Since U Didn't Axe Me: "Freddy Vs. Jason" (2003) Review

Written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift and directed by Ronny Yu, "Freddy Vs. Jason" is the epic showdown between two unstoppable forces of evil.

Freddy Krueger (played by the brilliant Robert Englund) is hell-bent on returning to Elm Street to continue his reign of terror, but the people of Springwood have erased him from their memories almost completely. To spark the fire of fear he needs to continue his rampage, Freddy resurrects Jason Voorhees (Ken Kirzinger). When Jason murders one too many of the Elm Street teens, Freddy decides to face off with the hockey masked behemoth, and put an end to him once and for all.

"Freddy Vs. Jason" was an idea conceived around the time of "Jason Goes to Hell" in 1993. The final scene of that film showed Freddy's glove grabbing Jason's mask and taking it down to Hell. Since New Line had acquired to rights to Jason, they were now able to work on the idea of Freddy and Jason sharing the same movie.

10 years later, New Line Cinema managed to do just that, and "Freddy Vs. Jason" does a very good job at synthesizing each franchise, while also telling a concise and believable story.

Starring Monica Keena (Lori), Jason Ritter (Will), Kelly Rowland (Kia), Brenden Fletcher (Mark), and Katharine Isabelle (Gibb), this comic book romp of a film features a cast of sort of bland young actors, and of course includes Robert Englund playing Freddy Krueger one last time.

The brightest spot of "Freddy Vs. Jason" is that screenwriters actually came up with a story that makes sense. Moreover, there is enough witty dialogue and references to each series to satiate every fan. New Line Cinema really did their best to make this film a good blend of "Nightmare" and "Friday the 13th."

There's a quick pace to this movie, but the buildup to the blockbuster match between Freddy and Jason is also noteworthy. The audience cares enough about the characters (most of them, anyway) to feel some strong tension towards the end of the film.

Nearly everything else about this film is very good. The visual and special effects are excellent, and the callbacks to "Dream Warriors" and various other "Nightmare" movies are on point. While it's definitely Freddy's show, I think "Freddy Vs. Jason" does a nice job of balancing the imagery from both "Nightmare" and "Friday the 13th" films.

I don't really have many gripes with this film, except that some of the characters (Kelly Rowland and Kyle Labine) are pretty annoying, and the others are quite boring.

"Freddy Vs. Jason" is a graphic novel style horror film that meets the expectations of fans of each respective franchise. There's plenty of gory kills, witty humor from Freddy, and action scenes for fans to sink their teeth into.

Get yourself some popcorn and candy--check your brain at the door--and place your bets!

The Good-