In the near future, Jason Voorhees has been captured and detained and due to the fact that no-one has any idea how to kill him, he's cryogenically frozen instead (albeit after a nice opening massacre). Fast forward a few hundred years and he's unwittingly released and brought onto a research spaceship full of disposable teens. Cue bloody havoc and a nice little upgrade for Jason...
The storyline of this one intrigued me and the posters were kick-ass, and in the hope of something different to the usual Friday sequels, I excitedly watched this tenth instalment. Was I disappointed? NO. I really enjoyed this version of the Friday the 13th franchise as it brought new ideas to the table, as well as bringing old ones back (loved the sleeping bag part).
The set up was good, with a nice cameo from David Cronenberg, and as the events panned out I never once felt myself looking at my watch. Some people may find it too stupid, but by now the Friday the 13th films had come to a stage were you knew exactly what to expect from each one, with this one being no more far-fetched than the others but also adding a little humour and a few unorthodox ideas.
Which brings me to the so-called "Über-Jason", well, I suppose this is a love-it-or-hate-it aspect of the film, but set within the tongue-in-cheek tone set by the rest of the film, I believe it fit perfectly. As a result, it was a blast to see Jason slashing his way through the cast looking like a cross between Robocop, Mr Freeze and our good-old fashioned Jason. It's also good to see everybody's favourite Jason, Kane Hodder, clearly having a blast in this film, especially once he's had his upgrade.
The gore in this film was ample enough to satisfy me with some really ingenious kills (the frozen face being my favourite) and the part with the marines being sent out to destroy Jason gave some good suspense when set within the tiny confines of the spaceship. Some of the kills seemed to be aimed at making the viewer laugh, rather than be shocked or disgusted, however, this only added to the already present humour in the film and allowed for the kills to be completely over-the-top. However, there were some which were a let down and could have been elaborated on, but this is a minor flaw I believe.
The characters were also almost certainly clichéd, but this worked to the film's advantage as it played on the humorous aspects of the situations to great effect, as it's easily the funniest entry in the series with a large amount of gags and stupid situations being thrown into the mix. However, if there's anything wrong with the film, it's that sometimes the jokes go slightly too far, or come across as what I can only describe as “goofy”, which sometimes detracts from the fact that it's supposed to be a horror film, and not a comedy.
The action coupled with the humour and sly nods to the previous films' narrative devices (Jason first waking up in the spaceship to the sounds of two lovers getting jiggy next door was hilarious) combined to make what I believe is one of the better entries into the Friday the 13th franchise, as it delivered on all the required gore, sex, and laughs while utilising a fresh break-from-the-norm storyline.
By
Back to Horror Review Archive
|
ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Friday the 13th Part 10, Jason 2000, Jason 2000: Friday the 13th Part X, Jason X: Friday the 13th Part 10
MOVIE YEAR: 2001
DIRECTOR: James Isaac
WRITING CREDITS: Victor Miller, Todd Farmer
GENRE: Horror, Comedy, Sci-Fi
CAST: Kane Hodder, Lexa Doig, David Cronenberg
COUNTRY: USA
RUNTIME: 93 min
RATING: 8/10
Jason X Website/IMDB Click here
Jason X Trailer Click here
|