Jason X

  Every October I host a month-long horror marathon wherein I watch at least one horror movie a night and my friends have an open invitation to drop in for any of them (this year’s will be the 8th year running). One year I followed that up with a day of bad horror movie sequels on November 1st, which consisted of what is considered the worst entries of four horror franchises (Halloween: Resurrection, Freddy’s Dead: The FInal Nightmare, Jaws: The Revenge, and Jason X). 

At the time I hadn’t seen any of those films and only knew of their reputation. Over the course of the evening we only successfully got through Freddy’s Dead due to an ill-advised drinking game (drink everytime something stupid happens) that left us to inebriated to continue. It was a few years before I finally actually saw Jason X and I learned that I was wrong to include it on the list because this film is a BLAST!

Jason X was written by Todd Farmer (My Bloody Valentine) and directed by James Isaac (Skinwalkers) and was released on April 26th, 2002. Jason X was made on a budget of $11 million, made $6,649,006 upon opening, and made $17,007,882 worldwide, making it the least successful entry in the franchise. Jason X received overwhelmingly negative reviews upon release but in recent years has received praise for its self-deprecating humor.

In 2008, Jason Vorhees (Kane Hodder, Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III) has been captured by the United States government and is being held at the Crystal Lake Research Facility. Jason and a scientist, Rowan LaFontaine (Lexa Doig, Andromeda), are accidentally cryogenically frozen and aren’t discovered for 445 years when they are picked up by the crew of the Grendel, a ship from Earth Two on a field trip to our original abandoned planet. Soon after Jason is thawed and begins his killing spree on the ship.

Jason X is a metric fuck-ton of fun. It’s a film that knows exactly what it’s doing and it’s having a blast doing it. The cast is fun, with Lisa Ryder’s (Andromeda) Kay-Em 14 and Melyssa Ade’s (The Teenage Girl Diaries) Janessa being the standouts. The set pieces are imaginative, such as one student’s head being frozen in liquid nitrogen and then shattered on a counter, and the humor is sharp. The sequence of the survivors using a holodeck-like technology to recreate Camp Crystal Lake (complete with teens who “love premarital sex”) as a distraction for Jason is hilarious. The film is also Kane Hodder’s best showcase as Jason, particularly when he becomes Uber Jason.

The film is, unsurprisingly, far from perfect. The pacing suffers during the second act as Jason tears through a group of interchangeable Aliens-reject marines for far too long, and Rowan follows in a long line of forgettable Friday Final Girls. Kay-Em and Janessa are far more memorable and would have made for better protagonists. At least the insufferable Kinsa (Melody Johnson, The Virgin Suicides) doesn’t make it to the end. 

Jason X is capital-f FUN. Put it on, turn off your brain and just enjoy.

Rating: 3 weird fuzzy tops out of 5

Other Observations:

• Does the Dog Die? Nope!

• Harrison’s Favorite Laugh: There aren’t any real scares, but Jason beating the sleeping bags together in the holodeck sequence is hysterical.

• For the record, if I was doing the bad sequels marathon today I would include Jason Takes Manhattan as the Friday entry. A New Beginning is the worst, in my opinion, but Manhattan would be more fun for that type of marathon.

• “Oh, this sucks on so many levels.” - Janessa should have made it to the end, but this is a fantastic final line.

• Does the CGI suck? Yes. Is that part of the fun? YES!

• I had the pleasure of watching this for the blog with my Booze and Buffy cohost and good friend, Jason, who was present for the failed “bad sequel” marathon. We had a great time.

• When the Fuck is This Movie Set? As mentioned, the prologue is set in 2008 (all of the government’s attempts to execute Jason have hilariously failed) and the timeskip places us in 2453.

Next Week: After rescheduling it twice, we are FINALLY covering Nia DaCosta’s (SAY HER NAME!) Candyman. I haven’t seen it yet (my husband and I are going on Saturday), but I’m stoked.