Jason X – Arrow Video

Director: Jim Isaac
Screenplay: Todd Farmer
Starring: Kane Hodder, Lexa Doig, Lisa Ryder, Chuck Campbell, Melyssa Ade, Peter Mensah, Melody Johnson, Derwin Jordan, Jonathan Potts, Phillip Williams, Dov Tiefenbach, Kristi Angus, Dylan Bierk, Amanda Brugel, Yani Gellman, Todd Farmer, Thomas Seniuk, Steve Lucescu, David Cronenberg
Country: United States
Running Time: 92 min
Year: 2001
BBFC Certificate: 15

When a long-established horror franchise goes into space, it usually spells trouble. We’re not talking the likes of the Alien franchise, Tobe Hooper’s Lifeforce or Event Horizon here, films or series which began out of this world. Space marks the nadir of a horror franchise when it’s the place we’re taken for the first time a number of films into a series like Hellraiser: Bloodline, Critters 4, Leprechaun in Space, and Amityville in Space. No matter how good, or not, these series are, you know it’s going to get ropey when we go into space.

Perhaps that was what some people feared when Jason X was released in 2001. The Friday the 13^th series was in somewhat of a limbo after the 1993 release of Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday which ended with Nightmare on Elm Street’s undead child killer Freddy Krueger’s glove pulling Friday the 13^th’s undead murderer Jason Voorhees’ mask underground after demons have pulled the rest of him into hell. At the time it seemed a film of Freddy squaring off against Jason would just be a matter of time. Yet that sequel pitting the two horror icons against each other wouldn’t reach cinema screens for another ten years, with the release of Freddy vs. Jason in 2003.

In the meantime, a tenth Friday the 13^th film was greenlit and we got Jason X instead. The film takes Jason (Kane Hodder) 445 years into the future after he’s captured by the US government, where he is held at a research facility near Crystal Lake, which was the home of summer camps in previous films in the franchise. Here, after murdering a doctor and load of soldiers, he is cryogenically frozen alongside a government scientist Rowan LaFontaine (Lexa Doig), who is stabbed by Jason with his machete leading to a cryogen leak that freezes them both.

In the future, Earth is too polluted to live on, leading to the creation of a second earth. Jason and Rowan are found by a group of humans and an android, who are undertaking a research field trip to the original Earth. They bring the pair aboard their spaceship where they are unfrozen.

Slasher fans who haven’t seen the movie can probably guess what happens next: Jason stalks, slashes and kills members of the crew in a series of elaborate, special effects heavy ways. To make matters worse, future technology eventually transforms him into a superhuman Über Jason with the metallic mask seen on the film’s poster, though you’ll have to wait until near the very end for this transformation.

There’s no messing around with getting the plot going. Within the first 12 minutes, Jason kills the soldiers and doctor at the research facility and is cryogenically frozen and then found by the research crew four-and-a-half centuries later. We have to wait a little longer (around the 30-minute mark) for Jason to be unfrozen and inadvertently unleashed to begin his killing spree.

The main staple of the Friday the 13^th franchise is the stalk and slash element and that’s here in abundance, with some unique kills (the first in space sees a woman’s head frozen and then smashed) and the occasional genuinely creepy moment.

Jason X delivers on what’s to be expected, including a bravura sequence in which two of the crew play a virtual reality game where they’re killed by Jason in and out of the game. It’s a standout sequence.

The future setting leads to a different vibe; there’s essentially an army with heavy artillery against Jason as the crew have a load of heavy weaponry, and the futuristic equipment adds a twist on some of the usual slasher elements. There’s also a fun battle between Jason and the spaceship crew’s cyborg, KM-14 (Lisa Ryder) which looks to be the end of the hockey-masked mass murderer for good; but then superhuman Über Jason is born to wreak havoc in the finale.

Ramped up for this film is playfulness and humour; it borders on a comedy or parody at times, intentionally, and whilst not always successful, I can’t deny I found the screenplay to be quite fun overall. There are some fun one-liners. One example being a character confronted by Jason who is stood next to the villain’s iconic machete. Jason takes back his machete and the character says “guys, it’s okay, he just wanted his machete back, woop”. We then cut to the other characters and hear the guy who delivered the line screaming as he’s been killed by Jason moments later.

