The Worst Friday the 13th Film Is Actually One Of The Best

By Chris Snellgrove
| Revealed 1 hour in the past

Followers like to quibble over which Friday the thirteenth movie is the most effective, however most can agree on the worst. It’s Jason X, which despatched our favourite hockey mask-wearing killer to the twenty fifth century.

The film has a 20 p.c important score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 25 p.c fan score, which implies that almost everybody agrees that “Jason In Area” stinks worse than Pamela Voorhees’ severed head. Nonetheless, I’ve all the time had a delicate spot in my very own not-so-severed head for this film, and I’m right here to inform you that the “worst” Friday isn’t simply good, it’s really among the finest movies within the franchise.

Why Jason X Is One Of The Finest Friday The thirteenth Films

What’s so good about Jason X, you may ask? Let’s begin with the apparent: our titular killer is performed by Kane Hodder, the person who way back established himself as the last word Jason Voorhees performer. He all the time brings loads of uncooked physicality to his performances because the Crystal Lake killer, and he’s in fantastic kind all through this tacky sci-fi film. If the wild opening that includes his escape from authorities incarceration doesn’t cement that for you, simply take a look at the primary future kill wherein he bodily thrusts a poor researcher’s face right into a cryo-freezing vat earlier than shattering half her head with a single brutal smash.

That brings us to the following apparent level on this movie’s favor: Jason X has some nice kills. My private favourite happens when the surviving crew of the starship Grendel tries to distract Jason with a Star Trek-style holodeck, completely recreating Crystal Lake in 1980 (or, because the Zoomer-sounding crewman calls it, “nineteen-hundred and eighty”). The killer is cajoled by two women who ask if he desires to smoke pot or have pre-marital intercourse earlier than crawling into their sleeping luggage; quickly, Jason places the “smash” in “smash minimize” as we see him holding one of many stuffed sleeping luggage and beating the helpless holographic sufferer in opposition to her good friend.

It is a callback, after all, to Jason’s notorious sleeping bag kill within the seventh Friday the 13th movie. That’s only one instance of how this film is a love letter to the whole franchise and is crammed with nice little Easter eggs to boost longtime followers’ enjoyment. Some hate the concept of seeing Jason out of his consolation zone, however from Hodder’s efficiency to the superb kills to the cheeky script, it’s clear that this was a labor of real love for everybody concerned.

In the event you like protecting observe of Friday the thirteenth’s insane lore, Jason X gives loads of bizarre tidbits, together with the truth that Jason was canonically captured by america authorities. They repeatedly attempt to kill him in a number of methods, and after discovering that he merely can’t be killed, they determine to weaponize him. It’s all fascinating, and the truth that the only real survivor of the Crystal Lake Analysis Facility (!) knew sufficient to program the aforementioned holodeck distraction signifies that the federal government even knew that Jason adopted horror film guidelines, killing those that use medicine or have intercourse. 

The Forged From Andromeda Dazzles In A Horror Film

On prime of all that, Jason X has one thing each good Friday the thirteenth movie wants: nice characters. Lexa Doig is ideal as Jason’s fellow traveler from the twenty first century, and she or he dazzles right here much more than she does within the modest sci-fi hit present Andromeda.

Different standout performances embody Lisa Ryder (who was additionally on Andromeda) as a dommy mommy android, Peter Mensah as a tough-as-nails area marine, and Jonathan Potts because the sleaziest professor within the galaxy.

A Beowufl Reference And Different Literary Intelligence In Jason X

Lastly, in the event you can look previous the entire wonderful shlock, Jason X is a surprisingly good movie. For instance, even earlier than Jason is correctly thawed out, his machete-wielding popsicle self finally ends up slicing a man’s arm off. Their sci-fi know-how places him again collectively, however since this ship is called after the Beowulf villain Grendel (who famously obtained his arm ripped off), it’s clear that this can be a literary homage. Talking of literary references, an out-of-control Grendel (Jason killed the pilot) finally ends up destroying Solaris, an area station named after the seminal 1961 sci-fi novel by Stanislaw Lem.

Now, I’ll stage with you: Jason X isn’t an ideal movie, and also you’ll spend much more time wincing on the Buffy-esque tryhard dialogue than you spend wincing on the early aughts clothes. However this film options the most effective Jason actor, nice characters, and memorable kills. These qualities alone make it higher than each mainline Friday the thirteenth movie after Half IV apart from Jason Lives.

Jason X will not be accessible to stream proper now, but it surely’s price monitoring down for any horror fan prepared to offer themselves over to some shlocky delight.

And in the event you’re not on this for critical shlock, what are you even watching these movies for? Simply go watch some “elevated horror” and let the remainder of us get pleasure from a Friday the thirteenth movie crammed with all of Joe Bob Briggs’ important necessities for an ideal horror flick.