TheFriday the 13thuniverse is a beloved slasher series originally from the 1980s, but one installment over 20 years after the original movie almost killed the franchise. There are12 movies in the Friday the 13th franchise, though some are loosely related in different timelines and universes. While the hockey-masked killer, Jason Vorhees, has become a beloved horror character, some of the later movies aren’t quite as people expected. In fact, many of the later slasher-era films are consideredso-bad-it’s-good horror movies, exploring the already well-worn tropes.
With Jason being such a recognizable and iconic villain,Friday the 13thhas had many rip-offssince its creation. But one movie came to be considered almost a spoof of itself, making fun of all the typical tropes of the films. Unfortunately for it, many took the movie seriously at the movie’s release, which dramatically affected audience opinions of the franchise’s trajectory. It wasn’t until two years later that Jason returned to the screen inFreddy vs. Jason, this time having to have an even stronger gimmick to entice audiences to return.
Jason X Isn’t Like Any Other Friday The 13th Movie (& Nearly Killed The Franchise)
The Movie Alters Jason Like Never Before
Jason Xrecycles the same villainous plotlines of the rest of the series but with a gimmick, adding thatKane Hodder’s Jason Vorheesis now a cyborg instead of an undead serial killer. In the movie,Jason is cryogenically frozen for 445 yearsand wakes on a spaceship in 2455. The concept was a turn for the series that it was ridiculed by many audiences at the time, deterring dedicated franchise fans. The project was a major departure from the typical that no more direct sequels to the film were made.
The next Friday the 13th Film to come out after Jason X wasFreddy vs. Jason, in 2003.
Jason Xhas a mere 20% on Rotten Tomatoesand received mostly negative reviews at the time of its release. This is in contrast to the original movie, which is also the franchise’s highest-rated installment, at 66% on Rotten Tomatoes.Jason Xunderperformed at the box office, grossing only $17 million on an $11 million budget. Since its initial release,Jason Xhas received a bit of a reassessment, especially from newer audiences, who are now assessing the franchise as a whole re-watchable series instead of in timed-released installments to see in theaters.
How Jason X Turned Into A Friday The 13th Comedy Sequel
The Movie Added Jokes And Comical Kills
When it was originally released,Jason Xwas taken more seriously, following the intense themes of the other movies. However, at its heart,Jason Xis comical,poking fun at the absurd direction the franchise took over the past 21 years. Jason’s kills have become wildly more inventive and almost humorous, such as a character having her face frozen and smashed. There are also more overt jokes, which became a staple of later-era slasher films, who understood that many of the tropes now had to be subverted to be entertaining.
Why Jason X Was Friday The 13th’s Biggest Failure
The Friday the 13th franchise has had its fair share of duds, but the slasher series reached new lows with its 2001 space slasher, Jason X.
There were alsomore overt jokes and blatant line readsthat theJason Xwriting and filmmaking were more aware of theslasher movie tropes.Jason Xhad to stand out since the genre was so diluted with other slasher content. The movie was willing to break the standard conventions, adding jokes that would be out of place in the other movies. TheFriday the 13thfranchise had become too self-aware at this point and couldn’t help but poke fun at themselves, forever changing the tone of the beloved original series.
Jason X
Cast
Jason X is the tenth installment in the Friday the 13th franchise. This 2001 sci-fi horror film brings back slasher icon Jason Voorhees in 2455 after being cryogenically frozen for 445 years. As usual, anyone who crosses the path of the now cybernetically enhanced killer suffers a painful death, this time in outer space.
