Critical Response
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On his commentary track for the film in the box set, director Rob Hedden acknowledges the faults and even agrees that more of the film should have been set in Manhattan, citing budgetary and schedule problems. The film failed to generate a substantial amount of money at the box office, which continued the decline in grosses the series had been suffering, and Paramount sold the franchise to New Line Cinema soon afterward, and they would later distribute the 2009 reboot together. Rotten Tomatoes details that only 10% of the critics who reviewed the film gave it positive reviews, making it the poorest-received film of the series. It holds an average score of 3.9/10. Entertainment Weekly labeled it the eighth-worst sequel ever made. However, Leonard Maltin gave it a two star rating and called it "The best in the Friday series"
Part of the film's appeal was the idea of setting Jason, a psychopathic killer, loose in 1980s New York, which was both crime-ridden and noted for its colorful method of deterioration (e.g. the garish nature of Times Square, complete with streetwalkers and drug dealers openly selling their wares, porno theaters, and graffiti, gangs, and homeless panhandlers contributing to the anti-social nature of the city). This notion was the idea of Jason both fitting right in in Manhattan and also a bit of Paul Kersey/Death Wish desire for a killer to cleanse New York of its crime. However, as reviews made clear, 90% of the film does not take place anywhere in Manhattan, and Jason's few interactions in Manhattan are limited to cast members from Crystal Lake and a few shots of docks and sewers.
Read more about this topic: Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, Reception
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... An August 1972 review by Time said that many of the film's ideas "sound good on paper" but that the "skits wind down rather than take off from the ideas" the film includes "some broad, funny send-ups of other movies (Fantastic Voyage, La notte), and its fair share of memorably wacky lines" but that "overall it is just Woody marking time and being merely a little funnier" ... The Time Out Film Guide noted that some of the film's sketches are "dross, but the parodies of Antonioni (all angst and alienation of a wife who can achieve orgasm only in public places) and of TV panel games ('What's My Perversion?') are brilliantly accurate and very funny ...
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... Peter Hartlaub, of the San Francisco Chronicle, felt Zombie was successful in both " his own spin on Halloween, while at the same time paying tribute to Carpenter's film" he thought Zombie managed to make Michael Myers almost "sympathetic" as a child, but that the last third of the film felt more like a montage of scenes with Halloween slipping into "slasher-film logic" ... Nathan Lee of The Village Voice disagreed in part with Harlaub, feeling that Halloween may have placed too much emphasis on providing sympathy for Michael Myers, but that it succeeded in " Carpenter's vision without rooting out its fear" ...
Famous quotes containing the words response and/or critical:
“There is ... but one response possible from us: Force, Force to the uttermost, Force without stint or limit, the righteous and triumphant Force which shall make Right the law of the world and cast every selfish dominion down in the dust.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“Somewhere it is written that parents who are critical of other people’s children and publicly admit they can do better are asking for it.”
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