When it comes to the horrors of space, the biggest threats are often beyond us. A malicious microbe or bloodthirsty creature. An errant meteoroid, or even the lack of gravity and air. It is rarely the problems that we bring from Earth with us, especially something that is as unstoppable and bellicose as these extraterrestrial threats. After over three decades, in 2002, the unstoppable killer finally had his moment, in his tenth and arguably ultimate finale (please ignore parts 4 and 9) in Jason X.

In the year 2010, the authorities successfully captured Jason (again) and are about to hold him in cryogenic storage. 450 years later, a group of space archaeology students happen across unique relics from old Earth and are looking to take them back to Earth II, humanity’s new home. Including that very same capsule. Now onboard an incomprehensible spaceship so far into the future, Jason quickly adapts, as the students of the future will finally get a glimpse of Crystal Lake’s unbearable history.

Even four centuries into the future, youths remain the same gullible targets for Jason’s almost guerilla campaign, with some slightly duplicitous backstories for a few characters, but nothing dramatic that gets in the way of the killing. Without beating around the bush, the results from the onset feel more than a little campy, but in a fun, non-inhibited way, it is an energy that does play into Jason’s favour, as it did in his New York extravaganza. There’s even a brief cameo from David Cronenberg, although the body horror that typically accompanies him, doesn’t exist here.

The earth itself is in a bit of a pickle some 450 years in the future, so a lot of the action takes place far away from Crystal Lake, or even the American continent. Aboard the Grendel offers a new arsenal of toys for Jason to play with, a virtual reality room with many uses. And perhaps most iconic of all, a vat of liquid nitrogen. The mid 20th century killer adapts pretty well, even with contrivances to get him a similarly appropriate space-age outfit. The now part-cyborg is even more of a deadly threat, yet what sci-fi horror romp would be complete without a Seven-Of-Nine-esque robotic assassin/assistant by the name of Kay-EM-14, to trade blows with?

More atheistically distinct than most of its predecessors, Jason keeps his tongue firmly in (what’s left of) his cheek and evokes some late-night Cinemax shows you might catch late one night with nothing better to do. Jason X is unafraid to firmly embrace the opulence of its surrounding by giving Jason and his tools an upgrade. A stratospheric conclusion to one of the most intriguing journeys in the slasher genre, where the old ideas of the 20th century meet the new tech of the 21st and beyond. The nigh endless vacuum of space can be so liberating for a killer that has been around the block 10 times before.

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