Jason X (4K UHD Review)

• Reviewed by: Tim Salmons
• Review Date: Jun 17, 2025
• Format: 4K Ultra HD
• 

Director

Jim Isaac

Release Date(s)

2001 (May 20, 2025)

Studio(s)

Crystal Lake Entertainment/New Line Cinema (Arrow Video)

• Film/Program Grade: B
• Video Grade: A-
• Audio Grade: A-
• Extras Grade: A+

https://www.arrowvideo.com/

Review

Nearly eight years after New Line Cinema acquired the sequel rights to the Friday the 13th series and produced Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, the franchise was at a standstill. Freddy vs. Jason was still in development, and Sean Cunningham and company, despite killing the character off with some finality (and losing the moniker The Final Friday along the way), decided to go ahead with another sequel. Completely out of ideas, screenwriter Todd Farmer suggested they make a science fiction horror film set in the future with the homicidal Jason Voorhees loose on a spaceship. The result, 2002’s Jason X, is considered to be a series low point by some and a surprisingly entertaining detour in an otherwise stale franchise to others.

In the far distant future of 2008, Jason (Kane Hodder) is finally captured and held prisoner at the Crystal Lake Research Facility by government scientists. After breaking free, he’s lured into a cryogenic chamber by Dr. Rowan LaFontaine (Lexi Doig), stabbing through the door in an attempt to kill her, and cryogenically freezing them both. 447 years later, Earth has long since become a wasteland and humans have migrated to another planet for survival. A school professor and his students investigating the derelict facility discover Rowan’s and Jason’s frozen bodies, bringing them aboard their spaceship where they are thawed and revived. It isn’t long before Jason is on another murderous rampage, and in an era of advanced technology, “evil gets an upgrade.” Other members of the cast include Lisa Ryder, Chuck Campbell, Kristi Angus, Boyd Banks, Melyssa Ade, Peter Mensah, Phillip Williams, Derwin Jordan, Dov Tiefenbach, and Jonathan Potts.

Like the last film, Jason X begins without any established continuity whatsoever, and depending on which fan you speak to, it might have been a good thing or a bad thing. It was also a cliché of that period of horror movies to make late franchise entries set in outer space—Critters 4, Hellraiser: Bloodline, and Leprechaun 4: In Space being the other culprits. Most would contend that the idea of sending Jason into space is scraping the bottom of the franchise barrel. However, in a series built upon repetition, Jason X feels different and plays around with the series conventions enough that it winds up being more fun that you’d realize on the surface.

Let’s be honest though. This was definitely the last thing that fans wanted for this series at the time. Many wrote it off without having seen a single frame, and that’s certainly understandable to some degree. However, the Friday the 13th franchise needed to make bolder moves in order to avoid forest-dwelling, campground-based murderous teenage repetition it was known for. When you stack these films up together, and even watch them back-to-back as so many fans do, getting something completely out of left field like Jason X is like getting a much-needed cup of coffee.

Jason X is also fully aware of what it is. During a scene in which Jason walks into a holodeck-type area of the spaceship, he’s made to believe that he’s back in Crystal Lake and two topless teenagers offer him sex and drugs from their respective sleeping bags, to which he hilariously begins bashing them into each other (the scene itself being an homage to Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood). The most memorable kill occurs when Jason shoves a character’s face into an open container of liquid nitrogen and smashes their frozen face into the table afterwards. Without a doubt, it’s one more the more creative and memorable kills in the entire franchise.

The film also makes use of its world with a bit of set up and pay off. Early on, when the students discover Jason’s frozen corpse, he’s accidentally knocked over and cuts off one of the character’s arms. Causing little to no fuss, they use a futuristic method of cauterizing the wound, bring the severed arm with them, and re-attach it on the ship. It seems silly but it also sets up that in this world, these people have access to technology to combat things like hacked limbs and damaged tissue. This also sets up the nanobots, which are small mechanized spiders that are used to repair damaged tissue, used most effectively late in the film when Jason is exposed to them.

In other words, Jason X takes an insane premise, which sounds more like a piece of fan fiction that an actual sequel, and has a blast with it. Credit goes to the late Jim Issac for directing this mountain of enjoyable schlock, as well as the other talented folks behind and in front of the camera. There’s no justification for its existence outside of hanging onto a set of rights and acting as placeholder for another film, but it winds up being one of my personal favorites in the series.

