Freddy vs. Jason (2003) Review

"The only thing to fear, is fear himself" - Freddy.

I've now done two comparison articles on Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street, so what better way to tie them together by reviewing the film that pitted the horror icons against one another? Freddy vs. Jason does exactly what you expect. It's an ultimately silly romp that's both entertaining and obviously flawed at the same time. Despite divided opinions on who should be victorious in the end, the film at least has some plus points and could be seen as the instigator for Hollywood to produce more crossover films, such as the following year's Alien vs. Predator.

The plot is bizarre, but it must have been difficult thinking up a plausible way to bring Freddy and Jason together in the same film. What we have here is Freddy using Jason to spread fear amongst the teens of Elm Street. Through that fear and remembering the terror Freddy caused, he will be able to return to stalk the teens once more. However, Jason refuses to cease his bloody rampage, killing many of the people Freddy wants for himself. This brings the two of them together in conflict, with the other characters caught in the middle, unsafe from Freddy in their dreams and equally at risk awake with Jason on the loose. 

As you've probably guessed by now, any other characters besides Freddy and Jason become secondary to the enormous body count and fighting. The film introduces all new characters, and even try and give lead girl Lori (Monica Keena) a connection to Freddy. But before any semblance of depth can be created or any interesting interactions between the teens can take place, Jason shows up to hack his way through them all and then fight Freddy for the second half of the film. Part of the problem is the amount of characters introduced, as the film is already trying to balance having the two most iconic slasher villains together. So many characters quickly appear and then are killed off, which means they aren't memorable and only hinder the pacing of the film. The tone of the films is also a mess, with some appropriately dark material exploring Jason's mind and the opening showing a pre-demonic Freddy, which serves as a reminder as to just how twisted he is. However, the insanely over-the-top kills and strange dialogue (Freddy's appearance mockingly referred to as a "Christmas sweater" and his glove having "butter knives") destroys any seriousness. I don't mind the film having a sense of humour so that there isn't too much doom and gloom, but the attempts to be a bit less serious here are a major distraction, to the point where you can't even laugh at it in a "so bad it's good" kind of way.

Despite this, you get plenty of moments where Freddy and Jason share the screen. They don't just meet up at the end to battle, there are numerous instances of confrontation throughout. Robert Englund makes his final appearance to date as Freddy and is by far the standout performer. His usual enthusiasm for the role is a huge asset for the film, as he is the only character with dialogue to have any charisma. Then there's Jason, played by Ken Kirzinger, slightly redesigned after his "futuristic" look in 2002's Jason X. Kirzinger was a stunt double for Kane Hodder, who played Jason in Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. I really enjoy his performance as Jason, as he makes every move count. From the way he walks to how he fights, Kirzinger is a worthy successor to Hodder. Both he and Englund are fantastic in the film's gory showdowns, especially considering the obvious height difference between the two and the extensive makeup required for the characters. The fights are by far the best scenes in the film, featuring lots of blood and some pretty nifty choreography. For a film labelled as a horror, it is actually superior in the action department more than the scares. The ending leaves the winner open for debate, which I think is a smart move as the film clearly doesn't want to divide fans by having one of the characters clearly triumph over the other. If only the rest of the film could have the same level of positives as how the two villains are portrayed, I would care more than a little as to who wins (for the record, I prefer Freddy).

Freddy vs. Jason is an overall strange experience. The cool factor is raised to maximum when Freddy and Jason are together, but everything else is pretty stale. Without the two villains, the confused tone and disposable characters would not only plummet the film, but also prevent it from having anything unique whatsoever. But in the end, if you're really curious as to who wins or how a crossover between two popular slasher franchises could potentially work, then there are certainly worse examples out there than Freddy vs. Jason. Just don't expect the creativity of the original Nightmare on Elm Street or the atmosphere of the original Friday the 13th and you should get a kick out of it.

Original vs. Remake: Friday the 13th (1980 and 2009)

Previously, I posted a comparison piece on the two cinematic portrayals of Spiderman. But there's more to a film than just the lead performance, so why not take a look at other aspects of two films, an original and remake, and see how they match up? I'll be looking at 5 aspects for both films, so that there is a clear winner by the end. Let's start with one of the most iconic horror films ever made: Friday the 13th.

Best Villain: Seeing as the slasher genre has made a star of the villain rather than hero, we'll start by looking at the two antagonists. The character Jason Voorhees has become the series' most celebrated creation, and is an easily recognised pop-culture icon. However, in the first film, Jason is not the killer. Instead, we have his mother, Pamela (Betsy Palmer). She is only revealed as the killer right at the end of the film, with us only seeing her face when she introduces herself for the first time to the last of her intended victims. Pamela acts friendly at first, but slowly becomes more enraged when explaining the story of her son Jason. She blames Jason's drowning as a child on the camp counsellors that should have been making sure he was safe, and so is out for revenge against those who came to renovate the camp. My main problem with the character is that when she starts to go crazy whilst trying to kill her last victim (talking to herself in Jason's voice etc.), it isn't very believable. Throughout the film, she has shown to be a calm, unsuspecting person, so for her to suddenly lose control when stalking the last victim has never sat well with me. 