On the cast front, there’s only one place to start: Kane Hodder. He’s as excellent and iconic as ever as Jason, in his final of four appearances as the character (after Friday the 13^th: The New Blood, Friday the 13^th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, and Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday). He moves around menacingly, every movement deliberate. Hodder is great, and the best actor to play the role.

The rest of the cast performances vary in quality, but no-one is terrible, some just ham it up more than others, but perhaps that’s to be expected given the tone of the film. Special mention though for body horror film director David Cronenberg, who has a fun cameo in the opening of the film as Dr Wimmer, ending with the film’s first death – he’s speared by Jason in that opening massacre.

Harry Manfredini’s score is great; very playful, with some fun and creepy cues and callbacks to the previous films in the series (he composed all of the original run of ten films, starting with the first entry, and the music for the game).

Yet despite all of this, Jason X is not without its flaws. Effects frequently feel cheap, the whole proceedings at times feeling like a cut-price sci-fi film, and the characters are generally pretty cliched; there’s little deep characterisation here. But then, this is entry ten in a long-running franchise that’s dared to go into space in the future, so perhaps that should be expected.

Jason X is never going to win any awards for high art, but it’s a good fun, surprisingly ambitious and funny entry in the long-running Friday the 13^th franchise which provides an entertaining 90-minutes.

Film:

Jason X is released by Arrow Video on limited edition 4K UHD on 19^th May 2025. The 4K presentation is strong with a good looking print, no print damage, rich detail and a pleasing colour palette. The audio is also great and I had no issues with it.

Technical specifications and extra features:

4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)

Original lossless stereo and DTS-HD 5.1 surround audio options

Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

Introduction to the film by actor Kane Hodder

Brand new audio commentary with film historians Michael Felsher and Steve “Uncle Creepy” Barton

Archival audio commentary with writer Todd Farmer and author Peter Bracke

Archival audio commentary with director Jim Isaac, writer Todd Farmer and producer Noel Cunningham

Scoring the Stars, a brand new interview with composer Harry Manfredini

Outta Space: The Making of Jason X, an archival documentary on the making of the film featuring interviews with producers Noel Cunningham and Sean S. Cunningham, actor Kane Hodder and writer Todd Farmer

In Space No One Can Hear You Scream, an archival interview with writer Todd Farmer

Kristi Is a Headbanger, an archival interview with actor Kristi Angus

Jason Rebooted, Sean S. Cunningham on Jason Goes to Hell and Jason X

The Many Lives of Jason Voorhees, an archival documentary on the history of the character

By Any Means Necessary: The Making of Jason X, archival making-of documentary

Cast and crew interviews

Behind-the-scenes footage

Electronic Press Kit

Theatrical trailers and TV spots

Stills, behind-the-scenes and poster galleries

Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gary Pullin

Double-sided foldout poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gary Pullin

Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Matt Donato and JA Kerswell

Actor Kane Hodder provides a 43 second intro to the film, in an archival intro ported over from the 2020 US Scream Factory release.

The new audio commentary with film historians Michael Felsher and Steve “Uncle Creepy” Barton is the standout extra. They pack so much into their track, starting with when they first saw the film moving through its release history, details some of those involved in front of and behind the camera, and plenty of scene specific commentary. I had a huge amount of fun with this track. The pair clearly enjoy the film and talking about it and I found their commentary to be immensely entertaining and informative.

The first of two archival audio commentaries features writer Todd Farmer and Crystal Lake Memories author Peter Bracke and is ported over from the Scream Factory release. The pair complement each other well essentially covering how Farmer got involved in the film and his memories. It appears to have been recorded as a video call, as the audio drops in and out a bit and isn’t as good as it could be. It’s still a decent listen though.

An older archival audio commentary with director Jim Isaac, writer Todd Farmer and producer Noel Cunningham is also included. It’s another entertaining listen that covers a lot of ground, plenty of the creative choices for the film, and buckets of insight into the film-making process and the making of Jason X, in particular.

