Jason X is sometimes regarded as the black sheep of the Friday the 13th franchise, and gets a lot of hate from fans of the franchise, but it’s not a bad movie: it’s just misunderstood.
The film, which released in 2001, was directed by James Isaac and developed from a script by Todd Farmer. With Sean S. Cunningham and Noel Cunningham sharing producer credits, the film was in the right hands from the get-go. The cast featured Kane Hodder as Jason in his fourth - and final - appearance as the character. What’s even more is Harry Manfredini wrote the music, which has been a hallmark of the entire franchise so, while it’s an outlier in many ways, it had all the right ingredients to be great. Despite all that, Jason X made just under $17 million worldwide, and got a “C” CinemaScore. Roger Ebert, who followed suit with other major film critics who disliked the franchise, gave the film 0.5 stars.
With the legal rights for the franchise - the ongoing battle for ownership of Jason Voorhees between Victor Miller and Sean S. Cunningham - being argued in court in February 2020, there will undoubtedly be more Friday the 13th movies on the way, though given the trend of remakes in the horror genre, it’s probably that another reboot or retcon will be in Jason’s future instead of a second trip to space.
Jason X Doesn’t Deserve Its Bad Reputation
The mark of a decent Friday the 13th movie really boils down to two things: an awesome Jason Voorhees, and some unique, bloody kills. While there are many reasons not to like Jason X, on those two levels, the film completely delivers. The film opens with Jason at the Crystal Lake Research Facility, where a team of scientists have decided to put him into a cryogenically frozen state since they can’t seem to kill him. Of course, Jason isn’t dead - he’s a zombie, according to the film’s canon - and he attacks several people before being pushed into a pod and frozen with Rowan (Lexa Doig), whom he has stabbed with his machete; this preserves them both, and they are found over 400 years later, and taken into space.
Jason and Rowan are both de-thawed, and Jason resumes business as usual, dispatching amorous young people on a space shuttle, but he ends up being blown to pieces by a female android known as KM-14 (Lisa Ryder). This would have likely been the end of him, except he ended up accidentally being rebuilt stronger than ever through the efforts of a futuristic medical bay. From there, he’s nigh unstoppable while they try to distract him through various means and the remaining inhabitants of the ship try to figure out what to do with him. Even virtual reality - where Jason is attempted to be swayed and distracted by two partially nude women - isn’t enough to slow him down. It’s all a completely ridiculous back and forth, but no more so than him being brought back to life by a lightning and turned into a zombie, possessing people, morphing into a “hell baby”, or keeping hostages in underground tunnels was.
The kills - particularly the sleeping bag kill (in the virtual reality sequence) and the liquid nitrogen face smash - have become iconic parts of the franchise for their creativity and brutality, which are two things Jason is known for. In a way, it’s entirely self-aware of exactly what it is, and abandons any hope of being a serious horror movie for being a horror-comedy the likes of films like Tucker and Dale vs Evil or even the crossover, Freddy vs. Jason, instead. There are some moments that will thrill less seasoned horror fans, but for the hardcore Friday the 13th aficionados, it’s worth re-watching again and again for the laughs.
Next: All The Friday The 13th Movies Ranked, Worst To Best
