Jason X (2002)

Starring Kane Hodder, Lexa Doig, Lisa Ryder, Chuck Campbell, Jonathan Potts, Peter Mensah, Melyssa Ade.
Directed by James Isaac.
Written by Todd Farmer.
Distributed by New Line Cinema.
93 minutes.

LVJeff's Rating: 5/10

The Horror and The Humor

No matter what kind of movie-watcher you are, whether you're an arthouse junkie or a blockbuster fanatic, you can't deny the effect that the "Friday the 13th" series had on American popular culture and movies. Scarce are the citizens who would not be able to identify the hockey-masked knife-wielding maniac as Jason Voorhees, the killer in the slasher series. He has become a horror icon, and his movies helped develop and over-exploit what are now multiple horror movie cliches: the gruesome murders, the teenage victims, the unstoppable stalker, and the endless sequels, each one less inventive than the one before.

The "Friday the 13th" series bloomed and decayed in the span of one decade -- the '80's -- which saw the release of eight of these movies, until the '90's showed up and made names like Jason and Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy scarce (one attempt was made in 1993 to continue the "Friday" series, but it was poorly received by fans). However, thanks to movies like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer in the late '90's, slasher flicks became popular again. In particular, Scream made genre-referencing hipness a successful element in the new breed of scarefests. And after new killers "Ghostface" and "The Fisherman" had staked their claims among a new crop of horror fans, the old-schoolers like Michael Myers of Halloween wanted to take new shots too.

Jason X is Jason's new shot, but his series found itself in a strange dilemma. Everyone knows "Friday the 13th" is the most overdone, over-sequelized horror series of them all, so the idea of a new sequel (especially after the last one called itself "The Final Friday") seemed like a joke. But what if this was a joke that everyone was in on? That seemed to be the strategy the producers of the movie decided to go with, and I, for one, believed it was a good idea. After all, Jason is too familiar a figure to be effectively frightening anymore, so an attempt at pure horror would have been ineffective. At the same time, turning the entire movie into a joke could have upset the series' dedicated fans.

Thus, Jason X ends up being half-funny and half-serious. On its humorous side, it has a lot of pluses. For starters, the movie begins at "Crystal Lake Research Facilities," a long way from its inauspicious beginnings as a campground. The next thing you know, Jason (Kane Hodder, who out-acts the rest of the cast with just his eye) and the movie's heroine (Lexa Doig) are frozen for 400 years when a space crew of teenagers brings them aboard their spaceship. The teens are dressed in clothes that are either too tight or ready to fall off, and quite a few of them are extremely horny. After Jason thaws out, he starts amassing a body count (one of his earliest victims is, naturally, a guy who just had sex) and nothing can stop him. Goofy lines like, "It's OK! He just wanted his machete back!", a silly fight sequence, and a hilarious gag near the end involving an environment simulation keep up the movie's light-hearted end of the bargain.

Unfortunately, the serious side suffers from gross unoriginality. It uses the same plot as Alien: Resurrection -- an invincible killing force chases an armed crew led by a woman who knows too well the pursuer's dangerous nature. Trapped on a ship, the hapless characters try to find a way to escape. One by one, several members of the group are killed. Ho hum. The prey/hunter formula, executed in such routine fashion, was boring and failed to hold my interest. After watching long sequences filled with this type of action, I longed to see more of the flick’s humorous elements.

Although trying to balance self-referential humor and a normal ol' slasher plot seemed like a decent endeavor, the result doesn't fully satisfy either the die-hard Jason fans or those who can take a good joke. That combination worked in Scream, but Scream's in-jokes were subtle, keeping the horror as the primary element. Jason X's jokes are pretty obvious, so the movie suffers conspicuously from a split personality. I now believe if filmmakers had committed to one approach or the other, Jason X would have been a better movie. In fact, I’m convinced this film displayed enough nonsensical spirit to show it had the potential for a successful full-time spoof. After over 20 years, nine sequels, and lifelong status as a cultural icon, Jason deserves a hearty laugh at his own expense.

©Jeffrey Chen, Apr. 28, 2002

An edited version of this review appears at ReelTalk Movie Reviews.

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