Freddy Krueger is in Hell - literally! And like an inmate with a life sentence, Freddy's been plotting a fantastic revenge... all he needs is a little help. In comes Jason Voorhees, the equally iconic madman and perfect means for Freddy to once again instill fear on Elm Street. As the bodies begin to pile up, it becomes clear that Jason isn't willing to step aside.
"Hey Freddy! Go to Hell!"
- Lori Campbell |
As I watched the opening of Freddy vs. Jason I was immediately struck
by how much things have changed since I first watched the original Friday
the 13th. That's because this 2003 film opens with a naked woman. So
much for teenagers sitting around the table playing a game of strip poker
that never gets anywhere. Besides the explicit sex is nothing compared
to the upgrade on the violence, blood and gut quotient and as I watched
the rest of the film I was also struck by how strange it was to watch a
splatter flick with production values this strong. Part of the charm in
the old days was the cheap effectiveness of these low-budget movies. Those
days are clearly gone, which is evidenced by a montage in the film's prologue
that takes some of the choice moments from previous films in the Nightmare series, all of which suffer in comparison to what they came up with for
this one.
It seems to me that there had been talk of a film throwing together the
slasher icons from the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street franchises for about a decade, which is about how long Jason and Freddy
had been in mothballs. When New Line acquired the rights to both franchises
we eventually ended up with a script by first time scriptwriters Damian
Shannon and Mark Swift, directed by Ronny Yu (Bride of Chucky),
with old hand Robert Englund back for the umpteenth time as Freddy Krueger
and oversized stuntman Ken Kirzinger as the new Jason Vorhees.
It is not that the script is original, but it does set up an interesting
idea with regards to the "rules" of the two series. The problem is that
everyone on Elm Street has forgotten all about Freddy, which is a fate
worse than death, because he cannot enter the dreams of kids who no longer
remember him. So Freddy resurrects Jason to do his dirty work for him.
When Jason shows up on Elm Street and starts slicing and dicing, the locals
remember Freddy and the game is afoot. The only problem is Jason continues
to kill the kids that Freddy thinks of as "his."
This sets up the films two battles between the title characters. Not surprisingly,
one takes place in Freddy's nightmare world and the other at Jason's old
haunts at Camp Crystal Lake (kill, kill, kill...kill, kill, kill...). This
makes for two rather different fights since Freddy's powers are much more
impressive on his own turf. At this point the film also has the advantage
in that Freddy and Jason ripping each other apart is not exactly a bad
thing, when compared to what the two arch-fiends have been doing to teenagers
for the first two-thirds of the film.
Caught in the middle are Lori Campbell (Monica Keena), Kia Waterson (Destiny's
Child's Kelly Rowland), Will Rollins (Jason Ritter), and Charlie Linderman
(Christopher George Marquette) as the teenagers who have a 50-50 chance
of making it to the end of the film alive. Of course these teens have twice
the problems of most kids in splatter flicks because they have to not only
set up Freddy and Jason so that one of them will take the other one out,
but they need to be able to take down which ever one is left standing on
their own.
The first half of the film is rather standard fare for a splatter flick
as the body count escalates, which is really just setting the table for
the point when Freddy and Jason start going head to head (more machete
to body and razor blades to face actually). Since these are pretty much
indestructible killing machines the kid gloves are really off with the
violence, and things that would make you close your eyes if done to a "real"
human being are now the splatter flick equivalent of a championship fight.
There is a tendency to see Freddy vs. Jason as a modern day version
of the old Universal monster fests that brought the Frankenstein monster,
Dracula, and everybody else in the studio stable together for a romp. But
none of those films delivered the big confrontation the way this one does.
The title along will tell you whether or not you have the stomach for this
one. I have missed a lot of the films in each of these series, losing interest
after the first several films, but those gaps in my knowledge of the cinematic
histories of Freddy and Jason did not hurt my enjoyment of this film, which
succeeds on its own level. Freddy vs. Jason does not really attempt
to be a great splatter flick, it only wants to satisfy the fans of these
two monsters. You might think that is setting the bar a tad low, but this
film has no problem clearing that particular hurdle.
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- Veteran Friday
the 13th actor Kane Hodder wanted to reprise his role as Jason Voorhees
in this film, but was denied the role. Ken Kirzinger, who won the role
of Jason Voorhees, played a New York cook and was also the stunt coordinator
in Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan.
- Katharine
Isabelle was originally cast as a no longer existing character named Jenny,
while Lauren Lee Smith was cast as Gibb. But when the Character of Jenny
was erased from further re-writes, Katharine Isabelle took over the part
of Gibb, and Lauren Lee Smith was no longer in the film.
- Jason
Bateman was originally cast as Will, but was replaced by Jason Ritter.
- During
test and advance screenings, the ending was not added to the film. Instead,
a black screen came up saying. "See the conclusion of who wins on August
15th, the release of the film theatrically."
- The
call letters of the news station shown on the TV in the hospital are KRGR,
obviously a reference to Freddy Kruger. It is also the name of the radio
station that Glenn (Johnny Depp) is listening to right before he dies in A
Nightmare On Elm Street.
- Freddy's
"how sweet, dark meat" line is a variation on the line "how sweet, fresh
meat" in A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.
- Westin
Hills is Freddy's birthplace and was featured in A Nightmare On Elm
Street 3: Dream Warriors.
- The
goat seen in Blake's early nightmare sequence is a reference to Tina's
nightmare involving a goat in the original A Nightmare On Elm Street.
- Ronny
Yu originally turned down the directing job because the script didn't indicate
who won. He agreed to take the job when Robert Shaye told him he could
make that decision himself.
- Robert
Shaye the producer of all the "Nightmare" movies (including this
one) appears as "Principal Shaye".
- The
bag placed over Jason's head in the Crystal Lake nightmare is a reference
to the bag Jason wears in Friday the 13th: Part 2 before he started
wearing his trademark hockey mask.
- Gibb
('Katherine Isabelle') is always shown wearing a red baseball hat. This
is an reference from Carrie, where P.J. Soles' character would always
wear a red baseball cap. Isabelle co-starred in the TV remake of Carrie in
2002.
- During
the final fight at Crystal Lake, Freddy says, "Hey Asshole!" to Jason.
That line is usually said by the "hero" of the other Friday the 13th movies.
     
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