01 Dec By Any Means Necessary: The Making of ‘Jason X’ (2002)

Cronenberg Chronicles

This little feature was made to promote the movie and is included on the DVD. It shows a real problem in filmmaking.

The actual movie was dumb, made for dummies. The dynamics behind how it was designed and to some extent executed is a matter of high sophistication. “Making of” films are intended to span these two worlds. But what to do here?

In reality, there is some very clever exploitation of scientific research into sexual archetypes and their visual representation. Cronenberg pioneered this work, and as a result has a cameo (as the guy who starts the chain of events). There’s careful engineering of cheezyness in the effects. There’s deliberate direction to act poorly, as part of the self-reference. But if your intended audience are dummies, do you mention any of this?

It would be as if after a MacDonald’s ad, you were presented with details about how you were subliminally manipulated. Wouldn’t work. So the crew made up a bunch of stuff to fill the space, saying nothing. The film is a carefully constructed fiction. So is this film about the film.

Posted in 2003

Ted’s Evaluation — 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

IMDB