It’s time for a new episode of our WTF Happened to This Horror Movie? video series, and in this one we’re looking back at a poorly-received entry in a beloved slasher franchise. A movie that marked the end of an era. The horror movie covered in this episode is Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (watch it HERE), which was not only the last Friday the 13th to be released in the 1980s (since it came out in ’89), but also the last one to be distributed solely by Paramount Pictures. After this one, there would be a four year break between films while the franchise moved over to New Line Cinema. Why was Jason Takes Manhattan so underwhelming that Paramount gave up on Friday the 13th? Find out by taking a look at the video embedded above.
Written and directed by Rob Hedden, Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan has the following synopsis:
Mass murderer Jason Voorhees is resurrected from the bottom of Crystal Lake. After he kills a passing boat’s occupants, he stows away on a cruise ship filled with a high school graduating class bound for New York City. Biology teacher Charles McCulloch is on board with his niece, Rennie, who has visions of Jason drowning as a child. They escape his bloody shipboard rampage, but, when Rennie and Charles reach Manhattan, Jason is close by.
The film stars Jensen Daggett, Scott Reeves, Barbara Bingham, Peter Mark Richman, Martin Cummins, Gordon Currie, Alex Diakun, V.C. Dupree, Saffron Henderson, Kelly Hu, Sharlene Martin, and Warren Munson, with Kane Hodder as Jason Voorhees.
This is what the WTF Happened to This Horror Movie series is all about:
Hollywood has had its fair share of historically troubled productions. Whether it was casting changes, actor deaths, fired directors, in-production rewrites, constant delays, budget cuts or studio edits, these films had every intention to be a blockbuster, but were beset with unforeseen disasters. Sometimes huge hits, sometimes box office bombs. Either way, we have to ask: WTF Happened To This Horror Movie?
The Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan episode of WTF Happened to This Horror Movie? was Written, Edited, and Narrated by Tyler Nichols, Produced by Lance Vlcek and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.
A couple of the previous episodes of the show can be seen below. To see more, head over to our JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!
What do you think of Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan? Let us know by leaving a comment!
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