Review #12: Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

Cast/Notable Credits:
Ronnie Yu (Director): Bride of Chucky

Monica Keena (Lori): Man of the House (2005), Left in Darkness (2006), Night of the Demons (2009)

Jason Ritter (Will): Swimfan (2002), W (2008), Joan of Arcadia T.V. series

Chris Marquette (Linderman): The Girl Next Door (2004)

Kelly Rowland (Kia): Destiny's Child member

Katharine Isabelle (Gibb): Disturbing Behavior (1998), Ginger Snaps Trilogy

Lochlyn Munro (Stubbs): Needful Things (1993), Scary Movie (2000), Dracula 2000 (2000), White Chicks (2004), Daddy Day Camp (2007)

Kyle Labine (Freeburg): Halloween Resurrection

Brendan Fletcher (Mark): Ginger Snaps 2 & 3, BloodRayne 2 (2007)

Trailer:


Plot:

What happens when geeks whine and want their two top horror movie icons to appear in the same movie? A kick ass time.

Two horror movie big dogs face off in this one. Title sums it up. How do we get there? Well Freddy has been forgotten in his hometown of Springwood and has lost his power because his power stems from the fear of children. In order to get the children to fear him, he resurrects Jason from hell and brings him to town to kill.

Freddy's only problem: Jason likes killing. Jason pisses Freddy off when he continues to kill and takes Freddy’s victims away from him, now Freddy's power can't grow. This all leads to a Royal Rumble and they square off. Along the way innocent teenagers die and some fight their way for survival.

Villain:

Freddy Krueger & Jason Voohrees. What more can any one ask for? Well how ‘bout a less pussier Jason? If you haven't caught on to the sarcasm, then let me tell you.

It's the worst part of the movie. Period. They made an iconic killer into a wimp. First of all, they cast off Kane Hodder, the true Jason, because:

A. He’s too bad ass looking
B. Does not have the sympathetic eyes they’re looking for

So they enlist a previous stunt double Ken Kirzinger (who got thrown around like a rag doll in Part 8). Physically, he's too big for them. What? That's Jason! That is what the franchise had molded him into. A huge killing machine. Frankenstein.

NOW...they want to change his appearance? What to legitimize the film? Excuse me, it's the 11th installment of the franchise.So after they figured out that Kane would physically dominate Freddy, thus leaving a hands down victory with Jason.

They cast an inferior puss with sympathetic eyes instead. I'm sorry, but I don't feel sympathetic for Jason at all. Ten movies later, I'm rooting for the Mother F*cker!

Secondly, they make Jason TOO dependant on using his machete. He can't kill or operate with out his machete. If you've watched any of the previous Friday's, you'll notice that he's an equal opportunity killer. Jason will use any weapon he can get his paws on to kill someone. Not just the machete.

Finally, Jason gets abused by Freddy during the fight. Partly due to the re-casting of Ken. Freddy's a small pussy, so to make it fair, they casted a small Jason. Even the odds for a unstoppable killer.

Outside of my bitterness on not casting Kane into the role of Jason, Ken didn't do a horrible job hiding behind the mask. Ken looked creepy and terrifying and to be fair, Kane wasn't Jason until Part 7. Previously, Jason was just the stunt man behind the mask. His physical look even varied film to film. But if they had casted Kane...the movie would have been that much better.

Now on to Freddy. Well it's Freddy. To give the Nightmare series credit, they've been consistent on the actor and look of Freddy. No surprise there. Robert Englund returned to reprise the role of the famous nightmare slasher. Freddy's a smart alec dream demon. Nothing changed. He was scripted to steal the spotlight and he did.

Cast:

I loved the cast. At least part of it. First of all, I’m a HUGE Monica Keena fan. (Pictured Left) She is absolutely gorgeous. If I had my way she could appear in every horror movie...or any movie.

Tagging along for the roller coaster ride are famous names such as Kelly Rowland (Destiny’s Child), Jason Ritter (son of the late John Ritter), Chris Marquette (my favorite character from the Girl Next Door), Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps movies), Lochlyn Munro (Scary Movie).

Most of them were disposable cast members, but I thought they worked well in the film. Pot smokin' Freeburg definitely stole the show for the secondary characters.

There are two television show cameos in the film. You have to look close or you'll miss them. Evangeline Lilly (Kate from Lost) appears in the school hallway and Eileen Pedde (Sgt. Mathais from Battle Star Galatica) acts as the school’s nurse.

On a side note: Kyle Labine became the first actor to be in all three big horror movie franchises, Halloween, Friday and Nightmare. He appears in a party scene in Halloween: Resurrection. What a distinction!

SFX/Gore:

Jason wins the killing battle 19:2 over Freddy, and also “kills” Freddy. Go Jason! Special effects were top notch state-of-the-art in both kills and in general. In today's movie era, they should be. Special effects should be tops.

As I mentioned up top, Jason did get a little too machete heavy in the film, which cancelled out any creative deaths. But there was one kick ass kill, and it happened to be my favorite kill.

* Highlight to read: The bed kill in the beginning of the movie. Jason viciously whales on a kid laying in bed with his machete, and then folds the bed in half breakin' him. * That was too cool.

TNA:

Multiple hot chicks, pairs of boobies, a shower scene and a sex act all saw their way onto this screen. Well done! Also…FUCK YOU SHARK!!! No Shark Factor here. I would do all the chicks with out thinking that they're older in real life than on screen. So once again, FUCK YOU SHARK!!! Plus, they got Monica onto the big screen. Have I mentioned on how gorgeous she was?

T.Gun's Take:

Story...who cares?…it got Freddy and Jason on the same screen. That's all that needs to be said. From a fanboy perspective that element alone is awesome. As far as the rest of the story...Freddy resurrects Jason from the dead to do his bidding and create fear in the kids of Springwood...well it's clever enough to pass off onto the audience. Other than that, teenage kids get hacked up by our two favorite boogeymen. BOOM!

After seven Nightmare movies, there happened to be some story line continuity squeezed in. Wow. They were able to salvage something out of all those wrecks? The film focuses on the use of an experimental drug named Hypnocil to suppress dreams. Also Westin Hills is the mental hospital in the film. Both of these were main story line ideas from Nightmare Part 3. Freddy was actually born in Westin Hills.

As for the Friday side of the story line...uh...uh...they used his mom, and killed counselors having sex and smokin' pot. Other than that it was pretty much a "Nightmare" film. But to be fair, the last 4 or 5 Friday films didn't have much continuity in them.

I gotta say, this was a fun enjoyable movie to watch. I tricked my friend, Bookie, into going to see this one in the theaters. Right after I found out about this being made, I suckered him into picking a Friday movie 1-10 to see one night. He picked 11. I was counting on this, because this happened to be number 11, and I held him to his word months later. Shark tagged along for Bookie's demise.

It's a fans dream to see the two biggest names duke it out on the big screen. Unfortunately they made Jason a puss at the end, but he eventually prevailed. As for Fvs.J 2...don't do it. Once is enough. I hold both of these franchises dear to me, but I don't want the franchises to get any more saturated than what they all ready are. Best quotes:

"Dude…that goalie was pissed or something!”

&

“Don’t make me tell you twice.”

Once again to the producers...Thanks for all the hot chicks!

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened on August 15, 2003 and made $82.1 million at the Box Office ($36.4 million opening weekend)
-#1 at the Box Office for 2 weeks!