In April of 1985, the first issue of the ground-breaking, twelve issue Crisis on Infinite Earths (Wolfman, et al, 1986) was published. This event, which was easily the biggest in DC Comics at that point (and for many years), saw the destruction of the “Multiverse”, an infinite number of parallel worlds, and the awkward establishing of one unified DC canon. Over the years, DC have returned to this concept again and again, retconning it, expanding upon it, and milking it to the point of excess but that doesn’t change how influential this massive crossover was. To celebrate this momentous event, I’m looking at multiversal crossovers every Thursday in April in an event I call “Crossover Crisis”.
Released: 15 August 2003
Director: Ronny Yu
Distributor: New Line Cinema
Budget: $30 million
Stars: Robert Englund, Ken Kirzinger, Monica Keena, Jason Ritter, Kelly Rowland, Chris Marquette, and Katharine Isabelle
The Plot:
Trapped in Hell and forgotten by the townsfolk of Elm Street, dream demon Freddy Krueger (Englund) resurrects the hulking, immortal killer Jason Voorhees (Kirzinger) to spread fear amongst Elm Street’s youngsters. However, Jason is not so easily controlled and the two supernatural mass murderers come into conflict, with a group of clueless teenagers caught in the middle!
The Background:
Hot on the heels of the forefather of the “slasher” genre, John Carpenter’s Halloween (Carpenter, 1978), Friday the 13th (Cunningham, 1980) proved to be an unexpected box office success despite its negative reviews. What followed was a slew of sequels, of varying critical and commercial success, and one of the best slasher franchises of all horror. However, Paramount executives became embarrassed with the films and eventually sold (some of) the rights to rival film company New Line Cinema, meaning the long-term hopes of seeing Friday’s iconic killer, Jason Voorhees (Various) go toe-to-toe with New Line’s Freddy Krueger could finally be realised. Production of such a crossover had been stuck in Development Hell for the better part of ten years; attempts to get the film off the ground stalled in 1988 and numerous proposals were submitted over the years before writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, with input from David S. Goyer, finally drafted a filmable concept. Horror alum Ronnie Yu was hired to direct, despite his unfamiliarity with either franchise; although Freddy actor Robert Englund signed on, long-time Jason actor Kane Hodder was recast in order to fit Yu’s vision for the silent killer and former Pamela Voorhees actress Betsy Palmer refused to cameo due to salary disputes. Special make-up effects designer Bill Terezakis designed a new demonic visage for Freddy, while a mixture of practical and digital effects were employed to bring to life Freddy’s nightmare environments and the bloody brawl between the two killers, though the heavier use of CGI drew some criticism. Reviews were generally split down the middle (no pun intended); some enjoyed the mindless smackdown and gory violence, while others criticised the brainless plot and uninspired performances. Still, with a box off gross of nearly $117 million, Freddy vs. Jason became the most profitable entry in either franchise, though plans for a sequel pitting horror icon Ashley “Ash” Williams (Bruce Campbell) against the two never came to pass except in comic books and the decision was made to reboot both franchises rather than bring them together again on film.
The Review:
It’s hard even for me to believe, but there was a time when I couldn’t stand horror movies; I was terrified of them and regularly left the room or hid behind a comic whenever we watched them as kids, and, even now, one of the scariest movies for me was A Nightmare on Elm Street (Craven, 1984). By 2003, I was still a reluctant horror fan but I distinctly remember Freddy vs. Jason helping to finally break through that mental block because of the sheer spectacle of seeing these two horror icons go at it. The premise is simplicity in itself (Freddy raises Jason from the grave to help inspire fear and return him to power) so you wouldn’t think that there would be much need for exposition but, oddly, you’d be wrong. Not only does the movie open with a demonic Freddy, trapped in Hell, directly addressing the audience, and talking us through a montage of his greatest hits and misses, there are at least two other points where the movie grinds to a halt so Freddy can repeat the plot to the audience. At one point, he randomly spits out his motivation to a victim, which would be fine if Mark Davis (Brendan Fletcher) shared this knowledge with his friends and they used it to aid with their later plan, but Freddy kills him moments later, making these constant reminders of the dead simple plot stand out like a sore thumb.
