MFF Special: Does Jason Voorhees Teleport in Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan?

With Friday the 13th upon us I wanted to take a deep/dumb dive into whether or not Jason Voorhees can teleport in Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. Breaking down his movements have been my toughest test thus far, but since I’ve already covered Leatherface, Michael Myers, the Fisherman in I Know What You Did Last Summer and the sharks in Deep Blue Sea, it felt only natural to tackle the wonky movements of Jason Voorhees.

I’ve read a lot about Jason Voorhees teleporting tendencies and I’ve learned the Friday the 13th community is torn on the subject. Is he really fast or can he teleport? I see both sides of the argument but after watching way too many clips and documentaries I’m convinced that Jason is an incredibly gifted athlete who capitalizes on dumb decisions. If that dude could really teleport he would be an absolute nightmare that only Hayden Christensen and Samuel L. Jackson could defeat.

The following post posits the idea that Kane Hodder’s Jason is a physically gifted reincarnation of a once lumbering monster and his quick movements work in the context of a very stupid film (which I love). If he can punch a man’s head off he can easily take shortcuts, work angles and take advantage of people who have zero tactical awareness. The scene I want to break down is the infamous dance floor murder scene.

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There are other moments that involve “teleporting” but I wanted to get to the bottom of the dance floor death because it is a tricky beast. Here are some observations about the scene.

The victim Eva is a tacticians nightmare I think her shocked reactions come from fear and the fact that a large man is sprinting unnecessarily from point to point Jason doesn’t really move that far He had plenty of time to saunter up behind Eva before he throttles her.

Here is a breakdown of the scene.

Eva is being chased by Jason and she runs into a circular disco room. She gets to the middle of the room in four seconds and covers about 21 feet in the process (:48). She runs around the room for 12 seconds and we learn that the lounge is a circular room with multiple doors leading into it (they are all locked of course).

Jason storms into the dance room whilst Eva is standing in the middle of the room (1:02). She runs around for 15 seconds find herself back in the middle where she notices Jason has moved roughly 12-15 feet to his left (1:18). She gets all crazy-eyed and Jason has three seconds to move 10-12 feet to his right (1:23).

Why is he sprinting around?

This is where tracking his movements gets tough. Jason then has three seconds to move back to where he just came from (still possible for an athletic immortal. Also, I measured it and I covered the distance in three seconds). Eva then looks away for four seconds and when she looks back Jason is nowhere to be seen (1:32). I’m guessing he is behind the truss which is kinda weird because it’s unnecessary. Then, Eva looks around for 19 seconds and Jason slowly saunters up and grabs her by the throat. This is the most believable moment because Eva LITERALLY looks away from the place where he had to be!

Here is a breakdown of Jason’s movement.

This whole scenario had to be incredibly terrifying and weird for poor Eva. She got locked in a disco lounge on a boat and had to watch as a large man did short sprints in the corner. No wonder she was totally paralyzed and couldn’t leave the dance floor. This isn’t a case of teleporting. It’s a case of a large man confusing and terrifying a young lady who wasn’t equipped to deal with the situation.

If you were wondering about the other “teleporting” instances here is what I think happened.

The Building Throw – Professor Charles Drown ran up one staircase while Jason entered the adjacent staircase out of frame. Since he is so fast he easily beat the slow-moving professor up the stairs. After Jason throws him through the window he runs back down the stairs and finishes the job eight seconds later. Is he fast? Yes. It is impossible? Nope. Here is the clip. The Boat Incident – What happens here is Miles is attacked by Jason, so he descends a ladder to the main level while Jason takes the quicker stair route. Jason corners him at the front of the boat so Miles decides to climb a ladder. Miles has a headstart up the ladder but he slows down as he gets higher. So, Jason has seven seconds to climb quickly up the ladder to surprise his prey. This variation of Jason could totally do that. Here is the clip.

If you liked this post make sure to check out my other “dumb data” posts! Also, a big shout to Wired and Brian Raftery for profiling me about this data. I’m stoked that I’m their radar.