The Crystal Lake Research Facility is holding Jason Voorhees, planning to use him to make some quick cash. You know, kinda like what Hollywood has been doing the past thirty years. Anyway, a scientist named Rowan plans to cryogenically freeze Jason, but Jason sets off some kinda security thing that locks both of them in the freezer. In 2455, a group of space travelling college students happen to find Rowan and Jason perfectly preserved. They take them aboard their space ship and revive Rowan with some kind of generating machine that uses billions of ants to regenerate damaged tissue. Things take a deadly turn when Jason wakes up from his 400 years of sleep and begins slaughtering just about everyone on board the ship. It is up to the survivors to stop Jason, but Jason gets an upgrade too, which places them all in grave danger.
In 1993, New Line Cinema released their first Jason movie titled Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday. This ninth entry in the long lasting horror franchise left the doors wide open for a Freddy VS. Jason film. Originally, New Line had planned for the next film to pit the two slashers against each other. Fans were very excited and already debating on who would win. Problems came up with finding the right script to support both icons. The '90s were over and the 21st Century had arrived with still no luck in finding a Freddy VS. Jason script that would work out. New Line finally decided to make another Jason movie, but wanted a story that would take place way into the future so that it would not mess up the possibility of doing a Freddy VS. Jason film. Producer Sean S. Cunningham suggested that in the next film to put Jason in space. Leprechaun, Hellraiser, James Bond, and Critters have been to outer space. So, why not send Jason there too? So in 2001, Jason X was released to theaters.
Jason X is a film that fans of this franchise either like or hate. People like me happen to enjoy it for the cheese and that the film is a lot of fun. Others hate it because it is ridiculous and that it is not your typical Jason flick. Sue me, I enjoy Jason X and thought that it is a cheesy fun time. This is what I call a beer and popcorn flick that you just watch with a group of friends and laugh. This film is also a little special to me since it was the first Jason movie that I was able to see in the theater. I was really little when Parts 7-9 came out and plus didn't become a horror fan until like 1996 after being introduced to John Carpenter's 1978 classic Halloween and Scream back when VHS was the way to go.
The screenplay written by Todd Farmer is pretty amusing and enjoyable. Farmer would go on to write the awesome 3D remake of My Blood Valentine. This is not just a slasher flick, but a mix of sci fi/action/horror. I also thought that most of the characters were entertaining to watch especially the fembot with the plastic boobs Kay-Em 14. This robot was all kinds of badass! Fuck that robot dancing wannabe rocker chick Violet from Friday The 13th: A New Beginning. Kay-Em is the real deal. Rowan was also really cool as the heroine of sorts. I liked her a lot. Plus, she was pretty hot. Tsunaron was pretty cool too as the robotics expert/science geek guy. Sgt. Brodski was probably my other favorite character. This guy was so badass! Prof. Lowe was kinda annoying and such a fucking moron that it was funny. Janessa was pretty sexy and cool. She also pinches her Professor's nipples in order to pass. Ah, yeah. Azrael was pretty funny. And of course Jason was a badass as always. I pretty much enjoyed the characters.
And now for what is usually the best part of a Jason movie: the kills! The kills in Jason X are pretty cool for the most part. The best and my personal favorite is when Jason first wakes up on the space ship and kills a girl by freezing her entire face then slamming her face down on the counter, totally breaking it off. A girl gets sucked through a small hole. Some stupid chick decides to fly a shuttle ship with the fuel lines still attached that blows her up. We also get the usual stabbings, impaling, slit throats, a guy cut in half, and a severed head. Decent kills.
One thing that I truly love about this movie is all of the technology and events that have never happened yet. There's a scene where two guys are playing a virtual reality game that looks like a lot of fun to play. I thought that the whole ants regenerating tissue machine was very weird and humorous. That would definitely come in handy this day and age. There's an Earth II? Really? Please tell me that it is a hell of a lot better than the Earth we are currently living on. It's not just movies and books getting sequels, but now our fucking planets are too. I wonder if Earth will go the Friday The 13th route by having twelve sequels in the franchise of life. What's next in technology? Regenerating rotting corpses since the dawn of man to live another hundred fucking years? The scene where Tsunaron and Rowan set up a virtual reality of Camp Crystal Lake for Jason as a distraction was great. I loved that they payed homage to the sleeping bag kill from Friday The 13th: The New Blood. That scene was hilarious.
I do have a few issues with the film though. If Earth I is dead, then how in the hell did these people find Jason and Rowan preserved? Weren't they on Earth I? Or did I miss something? I also had some issues with a few characters just being annoying, but that's just small complaints. Personally, I think this movie is ridiculously fun, which it knows what kinda movie it is and ain't afraid to show it.
Uber Jason looked fucking cool to me. I loved the outfit and the red eyes. Very cool and badass looking Jason.
The music by Harry Manfredini worked liked always.
The direction by the late James Isaac was actually pretty good. Jason X was entertaining, hilarious, action packed, and fun. Just the way I like it.
The acting was also really good. Lisa Ryder was fucking awesome as the fembot Kay-Em 14. Lexa Doig was great as Rowan. Chuck Campbell was hilarious and awesome as Tsunaron. Peter Mensah was a badass as Sgt. Brodski. Derwin Jordan was decent as Waylander. Melyssa Ade was pretty hot as Janessa. Jonathan Potts was okay as Professor Lowe. Dov Tiefenbach was pretty funny as Azrael. And Kane Hodder was badass as always in his last portrayal of Jason Voorhees. Hodder has gone on to play in various other horror films and is now playing the swamp hatchet slashing maniac Victor Crowley in Adam Green's modern slasher franchise Hatchet.
Overall, Jason X is a ridiculously fun and massively entertaining sci fi/action/horror flick. A lot of people hate this film, but I personally enjoy it from time to time. Sure, it is cheesy as hell, but that's the beauty of it for me. This is what it would be like possibly if George Lucas or Ridley Scott directed a Friday The 13th flick.
GRADE
C+
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