Freddy vs. Jason sits in an awkward place within both franchise’s canon; the last time we saw Springwood, it was a traumatised town where no children lived thanks to Freddy’s escapades, and the last time we saw Jason he was being dragged to Hell by demons and Freddy himself. Now, Springwood is once again a prosperous suburb full of foolish and horny twenty-somethings teenagers; main character and “Final Girl” Lori Campbell (Keena) even lives in Nancy Thompson’s (Heather Langenkamp) house, which has since become closely associated with Freddy, though neither she nor her friends – borderline alcoholic tomboy Gibb Smith (Isabelle) and shallow, conceited Kia Waterson (Rowland) – and fellow teens know of Freddy. Thanks to a town-wide mandate and widespread use of the once-controversial dream-suppressant “Hypnocil”, Freddy has been effectively stamped out across Springwood; all records of him have been censored and the adults take his threat so seriously that they don’t dare to speak his name aloud, causing much confusion for Kia and the others when Gibb’s arrogant and demanding boyfriend Trey Cooper (Jesse Hutch) is brutalised in bed. Throughout the film, Lori learns that she has a closer connection to Freddy than she first thought; her mother was slaughtered by the Dream Demon years ago, her father, Doctor Campbell (Tom Butler), not only covered up the death but has been administering Hypnocil to Freddy’s victims at the nearby Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital, and her childhood sweetheart Will Rollins (Ritter) was locked up after witnessing the murder, for which he was also made a patsy. Thus, the events of the film are doubly traumatic for Lori, who’s forced to realise everything she’s been told about her mother was a lie and that her father isn’t the man she thinks he is, to say nothing of her being eyed as Freddy’s latest target simply for living in the house of his former nemesis.
Unlike the purehearted, virginial Lori, Kia is an outspoken and promiscuous young woman who is eager to push Lori out of the rut she’s been in since her mother’s death, party down and meet a guy instead of hiding herself away. Oddly concerned with her looks and never far from a harsh word, Kia’s bullish ways are quickly called out by perennial loser Charlie Linderman (Marquette), a shy and awkward high schooler who has a crush on Lori but inexplicably ends up earning Kia’s affections when he stands up to her. Despite Trey being a complete asshole, Gibb is rattled by his death, especially after finding him literally folded in half in bed, and turns to alcohol for solace; unfortunately, this makes her easy prey for Freddy, who toys with her in the dream world and ends up enraged when Jason beats him to his prey, effectively setting the stage for their inevitable clash. Rounding out the group is Jason Mewes knock off Bill Freeburg (Kyle Labine), a carefree stoner who joins the group after Jason cuts his way through a late-night rave and exists largely to offer some pretty genuine comic relief. This “Scooby Gang” of main characters is aided by Deputy Scott Stubbs (Lochlyn Munro), a newcomer to Springwood who’s also clueless about Freddy and whose claims that they’re dealing with a Jason copycat go unheeded by his superior, Sheriff Williams (Garry Chalk), to avoid unnecessary fear and panic. While Stubbs helps the kids break into Westin Hills to discover the horrifying fate of the kids who wouldn’t stop dreaming, and pick up more Hypnocil, he’s ultimately there to add to Jason’s body count and not much else.
