Friday the 13th: Top 13 WTF Moments

Steve Barton |

Apr 12, 2012

10. Odd radio announcer (Friday the 13th part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan)

I love Jason Takes Manhattan. Every second of it. And nothing sets this film in motion better than the incredibly baffling radio announcer at the beginning of the film.

Unfortunately, there is no YouTube video of it so I had to reproduce the incredibly awkward narration in text:

“It’s like this… We live in claustrophobia, the land of steel & concrete. Trapped by dark waters. There is no escape. Nor do we want it. We’ve come to thrive on it and each other. You can’t get the adrenaline pumpin’ without the terror, good people… I love this town.”

What?

It gets even stranger when the movie transitions back to Crystal Lake, with our opening victims listening to him be all creepy/cryptic:

“This request has gone out to Crystal Lake, and the senior class of Lakeview High. They’ll be graduating on the 13th of this month. And we wish them the best of luck and success when they come to visit our seductive city. Our lure is a great one, young friends, but beware…the city of lights casts many shadows indeed.”

Why is he so ominous!? And why does a NYC DJ care that some rural New Jersey kids are taking a class trip into the city? In its opening minutes, this sets up the rest of Jason Takes Manhattan oh so perfectly.

Having said that, it’s cool to note that Crystal Lake has a Lakeview High, right?

9. That awkward time they changed Crystal Lake’s name… (Friday the 13th part VI: Jason Lives)

This isn’t a slight on Jason Lives as much as it is on the films that followed. It’s somewhat understandable that a town marred by endless murder would seek to change its reputation. So Crystal Lake became Forest Green. But why in God’s name did the township decide, sometime after Friday 6, that it was time to change it back?

It must not be cost-effective to go back to Crystal Lake, right? I mean you have to redesign the logos on all of the municipal vehicles again, for starters. It means slugging through a lot of bureaucracy to get it done. Wouldn’t it be better for the town of Forest Green to heal? To gradually forget that they birthed one of the most enduring mass murderers in history? Or did Crystal Lake become an all too lucrative tourist location? Chances are all future filmmakers just hoped we’d forget about this little detail.

8. ”He’s killing me!” (Friday the 13th – The Final Chapter)

Here’s an odd and polarizing moment in the franchise. Rob Dyer, vengeance-seeking Jason hunter, ventures into the basement of a neighboring house only to be attacked by the masked madman. Instead of fighting back, he resigns to his fate, screaming repeatedly, ”he’s killing me!”

And odd moment, to be sure, and one that seems to divide its audience in half. Some find it unintentionally hilarious while others find it deeply chilling. Supposedly, the moment was culled from a real-life news story where a 911 call recorded a murder victim screaming out ”Please stop killing me!” The moment stuck with director Joseph Zito so much that he included it here.

It is the very last kill in the following video:

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