Movie Review by Nigel A. Messenger
Starring: Kane Hodder, Lexa Doig, Lisa Ryder, Chuck Campbell, Jonathan Potts, Peter Mensah
Director: James Isaac
Yes it ‘s another JASON movie from the original FRIDAY THE 13TH series and as the title states (in Roman numerals) it’s number ten. Now since the first in the series, which was quite innovative at the time, we’ve had some variable quality sequels but the buzz on JASON X has been very positive, so is it worth your viewing time or not?
First of all you’ve got to at least know your comfortable with the genre and your expectations are set on the ‘prepared to accept the impossible’ and ‘want to be shocked and made jump’ levels. It’s no good going in expecting a serious Oscar winning storyline then walking out after 30 minutes pretending to be ‘too intelligent for this rubbish’.
If you’re so intelligent you should have done a bit of checking and know what to expect so you shouldn’t be there the in the first place. That said, it you want some over-the-top fun and don’t mind some pointless screen violence, you’re in the right movie.
This latest killing spree is set in the near future where they think they have found a way of containing Jason even if they can’t kill him. But they can’t of course and after Jason chases Rowan (Lexa Doig) round a cryogenics lab they both get accidentally frozen. They are revived 400 years later where Earth is uninhabitable and put on a space ship to Earth 2. But the journey there is going to be a fun one!
First of all Jason kills off Adrienne (Kristi Angus) a gorgeous blonde lab technician (all the girls in this are hot looking – this movie is eye candy so they have to be). After that Jason works his way through the rest of the crew or at least most of them, finding different ways to eliminate his prey and as some of the crew are military with big guns, things are not as easy this time – they fight back hard.
The difference with this JASON episode is that’s it’s not just another slasher movie – it’s also a decent sci-fi of the ALIEN’S variety except without the aliens. There are also two of the cast of television’s ANDROMEDA in lead roles and in a tongue-in-cheek twist Lexa Doig who plays an android in the TV show, plays a heroine here and Lisa Ryder who plays Becka on ANDROMEDA, plays an android in JASON X!
There is also a lot of intentional humour throughout the film, I particularly liked the virtual reality / holodeck type sequence with a simulation of the original FRIDAY THE 13TH camp Crystal Lake and its 1980’s style topless female campers that Jason ‘kills’ in a very amusing way.
JASON X knows what it is, doesn’t pretend to be anything else, knows how to laugh at itself and ends up with a fun film. As long as you know what it is on the way in, you’ll have a huge smile on the way out.
