Customer Reviews

Jason X [Widescreen Platinum Series]

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(55)
3 star:		(31)
2 star:		(30)
1 star:		(43)

 

 

I'd like to point out that I love horror movies and I love cheesey sequels... That being said...

Jason X stinks... I mean STINKS. None of the Friday movies are very good, but this one takes the cake for the ultimate crapfest...

It's NOT even good for a laugh, as I mistakenly thought it would be when I bought it.

I paid $5 for this movie... And honestly I wouldn't even take it off someone's hands for free!

Here's hoping I can sell it to some poor soul for a dollar or two.

If you want to see the difference talent makes, first watch Alien then watch Jason X. Both films have essentially the same plot and, despite having been made 23 years before the latter and for 3 million fewer dollars, Alien is a tense and atmospheric masterpiece while Jason X is indescribable garbage. Everything about the tenth Friday the 13th movie is bad (but the music, set design, and costume design are especially awful--oh, cinematography and editing, too ... Okay, just everything). There is no suspense here, no scares, and even the kills and gore are routine to the point of banality. It is boring. This is one of those movies that make you wonder where the money went. Avoid this thing. Seriously, avoid it. If you want horror in space, watch or rewatch Alien. For a more recent option, check out the underrated Pandorum.

Boasting seven kills (including famed horrormeister David Cronenberg in a cameo appearance) in the first two and a half minutes and twenty-eight overall, Jason X delivers the goods to those of us who love nothing more than a good slasher film. While other mad serial killers, almost all of whom I like, worry about finding more innovative ways of inducing horrible death to those around them, killing only when they have a good dumb cliche to accompany the coup de grace, Jason prefers the good, old-fashioned, traditional methods of murder. Sure, he has been known to use some innovative implements of horrible death, but only because they happen to be handy. Jason's hands, even after being cryogenically frozen for four and a half centuries, still quiver for the feel of his trusty machete. Jason doesn't waste any time, either; he just kills people. Yep, with a total body count now exceeding 250, Jason Voorhees is an unstoppable killing machine that refuses to let such silly things as countless bullets, drowning, body-ripping explosions, head-obliterating kill shots, or anything else man can think of stand in the way of doing his job. Somewhere, even in the future, there are young people having sex, acting silly, or delivering sometimes awful dialogue in bad acting performances; adults are planning to sell him to the highest bidder in hopes of studying him like some lab animal; or Terminator-aspiring androids are making fools of themselves and just begging to be taken to his school of hard knocks; and Jason is there. He can't be stopped; he can't be reasoned with; he can't be bribed; he can be sidetracked, but nor for long; he is here to kill, without remorse, without any sign of emotion, and that is why some many of us love him so much.

Let's forget the script for a moment and look at what is really important. Jason kills a lot of people in this movie, as only he can do it. After a Houdini-like escape and quite satisfying instant bloodbath, he finds himself cryogenically frozen; he breaches the hull of his little unit in an attempt to kill again, leading our intrepid group of future student researchers into believing he is far beyond the help of the nanotechnology that revives his last intended victim. Yet, after 455 years of inaction, he has no trouble whatsoever adapting to the futuristic technology of the spaceship he finds himself on, making one of his most satisfying kills immediately after arising from his metal slab. Soon afterward, the ship's grunts are after him, hauling around the type of goodies that as yet exist only in the world of Duke Nukem and Quake, but we laugh for Jason (since he can't laugh for himself) as he makes mincemeat out of the tough men and women. That leaves only a disgusting professor, his silly and horny students, an android, a few of the ship's essential nobodies, and his cryogenic travel buddy Rowan left alive. You never have to worry about waiting long for each death, as the filmmakers rightly decided not to let some of the awful plot elements get in the way of the carnage. Eventually, Jason is upgraded to uber-Jason, and that only adds to the fun.

