I know that a lot of fans didn’t care for this one—it fared more poorly at the box office than any of the other entries—but it remains one my favorites of the entire series. I love it for the same reason that the haters don’t: it’s funny. It’s a black comedy. Most of the FRIDAY THE 13TH movies have their tongues firmly in their cheeks, but JASON X slips in more tongue than any of them. That’s the complaint. It takes it too far. It’s too much a departure. It gets *too* silly. Not for me.
JASON X is a satire. It lovingly pokes fun at STAR TREK as much as it does the FRIDAY THE 13 movies, and it does it exceedingly well. (That segment where they trap Jason in the Holodeck—that’s what it clearly is, whether they call it that in the movie or not—still makes me giggle out loud, no matter how many times I’ve seen it.) It’s a solid movie, and if it doesn’t quite fit in with the other films in the twelve-film series, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, considering how lousy some of those movies are. (*cough* the FRIDAY THE 13TH remake *cough*)
The premise is ridiculous: Jason in outer space. Jason in a Sci-Fi setting. If the movie is viewed as nothing more than a one-time joke, well, that’s kind of the point. The only bad jokes are the ones that aren’t funny. And whether some fans dislike it or don’t, JASON X most certainly succeeds at that singular requirement. And unlike far too many jokes, it doesn’t stop being funny with the retelling.
