cult film freak: PETER MARK RICHMAN AND 'JASON TAKES MANHATTAN: FRIDAY 13TH'

Written by James M. Tate / 12/22/2024 / No comments / body count , eighties , franchise , horror , jensen daggett , kelly hu , peter mark richman , saffron henderson , sharlene martin , slasher

PETER MARK RICHMAN AND 'JASON TAKES MANHATTAN: FRIDAY 13TH'

12/22/2024 | No comment

Peter Mark Richman in FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN Year: 1989 Rates: ***1/2

The first real semi-separated novelty of the FRIDAY THE 13TH franchise, JASON TAKES MANHATTAN (Part 8) has its satire built right into the title... the only problem is, he hardly winds up in Manhattan/New York at all...

Most of the action... as in people getting picked off by the hockey-mask-wearing killer... takes place on a large charter boat to get there — with all the character tropes including a conceited blonde, a geeky guy, an affable handsome fella who of course loves the final girl, here in girl-next-door Jensen Daggett, related to and connected with the scene-stealer and basically, co-antagonist throughout...

Jensen Daggett in FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN

Enter veteran actor Peter Mark Richman, who reveled in cold businessman types for decades, as the lecturing chaperone/teacher during a rushed first act that should have lasted at least fifteen minutes longer since the initial crash-course of body-count deaths occur too quickly, taking out some potentially interesting victims (making them basically ONLY victims) like Saffron Henderson as a rocker girl who, for some reason, brought her electric guitar on board...

But when MANHATTAN finally arrives, with thirty minutes left, there's one sequence with a young black boxer that, when released in theaters, had the audience not only howling but cheering... same with, earlier on, Richman's insult to a glib slacker... all enveloped in the funnest and funniest of the series that stands almost entirely on its own.

Parting Shot from PETER MARK RICHMAN

FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 8 was all shot in Vancouver. It rained for seven weeks during shooting at night and we froze our asses off... I had four layers of clothes on the whole time. In the eighth week the sun came out because my wife visited.