Ranking The Franchise: Top 3 Best Death Scenes Of 'Friday The 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan'
Our Ranking The Franchise lists series continues today as we have decided to put together our Top 3 Best death scenes in Friday The 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan! The was a harder list to formulate as there are a number of memorable death scenes in this film (for better or worse reasons). Our readers may or may not agree with our rankings, but in Jason Takes Manhattan, there are so many fun and goofy death scenes that could be ranked higher than what we have listed below.
Honorable Mention
- Eva's Dance Room Death
- Boxer's Sauna Room Death
3. Tamara's Bathroom Visit From Jason
Tamara was in a heavy weight fight for biggest bitch in the Friday The 13th film franchise, competing with the prior film's (Friday The 13th Part 7: The New Blood) most unlikable character Melissa. Whereas Melissa would die in a more crowd pleasing and satisfying way with an axe to the face, Tamara was dispatched by Jason in a more poetic fashion.
In one of the more tense moments in Jason Takes Manhattan, Tamara is finishing her shower when Jason slowly begins to creep into her room on the S.S. Lazarus. Tamara hears the door open to the main room and peaks out of the bathroom to see Jason surveying the area. Only wearing a robe, she anxiously puts her ear to the bathroom door listening to see what the masked maniac is up to. With one swift punch, Jason puts a hole through the bathroom door, ripping off Tamara's robe as she accidentally rams her head into the mirror. With Tamara curled up in the corner, Jason punches the broken mirror and retrieves a large shard of glass. He then slowly walks toward his helpless, nude victim and lunged the sharp object towards her while she let out a blood curdling scream.
The scene is one of the few classic Friday The 13th moments in the film and although her death is off-screen, the end result of Tamara laying dead on the bathroom floor staring at herself in the broken pieces of the mirror is ironic and poetic for her vain personality.
2. J.J.'s Guitar Hit Screams Supreme Concert Hall Echo
Getting characters into seclusion and killing them off in creative ways is a trademark of the slasher genre and that quickly became a staple of the Friday The 13th films. Those tense moments of the audience knowing something bad is going to happen to someone and not being able to do anything to warn them is what makes death scenes scary and exciting. Jason Takes Manhattan decided to take that idea and throw in a ship's power room, a rocker chick and a guitar solo that made Jason Voorhees almost begin to head bang to music.
While guitar enthusiast J.J. gets ditched by super nerd Wayne, she retires to the secluded confines of the power room of the S.S. Lazarus. J.J. sets up shop with a cassette tape of background vocals playing and she begins jamming out on her guitar. The camera pans upward and the audience sees Jason slowly walking down the stairs directly toward his would-be victim. As Jason gets just feet away, J.J. hears his foot steps, drops her guitar, and fleas. She runs down to the next level of the power room as Jason awaits. He swings her guitar towards her head with a loud "thwap" and blood bursts onto the camera.
The combination of rock music and slow stalking Jason moving towards his victim in one frame truly enhanced the tension of the scene and the first person death blow from Jason make this standout from most other death scenes in the film.
1. Julius' One Round Boxing Match With Jason
Later in the franchise, the number of scary and atmospheric death scenes dwindled to just a few per film as they were replaced with more action orientated situations that accentuated more screen time for Jason Voorhees. Part of Director Rob Hedden's original script for Jason Takes Manhattan had Jason boxing an opponent at Madison Square Garden. Of course, the budget constraints wouldn't allow for filming in The Garden, but Hedden's persistence paid off and he got his boxing scene into the film and decided to put Jason against high school boxing sensation Julius.
While the surviving members of the S.S. Lazarus make their way to New York via row boat, they are subsequently mugged and Final Girl Rennie is kidnapped by the robbers. In an effort to find her, the group splits up. Julius finds a pay phone to call the police, but Jason interrupts the call by breaking the phone booth glass. Instead of running out to a main road in New York City, Julius climbs up a fire escape ladder to a building roof top. With no where to hide, he decided to confront Jason in a boxing match for the ages. Although, it only lasted one action packed round, Julius landed numerous head and body shots before running out of gas. Julius' famous last words, "Take your best shot, motherfucker", truly inspired Jason Voorhees as his lone punch knocked Julius' head clean off and into a dumpster.