The special effects are generally quite impressive here; some of them are a little silly plot-wise, but they look pretty darn good. The super android whose upgrade goes to her head is a pretty stupid character, yet she does bring some new toys to the party, forcing Jason to rise to the occasion of upstaging her. It was quite interesting to watch the DVD featurette on the making of Jason X. This movie is fully digitalized, and all of the cutting edge work that went into this film makes me think I should have been a little more impressed than I was, but everything definitely looks and sounds pretty darn good. The acting ranges from the good to the bad. Lexa Doig is great as Rowan, Kane Hodder is perfect as Jason, and Peter Mensah wins high praise from me for his portrayal of Sgt. Bronski; he is the only worthy foe Jason faces here, and the man knows how to make an exit. The professor and students are just plain silly characters one and all, but since all that really matters in this type of movie is that they all die as quickly as possible, I have decided not to let the cliched, silly dialogue of these folks detract from my five-star rating.

Not only is the featurette on the making of this film a great addition to the DVD, the half-hour documentary on The Many Lives of Jason Voorhees is wonderful. It does my heart good to see both knowledgeable folks from the actual movies and horror fans express the true joys of watching slasher films. Best of all, the documentaries introduce us to the man behind the mask, the only man to ever play Jason in more than one movie, Kane Hodder. A former stuntman reveling in the role of horror's most productive serial killer in the last four franchise movies, Hodder is a credit to the character he so enjoys playing, boasting a special tattoo on his inside lower lip to prove it. Jason X is not a good movie script-wise, but don't let that stop you from watching Jason Voorhees do what he does best in this final sparring practice before his long-delayed showdown with Freddy Krueger.

This movie is really really cool. It was a good twist to put Jason in space. I dont care if people say it is dumb after so many parts who ever didnt like it shouldn't have bother watching it.

this 1 surpriced me. when i first saw the trailer i was like
"jason in space? what the f**k r they thinking" but i saw it and now i own it. it truned out great. gory fun that you have to admitt its good.

This is the worst friday 13th chapter of all time.Very bad movie I can say thats thrash

I have found this movie Boring beyond belief and I love these sort of movies.
No imagination at all...as a matter of fact the worst cartoon ever made would be ten times better then this so called 'movie'.

I used to like this movie. I remember seeing Jason X in theaters 2 years ago and actually enjoying it (If you want, you can go check out a review I made 2 yrs ago for this movie. It is titled "He's back and better then ever"-4 stars, 29 July 2002). I liked Jason X so much that I bought it right away when it came on DVD. I thought this was pretty good. After all, it does have good kills, decent action, and certainly is not the worst in the series. However, now being 2 years, I have come to realize that this movie is not all that great. I used to think that the reason why this film had gotten so many bad reviews was because nobody ever gave it a chance. I thought if people just accepted the idea of Jason in space, they could like this movie. However, now I have realized that the reason why this movie was so negatively reviewed was not because people do not give it a chance, it is because it just simply a bad movie. What is up with this movie anyway, why was even made in the first place? It had nothing to do with the f13 series in anyway besides having the character Jason in it. It totally ignores the rest of the films, nor makes any reference to them at all. New Line was already having a good Jason movie in the works; Freddy vs. Jason (which is one AWESOME flick!!), so why make this wannabe Friday the 13th movie? Were they just trying to make money because I highly doubt that was case. This movie seriously had bombed at the box office, it also known to be one of the worst films of 2002. So New Line probably lost money for making this film. Were they just trying to get Jason back on the big screen? If that was so, they should have just waited one year more till they released Freddy vs. Jason. Even if they were too impatient about getting Jason back in theaters, they should have went with a better story line. Why Jason in space, did they just want to try something different? Correct me if I am wrong, but did not New Line already try something different with the Jason Voorhees character in a movie called Jason Goes to Hell, and wasn't not so good either. The bottom line is that is just one completely random movie with Jason and New Line cinema should not have wasted their time making this movie. Here is the plot.
Jason Voorhees (Kane Hodder) is now a prisoner in a laboratory where scientists test experiments on him to find out why he never dies. It has been decided that Jason should be cryogenically frozen till anybody else can figure out what do with him. But of course things go wrong, Jason starts to escape and kills anyone in sight. The only person who he had not killed was a woman named Rowan (Lexa Doig) who had managed to get him trapped in the cryogenic freezer. However, she had gotten hurt in the process and also got frozen.

