Freddy vs. Jason

This is about as good as a film called Freddy Vs. Jason could possibly be. The title alone promises silly camp and the film delivers while cleverly tying the two franchises together in a fairly smart way. I really didn't know how they were going to pull it off, but the writers make a very solid case. A lot of the teen characters are underwritten or dull, but people came to see Freddy and Jason slashing through an entire town of people and that's what they get. Pretty satisfying ending as well.

The caption says all, I love this film from the poor acting, to the questionable decisions, and the plot holes, everything this has to offer is so enjoyable, so much fun, I remember when this first came out and had the pleasure to watch it many times over. I would love to see another showdown one day, before Robert Englund is too old. Doesn't even have to follow on, just needs to be to the same level as this film. Or if we could have an ultimate smack down all heavy titles battle it out awesome horror match up!

Freddy's dead and he can't get the old killing spree going again, so he wakes up Jason Voorhees to scare the kids into wetting their pants so Freddy can feed off of their fear. But like the sorcerer's apprentice, Jason, once turned on cannot be turned off, so Freddy faces off with Jason for the right to be the #1 serial killer while a bunch of busty idiot girls look on. And as we all know, after the endless line of sequels, by this entry the killers' are our friends so really you're rooting for them and not the idiot teenagers.

Of the teens, Jason Ritter is the only one who seems to know how to act (shame about his dad, John Ritter). Monica Keena is cute but she needs to lose the implants. What is Kelly Rowland doing in here? Robert Englund's as funny as ever, and Ken Kirzinger is a capable Jason. I still don't see why New Line Cinema didn't want to bring back Kane Hodder though. They say they wanted to take Jason in a new direction, but they DID NOT take Jason in a new direction. Jason's still the same hulking mute murderer he's always been, just a tad taller and bigger than before (and somehow he's got both of his eyes back). I don't see a big difference between Kane, Ken and all the rest, but Kane has professed great fondness and dedication to role of Jason, so I feel that if Kane was willing to play the part again (and it's hard to find people who are willing to be all painted up in gory make up mind you) then New Line should have accepted his services. It did feel that they were trying to make Jason out to be the more sympathetic of the two killers, but that doesn't change the fact that Jason killed the bulk of the film's teens.

Well, anyway, you get the usual dose of sex, drugs, violence, rock & roll and below par acting. So truly turn off your brain and enjoy the mayhem.

It's A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 8 served with a side of Jason Voorhees. So unless the audience suffers from delusions as to the quality of the franchises this movie spawns from, you'll be pretty happy. It is not a masterpiece of cinema; it is not a masterpiece of horror . . . look at all the F13 and NOES. You have 17 examples of what this movie is going to be like.

Take your typical crappy Elm Street plot and cast your typical crappy Friday the 13th cast, and you have your typical crappy horror movie. Am I criticizing this movie? Not really since that crap-factor is a staple to the F13 franchise and the NOES sequels. Does anyone really care? I hope not. The whole reason anyone should see this movie comes down to the three words in the title "Freddy versus Jason." If those three words do not interest you, don't even screw with FvsJ. I mean, I don't think in film history has the title been more descriptive of the point of the movie.

While it actually takes awhile to get to the slasher deathmatch, you know it's coming . . . everyone knows there's going to be a fight to remember, so Ronny Yu opts to prolong it as far as he can and just jam packs the ending with Slasher celebrities ripping into each other . . . because, seriously, 90 minutes of Jason and Freddy hacking at each other would get downright boring. At least there's some variety and nods to old school F13 and NOES, some typical nods to the stereotyped horror formula which isn't scary but seems to be a requirement. Boobs, booze, blood . . . you know the routine. A high point of the film - I've been dying to see Voorhees crash a party and just cut through teens ala Krueger style in Elm Street 2, and I finally got to see it . . . just enough "other elements" to keep entertaining unless you're an oldschool fan and tired of hearing the mythology over and over again in every sequel.

Cut through the "good guys" whom nobody really cares about since Freddy and Jason have been the stars since forever now, get through the human's boring backstory which will be forgotten in the FvsJ2 and wait for the inevitable moment when our "heroes" run from Voorhees where Freddy turns to the nearest kid and says, "Let me handle this, bitch." Now, ladies and gentlemen, it has begun . . . now it's on. Now we rumble . . . now we see why horny teens had such a hard time killing these bad boys. Freddy makes more fatal blows against Voorhees than he did to the cast of all 8 Freddy films combined . .. and Voorhees keeps getting up. For the first time we see Freddy treated like a rag doll and tossed around/cut up like another camp crystal lake sex-addict--Voorhees makes no distinction.

So who wins? Everyone . . . unless, of course, you're under the false impression that you're going to see Welles quality cinema, in which case why are you even reading about FvsJ?

I could go through and detail the plot, characters, acting, etc like other amateur and pro critics alike, but quite frankly, I don't see the point. I mean, this is still Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street. I will say that it's a better Elm Street sequel, and it is the best film featuring Jason.

I enjoyed the hell out of this movie, and I'm barely an Elm Street fan and am definitely not a fan of F13 . . . take that for what it's worth.

So bloody awful it's pretty good just for the final battle. Comical, fun battle between Freddy and Jason. People die by Freddy and Jason. I guess Michael Myers is at home watching the action, most likely giggling to himself.

It's all about Freddy taking over Jason so Jason can kill the Elm Street kids. All this will free Freddy from limbo and everyone will remember the name Freddy Krueger. Kids are killed. Freddy and Jason battle it out in The End.

I like this one fairly well, it does have a little bit of the vibes of the original Elm Street film mixed with the 13th franchise. This one takes a little bit of time to get going good, about 20 minutes, but once it gets going it's kinda fun to watch. No it's not a great movie but it is fun in it's way.

6/10