Jason X (2001)

 "Be glad you weren't alive during the Microsoft conflict..."

It's the tail end of a tired slasher franchise, known for its very straightforward take on the genre. The last instalment was eight long years ago. Things have fizzled out. So what to do? Put Jason Voorhees.... in space. yes, it's utterly bonkers. But it really works. However mad an idea mayu be, if the execution is good, the end result is good. And this film, laregely devoid of big names (despite a rare acting cameo from David Cronenberg, no less) is one of the finest instalments in the Friday the 13th series, rivalled only by the sixth film.

I have, perhaps, been overly kind to this franchise in the past. A slasher film lives and dies by its characters more than any other genre of horror. We need to get to know them for the deaths to have meaning. And too many of the earlier instalments failed in this regard. I gave them too much credot for the fact they are from a pre-Scream era when the slasher genre was less associated with the fourth wall.

This film, of course, has a good few metatextual moments (love the reference to weed, alcohol and pre-marital sex), but these are not the real focus. What really impresses is the lived-in, well-designed future world with robots, nanotech medicine, interstellar travel and a new Earth to replace the environmentally devastated old one. There are nice little ironic comments on what we expect from the future- the mention of "beaming up" gets a puzzled look.

Yet people in 2455 are the same as ever. There is greed. There is denial. There is fear. There is cowardice. These feel like real people. Human nature doesn't change. Yet there is also courage, integrity, nobility. Regardless of the future, space setting, the core of this film is its characters. That gives meaning to the threat Jason poses.And it's why this film is such an unexpected gem.