Review of New York Has a New Problem: The Making of Friday the 13th Part VIII - Jason Takes Manhattan

This eighteen-minute doc offers a pretty entertaining and illuminating chronicle on the making of "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan." Among the folks interviewed are director Rob Heddon, actresses Jensen Daggett, Sharlene Martin, and Tiffany Paulsen, actors V.C. Dupree, Scott Reeves, and Peter Mark Richman, composer Fred Mollin, editor Steve Mirkovich, and his son Tim, who played young Jason. Heddon reveals that the eighth sequel was initially going to be the last one of the series while Hodder talks about having to actively campaign in order to be recast as Jason and how shooting in Times Square was a big thrill to do. Daggett admits that all the scenes with the dog required multiple takes. Hodder and Dupree talk at length about the infamous boxing scene; Hodder says that Dupree didn't pull his punches and really beat the hell out of him. Everyone states for the record that Hodder was a nice guy on the set, but got real intense and scary whenever it was time to play Jason. Martin has the best anecdote to relate about Heddon stripping nude on the set in order to make her comfortable enough to strip down and do a shower scene. Once again the gory murder set pieces had to be toned down in order to avoid an X rating. Although one of the lesser entries in the popular slasher series (it frankly fails to realize the full potential of its premise), this making of featurette is nonetheless well worth a watch.