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VIDEO: "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan" featuring "The Darkest Side of the Night" by Metropolis
So it might've taken a little extra time, but we're here to continue the Dizzle Halloween celebration with some horror highlights. Today, we dive into a little flick that is one of the most prominent examples full of "love-it-or-hate-it" nostalgia, as we dive right into the middle of the Friday the 13th saga. Compared to it's ilk, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan may have been relatively bloodless compared with other adventures with Jason Voorhees, and it may be cited as the flick that turned Jason into a role model for kids (stay away from drugs, sex, or rock & roll!). But to any of us who were "kids" during original viewings, there's a soft spot for Part VIII that is not entirely unsimilar to those who have soft spot for "Ghostbusters II": while neither film reinvents the wheel, they both have some fun with the basic elements that you're expecting. Plus, when your favorite horror madman gets a chance to Take Manhattan, it's worth checking into at least once.
Unfortunately, that's where a lot of people felt hosed. With a title like Jason Takes Manhattan, lots of us were expecting an awesome horror crossover into the Big Apple. And really, for the splatter icon himself to follow in the footsteps of The Muppets, you'd be forgiven for mistakingly expecting an entire Friday flick set in NYC. The fact that "Manhattan" only takes up a third of the subtitle is a piece of accurate advertising that most must've overlooked, since Jason only spends a third of the flick tearing up the streets of... Toronto, Canada??
Jason & Arsenio... WHAT THE FUCK?!?
Yes, another gripe for many people is the fact that it's not that hard of a game when you're trying to pick out "city" sets from the Great White North from the actual scenes shot in New York (maybe 5 minutes of Times Square footage plus some shots of Lady Liberty is all you're getting if you're in a New York State of Mind), especially when it comes to the heavy accents (eh?) from the nameless cityfolk-turned-victims. But still, there have been plenty of less ambituious b-horror titles to come out since, which is why time has looked a little more favorably on Jason's 8th trip down memory lane.
Sure, the title might be a bit misleading, but that's what happens when the studio cuts out over half of the city set sequences due to budget conditions, like scenes set on the Brooklyn Bridge and in Madison Square Garden. And in the realm of Friday the 13th titles, it's definitely one of the more honest subtitles to come up ("The Final Chapter" and "The Final Friday", anyone???) considering, ya know, they actually do get to the city. If that wasn't enough to piss Friday fans off, there is a definite lack of buckets of blood compared to the other films (thanks, MPAA!). But on the flip side, even without gallons of blood pouring around, the kills are interesting enough (the guitar death being among the "so-dumb-it's-awesome" highlights), the bodies still pile up on the way to the city. Isn't that all you can ask from our iconic, possibly geriatric, undeniable favorite madman?
I don't see this ending well...
With these highlights for Jason Takes Manhattan, I went with the easy choice of the theme song from the movie, "The Darkest Side of the Night" by Metropolis. It may reek of '80s rock, but it's one of my all time favorite tracks to this day for the atmosphere that it set on the first viewing, yeeeeeeeeeeears ago when SciFi still had MS3TK and showed Friday the 13th marathons regularly. If you haven't seen the movie yet, the climax will still be a surprise when (if) you ever get to watching it, as the last 10 minutes are amongst the most hatred-debated finales of any of the Friday films to the point where I decided to wrap it up on a slightly higher note, where you may be led to believe that Jason gets to actually *take* Manhattan, not just go for a walk around the block.
So with that, let's finally get to the 2nd Dizzle Halloween themed set piece, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, featuring "The Darkest Side of the Night" by Metropolis. Check it out. --Tommy Dizzlemits
VIDEO: Tom Turkizzlemits's Thanksgiving Announcement! (added 11/25)
BLOG #4: "Pre-Halloweenie" [Dizzlemits on Fridaythe13thFilms.com!] (added 10/29)
VIDEO: "The Dark Knight" featuring "Right in Two" by Tool (added 10/29)
VIDEO: "Little Shop of Horrors" featuring "Electro-Lude" by Hyper (added 10/28)
VIDEO: "Grosse Pointe Blank" featuring "Falling Down (The Prodigy Remix)" by Oasis (added 10/21)
VIDEO: "Freddy vs. Jason" featuring "Wolf Like Me" by TV on the Radio (added 10/18)
VIDEO: "Beetlejuice" featuring "Dirty Harry" by Gorillaz (added 10/15)
