In Theaters 37 Years Ago, Friday the 13th Almost Killed the Franchise With a Hilarious Bait-and-Switch

With the announcement of the Jason Universe in 2024, fans have regained hope for a new Friday the 13th movie. Their anticipation comes in the wake of much uncertainty over the franchise’s future, driven by years of lawsuits over ownership of the series. The franchise is getting back on track now, with the Crystal Lake prequel series about to debut, and new film projects in development. However, the last few turbulent years were far from the only time the series found itself in jeopardy.

37 years ago to this date, Friday the 13th made a promise: Jason was moving beyond Crystal Lake. From a marketing standpoint, it made sense. After seven movies spent watching teens get murdered at Camp Crystal Lake, fans were ready for something new. That “something new” was Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, a film advertised on the premise that Jason Voorhees goes to New York. What fans got instead was a movie set primarily aboard a ship and with barely any time in Manhattan. To make matters worse, it was a financial disappointment – and left Friday the 13th in an awkward place for a sequel.

Jason Takes Manhattan Barely Takes Place in Manhattan

Friday the 13th Part VIII spends most of its runtime aboard the SS Lazarus, a ship taking a class of seniors from Crystal Lake to New York City. Jason Voorhees climbs aboard, begins killing off the teens one by one, and this is how a majority of the movie goes, plus or minus a lot of bickering about whether Jason really exists. It’s a far cry from the way the movie was advertised: with teasers of Jason overlooking the city, or tearing through the “I Love New York” logo. Roughly only twenty minutes of the film is actually spent in New York, such as a scene where Jason chases final girl Rennie through Times Square, and even then, much of these “New York” scenes were actually shot in Vancouver.

This was, of course, largely due to budgetary reasons. New York is an expensive filming location, and additional budget cuts led to a severe cut-down of many of the film’s planned Manhattan scenes. As a result, the film drags before it gets to New York, and while it may have some cool kill sequences before then, it’s not enough to save Jason Takes Manhattan from being a tedious watch. By the time the viewer gets to see Jason in Times Square, it’s too late, and not nearly as fun as it should be. Suffice to say, many fans were let down by the film’s failure to deliver, but this was far from the movie’s only problem.

The Failure of Friday the 13th Part VIII Nearly Killed The Franchise

While often torn apart by critics, the Friday the 13th franchise proved to be one of Paramount’s biggest moneymakers in the 1980s. But the more sequels it got, the less interest it got from fans, leading to disappointment at the box office. Never was this clearer with Friday the 13th: Part VIII, which made little over $14 million on a $5 million budget – the poorest performance in franchise history. Whether Friday the 13th would go on after this was up in the air.

It didn’t help that Jason Takes Manhattan ends in such an awkward spot. The finale takes place in the sewers of New York. Rennie, having lured Jason underground, narrowly escapes before the tunnels are flooded with toxic waste. Jason, however, is caught in the flood of toxic goo, and seemingly melts away, reverting into a child. The death is as nonsensical as it is a humiliating defeat for the masked killer. Worse, it put the writers in a tight spot for a sequel. How could they continue the story? How was Jason meant to come back from this?

The answer to that question would come four years later, with 1993’s Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, a sequel that’s just as controversial as Part VIII. Today, discourse around Jason Takes Manhattan will always center on how disappointing the film is. It isn’t for no reason. The film failed to deliver on its premise, disappointed at the box office, and left the franchise in a bad state for a sequel. But as we look back on this maligned sequel, there’s comfort to be found. If Friday the 13th can come back from this, it can come back from anything.

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