Jason X (2002)

The trailer for Jason X was probably the best part of the movie, which seems to be more the case than ever these days. With “Let The Bodies Hit The Floor” as the music, it fits in so exceptionally well you think the song was written specifically for the movie.

Everyone has heard of Jason. Since the original Friday the 13th came out in 1980, there have now been 9 (yes, 9!) sequels. It all started with Jason drowning in Crystal Lake, a camp for kids. His mother actually is the villain in the first film, avenging her son’s death. With the resurrection of Jason in the second movie, he has gone on through the rest of the films on a virtual killing spree. With this installment, Jason is attacking in a new realm: outer space.

The death scenes in Jason X are decent, but not incredible. With the advent of movies like Final Destination (2000), which have excellent death scenes (especially the bus…wow!), Friday the 13th movies, and other slasher films like them, need to grow and make their death scenes more vicious as well.

In the last of the Friday the 13th series, #9 (Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday), this was done excellently, and with the interesting new twist to the plot, created probably the spookiest and goriest of the Friday the 13th movies. Jason X, however, falls more to sending Jason to a new realm, and having him do the same old stuff there.

The special effects are pretty good for the most part. The “simulation room” (similar to the HoloDeck from “Star Trek: The Next Generation”) is very well done, and creates a few interesting scenes, including a campy visit to the original Crystal Lake. Some of the special effects (a talking head at one point, for example) are not very well done, and look unimpressive.

With Freddy Vs. Jason (2003) next on the agenda for our Mr. Voorhees, the fans of both series hope for a new and exciting battle with more of A Nightmare on Elm Street type plot than a Friday the 13th plot. Whereas an Elm Street film usually relies at least partly on plot, the Friday the 13th films has usually just been mindless slasher flicks. Unfortunately, this chapter proves to be no exception.

A possible rental if you are a fan of the previous films. If you haven’t seen the previous films, however, Jason X most likely won’t interest you either - and isn’t a good place to start your Friday the 13th journey.