4.5 centuries later in the year 2455, earth is now a place that cannot sustain human life. Humans now live on "Earth II". A team of students exploring the remains of old earth discovered them both and bring them both on their ship. They were able to bring Rowan back to life but they concluded it was impossible to bring Jason back to life. They have no idea that Jason is a psychopathic killer. However, what they don't know is that Jason's body is regenerating on its own and Jason soon comes back o life. Now everybody on the ship find themselves running for lives.
I used to think any f13 fan will like this film if they give it a chance, but now I have realized any TRUE F13 fan will see that Jason X is a disgrace to the Friday the 13th series. Sure there are a few F13 flicks that were worse then this (Friday the 13th parts 5 and 8 come to mind) but at least they had something to do with the series. Sure Jason X does have some good qualities. They're quite a few good death scenes. Some of the chicks were pretty hot. Plus Uber-Jason looked really cool. However, Jason is not supposed to look like that. The hockey mask should have been kept throughout the entire movie because that is the true Jason. Besides those few good qualities, Jason X is not worthy of being an F13 flick. I am glad Freddy vs. Jason ignores this film. Do not buy this movie. I now seriously regret that I own it and I'll do anything to get rid of it. If you want to see this film, please just rent it.

I used to like this movie. I remember seeing Jason X in theaters 2 years ago and actually enjoying it (If you want, you can go check out a review I made 2 yrs ago for this movie. It is titled "He's back and better then ever"-4 stars, 29 July 2002). I liked Jason X so much that I bought it right away when it came on DVD. I thought this was pretty good. After all, it does have good kills, decent action, and certainly is not the worst in the series. However, now being 2 years, I have come to realize that this movie is not all that great. I used to think that the reason why this film had gotten so many bad reviews was because nobody ever gave it a chance. I thought if people just accepted the idea of Jason in space, they could like this movie. However, now I have realized that the reason why this movie was so negatively reviewed was not because people do not give it a chance, it is because it just simply a bad movie. What is up with this movie anyway, why was even made in the first place? It had nothing to do with the f13 series in anyway besides having the character Jason in it. It totally ignores the rest of the films, nor makes any reference to them at all. New Line was already having a good Jason movie in the works; Freddy vs. Jason (which is one AWESOME flick!!), so why make this wannabe Friday the 13th movie? Were they just trying to make money because I highly doubt that was case. This movie seriously had bombed at the box office, it also known to be one of the worst films of 2002. So New Line probably lost money for making this film. Were they just trying to get Jason back on the big screen? If that was so, they should have just waited one year more till they released Freddy vs. Jason. Even if they were too impatient about getting Jason back in theaters, they should have went with a better story line. Why Jason in space, did they just want to try something different? Correct me if I am wrong, but did not New Line already try something different with the Jason Voorhees character in a movie called Jason Goes to Hell, and wasn't that also a bad movie. The bottom line is that is just one completely random movie with Jason and New Line cinema should not have wasted their time making this movie. Here is the plot.

Jason Voorhees (Kane Hodder) is now a prisoner in a laboratory where scientists test experiments on him to find out why he never dies. It has been decided that Jason should be cryogenically frozen till anybody else can figure out what do with him. But of course things go wrong, Jason starts to escape and kills anyone in sight. The only person who he had not killed was a woman named Rowan (Lexa Doig) who had managed to him get trapped in the cryogenic freezer. However, she had gotten hurt in the process and also got frozen.

4.5 centuries later in the year 2455, earth is now a place that cannot sustain human life. Humans now live on "Earth II". A team of students exploring the remains of old earth discovered them both and bring them both on their ship. They were able to bring Rowan back to life but they concluded it was impossible to bring Jason back to life. They have no idea that Jason is a psychopathic killer. However, what they don't know is that Jason's body is regenerating on its own and Jason soon comes back o life. Now everybody on the ship find themselves running for lives.

