It’s a bit old hat to write off something as “It was a dream all along.” But in the case of “Jason X,” which is so out of the norm for the “Friday the 13th” franchise, it may help show why it’s there in the series. Freddy Krueger has been successful at killing off numerous teenagers, but Jason Voorhees is a different beast entirely. After Freddy drags Jason to Hell, it makes sense they would fight for supremacy, but Freddy’s no dummy. He wants to know what Jason can really do. Rather than invent a dreamscape where Jason also has to kill teens at a summer camp, he places him in a strange environment filled with things he doesn’t understand. This sets the stage for their eventual fight.
There are slight hiccups in this theory. For starters, “Jason X” has inspired several comic books, including 2005’s “Jason X Special,” which sees the enhanced Jason, known as Uber-Jason, arrive on Earth II so that his regenerative abilities can be harnessed to benefit the remaining human race. There was also a two-issue comic book miniseries called “Friday the 13th: Jason vs. Jason X,” which sees another version of Jason resurrected to battle Uber-Jason. It’s possible these are also part of Freddy’s dream, but at that point, it would run a little long in the tooth.
While “Jason X” being a Freddy Krueger dream is fascinating to think about, it’s likely that wasn’t the intention. “Jason X” follows in the tradition of horror franchises eventually going to space, like in “Critters 4” and “Leprechaun 4: In Space.” But if a fan theory gets more people to check out “Jason X,” then it’s a job well done.
