Jason X

Lore & Background

The film was conceived by Todd Farmer, who considered putting Jason in a variety of new settings before settling on a space slasher concept modeled on Alien. Development began in the late 1990s while Freddy vs. Jason was in development hell, with Jim Isaac and Sean S. Cunningham deciding to make another Friday the 13th film to retain audience interest. The movie was filmed from March 6 to May 2000 in Toronto. David Cronenberg rewrote his character's dialogue in the script.

In the film, Jason is captured by the U.S. government in 2008 and placed in cryogenic stasis by 2010. He awakens around the year 2455 on a spaceship called the Grendel, where he kills students and crew members. After being blasted by an android, his body is rebuilt by nanites into a cyborg. This cyborg incarnation has been called Jason X in tie-in media but is also often referred to as Uber Jason, a nickname used by the art design team and production crew, and which appeared in later comic books.

Reader's Guide

Jason X received negative reviews and underperformed at the box office, grossing $17.1 million on a budget of $11–14 million. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 20% approval rating, with the critical consensus: 'Jason goes to the future, but the story is still stuck in the past.' Roger Ebert gave the film 0.5 stars out of 4, quoting one of the film's lines: 'This sucks on so many levels.' However, the film was better received in the United Kingdom, with Empire's Kim Newman praising 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 directed at its ability to poke fun at itself and its inventive death scenes. Adrienne's death—head frozen in liquid nitrogen and shattered—was tested on an episode of MythBusters in 2009. A comic book sequel, Jason X Special, was published by Avatar Press in 2005.

Did You Know?

• The film was conceived by Todd Farmer, who suggested sending Jason into space as the only direction left for the series.
• Kane Hodder appears as Jason Voorhees for his fourth and final time in the franchise.
• Adrienne's death by liquid nitrogen was tested on an episode of MythBusters in 2009.