The Worst Friday the 13th Film Is Actually One Of The Best
Fans love to quibble over which Friday the 13th film is the best, but most can agree on the worst. It’s Jason X, which sent our favorite hockey mask-wearing killer to the 25th century.
The movie has a 20 percent critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 25 percent fan rating, which means that just about everyone agrees that “Jason In Space” stinks worse than Pamela Voorhees’ severed head. However, I’ve always had a soft spot in my own not-so-severed head for this movie, and I’m here to tell you that the “worst” Friday isn’t just good, it’s actually one of the best films in the franchise.
Why Jason X Is One Of The Best Friday The 13th Movies
What’s so good about Jason X, you might ask? Let’s start with the obvious: our titular killer is played by Kane Hodder, the man who long ago established himself as the ultimate Jason Voorhees performer. He always brings plenty of raw physicality to his performances as the Crystal Lake killer, and he’s in fine form throughout this cheesy sci-fi movie. If the wild opening featuring his escape from government incarceration doesn’t cement that for you, just check out the first future kill in which he bodily thrusts a poor researcher’s face into a cryo-freezing vat before shattering half her head with a single brutal smash.
That brings us to the next obvious point in this film’s favor: Jason X has some great kills. My personal favorite occurs when the surviving crew of the starship Grendel tries to distract Jason with a Star Trek-style holodeck, perfectly recreating Crystal Lake in 1980 (or, as the Zoomer-sounding crewman calls it, “nineteen-hundred and eighty”). The killer is cajoled by two girls who ask if he wants to smoke pot or have pre-marital sex before crawling into their sleeping bags; soon, Jason puts the “smash” in “smash cut” as we see him holding one of the filled sleeping bags and beating the helpless holographic victim against her friend.
This is a callback, of course, to Jason’s infamous sleeping bag kill in the seventh Friday the 13th film. That’s just one example of how this movie is a love letter to the entire franchise and is filled with great little Easter eggs to enhance longtime fans’ enjoyment. Some hate the idea of seeing Jason out of his comfort zone, but from Hodder’s performance to the amazing kills to the cheeky script, it’s clear that this was a labor of true love for everyone involved.
If you like keeping track of Friday the 13th’s insane lore, Jason X offers plenty of weird tidbits, including the fact that Jason was canonically captured by the United States government. They repeatedly try to kill him in multiple ways, and after discovering that he simply can’t be killed, they decide to weaponize him. It’s all fascinating, and the fact that the sole survivor of the Crystal Lake Research Facility (!) knew enough to program the aforementioned holodeck distraction means that the government even knew that Jason followed horror movie rules, killing those who use drugs or have sex.
The Cast From Andromeda Dazzles In A Horror Movie
On top of all that, Jason X has something every good Friday the 13th film needs: great characters. Lexa Doig is perfect as Jason’s fellow traveler from the 21st century, and she dazzles here even more than she does in the modest sci-fi hit show Andromeda.
Other standout performances include Lisa Ryder (who was also on Andromeda) as a dommy mommy android, Peter Mensah as a tough-as-nails space marine, and Jonathan Potts as the sleaziest professor in the galaxy.
A Beowufl Reference And Other Literary Intelligence In Jason X
Finally, if you can look past all of the glorious shlock, Jason X is a surprisingly smart film. For example, even before Jason is properly thawed out, his machete-wielding popsicle self ends up cutting a guy’s arm off. Their sci-fi technology puts him back together, but since this ship is named after the Beowulf villain Grendel (who famously got his arm ripped off), it’s clear that this is a literary homage. Speaking of literary references, an out-of-control Grendel (Jason killed the pilot) ends up destroying Solaris, a space station named after the seminal 1961 sci-fi novel by Stanislaw Lem.
Now, I’ll level with you: Jason X isn’t a perfect film, and you’ll spend even more time wincing at the Buffy-esque tryhard dialogue than you spend wincing at the early aughts clothing. But this movie features the best Jason actor, great characters, and memorable kills. Those qualities alone make it better than every mainline Friday the 13th film after Part IV with the exception of Jason Lives.
Jason X is not available to stream right now, but it’s worth tracking down for any horror fan willing to give themselves over to some shlocky delight.
And if you’re not in this for serious shlock, what are you even watching these films for? Just go watch some “elevated horror” and let the rest of us enjoy a Friday the 13th film filled with all of Joe Bob Briggs’ essential requirements for a great horror flick.
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