, 2007

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K. Driscoll - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Friday the 13th, Part VIII - Jason Takes Manhattan (DVD)

I'm not so sure there is a lot to say. My brother asked me to watch and review Friday the 13th part 6: Jason Lives and I told him I would do better than that and I would review every last one of these movies because I tend view them as one phenomenon and rarely as films that stand to be judged alone, despite their amazing record for failing to deliver accurate continuity. Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan is one of the silliest movies ever made. Its dialogue, effects, story and overall direction are so horribly bad it allows parts seven and nine to sort of hide behind it. Although I've found time to skewer those films as well. In my eyes, part 8 is not quite the worst of the series but its real close.

Jason is electrocuted again from an underwater cable that hit a boat's anchor. He wakes up and jumps aboard the boat. The boat is on its way to New York and is full of young adults ripe for some killing. It takes a while before the boat actually gets to New York, which I'm sure bothered some people because the audience was likely looking forward to seeing Jason rampage through a different locale and the title certainly suggested more of that than we actually get. So Jason hangs out in a boat and has ample time to murder quite a few people. The boat sinks and only five people remain. Jason gradually kills them during his run through the Big Apple. The highlight of the movie is actually when he takes about twenty or so punches to the head from a boxer and then he punches the boxer's head off. Classic campy killing that keeps my smiling years later. Jason ends up in the sewer and gets drowned by a flood of toxic waste. For some reason it shows Jason as a little boy again after the flood clears out from the sewer. That part was never addressed in the final two sequels in any capacity whatsoever. Then again continuity is by no means expected from these films, especially by its seventh sequel.

Even as a kid I was very disappointed with part 8. Audiences agreed for the most part as it grossed just $14 million and cost $5 million. Compared to the rest of the movies before it this showed that the film series was on the decline. Some people view this as the best of the series and others absolutely despise this film. I lean more toward the latter of these opinions. It is incredibly silly and doesn't deliver in the way it could have. If it was the Jason from part 6 that rampaged through New York we may have had the comedic masterpiece of the series, but Jason Takes Manhattan pulls far too many punches...well, except for when he punched that dude's head off.