Freddy vs. Jason Review

FREDDY VS. JASON (2003)
By Chris Ward

Having got past the nineties trend of being ‘post-modern’, ‘ironic’, or any of those other words that mean ‘the same old thing but trying to look intelligent’, in 2003 the hardcore faithful were rewarded for their patience by getting the ultimate face-off. Forget about story twists involving reanimating corpses with malevolent demons, or 3-D gimmicks and OTT fantasy deaths; this was a back-to-basics (well, almost) tale of two of modern horror’s biggest icons going head-to-head to prove who was best in their undead glory.

Child killer Freddy Krueger’s spirit still resides in the dreamworld, but as the residents of Springwood no longer mention his name or acknowledge his existence, his powers are very limited and he cannot penetrate the dreams of Springwoods teens; what he needs is a way of getting his name back in the town’s collective conscience so their fear will regenerate his powers. Knowing that he would get the blame for any murders in the Elm Street area, Freddy – in the guise of Mrs. Voorhees – orders Jason out of his grave and back to Springwood, just to kill a couple of kids and get people talking about him again. Unfortunately for Freddy, Jason gets a taste for slaughtering the Elm Street kids, meaning Freddy won’t get his kicks until Jason is back in Hell. Caught up in the middle is a group of kids, including Mark (Brendan Fletcher) and Will (Jason Ritter) – who have been locked up at the Westin Hills pyschiatric hospital due to nightmares involving Krueger – and Will’s girlfriend Lori (Monica Keena), who lives at 1428 Elm Street with her father, who may or may not know a little bit more than he’s letting on. Along with their friends, they must try and come up with a way of stopping Krueger once and for all, and Jason may just be able to provide the answer.

Doesn’t it sound exciting? Well, it is – in a funny sort of way. Maybe not as good as it could have been, ‘FVJ’ ticks all the right boxes – good looking teens, gratuitous sex scenes, gore, action, witty one-liners, etc. – and there is an almost comic book feel to the whole thing, but, due to the slightly underwhelming plot, it does stop slightly short of the mark. Director Ronny Yu is a veteran of Hong Kong cinema, as well as directing ‘51st State’ and ‘Bride of Chucky’, and his influence is all over the action scenes; both Freddy and Jason get flung around at various speeds during the action-packed fight sequences. But in between the fight sequences, we have to put up with whiney teenagers, a pretty poor script and a story that doesn’t really flow as well as it should.

There’s some sort of subplot involving Lori’s father covering up for Freddy murdering his wife – out of place, seeing as though Freddy is a CHILD killer, and why was he in the house to start with? Was he after Lori? What did Will do to make Lori’s father hate him so much? – but it never goes into any detail, as with Mark’s backstory involving his brother. Then there’s Deputy Stubbs, who is new to Springwood Police and doesn’t know the town’s history with Freddy – not too sure what the point of having him is.

Another low point is the reliance on bad CGI effects – like when nosejob obsessed Kia (Kelly Rowland) gets her nose picked by Freddy. It just looks cartoonish when compared to similar effects in lower budget movies.

On the plus side, the action sequences are pretty spectacular, and all credit to Robert Englund as Freddy for hamming it up for all it’s worth. So much of what makes Freddy such a great character is the slapstick body movements and Englund’s comic timing, and this is probably his best Freddy performance since ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street 3’. His make-up is also the best it’s been for a while – still not as good as the first two ‘…Elm Street’ movies, but not as rubbery looking as the last few. Stuntman Ken Kirzinger as Jason also adds a new depth to the character, combining slow zombie-like walking with faster, hunter-like movements when he has a kill in sight (side note – why is Jason’s skin covered in black lacquer? He looks like a mutant chess-piece!).

The kids are pretty annoying and there’s little sympathy for them, but maybe that’s the point in this movie. This isn’t like the original source material for both characters, where the audience roots for the hero or heroine trying to escape the madman – this movie is designed to make the audience root for one madman or the other, to see how they’re going to kill and to give a cheer when they strike. As it is, Jason (wisely) gets most of the kills here, meaning the deaths are more realistic and less fantasy based (no death by Nintendo or wizard masters here!).

Overall, ‘FVJ’ is an entertaining way to kill (!) ninety minutes, and there are plenty of reference points to the originals to keep long-time fans interested – hypnocil (the dream suppressant from ‘Nightmare 3’), the t.v. station KRGR (do you see what they did there?) is also in the first ‘Nightmare’ movie, as is the goat that randomly appears in the street, plus many other little nods. The thin plot, naff script, dodgy CGI and dull acting do take away from what should have been a real tour-de-force representing thirty years of slasher movies; not that these movies are known for their award winning attributes, but there’s just an overall feeling of ‘could do better’. Take it at face value and it’s an enjoyable comic book romp that doesn’t do any harm to both series’ legacy. And keep a look out for the final shot – it says more about both series than any script ever could!