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in: Friday the 13th (franchise) films, Horror films by series, Zombies and revenants in popular culture,
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Jason vs Jason X vs Jason

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Jason vs Jason X vs Jason is a 2013 American slasher film directed and written by Thomas Trenton and produced by Sean S. Cunningham, the creators of the original Friday series. After an absence of 27 years, Trenton resumed the role of Jason Voorhees. But as the title suggests, three incarnations of the character do battle in a futuristic arena utilizing holograms. The other versions of the character include the cybernetic Uber Jason from Jason X as played by Kane Hodder and Derek Mears' version of Jason from the reboot film.

The film concerns an attempt of a mad scientist (known only as The Man in Black) wishing to destroy Jason in the future. Believing that only Jason can kill himself, he harnesses an experimental time warp device to drag Jason Voorhees from the past. He places the two monsters within an arena which utilizes holograms to mimic the area around Crystal Lake. To entice them to fight, he also inserts a number of past survivors of Jason 1's rampages. Things take a turn for the worse when Sheriff William Parks tries to send Jason back through the machine and instead rips open a portal to an alternate reality which brings forth Jason 2 from the reboot film's continuity.

Released by Paramount Pictures and New Line Cinema, the film received some positive reviews from film critics, and grossed over $126 million at the box office in the United States, and went on to become the most-profitable film in the series. The success of this film prompted Trenton and Cunningham to reunite to make Friday The 13th: Jason's Legacy in 2015.

Plot[]

The year is 2465. The Uber-Jason (Kane Hodder) has been terrorizing Earth 2 for more than a decade.

After luring him into a trap, Rowan Lafontaine (Lexa Doig) and Kay-Em 14 (Lisa Ryder), capture Uber-Jason and place him in a stasis field. At a Tribunal Hearing, the mysterious Man in Black (Steve Dash) appears and requests that he be given custody of Uber-Jason. He promises that he can destroy him once and for all. The tribunal denies his request and so he's forced to steal him with the aid of his android servant JK Mk.02 (Ken Kirzinger). The Tribunal send Rowan and Kay-Em 14 after the rogue scientist, who track him to his station.

In the station, The Man in Black releases the Uber-Jason into a secured holo-generation arena, using Crystal Lake as the environment. Rowan and Kay-Em 14 sneak aboard, but are quickly captured. Man in Black reveals his plan. "Using an experimental time warp device" he plans to bring forth Jason from the past to fight himself. In his madness he believes that having one Jason kill the other would kill him for eternity.

Jason Voorhees [Alpha] (Thomas Trenton), at the height of his rampage in the sixth film is in pursuit of Trish Jarvis. Suddenly he is pulled into the future. Unsure of his location, he seems less willing to fight the Uber-Jason when Man in Black reveals the other Jason to him. All the holographic characters placed in the simulation are soon realized to be fake and neither is tempted to kill.

Furious, Man in Black begins to search the historical archives and plans to put real humans inside, people who at one time defeated Jason, to give them motivation. Despite the attempts of Rowan and Kay-Em 14 to stop him, Man in Black pulls in several individuals from Jason's past;

The moment the five appear, both Jason's set their sight on revenge. The group is forced to retreat and soon join up with Rowan and Kay-Em 14 who have been put in the arena. They take refuge in the main town of Crystal Lake, but are soon found. Marcus is mortally injured and Kay-Em 14 killed outright.

The group retreat yet again, commandeering a van, and eventually find themselves at the old Jarvis home. While there Tommy and Trish face their demons and try to repair their damaged relationship. Rowan updates them on the situation, revealing Parks his fate and telling B.J. that eventually resumed her life after years of being afraid.

Using a hologram of Mrs. Voorhees (Betsy Palmer), the Man in Black reveals the location to the Jason's, but secretly entices them to attack the other. But it still does not work. Marcus dies in front of the others, making Parks angry. Vowing to put an end to "this sick game", he convinces Rowan to help. Rowan tries to come up with a plan, then realizes that the head of Kay-Em 14 might be able to give the participants a means to open a door out of the arena.

Before they can leave, the Jason's arrive and kill Trish in front of Tommy. Enraged he attempts to attack them, but he is wounded instead. Parks is able to gather the survivors and head back to town. Meanwhile the Jason's collective front seems to be broken. With the guidance of the holographic Mrs. Voorhees, Jason (Alpha) attacks the Uber-Jason. The fight is more one sided, and ends abruptly when the Jarvis home is set afire. Uber-Jason escapes and presumes that Jason (Alpha) is dead.