Far more significant to the plot are the aforementioned Will and his best friend Mark, two former Elm Street kids locked up in Westin Hills as patsys for Freddy’s kills. Regularly dosed up on Hypnocil and driven stir crazy by the unstable inmates, the two escape the high security with a ridiculous amount of ease after Will sees the news report of Trey’s death and rushes to check on his former flame. Although both are overjoyed to finally be reunited, Will’s time in the hospital has left him an eccentric, anxiety-ridden ball of impulsiveness; Ritter plays the role with a bizarre flair that sees him smirking even when faced with the two killers and whatever he was going for ultimately fails due to him lacking onscreen charisma. Unlike Mark, Will is completely sold on the story drip-fed by the hospital; he believes Lori’s father killed her mother and has no time for Mark’s tall tales of a Dream Demon. Mark, however, knows all-too-well that Freddy is real since his older brother, Bobby (Zack Ward), regularly spoke of him and his nightmares and was so terrified of both that he was driven to suicide. For much of the early going, Mark openly rants about Freddy, only to inadvertently cause more fear and panic that gives Freddy the strength to cut him up and burn an ominous message into him. Having witnessed this first-hand, Will instantly becomes convinced and works with the group to figure a way out of their predicament; however, his primary concern is protecting Lori, even in the face of supernatural killers, which leaves him bloody and injured and all their friends dead when Lori insists on making Freddy pay for all the pain he’s caused them.
Of course, all these characters can be as forgettable and one-dimensional as necessary since no one is watching Freddy vs. Jason for anything other than the two killers, and none of these kids is as compelling a main protagonist as Jason! Thanks to his traumatic backstory and the abuse he suffered as a boy (Spencer Stump), Jason is positioned as the lesser of two evils; a rage-filled engine of destruction, he’s portrayed as a “big stupid dog who won’t stop eating” who is easily placated by the voice and appearance of his beloved mother, Pamela (Paula Shaw), and returning to the familiar hunting grounds of Camp Crystal Lake. At the start of the film, Jason is dead and buried and trapped in a never-ending cycle of violence in the darkest corners of his mind, but Freddy assumes Pamela’s form and gives Jason the motivation to regenerate and return to unlife to wreak havoc on Elm Street. However, as polite as it is of Jason to simply walk into Lori’s house and murder one victim before mindfully closing the door on his way out, Jason is more efficient and ruthless than Freddy expected. He builds up a hell of a kill count here, slicing and dicing anyone who gets in his way and pissing Freddy off since all the victims and fear Jason is stirring up are denied him. Thus, Freddy possesses Freeburg and renders Jason unconscious so he can put him down in the dream world; however, even though Freddy is functionally unstoppable in this realm, Jason remains cursed with immortality, forcing Freddy to probe his mind for an edge. This gives us the deepest glimpse into Jason’s fractured psyche than we’ve ever seen before; his thoughts dwell on Crystal Lake and the victims he’s claimed, and on his childhood, where he was left to drown in the lake. This is all the information Freddy needs to torment Jason, preying upon his hitherto-unknown fear of water to almost do the killer in before the teens intervene, setting the stage of their final showdown in the real world.
Thus, Freddy is positioned clearly as the antagonist of the film. Jason may indeed get the blood, being responsible for every kill in the movie save for a couple perpetrated by Freddy, but it’s Freddy who is pulling the strings and targeting his victims with a spiteful purpose. Frustrated at being forgotten, Freddy finds himself powerless and unable to influence the real world; even when Jason’s actions spread fear of Freddy, the Dream Demon struggles to attack his victims in their dreams, but effectively regains much of his lost power simply through the teens’ fear of the unknown. This allows him to go through some of his greatest hits, such as drawing kids into his boiler room, leering through walls, and assuming a variety of outlandish forms to possess and torment his victims. Freddy’s power in the dream world is absolute, allowing him to easily regrow limbs and toy with Jason, who is confused and outmatched by Freddy’s dream powers, but even Freddy can’t kill Jason there and his influence on the real world is severely limited. Given that Jason is a mindless mute, Freddy taunts him and his other victims at every turn, mugging for the camera far too much for my tastes his overall presentation is much more in-line with his earliest incarnations, returning him to his darker and scarier roots but still allowing him to drop “bitch” lines and one-liners to terrify his victims. He is also more malicious; Jason may kill indiscriminately, but only Freddy would torment a terrified mongoloid boy by parading his mother’s severed head on a stick! Freddy also has an all-new form when in Hell or enraged; this is a far more demonic appearance that really emphasises how frustrated and angered he is at being forgotten, but all the scary forms and fancy dream powers in the world can’t help him when he’s forced into the real world and to go toe-to-toe with Jason to put the hulking killer down for good.