I used to think any f13 fan will like this film if they give it a chance, but now I have realized any TRUE F13 fan will see that Jason X is a disgrace to the Friday the 13th series. Sure there are a few F13 flicks that were worse then this (Friday the 13th parts 5 and 8 come to mind) but at least they had something to do with the series. Sure Jason X does have some good qualities. They're quite a few good death scenes. Some of the chicks were pretty hot. Plus Uber-Jason looked really cool. However, Jason is not supposed to look like that. The hockey mask should have been kept throughout the entire movie because that is the true Jason. Besides those few good qualities, Jason X is not worthy of being an F13 flick. Do not buy this movie. I now seriously regret that I own it and I'll do anything to get rid of it. If you want to see this film, please just rent it. But if you want to see a good Jason movie, I suggest you see Freddy vs. Jason.

By many standards, even for the slasher film, Jason X sounds questionable. A part ten, of any series. Set in space(!) A long break from the previous films.

Yet, Jason X is easily one of the best Friday sequels, period. The movie is fun. The attitude is consistent, and it's contagious. The filmmakers were having fun, they're doing a movie for the fans, and everyone wins.

This is easily one of the best Friday DVDs; actually, it is the best, even better than the 2-disc Freddy vs. Jason. For one, there are two documentaries that go a long way toward framing the film as a fun exercise by series fans, for series fans.

For obvious reasons, the 'traditional' slasher film can no longer be made, having been done so many times with such minimal effort (including several Friday sequels), as well as spoofed and spiced up (the Scream films). A healthy dose of self-reflexivity and some other elements are needed to make the formula watchable. Jason X is also a kind of one-off in the series; since it's mostly set in the future, it hardly fudges the 'continuity' of the series, which is largely incoherent by now anyway. They've got free reign to do whatever and have a ball with it.

Hundreds of years in the future, high school students from Earth 2 come across the cryogenically frozen body of Jason Voorhees along with an injured female. Using 'nanotechnology' (the newest buzz technology for sci-fi and video games), they thaw them out and 'reconstitute' them. The female protagonist remembers she was overseeing the 'handing over' of Jason to military for experiments since it was impossible to execute him (a funny bit of dialogue). Of course, it's not long before Jason is up to his old tricks, dispatching hapless students and 'Aliens'-tough Marine grunts on the ship (named Grendel, of course).

The film really works on its own terms as a low budget but stylish, whimsical continuation of a series that ran out of gas a while back (witness the nadir, Jason Takes Manhattan). The director is Jim Isaac, who has a great background for this stuff since he was an effects man on several of David Cronenberg's films, and Cronenberg himself has a cameo in the beginning. The film is low budget but stylish; the lighting is pleasant and creatively colors the sets to look like more than they are. The acting is often hammy, but those involved (especially the scientist) seem to be having a good time. Harry Manfredini does the score, and it's his first Friday score ever released on CD, and for good reason. For one, it's pretty damn good. The earlier Friday films (up to V) featured recycled cues from the previous films. Parts VI and VII featured more proper, expansive scores (still very servile to the genre, of course). Jason X has plenty of different elements ranging from traditional 'stalking' music, to action cues, to cheesy, triumphant, space music, to eerie suspense. It's a great disc for fans, and does hold up on its own.

As for Jason, Kane Hodder is back and clearly loves his role. Just watch him in the documentaries, he likes playing Jason, he loves the stunts (his original vocation) and he loves the whole fan boy element of these films. There's also plenty of gore. The MPAA butchered most of the Friday films, after the original became a hit and a backlash began because of the gore. Not the case here, so we're treated to at least two of the best Friday kills ever: the liquid nitrogen bit, and the giant screw(!) Of course, the film is not scary. It's a hybrid of horror, sci-fi, action, and comedy, very aware of its own cheese.

Again, the DVD is excellent. The film looks and sounds great, with a good commentary by the director, writer, and producer. There's a trailer, two docs, and a particularly demented 'Jump to a Death' feature. Perhaps Paramount, owners of the first eight Friday flicks, will get the hint and put out some decent DVDs of those films.