The survivors find Kay-Em's head and she manages to locate a portal. They escape into the space station and quickly make their way to the command center. The Man in Black is taken prisoner and it is revealed that he is the father of past victim Adrienne Thomas (Kristi Angus) from Jason X. He's being guided by a hologram of her to avenge her death. Parks and Rowan attempt to send Jason (Alpha) back to where he came from, but their calculations are wrong.

Time and space breaks open in the arena, damaging the holo-filters and bringing forth (from the reboot film Pamela Voorhees (Nana Visitor) just before her death and Jason Voorhees [Omega] (Derek Mears) himself. Jason quickly recognizes his mother and embraces her, even calling her "mother." Pamela is fearful of these events and orders her son to follow her as they try to get their bearings.

Meanwhile Uber-Jason manages to escape the arena via a malfunctioning holo-image and pursues the others from the command center. The Man in Black orders his android to stop Uber-Jason and the two fight. It ends with JK Mk. 02 being impaled through the chest and apparently deactivated.

Unable to access the shuttle bay, the survivors are forced back into the arena. Encountering Pamela at the old Crystal Lake campgrounds, the woman is confused by their explanations. Man in Black reveals to them that she is in fact Pamela Voorhees from an alternate reality. And with her, one can only assume that Jason has followed. In fact Jason (Omega) does appear and kills the Man in Black. Parks tries to reason with Pamela, stating that they have no quarrel with them. He even tells her that Rowan can send them all home, if she keeps her son back. Everything seems to be going their way when suddenly Jason (Alpha) and Uber-Jason appear. Goaded by the Mrs. Voorhees hologram, Jason (Alpha) kills Pamela. Jason (Omega) is enraged and attacks both of the other Jason's.

As the three fight, Parks again leads them out of the arena and attempts to send everyone back home. JK Mk. 02 is still functioning and attempts to guide them through the process of setting things right. Rowan reveals that an overload of the temporal mechanics might cause an inversion bubble and make it as if nothing ever happened.

In the arena the three Jason's fight. At first their opponents are by chance, but then Jason (Alpha) and (Omega) begin to team up to dispatch Uber-Jason. The cybernetic Jason is a stronger foe, but they are able to sever his arms and legs and then his head. Then the two remaining Jason's resume their fight.

In the station Parks, Tommy and B.J. work together to create the inversion bubble, while trying to be stopped by the hologram of Adrienne. Rowan, meanwhile, attempts to shut the hologram down and proves successful.

Simultaneously the two remaining Jason's kill each other, with machete thrusts to the chest. Rowan reminds Parks that their memories will most likely be wiped if their plan works. Parks is willing to risk death, if it saves the others. The overload happens, the bubble forms and everyone is pushed back to their points of origin.

Rowan and (a recovered) Kay-Em 14 find themselves on approach to the space station. Inside the command center the Man in Black is shocked to discover that the time warp device is on a feedback loop and about to explode. Knowing that he's taking Uber-Jason with him, he happily bids goodbye to his daughter. The station explodes in front of Rowan and Kay-Em 14.

The survivors return to the moment they first left. Marcus is still killed. Tommy and Trish realize what has happened and B.J. is more resolved to go on with her life. As the (Resurrected Jason) approaches the home of Parks, he meets a surprise. A shotgun toting ex-Sheriff who blows apart Jason's head with a single blast. Parks, with a smile, remarks "So much for the future."

Cast[]

With cameos from Melissa Gilbert as Sexy Camper 1, Amy Steel as Sexy Camper 2, former directors John Carl Buechler, Rob Hedden and Steve Miner as The Council Members.

Production[]

Development[]

"...I just was in a good mood, trash talking Kane (Hodder) who was at another booth promoting his own stuff, and it hit me. I missed Jason, I missed the whole thing and I thought it would be fun to do it with Kane. A part of me always hated the zombie Jason so it was sort of cathartic..."
— Thomas Trenton (on where the idea came from)

The original Friday the 13th had been produced and directed by Sean S. Cunningham and written by Thomas Trenton. Aside from co-producing Freddy vs Jason, the two had not formally worked together since 1979.

After learning of the Jason vs Jason X comic and being asked the obvious fan question of which Jason would defeat the other in battle, the seed for a new movie blossomed in Trenton's head. Consulting with Kane Hodder, New Line Cinema, Cunningham and Paramount Pictures, all parties involved quickly gave him their blessing and encouragement.