Jason X was shot by cinematographer Derick Underschultz on Super 35mm 3-perf film (Kodak Vision 200T 5274) using Panavision Panaflex Millennium cameras and Panavision Primo lenses, finished on film (more on that in a minute), and presented in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Arrow Video debuts the film on Ultra HD with a new 4K 16-Bit scan and restoration of the “original camera negative,” which has been graded for High Dynamic Range in HDR10 and Dolby Vision, and encoded to a triple-layered BD-100 disc. Like The Cell, which we also reviewed recently, Jason X went through a Digital Intermediate process via the visual effects company Toybox. It was scanned into a digital realm in 2K resolution. The film was color graded, computer-generated effects were added, and the results were scanned back out to film, essentially making a master negative, or more simply put, an interpositive. This 2K-sourced film-out appears to be what was used for this 4K restoration of the film, meaning that Arrow’s restoration notes are misleading.

To be fair to Arrow and the restoration itself, Jason X is chock full of early 2000s-era digitally-created visual effects, and it seems that rather than attempt to marry the film’s final interpositive to scans of the original camera-sourced negative, which would have required lengthy and expensive restoration efforts, the solution to just use the final interpositive was probably arrived at simply to give the presentation a more uniform look. As such, it’s much softer than one might expect, and some of the finer details on costumes and shadows is lacking, but these come built-in rather than being a byproduct of a shoddy restoration. With expectations in check, Jason X looks phenomenal on UHD with bitrates climbing to and mostly staying in the 80 to 100Mbps range, even soaring beyond that. The HDR grades take advantage of the color palette, boosting the many spaceship-based hues and gradations, and improving contrast by giving the image a bit more depth, especially in the shadows. General tones are a touch cooler, especially flesh tones, but nothing appears as revisionism. Some of those aforementioned digital effects are definitely dated and there are minor instances of speckling visible, but it’s a stable and solid presentation that retains an organic appearance, despite a lack of obvious grain and overall sharpness.

Audio is included in English 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio with optional subtitles in English SDH. These audio presentations are fairly stellar in terms of immersion. From the many sounds of the spaceship to every bloody, bone-crunching kill, both tracks are exemplary surround experiences. Dialogue tends to stick to the front, save for some atmospheric moments, while the sound effects and score have a large amount of room to play around in. The 2.0 track works well enough and is perhaps a touch louder, but the multi-channel experience is the most satisfying of the two. Still, it’s always nice to have an option for those without access to a multi-speaker setup in their homes. Short of a Dolby Atmos remix, these tracks get the job done, and then some.

The Arrow Video 4K Ultra HD release of Jason X sits in a black Amaray case with a double-sided insert and poster, both featuring new artwork by Gary Pullin on the front and the original theatrical poster artwork on the reverse. Also included is a 40-page insert booklet containing cast and crew information, the essays Jason X: To Mutilation and Beyond by JA Kerswell, A Giant Leap for Friday the 13th Gone Unappreciated by Matt Donato, restoration notes, production credits, and special thanks. Everything is housed in a slipcover featuring the same new artwork by Gary Pullin. The following extras are included:

• Optional Introduction by Kane Hodder (HD – :43)
• Commentaries:
  • Audio Commentary with Michael Felsher and Steve “Uncle Creepy” Barton
  • Audio Commentary with Todd Farmer and Peter Bracke
  • Audio Commentary with Jim Isaac, Todd Farmer, and Noel Cunningham
• Scoring the Stars with Harry Manfredini (HD – 9:53)
• Outta Space: The Making of Jason X (HD – 33:10)
• In Space, No-One Can Hear You Scream: Screenwriter Todd Farmer on Jason X (HD – 23:11)
• Kristi Is a Headbanger: Kristi Angus on Jason X (HD – 11:13)
• Jason Rebooted: Jason Goes to New Line (HD – 15:33)
• The Many Lives of Jason Voorhees (SD – 29:55)
• By Any Means Necessary: The Making of Jason X (SD – 17:35)
• Cast and Crew Interviews (SD – 51:42)
• Behind-the-Scenes Footage (SD – 56:48)
• Electronic Press Kit (SD – 24:49)
• Trailers (HD and Upscaled SD – 3 in all – 5:51)
• TV Spots (HD and Upscaled SD – 8 in all – 3:18)
• Stills Gallery (HD – 269 in all)
• Posters and Behind-the-Scenes Gallery (HD – 58 in all)

