JASON
X (2002)Director: Jim Issacs
New Line
JASON
X (2002)After almost ten years of waiting, New Line Cinema has finally brought us the next installment in the FRIDAY THE 13TH saga, JASON X. JASON GOES TO HELL ended rather curiously with Jason's mask being pulled underground by the bladed glove of another notorious horror villain of the 1980's. This is not referenced in JASON X, so it is likely all the answers we are seeking will be resolved when FREDDY VS JASON comes out next year. It seems like only yesterday that the of the message board community of Fridaythe13thfilms.com and I downloaded the first trailer for JASON X. We'd been long-awaiting a release date, and none seemed to be coming. Delayed for over a year, the next Jason movie simply couldn't come soon enough. Most had heard the phrase "Jason in space" and groaned, but with me, there was always hope that it would be a solid film. Upon finally seeing it in a theater, I was a little let down.
The story involves Jason Voorhees
and his last intended victim being cryogenically frozen at the Crystal Lake
Research Facility. Fast-forward 455 years into the future. Earth is a dead planet.
Interstellar students are on a field trip doing research, when they discover
Jason and his last intended victim. They take them aboard to study them, and
of course, Jason thaws out, comes to life, and wreaks serious havoc on the crew.
Now, I've spoken to writer Todd Farmer in the chat room of Fridaythe13thfilms.com before and we've e-mailed each other a time or two in the past. He seems like a genuinely nice guy originally from my good ol' state of Kentucky. I think when he wrote JASON X, he had his heart in the right place. However, in many ways, JASON X is quite fan-fic-ish. It's as if a group of fans got together and geeked out about all sorts of outlandish ideas that would never ever be considered for a "real" film. In a way, that's sort of interesting and fun. I mean this is the absolute last possible FRIDAY plot you thought you'd ever actually see on-screen. The fact that it exists as a real movie and not just a fan-fic screenplay is astounding. There are numerous interesting scenes that are genuinely Todd Farmer's (I love the Kay-Em "nipples" scene). The un-evenness of other scenes makes me wonder how much Sean S. Cunningham influenced the dialogue and decisions on JASON X. My guess is, a LOT.
As a movie in general, it's fairly poor. However, the FRIDAY THE 13TH series and other slashers like it, you have to judge them by their respective sub-genre. Even looking at JASON X within this context, I feel it missed the mark. The acting is generally bad (even for a FRIDAY movie) and the musical score makes me want to kick Harry Manfredini out of Hollywood permanently. New Line would do well to keep him far, far away from FREDDY VS JASON. Despite the fact that he has been the FRIDAY series composer since the beginning, I wouldn't even play the JASON X or JASON GOES TO HELL scores at a local fundraiser-type haunted house. There is zero suspense generated in any of the kills. Now, let me discuss how this film does as a FRIDAY THE 13TH movie. There is a fair amount of gore and deceptively little nudity. I remember early rumblings about the film: "Lots of gore, Lots of T&A!" Well, it has a fair amount of gore and one small scene of nudity. The biggest gore scene was the "liquid nitrogen" death early on. This was a very impressive death scene and should become a favorite among the die-hard fans. The remainders of the killings (the largest body count for a FRIDAY THE 13TH film) are not quite as memorable. The biggest disappointment came in the form of Hodder's performance as Jason. He did great as Jason in Part VII and VIII, however, I can't help but feel that he'd gotten a tad lazy or just plain forgot some of his trademark "Jason-isms" he's used so creepily and effectively in VII and VIII. The Jason presented in JASON X doesn't truly look like the Jason of the previous films and Kane's performance won't convince you further.
The thing with the previous FRIDAY
THE 13TH films was that they were cheesy in their own way, but still "classy"
enough to be serious theatrical fare. FRIDAY THE 13TH was the mainstream studio
answer to the typical drive-in slasher movie fare at the time of its original
release. JASON X reminds me, from start to finish, of something created direct
for video. It kills me to say this, but it's 
true.
The director does a good job of stretching his budget dollars, and better acting,
music, and direction could've made this one into a more interesting entry. However,
as it stands, JASON X is a decidedly mixed bag. It's definitely more entertaining
than a lot of stuff out there (THIRTEEN GHOSTS) but just not quite up to par
with everything that has come before.
Despite the film's shortcomings, this DVD completely ROCKS! New Line Cinema can definitely be applauded for serious effort when it comes to this film's DVD presentation. It has been presented in anamorphic widescreen in its original aspect ratio of 1:85:1 (2:35:1 would've made this film look incredible!). The transfer is gorgeous and nearly flawless, looking better than DVDs of some Oscar contenders. On the audio side, the film has been given a 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround track, a DTS surround track, and a Stereo Surround track. This is one to watch loud, folks. You did a truly great job on the audio, New Line. English subtitles and closed captions have been included for those with trouble hearing.
Now, for the meat and potatoes
of the disc: the extras. As with JASON GOES TO HELL, New Line has put Paramount
to shame. Not only do we get the original theatrical trailer for JASON X, but
we also get an audio commentary with writer Todd Farmer and director Jim Issacs,
we get a series documentary titled "The Many Lives of Jason Voorhees",
we get a behind the scenes documentary of JASON X titled "By Any Means
Necessary: The Making of Jason X" as well as the same "Jump to a Death"
feature that is seen on JASON GOES TO HELL.
First off, the audio commentary is very interesting. While not as humorous as the one on JASON GOES TO HELL, similarly, both Jim and Todd are revealed to be Jason fans that just wanted to do something different with the series. Next up, my absolute favorite feature on the whole disc has to be the FRIDAY series documentary "The Many Lives of Jason Voorhees." Included are snippets of interviews with Joe Bob Briggs, Ain't It Cool News' Moriarty, JASON GOES TO HELL director Adam Marcus, Jason actor Kane Hodder, as well as other experts in the horror field. Even two seemingly random FRIDAY fans are interviewed...Where did they get those guys??? For whatever reason, no footage of the first eight FRIDAY movies owned by Paramount is seen, but New Line gets around this by showing us Fangoria covers and articles featuring various early entries in the series. Honestly, there are so many interesting quotes from Briggs and Co. that I really didn't miss the footage from the first eight. This is the most interesting horror documentary in a long, long time and is definitely worth the purchase price alone, in my opinion. Consider JASON X the bonus feature here folks. This documentary is golden! The "Making Of" documentary, on the other hand, is interesting but kind of dry.
My only complaint extras-wise would be that none of the film's deleted scenes were included on the disc. There are a number of deleted scenes that were shot and not used. On an otherwise perfect disc, why were these scenes neglected?
While the film itself may take
a while to grow on you, there is no doubt that this disc is worth a purchase.
New Line has gone out of their way to leave Paramount in the dust, and they
have done an incredible job. I highly recommend both JASON X and JASON GOES
TO HELL on DVD. They are truly the only two FRIDAY THE 13TH films on DVD that
deserve to be in any serious horror fan's collection.
(Wes Ray)