Trenton set out to draft a story treatment which could make all people involved in the property happy. Trenton, at first, thought of using the zombie Jason from "Resurrection" as he liked that look. Cunningham suggested that he use the Jason X persona and utilize the futuristic setting to help with story difficulties by using fantastical non-existent technologies.

Writing[]

"I knew that fans would want more, would want an epic fight. I knew two Jasons just wouldn't cut it. So I thought that maybe all of us as Jason could work, but in the end five Jasons was too much. Two was not enough, four or five too much, but three was the magic number. I chose Derek and the reboot Jason, because he was mortal and also a good combination of the monster Kane and I each played. From there it was easy to find roles for Steve and Ken, because I wanted all of us in this film regardless."
— Thomas Trenton on his experience writing Jason vs Jason X vs Jason

Upon completion of the treatment, a deal was quickly made between Paramount and New Line to co-finance and co-release the film. As pre-production began, the script was written by Trenton in two weeks time. Trenton began to believe that "Freddy vs. Jason" was a series highlight and he had to up the ante for fans. Concluding the correct number of Jason's to appear would be three.

Having settled on Part 5-6 era Jason for his role, the cybernetic UberJason for Kane, Trenton tried to pin point the third. Combing through all past sequels, he opted to incorporate the reboot series and Derek Mears performance as Jason.

Wanting to give the other two "Jason" performers a part, he cast Steve Dash as the "villain" Man in Black and Ken Kirzinger as his android bodyguard.

After a quick re-write by Trenton, the project was green lit on March 13, 2012. A budget of $30 million (the highest in the series) was established and casting began with Cunningham and Trenton personally inviting past cast members to take part in the project.

Filming[]

"I didn't know that Thom wanted me to direct, but I turned him down because I could see it in his eyes, in his voice, this was his baby. He had directed parts 4 through 6, but this was a labor of love for him. I was happy in just producing."
— Sean S. Cunninghamn (writer/director) on why he didn't direct Jason vs Jason X vs Jason

Trenton and the studios had proposed to Cunningham that he direct the film, but he turned them all down. He suggested that Trenton helm the picture and it was agreed to by all involved.

For a sense of nostalgia, all exteriors of the film was shot in and around previous locations. The property used as the Jarvis home (seen in Friday the 13th: The Death of Jason Voorhees) outside of Los Angeles, California. The townships of Blairstown and Hope, New Jersey which were were the original locations used in (September) of 1979. Trenton purposely shot scenes at exact locations as Cunningham did in '79 to emphasize this. As it was the location for the original film, all camp scenes were shot at Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco. The camp is still standing and still works as a summer camp.

All interior shots for the Maximus Space Station were filmed at the Paramount Studios lot, encompassing 4 soundstages. Props and interior design was helped by the re-use and re-dressing of certain Star Trek sets.

Music[]

Trenton's return to the series heralded the return of Manfredini as well. Trenton stated that at no time was it ever an issue for him or was there even a debate. Manfredini had created the iconic sound for the original film and as this movie was essentially an homage to the series as a whole, Manfredini's participation was "written in stone."

Trenton requested a new score, but Manfredini should find "inspiration" from the music themes in the first six Friday the 13th films, which Trenton always viewed as his favorites. For the first time Manfredini used leitmotif to give past characters individual themes, such as the "BJ Theme" and "Sheriff Parks' heroic march".

Release[]

Box office[]

On its opening weekend, Jason vs Jason X vs Jason grossed $56 million. Far outpacing all previous entries to that point. By the end of its run, the film grossed $126,042,439 million in North America with an additional $30,438,078 in foreign sales.

Critical reception[]

The movie received generally favorable reviews. Based on 153 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, Jason vs Jason X vs Jason has an overall 66% approval rating from critics, with an average score of 6.7 out of 10 saying, "Fans of this horror franchise will appreciate the nods to its ownself, and they will enjoy the titular showdown. For casual fans, there's a little something. For everyone else, it's the same old Jason killfest, but this time he's fighting himself". On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 67 based on 59 reviews.

Home media[]

The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray as part of New Line's Platinum Series on January 13, 2014. The DVD release featured a second disc of bonus content that included: audio commentary by Thomas Trenton, Kane Hodder, Bruce Greenwood, Corey Feldman, Lexa Doig, Nana Visitor, Betsy Palmer, Steve Dash, Debi Sue Voorhees, Ken Kirzinger, and Sean S. Cunningham, deleted and alternate scenes with commentary, trailers and TV spots, and behind the scenes featurettes.

External links[]

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