Jason Takes Arsenio.

Remember when Jason Voorhees was a guest on The Arsenio Hall Show?

Yes, this happened!

The July 1989 “interview” was meant to promote Jason Takes Manhattan, and I can still remember watching it in my junky old bedroom. I hadn’t seen any of the Friday the 13th movies by that point, but with Jason being such a pop icon, that hardly mattered.

Now that I think about it, it was probably this very interview that inspired me to rent Jason Takes Manhattan several months later. I was still dipping my feet into the horror pool and wasn’t yet ready for the rougher stuff, but since Jason was so affable with Arsenio, how bad could the movie be?

Well, within like five minutes of the title screen, Jason literally ripped the intestines out of some rando’s stomach. I stopped the tape right there, and wouldn’t try renting it again for years. (Little did I know that the intestines thing was the movie’s most brutal scene, by far.)

Considering that I now count Friday the 13th as my most beloved horror franchise, I got off to a pretty weak start!

Anyway, watch the clip. It’s freakin’ adorable.