Jason X
Directed by James Isaac
Starring Kane Hodder, Jeff Geddis, Lexa Doig, David Cronenberg, and Markus Parilo
Rated R for strong horror violence, language and some sexuality

In 1980, the world was introduced to Jason and his crazy mama in Friday the 13th. The next year, we all got to know Jason a little better and realize that crazy runs in his family. And then they made another Jason movie. And another. And many, many more. By 1993, they had made 9 Jason movies. From searching imdb, I have only found one series of films that has gone as long as the Friday the 13th series, that being the Star Trek series which later this year will reach 10 films. The only other films that have come close to this long of a series are other horror films like A Nightmare on Elm Street, which reached 7 films and Halloween, which this year reached 8 films with the recent release of Halloween: Resurrection. So with the release of Jason X earlier this year, the Jason series becomes the longest running film series in the history of cinema. And you would think that for a movie to reach that number it would need to be reasonably good. But Jason X is rather stupid. The film has become so ridiculous that it has turned into more of a comedy than a horror.

I'll be honest, I've seen the first Jason movie, but I've really kind of missed the 8 in between that one and Jason X. And I'm pretty sure I didn't miss much. I have the general idea of what goes on, some people have sex, Jason finds out about it and goes on a murderous rampage until someone temporarily takes him down only to come back later. Rinse, repeat. But by this point, we are so accustomed to what happens in not only the Jason films, but pretty much any horror film these days, that this film is rather boring when it comes to the killing. He does stick someone's face in what I believe is liquid nitrogen and then smash her
face on a countertop. But most everyone else just get stabbed or has body parts cut off by Jason's machete. Which 20 years ago may have been pretty cool, but by this point is boring.

The plot for this movie is amazingly dumb. It starts in the present and then Jason is frozen and awoken about 500 years in the future. And it seems that his 500 years of downtime has not cooled off his desire to murder people. In the early films, Jason had a reason to kill people, but at this point the people he is killing were not in anyway connected to his death or his mother's, so now he's just doing it for fun. No insight is given in the film to reasons for Jason killing people and that just makes the film silly and stupid. Its no longer frightening to watch him murder people, its become funny. Part of this, of course, has to do with the
fact that audiences today are very accustomed to film violence, while 20 years ago it wasn't as common and thus scary. That's why these days the director has to up the ante to make an impact on the audience. And director James Isaac really fails in this aspect. He just creates a very typical horror film that is rather unimaginative.

The worst part of the film is that the catch phrase advertises something that barely is part of the film. The catch phrase says that "Evil Gets an Upgrade." And as I watched this film I kept asking my friend, who had seen the film before, when Jason was going to get his upgrade. I kept waiting and waiting and kept asking my friend and by the time he finally got his upgrade the film was almost over and I was greatly disappointed. Although not as disappointed as I was when the ending of the film leaves room open for the possibility of Jason XI or Jason Is Very Old and Still Wants to Kill People and Just Won't Die.

Jason X is a very standard horror film by today's standards. It isn't extremely dull but isn't stylish. It does however have a few humorous and entertaining moments as well as a few naked chicks. And that makes for a film that is best seen on your home entertainment system or a second-run theater that charges 50 cents a movie like the place I saw the film at.

Rating 33%