Product Details

• Actors: Jensen Daggett, Kane Hodder, Todd Caldecott, Tiffany Paulsen, Tim Mirkovich
• Directors: Rob Hedden
• Writers: Rob Hedden, Victor Miller
• Producers: Barbara Sachs, Randy Cheveldave
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: September 28, 1994
• Run Time: 102 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (270 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301589025
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #189,122 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Start spreadin' the news... Jason Voorhees, the cleaver-hoisting man in the hockey mask, has finally left Crystal Lake behind and taken his vagabond shoes to the Big Apple. Actually, Jason spends most of his time on a cruise ship bound for Manhattan, carving up the unluckiest high school graduation party ever. You'd think the change of scenery might breathe new life, or death, into the series, but chapter 8 is standard stalk 'em and slash 'em fare, albeit with a nautical slant. The title hints at a comic tone, but except for the one-joke idea that Jason fits right into the menacing urban scene, forget it. (The comedy would wait until the surprisingly entertaining Jason X.) This one does have a pretty leading lady, Jensen Daggett, whose visions of the young drowned Jason are occasionally creepy. The grown-up Jason, like "these little-town blues," is melting away. --Robert Horton

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.

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

By 

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, but not great., December 13, 1999

By 

Kristopher B. Huston (New Port Richey FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Friday the 13th 8 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I would like to say it was a nice change to see Jason get out of the woods and go somewhere, however there are some serious problems with this movie. For one, is Camp Crystal Lake an island or something? It would have never crossed my mind that Camp Crystal Lake is on an island in the Atlantic Ocean somewhere. Oh well, so what, no big deal, a tiny dumb flaw. The next problem arises with the title. Anyone seeing this movie would assume Jason spends most of his time in the streets of New York and half the movie takes place on the boat. Ok, so a little deception on the makers' part. The biggest problem I had with this movie was the ending. How in the world did Jason transform into a child as the sewage washes over him? I know the main character had visions of the little boy that tried to drown her as a child, was that all it was, was her vision? On the up side, I really enjoyed the idea of adding more evil to the movie besides Jason himself. Not only do our survivors from the boat ride have to deal with Jason in the city, they have to deal with New York's evils too, such as the rapists and druggies. A surely different flavor for the series and a good movie, however could have been made much better if the makers didn't leave such big obvious errors and holes in the movie.