No Surrender Cinema: Freddy vs. Jason
1, 2 Freddy’s coming for you…and he’s not coming alone! It’s a special Friday the 13th edition of No Surrender Cinema, and we’re going to look back at the time horror’s two heaviest hitters finally went head to head! Blood will spill and bones will break, but who will survive the highly anticipated dream (or is it nightmare?) match of Freddy vs. Jason?
Directed by Ronny Yu, who made his name directing Hong Kong martial arts films such as Brandon Lee’s Legacy of Rage before breaking out on the American scene with 1998’s Bride of Chucky, Freddy vs. Jason finally became reality in 2003 after nearly 20 years of rumors, discarded scripts, and failed attempts to bring the two icons of terror together. Despite their respective franchises laying dormant for the decade prior to this (save for Jason X, which wasn’t considered canon here), just the idea that horror fans would finally see these two maniacs go toe to toe on the big screen created a buzz before the film was even released. Hollywood had been bombarded with self-aware thrillers like Scream and Urban Legend in Freddy and Jason’s absence, and were slowly moving towards the supernatural horror phase thanks to the success of The Ring. Could these two original gangstas of the 80’s horror craze reclaim their former glory? New Line Cinema certainly thought so, and delivered a fairly interesting concept on how their two worlds could merge.
Much how moviegoers in 2003 had put Freddy and Jason in the back of their minds for a while, Freddy vs. Jason starts with Freddy angry over the fact that he’s been forgotten by the children of Springwood. Since Freddy relies on their fear and their nightmares to torment the poor souls of Springwood, he can’t do much but wallow in his misery in the bowels of hell. That is until he comes across Jason Voorhees, the hockey masked brute who slaughtered pretty much everyone who ever set foot on the grounds of Crystal Lake. Freddy, ever so sinister, starts manipulating Jason by masquerading as Mrs. Voorhees, urging her son to rise from the dead and kill again on “her” behalf. Once Jason awakens (in a scene not nearly as cool as his revival in Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives), he stalks off to Elm Street to do some damage and make the townsfolk think that Freddy is responsible, thus revitalizing their fear and empowering him to truly return.
Krueger isn’t the only one who’s been scheming in Freddy vs. Jason, because when the bad shit starts going down, the current crop of teenagers discover that their parents have been keeping secrets from them for years. It turns out that Lori’s (Monica Keena) boyfriend Will (Jason Ritter, John’s son) and his friend Mark have been locked away in a psych hospital because of encounters with Freddy prior to the events of the film. When several of Lori’s friends are decimated (including the stereotypical douchebag jock getting bent in half by Jason), Will takes the first opportunity to escape with Mark in an effort to save her. It turns out that the reason for Will’s imprisonment in the nuthouse is because he witnessed Lori’s father kill her mother, an incident that he has denied and covered up for years. See, Dr. Campbell didn’t kill his wife, Freddy did, but in an effort to erase Freddy’s power over the town, he forced Will and Mark into psychiatric care. The kids also find out that the adults of Springwood have been force-feeding their kids a dream blocking drug called Hypnocil, which has managed to keep Freddy out of their heads, and thus their lives, ever since.
Unfortunately for the residents of Springwood, Freddy’s plan to unleash Jason on his old stomping grounds works like a charm, and it’s not long before Freddy is ready to start picking off members of Lori’s social circle. That’s the plan, at least, because after a few failed attempts, Freddy’s full powered reign of terror is unintentionally thwarted by Jason, who manages to dispatch of one of Krueger’s targets before he can kill her. This pisses Freddy off, and since Jason’s dirty work is done, Freddy feels that he’s expendable and turns on him during a showdown with Lori and co. at the hospital. This turn of events gives Lori and her friends the bright idea that maybe, just maybe, they can use Jason against Freddy and put an end to his reign of terror for good.
This is where Freddy vs. Jason starts picking up, because honestly, the subplot with Lori and her friends is a bit of a drag. Not one of the human characters are particularly likable, so viewers are just left with the choice of which one of the fiends they want to win the fight. It’s here in the third act where we finally see them square off after years of waiting for it, and Ronny Yu made some interesting choices for this battle. Apparently Freddy started studying kung fu while he was in Hell, because he is kicking and punching Jason with style and grace…that is when he’s not impaling him on something. Jason, when he’s on offense, resorts to the brute force he’s known for, and the movie makers have fun with several different set pieces including Freddy’s boiler room residence in Hell and a burning cabin at Camp Crystal Lake.
Like many others were, I was psyched to go see Freddy vs. Jason on opening night, and I remember leaving that theater on a high note, satisfied with what I had just seen. Although I own the movie and have seen it many times since, this latest rewatch hit different. The fights are pretty cool (although Kung Fu Freddy is certainly a choice, I’ll say that), but the supporting cast does nothing for me, and the lack of humor or charisma from everyone not named Robert Englund hampers things. It’s not like all of the Friday films were full of jokes, and Freddy’s witticisms did turn him into a caricature back in the day, but it would have been nice to have something to chuckle at, or at least some better heroes to root for. We have no Tommy Jarvis or Nancy Thompson here, and definitely no one as powerful as Kristin Parker or Tina Shepard to save the day. Freddy vs. Jason is very much a one-trick pony, and even though in the end I still enjoy it, I don’t think it holds up well 19(!) years later. In fact, the most surprising thing to me is that nearly two decades have gone by since this film, and it just feels like a film from the 2000’s. The nu-metal soundtrack, the constant jump-cuts and slow mo, the wire fu and blue filters…there’s no mistaking that this one was 100% Hollywood horror, which turned out to be its biggest flaw; it lacked the endearing qualities that many of the original entries had. It might sound odd to say that about films that focus on serial killers that have died and returned ten times over, but a lot of those early entries had heart, whereas Freddy vs. Jason comes off more like a cash grab from Hollywood execs who knew that we horror fans were ready and willing to fork over our money to see a film that we had been fantasy booking since Freddy’s glove came up from the ground at the end of Jason Goes To Hell.
There will no doubt be an abundance of Friday films on TV today, but if you want to rewind to 2003 and give this one a go at your leisure, Freddy vs. Jason is currently streaming on Netflix. Don’t worry about silly little things like plot and substance; this film was created for one reason and one reason only, and that’s where it succeeds. So grab a snack, turn off the lights, and enjoy the slobberknocker between two of the most famous monstrosities in movie history.
