TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: THE KRANG BEHIND THE MASK

(aka Friday the 13th Part IX: Heroes In A Slash-Shell)

The Mancusos and Paramount were excited to find a way to spin Jason into a bigger Intellectual Property asset after the Anime plan fell through. Now, they were teaming with New Line Cinema, Mirage Studios and Playmates to launch a mass-media push for Jason. Tying into what would’ve been the Turtles’ first feature film, the Laird/Eastman creations were going to fight Jason Voorhees.

The film was scheduled to open shortly after the events of Jason Takes Manhattan. Scheduling the film for an October 1989 release to capitalize on the 1-2 punch of having two Jason films in the same year, Paramount thought it was a license to print money. The toy line was set to launch the Saturday after release, while the film was going to have the largest opening for a Friday the 13th film with a whopping 2700 screens.

Due to unforeseen behind-the-scenes legal issues, while produced in conjunction with the original 1990 Stephen Herek Turtles film, it did not actually see release until 1992. Because of this, instead of starring the April O’Neil from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of the Ooze (Paige Turco), The Krang Behind The Mask still has originator Judith Hoag in the role.

The film would open in the gritty, Miller-esque NYC of the “TMNT” comics. The Turtles would be legit ninjas created by the Henson Creature Shop in conjunction with Digital Domain. April O’Neill and her news team would open the film by investigating strange disappearances around the city’s sewer tunnels and open connections. The homeless, drug addicts and teenage runaways are disappearing in record numbers and the NYPD doesn’t care.

That’s when April asks the Turtles to get involved and they setup a sting to catch the villain that’s stealing the poor and downtrodden. The Turtles search through the main sewers under Manhattan where they learn about a recent attack and toxic waste flush that killed a hockey mask wearing maniac. Piecing together what happened, they track the irradiated footsteps of the maniac around town via Donatello’s recently made Geiger Goggles.

Days go by and the Turtles finally get a hit under 42nd Street. That’s when they find Jason mutated beyond belief and with open sores all over his body. He turns around to reveal a tiny tumor like brain creature living in his stomach. It screams and hisses at the Turtles, and then it makes Jason attack the Turtles. The Turtles fight hard, but barely escape the scene with their lives.

The Turtles spend time healing, as Splinter orders Casey Jones to hunt down the masked maniac. Splinter listens to his sons tell him about their encounter, as Splinter seems familiar with the beast they encountered. Splinter relates the story of the Oni (Japanese demon myth) and how one can defeat the supernatural.

April follows Casey Jones, as she has been studying what the Turtles found in the sewers. She recounts the story of Jason Voorhees and Crystal Lake. She recounts the film series to this point, as Casey ups his weapon game. This sequence leads to the April and Casey love scene with several frames of exposed full frontal nudity of both parties. The scene was omitted on the first VHS release of the film. But, there are plans to restore the scene as part of the upcoming Twilight Time limited edition release.

The Turtles are now prepared to make the ultimate decision of killing an enemy to put an end to the masked maniac. The Oni in the masked maniac seems to be his power source, as Splinter believes the host body will die without it. Researching further, Splinter learns that the Oni is named Krang and that it might have been summoned to Earth by Shredder. The scene goes no further, as it was part of a larger plot that was dropped when noted screenwriter William Goldman was thrown off the project.

The Turtles arrive to help out Casey and April, when they find that Jason/Krang has murdered the duo and left April’s mangled nude form wedged in a septic line. Raphael swears revenge, as the other three Turtles prepare a final showdown. This development leads to a montage of the Turtles uncharacteristically murdering Foot Clan soldiers Rocksteady and Bebop for information on Jason/Krang. While many critics cited the lack of logic in this sequence, returning director Danny Steinmann was famous for saying that all questions about the movie should be directed to his rectum.

Final Scene:

After luring Jason to the NYC Water Supply Station in Flushing, Donatello came up with a plan to flush Jason out of the city. After Splinter researched and learned that Jason was a former drowning victim, the team decided the only way to kill the Oni was by re-staging his death by drowning. Jason falls into a series of traps set up by Raphael and Leonardo, as Michelangelo tricks Jason into following him deeper into the main valve.

Donatello cracks open the main valve, as Mikey barely gets out in time. 300,000 pounds of pressure crash into Jason, as it flushes him out into the Atlantic Ocean. Sparks shoot off his machete, as he tries to claw his way down the pipes to slow himself down. Jason convulses and thrashes, as he flash backs to his drowning and realizes that he’s about to die the same way again. Jason panics in the water and rips Krang out of his stomach. The tiny brain tumor alien drowns when exposed to the rushing water, as Jason lets himself go.

Hours go by, as the area flushes out. The Turtles check the pipes and only finds the dead Krang and Jason’s machete. The maniac is gone for now.

Time passes, as we realize that it’s a year or two later in New Jersey. Soggy foot steps are heard, as they pound into the dirt road leading to the closed Camp Crystal Lake. We whip around to reveal the monstrous mutated Jason of Jason Goes to Hell. He’s home.

Audience Response:

The film was quickly pulled by New Line and Paramount after two weeks in wide release. 5-9 year olds were traumatized upon seeing the film, while slightly older kids called it the greatest fucking movie about turtles ever made. Roger Ebert would spend an entire episode of “At the Movies” slamming Gene Siskel for defending the release of this movie.

After the reception to the film was so toxic, New Line quickly (and cheaply) threw what is now known as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (it was simply released as TMNT: Turtles In Time initially) into production for an early 1993 release, using a discarded script they had lying around and ignoring the events of the Jason crossover. This makes the inclusion of Hoag as April in The Krang Behind The Mask even more amusing, because she once again refused to return and Paige Turco received the nod a second time. As a result, the dark & violent odd-numbered films star Hoag and the light-hearted even-numbered ones star Turco (since Turtles In Time is technically the 4th).

VHS copies of The Krang Behind The Mask are extremely hard to come by and it never made it to DVD, thus remaining a holy grail for collectors and fans alike. Until such time as it sees a new home video release (fingers crossed on that Twilight Time disc!), cherish any physical copy that you can get your hands on, be it legitimate or a bootleg. Whatever price you have to pay to own it, I assure you that the film is worth it.