For a horror fan, there is no escaping Jason Voorhees or
Friday the 13th. Even if you have never seen a single movie (for shame!), you know who he is, what he does, and what he looks like. But that's from my perspective. I grew up in the 80s, played the video game on a system known simply as Nintendo (now referred to as "The 8 Bit"), and suffered the indignity of that comic where he fought a talking Leatherface.
But what about those who grew up in the Jason-starved 90s? The only Jason films they might remember in theaters are the ones where he fights Freddy or goes off into space. The remake may be their first real introduction to the hockey masked behemoth that stalks teenagers at a place known as Crystal Lake. So for them, Bloody Disgusting and
Horror Movie A Day would like to present this retrospective series: 13 Days Of Jason. Each day leading up to the remake's theatrical release, BC will be showcasing one of the original films, with trivia, factoids, thoughts, and his own full blown review.
Bloody will also be presenting a few other articles that highlight some of the series' traditions, such as the lovesick nerd character and Jason's habit of using unique weapons. Because even if you don't agree with BC's assessment of each film, there's one thing we can all agree on: Jason fucking rules.
AKA: “The one in space”
RELEASE: April 28, 2002 (1,878 theaters)
GROSS: $12,610,731
PLOT: Sometime after the then-unfilmed events of
Freddy Vs. Jason, Jason is captured by David Cronenberg and then frozen in a cryogenic chamber. In the year 2455 he is discovered and brought onboard a spaceship that is conveniently populated with teenagers. After the stench of sex in the air wakes him up, he commits one good kill then several dull ones, only to be killed by a robot and then rebuilt by nanobots. Then some other stuff happens before ending as predictably as possible.
THOUGHTS: It’s certainly an entertaining movie, but also a very lackluster one. The MPAA barely had anything to edit since so many of the kills were tame to begin with, and the space setting is hardly used. It had been over a decade since the last true Jason adventure, but director James Isaac treats it like it had only been a few hours. Also, while Kane delivers a good performance (which would unfairly be his swan song), he does it with the absolute worst Jason design in the entire series. Uber Jason may have been ill-conceived, but at least there was an excuse for not looking anything like he should.
(Read BC's full review at
Horror Movie A Day)
BEST KILL: The only good one: Jason wakes up and uses some sort of
Matrix-y superpower to instantly learn how liquid nitrogen works, then dips a girl’s head in the stuff before smashing her face off on a counter. Note - Yes, the VR Crystal Lake part is great, but I can’t really count it as a kill since he’s technically not killing anyone.
MOST "HUH?" MOMENT: Jason getting free at the beginning was pretty goddamn questionable, but apparently a deleted scene explained it so I’ll let it slide. So let’s go with the idea that a spaceship can crash into (and completely destroy) a space city without crashing and/or exploding itself.
FUTURE STARS: I wish I could say Melyssa Ade (Janessa), the insanely cute girl who has the movie’s 2nd best death (sucked through airlock), but sadly I’ve never seen her again. However, the movie’s best character, Sgt Brodski, is character actor Peter Mensah. He had a memorable turn in
300 as the guy that Gerard Butler kicked into a pit after yelling THIS! IS! SPARTA!!!!
TRIVIA: While some of the later entries were considered bombs due to below-average box office takes, this was the only film in the entire series to actually LOSE money during its North American run, grossing 1 million less than its production budget.
Check back tomorrow for
Freddy Vs. Jason!
Click here to keep up with all of our 13 Days of Friday the 13th coverage!
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