Questioning Rennie's Swimming Lesson In 'Jason Takes Manhattan'
In Friday The 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, it has been emphasized that Rennie (played by Jensen Daggett) was afraid of water and that she was not supposed to join the trip to New York via a ship ride. Along the way there was this uncle of her's named Charles McCulloch (Peter Mark Richman) who happens to be a school authority.
In the 2nd half of the film, a flashback was played showing McCulloch and a much younger Rennie on a boat together.
Charles McCulloch: You know, long lady, you've been coming out here every summer for the last three years and you still haven't learned how to swim.
Young Rennie: I'll take some lessons this time. I promise.
Charles McCulloch: Now, that's what you said last year. I think the time has come for your first swimming lesson. You don't wanna end up drowning like that Voorhees boy, do you? He never learned how to swim, either. And he's still at the bottom of this lake.
Young Rennie: He is not.
Charles McCulloch: Yes, indeed, he is. And he's ready to pull down anybody who falls in and can't swim.
Young Rennie: You're telling a lie.
Charles McCulloch: Am I? Let's find out.
And then he pushed her into the lake and using fear mixed with "encouragement" he told her to swim. What followed was the underwater encounter with a young Jason Voorhees which in my opinion is more of a cinematic scare than an actual figure of Rennie's past.
Considering how bad and sloppy Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan was, it's time to ask ourselves these questions.
1. Would you follow McCulloch's extreme example of pushing a child off the boat just to teach a swimming lesson?
2. If you are aquaphobic in real life, how much can you relate with Rennie?
3. Does the flashback make you as a viewer despise McCulloch even more?
4. Assuming you finished the movie, did you cheer or feel a great sense of satisfaction when Jason killed McCulloch?
5. In your honest opinion, was the aquatic young Jason in the flashback real (within the story) or was it all just a delusion on the part of young Rennie who was struggling to swim?
And now a question for director Rob Hedden who wrote and directed Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan:
Why and how did you come up with the idea of the flashback in the first place?
The overbearing guardian Charles McCulloch with Rennie.
In the 2nd half of the film, a flashback was played showing McCulloch and a much younger Rennie on a boat together.
Charles McCulloch: You know, long lady, you've been coming out here every summer for the last three years and you still haven't learned how to swim.
Young Rennie: I'll take some lessons this time. I promise.
Charles McCulloch: Now, that's what you said last year. I think the time has come for your first swimming lesson. You don't wanna end up drowning like that Voorhees boy, do you? He never learned how to swim, either. And he's still at the bottom of this lake.
Young Rennie: He is not.
Charles McCulloch: Yes, indeed, he is. And he's ready to pull down anybody who falls in and can't swim.
Young Rennie: You're telling a lie.
Charles McCulloch: Am I? Let's find out.
And then he pushed her into the lake and using fear mixed with "encouragement" he told her to swim. What followed was the underwater encounter with a young Jason Voorhees which in my opinion is more of a cinematic scare than an actual figure of Rennie's past.
Considering how bad and sloppy Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan was, it's time to ask ourselves these questions.
1. Would you follow McCulloch's extreme example of pushing a child off the boat just to teach a swimming lesson?
2. If you are aquaphobic in real life, how much can you relate with Rennie?
3. Does the flashback make you as a viewer despise McCulloch even more?
4. Assuming you finished the movie, did you cheer or feel a great sense of satisfaction when Jason killed McCulloch?
5. In your honest opinion, was the aquatic young Jason in the flashback real (within the story) or was it all just a delusion on the part of young Rennie who was struggling to swim?
And now a question for director Rob Hedden who wrote and directed Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan:
Why and how did you come up with the idea of the flashback in the first place?
Behind the scenes of the flashback.
