At the end of “The New Blood”, Jason had been returned to his watery grave and Camp Crystal Lake had become safe yet again. Well, safe until a young, stupid couple decides to throw anchor to have some hot “boat sex”. In a rip off of the beginning of “Jason Lives”, Jason is once again brought to life by electricity and he is off to kill a cruise ship worth of teens on their way to the Big Apple. Does “Jason Takes Manhattan” continue the strong killing streak of “Jason Lives” and “The New Blood” or does Jason die with a whimper? Well…
Let’s start with the cruise ship “victims”. On the cruise ship we have our Friday final girl Rennie, definitely a step down from quality from Tina, as a senior celebrating her graduation aboard the SS Lazarus. Along for the ride is her strict uncle, her favorite teacher, her boyfriend, Sean, all of her classmates, and a stowaway: hockey-masked serial killer Jason Voorhees. One by one, Jason slowly murders each classmate and sinks the ship, stranding the survivors in New York. Rennie and the few survivors now must face Jason to save their lives from impending doom.
Very little about “Jason Takes Manhattan” works. First of all, for a movie called “Jason Takes Manhattan”, very little of it actually takes place in New York. Three quarters of this damn movie takes place on a cruise ship. Cruise ships just are not that scary and they definitely aren’t scary here. Even Jason himself seems to be going through the motions. What’s equally depressing is how much this movie takes pains to rip off the more popular “Elm Street” series. Do we really need the supernatural Jason appearing in visions to Rennie? Or the “little boy” that Jason becomes at the end? It’s all rather silly. Also, at over 100 minutes, it’s grossly overlong. This is just a bland effort all around with little to recommend it. This used to be one of my favorite entries as a child but time has not served it well. Jason is finally killed by toxic waste. Yawn.