The Nitty-Gritty:
There’s a strange disparity at work in Freddy vs. Jason; the two franchise’s iconic themes are only heard once in the opening scene, replaced with an admittedly kick-ass metal soundtrack and soundalike score, and while Freddy gets a montage of clips from his previous films, Jason has to settle for recreating his modus operandi in a dream sequence. Still, to its credit, the film does make the effort of placing Jason on Elm Street and bringing Freddy to Camp Crystal Lake…it’s just a shame that the shot on Jason on the street doesn’t linger long enough and that the script ludicrously places Camp Crystal Lake within driving distance of Springwood despite them obviously being miles apart. Long-time Jason fans may also be baffled by his sudden fear of water; there’s a clear attempt here to associate Freddy with red and fire and Jason with blue and water, a thematic parallel that actually think works pretty well. Yes, neither has shown fear of either element before (Jason is constantly seen wading through or existing underwater, even in this film), but I think it gets a pass as we’re clearly seeing Freddy extract Jason’s deepest, darkest fear in a heightened, nightmare environment and turn it against him. Ultimately, though, neither element plays a big role in their destruction, rendering it an interesting concept that’s sadly not explored too deeply, probably because it might detract from Freddy screaming the plot at the audience!
Sadly, these are the things we must suffer through to get to the good stuff in Freddy vs. Jason. For every scene showing Englund out of the make-up, grinning as he sticks pictures of his victims to a scrapbook with his own saliva, we have shit like the God-awful “Freddypillar”, a bong-smoking, worm-like monstrosity that looked terrible back then and looks even worse today. Thankfully, shoddy CGI isn’t a commonplace in Freddy vs. Jason and much of the effects are achieved practically, though they’re no less comical; after Blake (David Kopp) is spooked by Freddy, he’s horrified when his father’s (Brent Chapman) head pops off his shoulders courtesy of Jason, and he then attempts to shield himself from the same fate using his father’s severed head! There are also some odd moments of slowdown and blurry, shaky cam during the otherwise impressive rave scene and, as mentioned, some atrocious performances not just by Ritter and Keena, but even veteran actors Garry Chalk and Tom Butler seem to be hamming it up, though this doesn’t detract from how creepy that little eyeless girl (Joelle Antonissen) is or the comatose patients whisper to Freeburg. Indeed, it’s worth braving the film’s more frustrating elements and forgettable characters to get to the nightmare sequences and the kills. Freddy vs. Jason doesn’t try anything particularly ground-breaking with its nightmare scenes, preferring to largely return the horror to Freddy’s character outside of him comically bouncing Jason around like a pinball, but it certainly brings its A-game when it comes to gore. Things get off to a strong start when Jason bludgeons Trey with his trademark machete (which Jason not only carries on him at all times but almost constantly has in his hand, even when opening doors!) before folding him in two with the bed, and things only escalate from there. Jason gate-crashes a rave in a cornfield, snapping one dude’s neck in the blink of an eye and then splashing arterial spray even when set on fire in easily one of the best sequences of the movie. While Stubbs is simply electrocuted to death, poor Freeburg gets sliced clean in two, Kia gets swatted aside like she was nothing after giving Freddy some lip, and even Linderman goes out a hero as he downplays the seriousness of his injury before promptly bleeding to death.