The scene will never be viewed as good compared to the more scary and bloody death scenes in the franchise, but it is a crowd pleaser and elicits an audience response like none other which is what the Friday The 13th films are all about.
Honorable Mention
- Eva's Dance Room Death
- Boxer's Sauna Room Death
3. Tamara's Bathroom Visit From Jason
In one of the more tense moments in Jason Takes Manhattan, Tamara is finishing her shower when Jason slowly begins to creep into her room on the S.S. Lazarus. Tamara hears the door open to the main room and peaks out of the bathroom to see Jason surveying the area. Only wearing a robe, she anxiously puts her ear to the bathroom door listening to see what the masked maniac is up to. With one swift punch, Jason puts a hole through the bathroom door, ripping off Tamara's robe as she accidentally rams her head into the mirror. With Tamara curled up in the corner, Jason punches the broken mirror and retrieves a large shard of glass. He then slowly walks toward his helpless, nude victim and lunged the sharp object towards her while she let out a blood curdling scream.
The scene is one of the few classic Friday The 13th moments in the film and although her death is off-screen, the end result of Tamara laying dead on the bathroom floor staring at herself in the broken pieces of the mirror is ironic and poetic for her vain personality.
2. J.J.'s Guitar Hit Screams Supreme Concert Hall Echo
Getting characters into seclusion and killing them off in creative ways is a trademark of the slasher genre and that quickly became a staple of the Friday The 13th films. Those tense moments of the audience knowing something bad is going to happen to someone and not being able to do anything to warn them is what makes death scenes scary and exciting. Jason Takes Manhattan decided to take that idea and throw in a ship's power room, a rocker chick and a guitar solo that made Jason Voorhees almost begin to head bang to music.
While guitar enthusiast J.J. gets ditched by super nerd Wayne, she retires to the secluded confines of the power room of the S.S. Lazarus. J.J. sets up shop with a cassette tape of background vocals playing and she begins jamming out on her guitar. The camera pans upward and the audience sees Jason slowly walking down the stairs directly toward his would-be victim. As Jason gets just feet away, J.J. hears his foot steps, drops her guitar, and fleas. She runs down to the next level of the power room as Jason awaits. He swings her guitar towards her head with a loud "thwap" and blood bursts onto the camera.
The combination of rock music and slow stalking Jason moving towards his victim in one frame truly enhanced the tension of the scene and the first person death blow from Jason make this standout from most other death scenes in the film.
1. Julius' One Round Boxing Match With Jason
Later in the franchise, the number of scary and atmospheric death scenes dwindled to just a few per film as they were replaced with more action orientated situations that accentuated more screen time for Jason Voorhees. Part of Director Rob Hedden's original script for Jason Takes Manhattan had Jason boxing an opponent at Madison Square Garden. Of course, the budget constraints wouldn't allow for filming in The Garden, but Hedden's persistence paid off and he got his boxing scene into the film and decided to put Jason against high school boxing sensation Julius.
While the surviving members of the S.S. Lazarus make their way to New York via row boat, they are subsequently mugged and Final Girl Rennie is kidnapped by the robbers. In an effort to find her, the group splits up. Julius finds a pay phone to call the police, but Jason interrupts the call by breaking the phone booth glass. Instead of running out to a main road in New York City, Julius climbs up a fire escape ladder to a building roof top. With no where to hide, he decided to confront Jason in a boxing match for the ages. Although, it only lasted one action packed round, Julius landed numerous head and body shots before running out of gas. Julius' famous last words, "Take your best shot, motherfucker", truly inspired Jason Voorhees as his lone punch knocked Julius' head clean off and into a dumpster.
The scene will never be viewed as good compared to the more scary and bloody death scenes in the franchise, but it is a crowd pleaser and elicits an audience response like none other which is what the Friday The 13th films are all about.
