Just when horror fans thought the Friday the 13th franchise couldn’t get any weirder after 1993’s Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, it only took a long nine-year break for the franchise to follow suit of its Hellraiser and Leprechaun competition by sending the most recognizable slasher into space for a science fiction showdown.
Hellraiser: Bloodline was a strange flashback-filled space gothic and the last Hellraiser film to hit theaters, and Leprechaun 4: In Space didn’t even make it to theaters. Jason X came out swinging, never took itself too seriously, and offered a few of the most fun kills in the entire franchise.
As the tenth film in the Friday the 13th series, Jason X follows the story of Jason Voorhees being cryogenically frozen in the 21st century by the United States government at their Crystal Lake Research Facility. More than four centuries later, scientists and students search the abandoned facility, finding Jason Voorhees and bringing him aboard their spaceship.
To no surprise, Jason wakes up and goes on one of his patented murder sprees, unaware of the futuristic weapons that lie in store for him this time around. However, Jason takes advantage of these new surroundings, using a nanite-equipped medical station to turn him into an even stronger, unstoppable cyborg.
Yes, folks, you read that right. Director James Isaac and writer Todd Farmer took the most indestructible force in horror and made it even more indestructible. We knew right off the bat that we would get some fun times from James Isaac, who worked on creature effects for Return of the Jedi, Gremlins, Enemy Mine, and House II: The Second Story.
Fan-favorite Kane Hodder donned the hockey mask once more after wearing it in the previous three films and delivered a few of the most brutal kills of the series, putting futuristic spins on his old classics. The most memorable for me comes with one of the first kills of the film when Jason dunks a woman’s head in liquid nitrogen right before smashing her skull into crystalized chunks on the nearby counter. This kill remains one of the most popular in the series and was even tested on an episode of MythBusters in 2009.
In another great and comical scene, Jason is fooled into believing a holographic simulation of teenage girls at Camp Crystal Lake is real, and he just has to stop everything he’s doing to murder them.
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Though Jason’s cyborg suit got mixed reviews, I thought it looked awesome. I recall upon its release that the more purist fans of the series were turned off by the silliness of the suit and Jason X as a whole. Having nine films beforehand, especially after the silliness of the last few, I was extremely welcoming of a change of tone. Sure, Jason sort of looked like Lord Zed from Power Rangers had a kid with Super Shredder from Secret of the Ooze, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I smile every time I see the costume on screen. I was even more hyped up that within a cast of mostly unknowns, we’re given a strange supporting role from legendary director David Cronenberg as the group’s leading scientist, Dr. Wimmer.
That’s not to say Jason X is a good film. It has many issues, from very underdeveloped CG to an almost mind-numbing rendition of Harry Manfredini’s original score. But the film is flat-out fun. It’s one of those so-bad-it-great popcorn horror flicks you can watch with friends and take a shot every time someone gets slaughtered. If there’s one thing the Friday the 13th franchise has done for us horror fans throughout the franchise, Jason X included, it would be that it’s given us reason to cheer when unsuspecting teens and young adults get sliced and diced.
Jason X wasn’t a box office success either. It was one of the worst-performing films in the franchise, barely ahead of Jason Goes to Hell and Jason Takes Manhattan. Though there was an expectation for massive success for the tenth film, after such a long break, it still made its budget back in theaters. Jason X also inspired a 2005 comic book special sequel, written by Brian Pulido and art by Sebastian Fumara. The next year, Mike Wolfer released Jason vs. Jason X. This two-part follow-up comic series continued the story from the previous comic and pitted a resurrected Jason Voorhees against the souped-up cyborg version. Both comics were published by Avatar Press.
With constant legal battles going on for the creative and distributive rights to the franchise, we may never get another Friday the 13th movie. Aside from the 2009 remake and Freddy vs. Jason, this film is one of the last times we’ve seen the beloved slasher on the big screen. Even two decades after its mainstream release, I can go back and appreciate the intergalactic good time that is Jason X.