In the remake, Jason is the killer, as was the case in all the sequels (bar one). Some changes were made to the character for the remake, the most notable being that he now runs after his victims rather than slowly stalks. His brute strength remains, however, and proves to be a much more efficient killer when compared to his mother in the original. Despite him being defeated thanks to his emotions when thinking one of the female characters resembles his mother, Jason puts up a good fight throughout the film, with it taking two people to ultimately take him down. There is also no over-the-top moments with his character like Pamela in the original, making for a much more intimidating villain, and the clear standout in this comparison of Crystal Lake killers.

Winner: Remake.

Best Hero: Like with the villain, the original film has similar problems when it comes to the protagonist. The closest we get to a lead character is Alice (Adrienne King), one of the teenagers that comes to help renovate Camp Crystal Lake for the summer. She is a quiet member of the group, and so doesn't partake in many of the genre clichés that lead to character's deaths (sex, excessive drinking, drugs etc.). With that said, she doesn't put up that much of a fight against Pamela Voorhees in the film's climax, and her character isn't developed enough for me to believe that she is capable of rising to the challenge of defeating the killer. Because of her quiet nature, there's never a moment where I don't want her to survive, but she's hardly the embodiment of an interesting lead, either.  

Clay (Jared Padalecki) is the remakes' hero. He arrives at Camp Crystal Lake to find his lost sister, who was attacked by Jason at the beginning of the film. He's a far more interesting character than Alice, as his attempts to find his sister never wanes, even when he grows close to girl at the camp. He is shown to be resourceful and determined individual, and therefore a character that is more interesting than any in the original. Usually, the nice characters in slasher films are guaranteed to be killed off, so it's a testament to the character's strength that he's able to survive the ordeal and still remain likeable.

Winner: Remake. 

Best Supporting Characters: This is easily the weakest aspect of both the original and remake. The supporting cast in the original is mainly remembered for featuring a young Kevin Bacon in one of his first acting roles. Bacon's character, like the other camp counsellors, is pretty bland. While not unlikeable, they don't have much personality, and so there ins't a great deal of sorrow felt when they are each killed off. That being said, their working hard to renovate the camp gives them a lot more of a likeability factor compared to the remake.

It's one thing to be unmemorable, but to be unlikeable makes the supporting characters in the Friday the 13th remake the film's weak point. Rather than good-natured teens, we get a group of college students out to party. Their poor attitude towards Clay (apart from the girl who at least tries to help him) makes me feel no remorse towards them when Jason starts hacking them to pieces. If these are the people he wants to kill, then Jason is the hero. You have your typical bully of the group in Trent (Travis Van Winkle), but despite being a more prominent side character, isn't memorable enough for me to even slightly be invested in his character. So who wins? The original's overall less memorable characters, or the remake's unlikebale ones? The original just about takes this one, as there is one side character that is memorable: Crazy Ralph (Walt Gorney). He doesn't do much, but his constant strangeness and saying the line "you're all doomed" is both unsettling and fairly hilarious at the same time. 

Winner: Original.

Best Kills: If there's one thing the slasher genre is known for, it's the body count. The Friday the 13th series has racked up one of the largest body counts in cinema history. But how does where it all began hold up against a more contemporary approach? The original's kills were considered extremely violent at the time of release, and some of them are still pretty gruesome by today's standards. The most notable is the infamous arrow kill, where Kevin Bacon's character is stabbed through the neck from underneath the bed. We see the arrow pierce through his skin, and blood gushes from the wound. An image not soon forgotten. The other kills aren't as horrific, it's the prolonged shots of the character's dying that sticks in the memory, and makes the film very unsettling.

The remake, released at the time when horror films had gotten more and more violent with the Saw series, is actually more tame than it's 1980 counterpart. Where the remake really lets itself down is that it follows on from a long string of sequels, and so you'd think that this latest instalment would try to out-do all the other films. The kills here are all pretty standard stuff, and there is very little build-up to them. They happen suddenly, and aren't even that bloody. The only one that stands out is Trent's death, where he is impaled on the back of a truck. Other than that, it's nothing we haven't seen in the other films. The original takes this one due to the build-up and for the being the more gruesome.

Winner: Original.

Best Story: So it all comes down to the story. Both film's have simple plots, and they are more focused on establishing the killer so that they can get down to business. However, both films approach the set up to the kills slightly differently. The story is all about revenge: Pamela blames the camp counsellors for Jason's death, and the remake is more a sequel following on from those events, with Jason out to kill anyone who comes to the camp after his mother's death. The eerie atmosphere evoked in the original is still just as effective as it was back in 1980. The way the local residents talk about the "curse" of Camp Crystal Lake, and the story of Jason's drowning casting a powerful shadow over it, makes for the perfect tone for a horror film. With the characters not looking for trouble when visiting the camp, it makes the events of the film more horrific, and the ending shot of Jason suddenly appearing from beneath the lake is a disturbing, haunting moment.

The remake lacks the folkloric aspect of the original. Jason is only mentioned briefly by one character, referred to as simply "he". This makes for a less intimidating atmosphere when compared to the original's approach of keeping Jason more a mystery. The story of Clay looking for his sister is decent enough, but the other characters are more a hindrance to the film's pacing than anything else. Because of this, there is less focus on plot development, and more on how many ways the supporting characters can conform to genre clichés.

Winner: Original. 

Overall Winner: Original - Friday the 13th (1980).