Of Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Fans love to argue about which Friday the 13th movie is the best, but most can agree on the worst. Its Jason Xwhich sent our favorite hockey-masked killer to the 25th century.
The film has a 20 percent critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 25 percent fan rating, meaning almost everyone agrees that “Jason In Space” stinks worse than Pamela Voorhees’ severed head. However, I have always had a weak point in my own not so cut off head to this movie, and I’m here to tell you that “Worst” Friday isn’t just great, it’s actually one of the best movies in the franchise.
Why Jason X is one of the best Friday the 13th movies
What’s so good about Jason Xyou might ask? Let’s start with the obvious: our titular killer is played by Kane Hodder, the man who long ago established himself as the ultimate Jason Voorhees artist. He always brings plenty of raw physicality to his performances as the Crystal Lake killer, and he’s in fine form throughout this cheesy sci-fi Film. If the wild opening with his escape from the government prison doesn’t cement it for you, just check out the first future kill where he bodily stuffs a poor scientist’s face into a cryo-freezing vat before crushing half her head with a single brutal smash.
Which brings us to the next obvious point in this movie’s favor: Jason X has some great kills. My personal favorite occurs when the surviving crew on spaceship Trying to distract Jason with a Star Trek-style Holodeck, Grendel perfectly recreates Crystal Lake in 1980 (or, as the Zoomer-sounding crewman calls it, “nineteen eighty”). The killer is persuaded by two girls who ask if he wants to smoke pot or have premarital sex before crawling into their sleeping bags; soon Jason puts the “smash” in “smash cut” as we see him holding one of the stuffed sleeping bags and slamming the helpless holographic victim against her friend.
This is of course a callback to Jason’s infamous sleeping bag death in the seventh Friday the 13th film. It’s just one example of how this movie is a love letter to the entire franchise and is filled with great little easter eggs to enhance longtime fans’ enjoyment. Some hate the idea of seeing Jason out of his comfort zone, but from Hodder’s performance to the fantastic kills to the cheeky script, it’s clear that this was a labor of true love for everyone involved.
If you like to keep track of the crazy Friday the 13th stories, Jason X offers plenty of weird tidbits, including the fact that Jason was canonically captured by the United States government. They repeatedly try to kill him in several ways, and after discovering that he simply cannot be killed, they decide to weaponize him. It’s all fascinating, and the fact that the sole survivor of the Crystal Lake Research Facility (!) knew enough to program the aforementioned holodeck distraction means that the government even knew that Jason followed horror movie rules and killed those who use drugs or have sex .
The actors from Andromeda dazzle in a horror film
On top of all that, Jason X has something every Good Friday the 13th movie needs: great characters. Lexa Doig is perfect as Jason’s fellow traveler from the 21st century, and she dazzles here even more than she does in the modest sci-fi hit show Andromeda.
Other standout performances include Lisa Ryder (who was also Andromeda) as a dommy android, Peter Mensah as a tough space marine and Jonathan Potts as the galaxy’s dullest professor.
A Beowufl Reference and Other Literary Intelligence In Jason X
Finally, if you can look past all the glorious fluff, Jason X is a surprise smart film. For example, even before Jason is properly thawed, his machete-wielding popsicle self ends up cutting off a guy’s arm. Their sci-fi technology puts him back together, but since this ship is named after the Beowulf villain Grendel (who famously had his arm torn off), it’s clear that this is a literary homage. Speaking of literary references, an out-of-control Grendel (Jason killed the pilot) ends up destroying Solaris, a space station named after the seminal 1961 sci-fi novel by Stanislaw Lem.
Now I’ll even you out: Jason X isn’t a perfect movie, and you’ll spend even more time wincing Buffy-esque straining dialogue than you spend tugging on the early clothes. But this movie features the best Jason actor, great characters, and memorable deaths. These qualities alone make it better than any mainline Friday the 13th movie after Part IV except for Jason is alive.
Jason X isn’t available to stream right now, but it’s worth tracking down for any horror fan willing to indulge in some chocky delight.
And if you’re not in this for serious shlock, what are you even watching these movies for? Just go watch some “heightened horror” and let the rest of us enjoy a Friday the 13th movie filled with all of Joe Bob Briggs’ basic requirements for a great horror movie.
