Jason X

Plot

In 2008, mass murderer Jason Voorhees is captured by the United States government and held at the Crystal Lake Research Facility. By 2010, after numerous failed attempts to kill him, Rowan LaFontaine suggests placing him in cryogenic stasis. Dr. Wimmer and Sergeant Marcus arrive with soldiers to study Jason's healing ability, but Jason breaks free, kills them, and is lured into a cryogenic pod. He ruptures the pod with his machete, stabbing Rowan, and cryogenic fluid freezes them both.

Around 2455, Earth is so polluted that humans have moved to Earth II. On a field trip to Earth I, Professor Brandon Lowe, android KM-14, intern Adrienne Thomas, and students explore the abandoned Crystal Lake Research Facility, finding the frozen Jason and Rowan. They bring them aboard the spaceship Grendel and revive Rowan, leaving Jason in the morgue. Adrienne is ordered to dissect Jason, but Rowan warns of his abilities.

Jason awakens and kills Adrienne by freezing her head with liquid nitrogen and smashing it. He then kills Stoney and Kinsa, breaks Azrael's back, and attacks others. Sergeant Elijah Brodski arrives with soldiers, but Jason kills them one by one.

Production

By the late 1990s, Freddy vs. Jason was stuck in development, so Jim Isaac and Sean S. Cunningham pushed for another Friday the 13th movie to keep the character alive. Todd Farmer, who also acted in the film, dreamed up the story, landing on a space slasher idea inspired by Alien. David Cronenberg later rewrote his own character's lines. The shoot ran from March 6 to May 2000 in Toronto.

Reception

Jason X grossed $13.1 million in the U.S. and $3.8 million internationally for a worldwide total of $16.9 million. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 20% approval rating based on 108 reviews, with an average rating of 3.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads: 'Jason goes to the future, but the story is still stuck in the past.' On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 25 out of 100, indicating 'generally unfavorable' reviews.

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it an average grade of 'C'. Roger Ebert gave the film 0.5 stars out of 4, quoting a line: 'This sucks on so many levels.' The film was better received in the United Kingdom, with positive reviews from Total Film and Empire. Empire's Kim Newman praised it as 'Wittily scripted, smartly directed and well-played by an unfamiliar cast.'

The film has seen retrospective growth in popularity, particularly among younger fans, with praise for its self-aware humor and inventive death scenes, such as Adrienne's death, which was tested on an episode of MythBusters in 2009.

Other media

Avatar Press released a comic called Jason X Special in 2005, written by Brian Pulido with art by Sebastian Fumara and coloring by Mark Sweeney. It picks up right after the movie. A scientist named Kristen faked a rescue signal and tricked the Grendel survivors into bringing Jason to her ship. She wanted to study his regenerative abilities to save her lover Neil and humanity.

Jason's cyborg powers let him take over her technology. When Kristen tried to transfer his regenerative abilities to Neil, the nanotechnology in Jason's blood corrupted Neil, and he stabbed her. Kristen's ship then found another vessel called Fun Club, and Jason boarded it and started killing the crew. In 2006, Avatar Press put out a two-issue mini-series called Friday the 13th: Jason vs. Jason X, written and drawn by Mike Wolfer with colors by Andrew Dalhouse.

It continues from the Special. While Jason X is on the Fun Club, a broken medical station on the Grendel uses nanotechnology to gather dead bodies and rebuilds a version of Jason that looks like the old one. Scavengers boarded the Grendel, and this old Jason attacked them, stole their shuttle, and flew to the Fun Club. There, the two Jasons fought while killing everyone around them.

Each one had only part of the original Jason's mind and memory. Jason X won by ripping out the old Jason's brain matter and merging it with his own, which restored his full memories and personality. The ship crashed on Earth II, and Jason X walked out into a nearby forest.