Jason X

I love horror, and along with Zombie films I have a particular hankering for slasher films. It's the fact there's a sense of creeping dread, that you can almost try to guess who will get bumped off next and just how that person will croak. The most prominent slasher movie villains have superseded their prey and become more popular, almost iconic in stature. Most people can name the big three, Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers and the star of this movie, Jason Voorhees.

Given the quick and nasty nature of shooting most slasher films, and the profits they generate, it's no surprise that studios flog them to death, in much the same way that the killers relentlessly slaughter their victims. This is the tenth in the series starring Jason and this one is set in space. Now I know that sounds like the writers had run out of ideas and you'd be right in thinking that but can Jason X carry the ridiculous premise off?

Well no, not really.The film kicks off with Jason chained up in captivity and some soldiers readying to transport him elsewhere. there's no explanation of quite how he was captured or why he hasn't yet seeing as he breaks the chains with consummate ease. He kills all the soldiers and the only survivor is a sexy female scientist who manges to set off a carbon freezing system that preserves both her and Jason. 500 years later and a group of students find the bodies, take them back to their starship and defrost like 2 two turkeys, an apt analogy for this film. Of course, Jason quickly resumes his murder spree, killing everyone aboard the ship, which along with the students, includes a group of (stereotype alert) tough space marines. The only survivors at the end are the sexy scientist, a male student and the head of a android. The films final scene is of Jason's body crashing into a lake on Earth 2 which hints at a thankfully unmade sequel.

I know that slasher films aren't meant to be art, and I know that the acting will never win Oscars for the thespians within but this film, sucks on so many levels. First of all, the writing is almost cringe worthy and the characters are dislikeable enough to make you want Jason to kill them. The music grates and the set design and special effects are unremarkable and the deaths, with one notable exception that uses liquid nitrogen and a face being smashed into a table, are boring. That's almost a crime given that the more grisly and inventive a death is in a slasher film, the better. There's a sense of tongue in cheek humour throughout this but it's not enough to rescue it from being easily the worst of the franchise. It's not a film that ruins your night or makes you question your own sanity, it's just one of those sequels that's utterly pointless and makes you wish the studio had never made it.