Jason X, a.k.a., Jason X: Friday the 13th, a.k.a., Jason 10 (2001)
Make them remember me, Jason. Make them remember what fear tastes like.
Freddy vs. Jason (2003) dir. Ronny Yu
I’ve got a new column for Ghastly Grinning on novelizations, tie-ins, comic spinoffs etc. and I’m kicking it off with a rundown on Friday the 13th: Church of the Divine Psychopath, the first of the Black Flame Friday the 13th novels of the mid-2000s. It smartly plays on the almost evangelical sense of morality people so often pick up from these movies, focusing on a priest who moves his flock to Crystal Lake where he secretly plans to unleash Jason, who he considers the Hand of God, to weed out the sinners in his congregation. And these are people who’s faith is so blinding that, even after that happens, they’ll follow him to the bitter end.
When a special ops team comes in to contain the situation, they find themselves attempting to rescue people who not only don’t want to be rescued, but who will actively fight back against it, leading the team to question how you can possibly save people who don’t want to be saved?
It’s a crude, pulpy, not always terrifically written, but a nonetheless fun and smart book that makes the most out of its great concept. Check this piece out, because I’d like to do a lot more of these in the future.
