Jason X

Directed by James Isaac.

2001. Rated R, 91 minutes.

Cast:

Kane Hodder

Lexa Doig

Jeff Geddis

David Cronenburg

Lisa Ryder

Chuck Campbell

Our favorite hockey-masked killer, Jason Vorhees (Hodder) is lured onto a spaceship & into a chamber where he and his last near-victim are cryogenically frozen and launched into space. Fast-forward a few hundred of years where a ship full of people who supposedly have brains in their heads retrieve the vessel containing the psycho and last girl. Of course, they thaw the two of them out in hopes of studying them, Jason in particular. Needless to say, mayhem ensues.

All of the pre-requisite schlock of a Jason-flick is there: campiness, stupidity, implausibility, bad acting, bad dialogue and a sprinkle of nudity. And those are the good things. Listen folks, you don't go into this one expecting Casablanca. Another good thing is it purposely pokes fun at earlier entries in the series.

The problem is that Jason X contains the most uninspired kill scenes in the Friday the 13th canon. A large part of the series' charm is the sheer creativity of the death scenes. They're simultaneously graphic and morbidly funny. They're the reason this franchise was once a cash cow. Every movie in the series was a major theater release and there are now 12 of them including Freddy vs. Jason and the recent remake of the original. I believe they all made a good deal of money, including this one which I think is the worst in the series. Only James Bond has that kind of staying power. The problem with those kills is that, with a few notable exceptions (for instance, the frozen head being smashed was quite nice), Jason just walks up and gives the victim a quick slash that the camera often cuts away from before there's any gore to be seen or morbid laughs to be had. Jason's rather large cutlery sports a dull blade in this one.

MY SCORE: 3.5/10 

MY SCORE vs. other Jason flicks: 5.5/10