Review of Jason X (2001) by Tim S — 15 Jan 2012

Most people would contend that the idea of putting Jason in space would be the worst idea that the filmmakers ever came up with in the history of the Friday the 13th series. Well, they would be both right and wrong at the same time.

Let me put it this way: it is an awful idea, but the resulting movie, Jason X, is just so much fun that it's hard to overlook. It's bad, yes, but in an enjoyable way. It actually has a strange charm to it, even in the worst of scenes.

It definitely has a hell of a lot more charm than the worst films in the series (such as the previous one). The story is that Jason and a woman, who he is in the middle of murdering, are cryogenically frozen and unthawed almost five centuries later on a ship in outer space, whereupon Jason runs amuck and kills everything in his path.

Later in the film, he is reborn, yet again, and is basically a super-cyborg killing machine. Insane right? Well, it IS over-the-top (and I'm sure I'm gonna be accused of having double standards here), but for some reason, this whole concept and the way it's executed just works for me.

It's not perfect by any means, but it is fun, and a good way for the original series to go out on, particulary with the ending that it has. Jason goes to space, kills everybody and lands on a new planet to kill everything again.

So the original series of films ends on not a high note, but a mid-range note. I can't even begin to defend it any real way, but most people tend to think of it as the worst of the series. However, I don't, as it contains too much unintentional entertainment value.