There was a very long wait between Jason Goes to Hell and Jason X. And a lot happened in between 1993 and 2002 in my life anyway going from kid to teenager! I saw the entire series that was available on video at the time (Parts 1-9) roughly from about 1996 to 1997. In 1997-1998, when first going on the internet as a 12 year old, I looked up everything Friday the 13th that I could that was available online.
My cousin Andrew had the internet at his house before me, so he did the first search for Jason. Of course the first thing that pops up is “Friday the 13th: Jason Fucks You To Death!” Probably the first porn site our 11 and 12 yr old virgin eyes ever saw. Gotta love the late 90s internet. It had everything out in the open. Those seriously were the days.
Anyways, it was the greatest discovery coming across “The Coroner Report” that had a list of every Friday the 13th kill in exact order, how they were killed, and who killed them. The deaths were extremely inspiring for my slasher movie ideas on 3D Movie Maker. I remember going to every Halloween store I could just to see what kind of Jason masks they would have. They would always have a JGTH one that was super ridiculous and over-the-top looking. But since I couldn’t afford that on my allowance money, I would get the hockey mask by itself. Sometimes I’d wear it just for the hell of it, stand in the woods and stare at things and make heavy breathing sounds. I was
a weird kid, but these movies really were my life at that time. I wasn’t playing video games like every other kid my age. It was horror movies and making cheesy horror movies on 3D Movie Maker, or else! Once metal music entered the picture later, my slasher nerdiness began to chill a bit. But I still remember all the best ones from the video stores. I always thought it was a huge thrill looking at the VHS boxes – the front and back covers. I seriously miss all of that. These 2000s-born kids don’t know what they were missing.
The wait for the next Jason movie took forever. I remember my early chat room/message board days on Fridaythe13th.com (way before it was Fridaythe13thmovies.com) . That was all the fans would talk about. The big rumors were Freddy Vs. Jason before there was ever a Jason X. I remember one of my online friends at the time started his very own script and I for real thought he had the best one!! Dig this — It brought back the Tommy Jarvis character, and Nancy from Nightmare! Could you imagine Robert Englund, Kane Hodder plus Thom Matthews and Heather Langenkamp in an epic slasher coming out in the year 1999/2000? That was my vision as an excited 13 year-old mega slasher fan.
I also remember at the time, slashers were changing their style. Andrew and I HATED (and I do mean hated) the Scream movies, and the movies that took after/followed them. It was a new type of “slasher” that we didn’t like, it was all different. If you’ve read my Wes Craven you would understand. When Scary Movie came out in 2000 making fun of all those movies, Andrew and I couldn’t stop laughing. It was the exact comedy we needed to see to explain to people who didn’t understand why we didn’t like those “scary” movies. We hated that they were called that and missed the term “Horror”. We dubbed those movies Trendy Horror. But like Nu-Metal, it was short-lived. Sadly Wes Craven, who I still think is a horror master was responsible for that trend because he worked with Kevin Williamson who did all those other bad movies too. I look back at that era and I guess they’re “okay” movies now. Nowhere near the cheese I enjoyed from Jason, Michael, Freddy, Chucky, Leatherface, Pinhead, etc. etc.
By 2002, Andrew and I had watched most of the essential slashers, and whatever weird movies we would come across at the video store. We totally ripped off all of them in our early 3DMM movies. Suddenly before Freddy Vs. Jason, there’s an announcement about Jason X. It was filmed already but awaiting release. It felt abrupt, like almost 10 years after JGTH, really? But it was very exciting. A new Jason movie, FINALLY! And he’s in space. Even better. Ha Jason X review coming soon !
Oblivion's Realm 