FREDDY VS. JASON (2003) Did I ever mention how much I love nudity? I can't say I looked forward to this with the same fervor with which I looked forward to Alien Vs. Predator, but I do remember a wicked rush in 1993 when the last frames of Jason Goes To Hell more or less promised this movie. Even then though, I knew we probably wouldn't see it any time soon; the slasher cycle of the 80's was having dirt shovelled on it, and JGTH was the first Jason movie in five years at the time, an incredibly long wait for this once-prolific surefire moneymaker. And it would be seven or eight years until another one. Which was set in outer space. As for Freddy, his movies had hit an all-time low with the horrible Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare and I frankly never wanted to see his crispy face again. So, maybe absence does make the heart grow fonder. The kid in me did indeed look forward to this movie, and if it's every bit as silly as the adult in me knows it is, then that's all the more reason why the kid would like it. I confess that I may hold Alien Vs. Predator to a higher standard than I do this movie, and that's because the Alien and Predator movies are way better than the Jason and Freddy movies. More importantly though, Freddy Vs. Jason seems to have been made by people who actually liked the movies it is based on, and wanted to build on the things which made them work, when they did work. Freddy's frustrated. He can't even invade people's dreams these days, because they've forgotten about him and nobody's afraid of him anymore. But he can contact a lonesome soul in Hell though...guess who. Freddy uses the same trick Amy Steel used at the end of Friday The 13th Part 2, to convince Jason to get up off his lazy ass, go to Elm Street and hack up some fun. Rumors of Freddy are bound to come back, and then, so can he. This actually isn't a bad setup, if you can disregard the question of just how long a walk it is between Elm Street and Crystal Lake. Things get more convoluted than expected when we meet two teenagers - some of the last living witnesses to Freddy's post-mortal mayhem - getting doped up in a mental hospital that needs to rethink its security protocols. Freddy's chosen weapon: his glove, and his godlike control over dreams. Jason's chosen weapon: well, he's had a lot over the years, but this movie gives him a machete and he mostly uses that, and I think if he was going to get just one weapon, this was the one to give him. The makers of Freddy Vs. Jason understand two things that are very important. First, and it would've been a disaster if they didn't get this, is that in a fight between two bad guys, Freddy's the BAD bad guy. Jason might be a misshapen freak with a misguided need for revenge, but his motives are simple and more or less understandable. A "character" like this is easier to understand and harder to screw up (though an unexpected literalness is brought to the flashback event when the counsellors couldn't save young Jason from drowning because "they were too busy making love" - on the front step in full view of the kids!). He's a simple guy with simple motives; Freddy is a horrible man with motives sane people would find inexplicable. Jason's first scene is much like the first scene of Jason Goes To Hell; some great nudity, a chase through the woods, and a somewhat surprising outcome. Freddy's first scene has him tormenting a girl who looks like she's about seven. The other thing the filmmakers understand is the logic of Freddy's dream world and his place in the real one. When their partnership inevitably goes sour (thus to spark off the "vs."), just why and how is demonstrated with a good understanding of Freddy's dream world, and the previous movies in the series. One expansion from previous sequels - that I recall - is that apparently being really high is good enough for Freddy, whereas non-tokers have to fall asleep first. I also liked the revisited theme of the deeds of parents being revenged upon their children. Jason gets a terrifically brutal first (non-dreamed) murder (he didn't have to fold the bed, but I'm glad he did), but after that his carnage is mostly limited to an ill-fated cornfield rave, and of course his fight with Freddy later on. Freddy is given a little more room to move (some footage from the first six movies is used early in the film), and keeps his dumbass sequel wisecracks to a minimum, though I could've done without that "Got your nose!" moment (shouldn't she have woken up without a nose?). Among their potential victims - the hot werewolf chick from Ginger Snaps, and a fantastically built Monica Keena, who unfortunately does not, uh, do her part towards earning the R rating, if you know what I mean. I stared in awe, but the payoff never came. Sometimes the buildup's all right though. I don't mind staring in awe. One Destiny's Child member is also here, proving that she shouldn't have been allowed to act, but at least she gets the movie's squirmiest moment when Jason needs CPR (no, I'm not kidding). As for the guys...who notices the guys in a movie like this? I only do when they say stuff that's funny, even when it's for the wrong reasons (what an odd time to mention that you just moved to town a month ago). Jason and Freddy ultimately do duke it out in both their respective realms; once in dreams (pretty fun to watch, but I could do without the pinball noises) and once at Crystal Lake (why is there so much rebar and high-pressure gas canisters lying around?) - too much nu-metal here for any movie's good, but it's fun to watch. Their conflict brings up a fear of water which is entirely understandable for Jason, if only it had been in evidence in previous movies. And how is it that bullets don't work, but drugs do? Freddy Vs. Jason is not even slightly scary - its attempted scares are well telegraphed, but when's the last time either series worked as horror? As a sequel to either franchise, this ranks among the very best of them, which may well be faint praise in many quarters but it counts for something to anyone seeing this movie hoping to enjoy it for the right reasons. A fair bit of blood and grue, some nudity (Ginger Snaps fans can stop drooling...that was a body double)...and Jason and Freddy finally making good on that promise from 1993. I saw this once before, and I thought it was all right but wasn't about to give it a recommendation...or even write a review at all for that matter, simply because I'd neglected to take notes. On a second viewing (importantly, after seeing Alien Vs. Predator), I find myself in a better position to appreciate just what it does right. I can't imagine what this movie could've done to live up to the hopes and anticipations of such a long wait - any fan of both series has had a long time to imagine it. Director Ronny Yu also made Bride Of Chucky, another slasher-era resurrection that he made irreverent without being a douchebag about it. Being irreverent to source material while still attempting to do right by it is a tricky job, and it's been done right here. BACK TO THE F's BACK TO THE MAIN PAGE