Jason X (James Isaac, 2001, USA)

Jason X (2001) certainly ranks as one of the dumbest entries into the Friday the 13th franchise. Arriving 8 years after Jason Goes to Hell, as well as the wave of ironic slashers made in the wake of the mega-success of Scream, Jason X was probably not trying to bring new fans into the franchise. This was a film made with its tongue firmly in its cheek, as something for the fans. The premise is essential "Jason goes to space" - and involves all the ridiculousness you can imagine.

The film opens with Jason being cryogenically frozen, as people have realized he can't be killed and it would be better to freeze him. Director David Cronenberg is onscreen for about a minute as the guy heading the lab project before Jason escapes and kills him. In the end, however, Jason is frozen. Fast forward to the far future, a space crew straight out of the Alien franchise finds Jason and one of his victims. They bring him onboard the spacecraft and what you would imagine begins. There are some inventive and funny touches throughout the film, for example, a scene where Jason enters a virtual reality game and kills the two players, and then kills them in real life.

Jason X is generally entertaining, but it has aged horribly compared to a lot of other films in the franchise. It looks like the very early 2000s (think nu metal music videos). The pacing, editing, and acting are all very bad. The film picks up near the end when the resident android unleashes a machine-gun assault on Jason, and then Jason turns into "mecha-Jason". Overall, Jason X is one of the weaker entries in the franchise, while still being moderately entertaining in parts. It is only recommended for completists of the franchise, however.

5/10