Friday The 13th Part VII: The New Blood (Region 1)
Or as it was no doubt pitched to the studio execs Jason meets Carrie as Jason comes up against a girl with telekinetic powers. Sticking to the rule (even good, odd bad) this is a pretty poor entry in the series, it may be called The New Blood but there’s precious little on display. Even the showdown between Jason and Car…sorry, Tina isn’t really up to much and the surprise ending runs part three a close second in the dumb idea stakes.
On the plus side this did give us the commanding presence of Kane Hodder as Jason for the first time and the make up when his mask is removed is pretty good.
Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (Region 1)
This breaks the trend of even numbered films being the good ones although I suppose it deserves some credit for trying something different. The title is a misnomer really; Jason Takes A Cruise would be a more fitting one as he takes an hour to arrive in New York. Even when he does finally arrive it wastes good opportunities for action; when confronted by a street gang, instead of killing them, Jason just shows them his face under the hockey mask and they run away. It’s a moderately amusing moment but hardly what the film needs. There are a couple of funny scenes, the best coming when Jason arrives in Manhattan and finds himself confronted by a billboard featuring a hockey mask.