Indeed, the raw brutality of Freddy vs. Jason is almost as entertaining as seeing these two icons finally share the screen; there’s blood squibs and spray abound here, especially once Lori uses herself as bait to force Freddy into the real world and he goes one-on-one with Jason. Despite not having any of his supernatural powers in the real world, Freddy still puts up a hell of a fight, utilising speed and his wiles to dodge Jason’s wild swings. As fun as it was to see the two tangle in the dream world, the finale is really where all that nonsense really pays off; it’s a lot of fun seeing the two trade blows, Freddy take advantage of the various tools and toys at the construction site, and Jason grow more and more frustrated at his rival’s tenacity. Thanks to having mocked him with his mother’s form and forced him to relive his childhood trauma, Freddy faces a suitably enraged Jason; however, Freddy’s brains allow him to stay out of reach, rain pipes onto Jason, and even relieve him of his machete after slicing off his fingers. Momentarily helpless, Jason is mashed up by Freddy’s two-pronged assault and even ends up having his eyes gouged out by Freddy’s trademark glove, but Jason’s relentlessness sees him endure this assault, plunge his hand through Freddy’s torso, and even rip Freddy’s arm off before both are blown into the lake by Lori and Will. Freddy comes back, armless and half dead, ready to make Lori pay only to wind up impaled through the back by his own severed, razor-fingered glove. Sadly, this means that the final blow comes from Lori, who promptly hacks off Freddy’s head while Jason sinks into the lake, his rage and energy apparently spent from the battle. However, Jason rises again not long after, emerging from the lake and palming Freddy’s severed head, though Freddy does deliver a wink to the audience to basically lead the ultimate victor ambiguous (though Jason clearly won!)
The Summary:
I was so excited for Freddy vs. Jason back in the day; even as a tentative horror fan, I knew what a big deal this throwdown was and I remember glancing at some of the proposed scripts online in the years before it was officially announced and thinking how cool it would be to see the two finally go at it. The end result is, honestly, a bit of a mixed bag; on the one hand, Freddy vs. Jason spends way too much time with its teens, many of whom just aren’t that interesting, and endlessly repeating the plot to the audience like we can’t understand the simple concept of Freddy fighting Jason! On the other hand, you need victims for the killers to torment and slice up, so of course you expect them in a slasher movie and, while many of their performances are questionable and the characteristics are shallow, they’re serviceable enough in this regard, even if Monica Keena doesn’t quite fit the bill of the virginal Final Girl. Still, even if these were the greatest teen characters, the selling point is seeing the two killers go at it and, certainly, Freddy vs. Jason delivers. We have to sit through a lot of nonsense to get to it, but the film does a serviceable job of merging these two franchises into one without any major alterations of continuity, and it’s so worth it once the two throw down. While, yes, it is disappointing that the iconic Kane Hodder wasn’t involved, this is one of my favourite versions of Jason; he’s been slowed down a bit and his physicality accentuated, but the portrayal of him as this mindless killing machine who doesn’t know any better and is driven by rage really makes for a surprisingly tragic anti-hero to root for when faced with the more spiteful and malicious Freddy, thankfully returned to his darker roots and played with manic glee by Robert Englund. In the end, it’s Freddy vs. Jason; if you’re expecting something deeper and life-changing then you’re obviously in the wrong room. I paid to see these two chop the shit out of each other and slice up some hapless teens, and the film definitely meets this criteria with some fun and brutal gore, especially once the two start trading blows, ad the film is, overall, far better than it had any right to be given the premise and lengthy development period.
My Rating:
Great Stuff
Did you enjoy Freddy vs. Jason? Which slasher were you rooting for and were you satisfied with the ending? What did you think to the merging of these two franchises and the constant repetition of the main plot? Which of the teens was your favourite and how important do you think these characters are in a slasher movie? What were your favourite kills in the film and did you enjoy seeing Freddy and Jason go at it? Would you like to see other horror icons have a showdown like this and, if so, who? Whatever you thought about Freddy vs. Jason and horror crossovers, leave a comment below or on my social media and check back my other Freddy vs. Jason content across the site!
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