Ken Kirzinger Takes Manhattan As Jason Voorhees

The ties between Kane Hodder and Ken Kirzinger were really brought to life when they both were considered to play Jason in Freddy vs Jason. Ronny Yu’s determination to change the overall physical stature of the Jason character led to the hiring of Ken Kirzinger and left Kane Hodder a bit disgruntled over the decision. That was 2003, but what about their work together on Friday the 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan?

By now, most fans of the franchise are aware that Ken Kirzinger played the cook in the diner in Manhattan towards the end of Jason Takes Manhattan. In that scene, Kane Hodder, as Jason, grabs Ken, as the cook, and throws him into the mirror. However, Ken Kirzinger actually played Jason Voorhees in two other scenes as well.

His first scene as Jason happens after Rennie and Shaun stop the subway car with Jason in pursuit. Jason falls down in the subway car while the pair escapes out of the emergency door. When Jason collects himself and follows the two lovers out of the door, he is tackled by Shaun and hits the electrical current on the car track. There is a bit of a difference in Jason's stance, which makes it noticeable that Kane is not underneath the mask.

What a lot of fans may not realize is that Ken also played Jason in a crucial scene during the time when the characters were in Manhattan. The scene in particular is when Rennie and the others are in the Irish cop’s car and Jason is standing in front of the car. Rennie then drives the cop car directly into the Jason and he falls to the ground. It's a pretty cool stunt and again, It is very noticeable the way Jason is standing that Kane Hodder is not underneath the mask.

Below is a call sheet that was used during the production of Jason Takes Manhattan that shows Ken Kirzinger was indeed the person portraying Jason during the police car scene. Notice that during production Jason was referred to as "Ethan" to further conceal the fact that this was a Friday the 13th production!