Future Shock at the Hand of Slasher Icon Jason

I’m really the wrong person to ask why Jason Voorhees and his “Friday the 13th” series of slasher films have been allowed to live for more than 20 years. Among such icons of the cinematic abattoir as Norman Bates and Freddy Krueger, Jason has seemed the least interesting or imaginative. The hockey mask and elaborate cutlery were shamelessly ripped off from other, scarier movies. And the whole “Friday the 13th” franchise has been the most persuasive argument against slasher movies since it exists solely to show how many extravagant ways there are to eviscerate the human body.

Example: In “Jason X,” the 10th in the series and the first since 1993’s “Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday,” there’s one nasty bit where a pretty blond’s face is shoved into a sink full of liquid nitrogen, frozen solid and smashed like a china tea set. If this gets your pulse racing, then you are what the producers had in mind when they decided that Jason needed to be revived for a “new generation.” Why? What did they do?

This live-action cartoon begins in the not-too-distant future when, having determined that Jason (Kane Hodder) cannot be executed by any known means, sexy scientist Rowan (Lexa Doig) has decided that he needs to be put in long-term deep freeze. Somehow, she and the Big Guy end up in a high-tech refrigerator, only to be thawed in 2455 by a starship crew that acts as if fashion and lingo have been frozen since, like, last week.

From there, it’s like a dinner-theater version of the “Alien” movies without the good grooming. One by one, the pert young crew is slammed, sliced and gutted, each death more numbing and senseless than the last. Lisa Ryder’s bright-eyed android is the only agreeable diversion.

As for how Jason buys it this time around, all I’ll say that if this doesn’t finish him off, nothing will. (Wouldn’t you know? There’s yet another cheap opening for more of this junk.) If they’ve run out of interesting things to do with Jason, why don’t they make him a goaltender? He’s already got the mask.

*

MPAA rating: R, for strong horror violence, language and some sexuality. Times guidelines: If you can’t keep your kids from seeing this kind of movie, have them rent “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” At least it’s original--and scary.

Gene Seymour is a film critic for Newsday, a Tribune company.

‘Jason X’

Kane Hodder...Jason Voorhees

Lexa Doig...Rowan

Lisa Ryder...KAY-EM 14

Chuck Campbell...Tsunaron

Jonathan Potts...Professor Lowe

New Line Cinema presents a Crystal Lake Entertainment production, released by New Line. Director Jim Isaac. Producer Noel Cunningham. Executive producers Sean S. Cunningham, Jim Isaac. Screenplay by Todd Farmer. Cinematographer Derick Underschultz. Editor David Handman. Costume designer Maxyne Baker. Music Harry Manfredini. Production designer John Dondertman. Art director James Oswald. Set decorator Clive Thomasson. Running time: 1 hour, 36 minutes.

In general release.