Scoring the Stars, is the second of two new extras on this disc. It’s a 10-minute interview with composer Harry Manfredini who is on fine, and playful, form. He talks about the films in the franchise he scored, from the first entry to Jason X. Manfredini explains some of the different aspects of the film and how they impacted his score for the tenth entry in the franchise. He also talks about his favourite cues and callbacks to previous film scores in the series. It’s a short but fantastic piece.

Outta Space: The Making of Jason X, is a Scream Factory documentary from 2020 about the making of the film featuring interviews with producers Noel Cunningham and Sean S. Cunningham, actor Kane Hodder and writer Todd Farmer. Like a number of the Scream Factory features it touches on the development hell for a Freddy Krueger versus Jason Voorhees film, which led to Jason X being made instead. It’s a good documentary that covers the genesis of the film, its development and its impact.

In Space No One Can Hear You Scream, is a 2020 Scream Factory interview with writer Todd Farmer, which starts with his thoughts as to what he wanted from the film not reaching the big screen (he wanted it to be darker) and how he’s warmed to it since. He talks about working with Sean S. Cunningham, his first meeting with him, early career setbacks and working on Jason X. It’s a really good piece, though there’s inevitable crossover with the previous making-of, as the footage of Farmer for that is taken from this interview.

Kristi Is a Headbanger is an 11-minute 2020 interview from Scream Factory with actor Kristi Angus, who played Adrienne in the film. She covers her knowledge of the franchise, how she got the role including the origins of her character’s name, and her recollections of filming the movie and her death scene. It’s a good, though brief, interview.

Jason Rebooted, is a 16-minute archival interview from Scream Factory with screenwriter and Friday the 13^th creator Sean S. Cunningham on Jason Goes to Hell and Jason X. Dating again from 2020, it’s a pretty entertaining interview that looks at the possibilities of Freddy Krueger, from the Nightmare on Elm Street series, crossing paths with Jason Voorhees, following the aforementioned tease at the end of Jason Goes to Hell. This story leads Cunningham into talking about the development of Jason Goes to Hell and Jason X.  He covers the genesis of the original film in the series too, what components he feels are needed for a film in the franchise and the future of the series, at the time of the interview. It’s a very good piece.

The Many Lives of Jason Voorhees, is a decent 30-minute archival documentary on the history of the character, which starts with a quick overview of slasher films, and horror film death scenes, before moving onto the Friday the 13^th series and ended with what’s effectively a promo for Jason X. It looks at the evolution of Jason and his mask, and some of the death scenes, as well as the seemingly indestructible element of the character. It features critics, experts and filmmakers, including those involved with Jason X. For fans of the genre and the series, it may not offer much new, but it’s a solid overview and very entertaining watch, nonetheless.

By Any Means Necessary: The Making of Jason X is a 17-minute promotional documentary which has plenty of crossover with the next few extras, but concisely gives a decent high-level overview of the film, its conception and making of, including some behind the scenes footage and interview.

Just over 50-minutes of interviews are provided with cast and crew, which are very much in the promotional space to start with giving an overview of the plot and characters, before moving on to some more insightful areas. There are some nuggets of information here.

Almost an hour of behind-the-scenes footage is included, which is fascinating, and gives a real look behind the making of process, with a good chance to see the director at work. Much better than some of the behind-the-scenes footage elements included on other discs.

The Electronic Press Kit runs for 25 minutes and contains a range of behind the scenes clips, including David Cronenberg, and some brief interview segments with some of the cast and crew. It’s essentially a drastically cutdown version of the cast and crew interviews and behind the scenes segments.

Three trailers are clubbed together and run for six minutes, and collectively make the film look worthy of a trip to the cinema.

Running for three minutes, the TV spots section contains eight spots which do a decent job selling the film, some scored to the 2001 Drowning Pool nu-metal track Bodies, which also features in the trailers.

The stills gallery does what it says on the tin and contains 270 images.

The posters and behind the scenes gallery contains almost 60 images including posters, lobby cards and a number of behind the scenes shots.

I wasn’t provided with the booklet to review, unfortunately.

In conclusion, Arrow Video have provided a stacked package for Jason X’s UK debut on 4K UHD, with a strong audio-visual presentation and hours of extras, including a new interview and the disc’s standout special feature, a wonderful new audio commentary. Fans of the film should be very pleased indeed.

Disc/Package: