PopHorror Let's Get Scared
When you think of the horror genre, two names come to mind almost immediately: Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. For forty years, both have terrorized children and adults alike in their dreams, on the big screen, and in their minds in various capacities. You’d be hard-pressed to go to a convention and not see at least one person dressed up as one or the other. Twenty years ago, we finally got to see the two of them together in the mother of all match-ups: FREDDY VS JASON.
Without going into an in-depth chronicle of the history behind the franchises of Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street which would take all day, I’ll be brief. In 1980, director Sean Cunningham (Spring Break – 1983) was inspired by the success of Halloween and decided to do his own horror film. Victor Miller (Jury Duty – 1995) was tasked to write the script. In 1957, a young boy named Jason Voorhees at the summer camp Crystal Lake drowns in a lake while the camp counselors who should have been watching him were busy getting it on.
One year later the same counselors are murdered by an unknown assailant. 20 years later the camp re-opens and the killer returns to wipe out the current counselors, revealing herself to be Pamela Voorhees, Jason’s mother. After Pamela is killed, Jason’s deformed body comes out of the lake to take out the survivor. Jason then became the killer for the next NINE movies from 1981 to 2002, getting his iconic hockey mask in Part 3.
Meanwhile, back in 1984, horror director Wes Craven (Scream – 1996) dug into his own past to create another horror icon. As a child, he witnessed a sinister-looking hobo in a hat and coat staring up at him before wandering off. His childhood bully was named Fred Krueger so Wes decided to combine the two memories into one entity. Borrowing one of the tropes from Friday the 13th, Craven wanted his killer to terrorize teenagers as well. A Nightmare on Elm Street was the story of child killer Freddy Krueger taking revenge on the people who murdered him by stalking and killing their children in their dreams.
Starring Robert Englund (Wishmaster – 1997) as Freddy and produced by New Line Cinema, A Nightmare on Elm Street was a smash success that spawned five sequels before Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare in 1991 was supposed to be the last. Well, something happened to change the course of history. Friday the 13th Part 8 did so badly that New Line Cinema bought the rights from Paramount Pictures. In 1993, Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday teased a cross-over between Freddy and Jason at the very end.
Their paths didn’t cross initially. Wes Craven came back to do a reality-bending sequel called New Nightmare in 1994 while Jason X was released in 2002. Finally, in 2003 Freddy vs Jason began to take shape. Director Ronny Yu (Bride of Chucky – 1998) was tabbed to direct the project instead of Wes Craven himself. The duo of Mark Swift and Damian Shannon (Shark Tale – 2004) were tabbed to write the script under enormous pressure. Fans had wanted this movie since the late 80’s so it had to deliver.
Robert Englund would reprise his role as Freddy but as for Jason, they passed over popular Jason actor, the 6’3 Kane Hodder in favor of the 6’5 stunt-man Ken Kirzinger (Wrong Turn 2 – 2007). Ironically Ken was a bit part in Friday the 13th Part 8 where he confronts Jason played by Hodder.
The rest of the cast would be Monica Keena (The Devil’s Advocate – 1997) in the lead role of Lori, Kelly Rowland of Destiny’s Child would be her best friend Kia, Jason Ritter (Mumford -1999) as Will, Lori’s ex-boyfriend, Brendan Fletcher (88 Minutes – 2007) as Will’s best friend Mark, Katharine Isabelle (Insomnia – 2002) as Kia’s sidekick Gibb, Christopher Marquette (Just Friends – 2005) as the nerd Linderman, Kyle Labine (Big Bully – 1996) as the stoner Bill, Jesse Hutch (Batwoman – 2020) as Gibb’s boyfriend Trey and Lochlyn Monro (Scary Movie – 2000) as Deputy Stubbs of the local police.
The movie opens with a sad Freddy in hell lamenting that the citizens of Springwood forgot who he was and he is powerless to do anything about it. He then enlists the aid of serial killer Jason Voorhees by posing as his mother to send him from Crystal Lake to Springwood to cause enough chaos to where Freddy can take revenge.
Lori, Gibb, and Kia are having a sleepover when Gibb’s boyfriend Trey and his buddy Blake (David Kopp – Romeo Must Die 2000) show up. Out of nowhere Jason appears and kills Trey and the police say that they need to cover it up to make sure Freddy doesn’t return. Deputy Stubbs is suspicious and gets even more suspicious when Jason decapitates Blake’s father and then kills Blake.
Meanwhile, Lori’s ex, Will, and his friend Mark are confined to a mental asylum as they too are part of the Freddy cover-up as Mark’s brother died under mysterious circumstances. It’s revealed they’re both on Hypnocil, which is a drug to suppress dreams while they escape the asylum.
Finally, Jason goes nuts at a town bonfire causing Kia, Lori, the town stoner Bill, the town nerd Linderman and Deputy Stubbs to flee with the arriving Mark & Will. While everyone predicts that Freddy is back, Deputy Stubbs deduces that Jason Voorhees is the one committing the murders. Freddy himself is irate that Jason stole his kills and now they’re going to face off. It’s a three-way deathmatch between the Springwood Teens, Freddy, and Jason….who will come out on top? Watch the movie to find out.
Also, look closely during the boiler room fight scene and you’ll see none other than current WWE United States Champion Rey Mysterio Jr as Freddy’s stunt double.
The film grossed $116 million dollars worldwide, although most critics think it’s just an average movie. One of the problems of Freddy vs Jason had nothing to do with the plot, just the timing. By 2003 slasher movies had gone out of style and many think the 10 years between Jason Goes To Hell and Freddy Vs Jason was a big factor in it not being as well received. They do have a point.
Imagine if New Nightmare‘s end scene was Freddy in hell with Jason Voorhees walking up behind him to set up Freddy vs Jason in 1995 or 1996. Still, the dynamic between the two killers is amazing. Jason was always the silent brute strength stalker while Freddy was the cerebral assassin, using your own fears and thoughts against you. The final battle for supremacy will have you on the edge of your seat even if the plot wasn’t to your liking.
All in all, it was a good movie for its time, even if the promiscuous teen trope had been done to death by 2003. Still, there’s one last thing I have to mention I’ve been sitting on for 20 years. On the official Freddy vs Jason website, there was a poll of who your favorite character was. Thanks to me and my friends taking literal hours in our school library ballot stuffing, we were able to get Linderman all the way past Jason to number 2 behind Freddy. The comments under the poll were pretty amusing.
In all seriousness, this team-up was a once-in-a-lifetime movie because others really can’t be done. Jason vs Michael Myers wouldn’t work because you’d have a rock fighting a rock. Both are silent killers. Michael vs Freddy couldn’t be done because Michael has no fears or emotions for Freddy to prey on and Michael would want nothing to do with Freddy anyway, but that’s a hypothetical for another time.
All in all it’s been twenty years since this team up and other slashers have come down the pipe such as Hatchet and more Halloween sequels. They actually remade A Nightmare On Elm Street and Friday The 13th but in my personal opinion, they’re a waste of time. The originals are what you want to see and the originals are why Freddy vs Jason was so epic.
