Originally published: June 5, 2006 @ 4:20am PST

Pictured: Brodski (left) versus Jason (right) in Jason X

"Guys, it’s okay! He just wanted his machete back!" - Professor Lowe in Jason X

Every so often, a movie comes out that I feel I have to see in the theater first. The Scary Movie series is one example, as was The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. In 2002 when Jason X came out, it was one of those theater-first movies.

My earliest experience that I actually remember with the Friday the 13th series was part 6: Jason Lives, which I saw at the local drive-in, in 1986. Before that, I can remember seeing the boxes for the series in the video store, but never having seen any of the movies, so Jason Lives was a good introduction. Since then, I’ve seen all of the Friday the 13th movies, save for part four, which I’ve only seen bits and pieces of. You might be surprised to find out just how much Jason X differs from its predecessors…

So, on to the movie! We start in the year 2010, where Jason has been captured and is awaiting being cryogenically frozen, since he can’t be killed. A soldier, keeping watch over Jason’s chained form, goes to him and tosses a rag over his head because Jason is staring at him. Unintentionally, he dislodges the IV that was feeding Mr. Voorhees a sedative (the IV isn’t shown in the movie, but was in the original script). We cut to Rowan, our main character, talking to some scientists and soldiers who want to keep Jason "fresh" to study his regenerative ability. The group moves to the main chamber to pull the rag off of the body only to find the guard strung up and dead as Jason comes out of the shadows to start slicing through the soldiers and scientist who wanted to study him. The last of the soldiers to fall apologizes to Rowan before he dies. She takes his shotgun from his body and lures Jason to the cryogenic unit, trapping him there. As she turns it on and it begins to work, she stands in front of the door, somewhat tauntingly. Jason stabs her through the door. This also breaches the cryo unit, so the door shuts automatically as everything in the room starts to freeze, Rowan included. Jason freezes with his arm up as if he’s about to smash the window of the unit.

Cut to the year 2455, where a group of students are investigating the now-abandoned Crystal Lake facility. The Earth has been barren for decades and this is an archeological field trip. The group enter the chamber with the cryo unit and find Jason still inside, as well as Rowan, partially covered by rubble. They find that she’s able to be saved and so they decide to take her back to the ship with them, along with Jason, who they think is just a corpse… though a mishap causes one of the students to lose his arm when Jason’s machete slices through it as he falls.

On the ship they revive Rowan, then re-attach the student’s arm using nanobots, while they thaw out Jason’s body to study him. The teacher, Professor Lowe, confers with Dieter Perez (I hesitate to call him a colleague, as he seems to "outrank" Lowe; he’s possibly a financial backer, as Lowe tells him he needs more money) about what they’ve found on Earth. This which leads to another amusing quote: "A box of DVD’s is not a gold mine." When he sees Jason’s name on the list of finds, he remarks on how he’d be worth a fortune to the right people. Lowe gets the idea that he’ll sell Jason’s body to one of these collectors. Meanwhile, Jason’s body is thawing more and starting to show signs of life, unnoticed by Adrienne who is the only one in the room with him. Jason soon revives fully, grabs Adrienne, throws her around a bit, then dunks her head in some liquid that instantly freezes her face and finally slams it against a counter, shattering her face right off of her head.

Pictured: Uber-Jason from Jason X

Jason is soon shown wandering the ship, killing anyone he encounters. When the others find Adrienne’s body, with no Jason to be found, they call a red alert and the military presence on the ship gets ready to hunt Jason down. Unfortunately for them, Jason is sneakier and more durable than they are. Soon, only the C.O. of the group is left standing. He gets into a knife fight with Jason and ends up getting skewered by him. The remaining survivors hole up in the labs, thinking they’re the safest place for them, as Jason begins pounding on the door. He stops after a couple of strikes, then just when everyone starts thinking it’s safe, he jumps through the window, causing all but Lowe to run. Lowe gets cornered and when Jason picks up the machete, comparing it with the surgery knife he was using, Lowe tells him to take the machete, then yells the quote that began this article. We only see Lowe one more time after that.

I enjoyed this movie when I saw it in the theater and still loved it when I watched it again this last weekend. There seems to be a tradition about horror movies: when the franchise goes into outer space it usually goes downhill from there. While this movie is definitely different from the other films in the franchise, it does sport some creative kills, some good laughs in the one-liners of the characters, a "fish-out-of-water" storyline (both for Rowan, who has to cope with suddenly being four and a half centuries older, and the other members when a killer appears in their midst), and finally, best of all, Kane Hodder in the role that made him famous - playing both Jason and the cyber-enhanced Uber-Jason. For my money, this is a great movie and one I’ll definitely share with anyone who wants to see it. So, for a rating, I give it 5 out of 5.

One more thing I want to say before I close. It’s come to my attention that alot of people are visiting our site, so I got to thinking… what if someone wanted to comment on one of my reviews? What if someone really liked it or even really hated it? This lead me to the thought that there hasn’t been a way for people to communicate with me directly. There’s a comment button, but to use it, visitors have to register, which I know seems like a hassle just to say, "Hey, great job!" or "Yo, man, I totally disagree!" So, if anyone has any questions, comments, compliments or flames, you can reach me here: redhawk28@gmail.com

Feel free to say anything to me, no matter what. Anyways, take care everyone; this is Red Hawk signing off!

-- by Red Hawk of http://www.happyhorror.com

Tags: friday the 13th, horror, jason, movies, vhs

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