[Pride 2023] Queer Joy and Jason X's Rainbow Moment

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Jason X isn’t technically queer. No, not one bit of it is technically coded or specific. But you know what? I’m queer, and I find so much queer joy within Jason X. There’s just regular ol’ joy, in there, too. The queer joy just pops up an extra notch on that joy meter for me.

“But, where, Josh, is this queer joy?”, you may ask. K, I’ll tell you all about it.

There are no blatantly queer characters in Jason X. Most of them, like in most F13 films, are straight, and horny. But there are a few characters that never mention sex. This doesn’t technically make them queer, but it is of my belief - which you may not share - that if a character within a F13 film does not mention or does not partake in sex then there’s a reason. And that reason - to me - is because they’re queer. 

So, in Jason X’s case, my gaydar rings highly for Waylander (Derwin Jordan). There’s not a legitimate reason within the film that gives his sexuality away aside from the aforementioned lack of sexual intensity. And when I say queer, he could be anything from gay to bi to ace. Okay, sure, a lot of my reasoning stems from the fact that I dub him the hottest amongst the males in the film, his outfit is one of my favorites, and if I lived within the year of 2455 above the Grendel as one of the students then Waylander would be my crush.

Queers love their strong female characters within horror films. Our legit final girl in Jason X is Rowan (Lexa Doig). She is strong, she is beautiful, but her character lacks that little something something that could easily draw us to her. Lucky for us, we have two other female characters who fill that small void that Rowan leaves. First, Janessa (Melyssa Ade). Sex positive, smart, witty as hell, and she takes no shit from anyone. The majority of my favorite moments involved Janessa. She has an attitude that mirrors that of some of my favorite people in real life who are queer. She’s gone down as one of my favorite characters within the F13verse. 

Then there’s Kay-Em (Lisa Ryder). An android created by Tsunaron (Chuck Campbell) who has one of the most kick ass scenes with UberJason. She also has a moment with the use of the term, “Gotcha,” that I think surpasses Judy Greer’s Karen’s “Gotcha” in Halloween (2018). They’re neck and neck, but Kay Em’s does it just a bit more for me. Plus, she kicks uber ass on UberJason, and does it while spouting witty one liners. Blame it on Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Buffy, but I love when a strong woman spouts some wit while kicking ass. 

Let’s get to the subject of UberJason. Years ago, someone pointed out to me that while Adrienne (Kristi Angus) is being scientific with Jason’s frozen body, there’s a moment where a prism rainbow is reflected across Jason’s face. If that person reads this, hit me up so I can properly thank you! We don’t technically know Jason’s sexuality. We just know that he enjoys hacking up anybody who has previously been sexual. But! What if this random rainbow prism that reflects across his mask is Jason’s partial coming out? 

Once he’s destroyed by Kay Em, and revived thanks to nanite technology, he becomes UberJason. Or as I’ve called him in an article written for another outlet, Metal and Leather Muscle Daddy Jason. Sleek, fashionable, and ready for a runway, MLMD Jason has been born. In a way, and take account this is coming from a queer looking for a queer aspect in one of his favorite films, Jason has transitioned to his queer form. In his past, he’s gone through some shit because of who he is. He’s been stabbed, sliced, shot, blown up, and has gone to hell and back only to discover his true self, and look damn good. 

I understand that’s a stretch. Just level with me that I love finding parallels to queer life within my favorite genre. As far fetched as this one may seem, I’m okay with that. Regular F13 2 through Freddy Vs Jason Jason was just struggling with his sexuality. His reactive slicing and dicing to heteronormative sex was just his repulsion to not being able to experience or see queer sexuality. In Jason X, his old self is destroyed, and the nanite technology revival was his coming out thus resulting in the new, queer as fuck Metal and Leather Muscle Daddy Jason. 

So, back in 2001, UberJason was letting us know that the future is queer, and it is strong. Perhaps he was letting us know about the state of horror in the future. Horror has always been queer, but it is even more so 22 years later. Perhaps he was letting us know to stay strong, and reinvent ourselves to be stronger so that we are able to fight the absolute bullshit that is being placed among the LGTBQIA+ community, currently. 

I honestly didn’t expect to come to that when I started writing this article, but here we are. Jason Voorhees has led to an empowering stance on the current status of queer rights. So be an UberJason, be a Janessa, Kay Em, or Waylander, and fight for our rights whether that be as a participant in speaking out, joining protests, or donating for the cause.

Please consider donating to

the Transgender Law Center here.