In the Optional Introduction by Kane Hodder, he tells us to enjoy the film or he’ll do something drastic (wink). New to this release is an audio commentary with producer and filmmaker Michael Felsher, joined by producer Steve “Uncle Creepy” Barton, which is more of a fan commentary, but with Felsher on board, it’s a good one. The two discuss their histories with the franchise and their initial reactions to the film versus how they feel about it today. They also highlight many moments from the film and talk about those who created it. The second audio commentary with author Peter M. Bracke and screenwriter Todd Farmer, recorded in 2020, is a fun discussion between the two as Farmer recounts his involvement with the writing of the film. The final audio commentary with director Jim Isaac, Todd Farmer, and producer Noel Cunningham, recorded in 2002, is a rapid-fire discourse that’s obviously edited, but no less entertaining or educational.

In Scoring the Stars, composer Harry Manfredini discusses his work on the film and how much more creative freedom he had compared to previous Friday films. Outta Space speaks to Noel Cunningham, Todd Farmer, Sean S. Cunningham, and Kane Hodder about the making of the film from beginning to end. In Space No One Can Hear You Scream interviews Todd Farmer about his career and his eventual involvement with the series. In Kristi Is a Headbanger, actress Kristi Angus talks about her exposure to the series and how she got involved with it. Jason Rebooted interviews Sean S. Cunningham who talks about how New Line bought the film rights to Friday the 13th from Paramount and the projects that they made afterwards. The Many Lives of Jason Voorhees and By Any Means Necessary are vintage featurettes produced for the film’s original DVD release, exploring the history of the franchise in the former, and the making of the film in the latter. They collectively feature interviews with Jim Isaac, Sean S. Cunningham, Noel Cunningham, Todd Farmer, Kane Hodder, actors Lexa Doig, Melyssa Ade, Derwin Jordan, Jonathan Potts, producer Robert Shaye, cinematographer Derick Underschultz, editor David Handman, production designer John Dondertman, costume designer Maxyne Baker, visual effects supervisors Kelly Lepkowsky, Dennis Berardi, Mike Ellis, digital animator Mark Stepanek, make-up effects supervisor Stephan Dupuis, film critics David Del Valle, Drew McWeeny, Joe Bob Briggs, Fangoria magazine’s Tony Timpone, filmmakers Adam Marcus, Mark Borchardt, actor Mike Schank, and Friday fan Erik S. Eichelberger.

The Cast and Crew Interviews feature Lexa Doig, Lisa Ryder, Melyssa Ade, Jonathan Potts, Derwin Jordan, Peter Mensah, Chuck Campbell, Kane Hodder, Jim Isaac, and Sean S. Cunningham. Next is a set of raw Behind-the-Scenes Footage, and the Electronic Press Kit, which contains various behind-the-scenes B-roll, and brief interviews “soundbites” with Kane Hodder, Jim Isaac, Sean S. Cunningham, Lexa Doig, and Lisa Ryder. Last are 3 trailers, 8 TV spots, and two photo galleries. The Stills Gallery contains 269 production photos, behind-the-scenes stills, posters, and home video artwork. The Posters and Behind-the-Scenes Gallery contains 58 more behind-the-scenes stills, more posters, lobby cards, and publicity materials.

Missing from previous DVD and Blu-ray releases is the Club Reel semi-music video that highlights moments from the film, as well as the DVD-ROM content, which included the screenplay, the complete Jason X website, and the Jump to a Death scene selection option. These are minor losses, to be sure, because the wealth and breadth of the content that has been carried over and newly-included more than makes up for it. If you, like me, unapologetically adore Jason X (my rating of it has actually boosted since the last time I reviewed it for the Scream Factory Blu-ray boxed set), then this 4K UHD release is a no-brainer. Highly recommended.

- Tim Salmons

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