Extras:
Audio Commentary, 'Jump to a Death' menu option, Deleted/alternate scenes,
Behind the Scenes coverage, Visual Effects exploration, Storyboards and
Galleries, Music Video, Trailer, TV Spots
Director:
Ronny Yu
Producer:
Sean S. Cunningham
Screenplay:
Damian Shannon and Mark Swift
Music:
Graeme Revell
Cast:
Freddy Krueger: Robert Englund
Jason Voorhees: Ken Kirzinger
Lori Campbell: Monica Keena
Will Rollins: Jason Ritter
Kia Waterson: Kelly Rowland
Charlie Linderman: Chris Marquette
Mark Davis: Brenda Fletcher
Gibb: Katharine Isabelle
Deputy Scott Stubbs: Lochlyn Munro
Director Ronny Yu
successfully relaunched demonic doll Chucky on audiences, with
Bride Of Chucky (1998); by downplaying the horror and upping the
kinetic action, gore, and laughs. It was a smart mix that made the Child's
Play character more accessible for newcomers while never alienating fans.
Yu continues this trick for Freddy Vs Jason, the long-awaited
grudge match between two of the horror genre's most enduring villains -
A Nightmare On Elm Street's Freddy Krueger and Friday 13th's
Jason Voorhees.
A prologue (clips of Nightmare movies, mixed with new pre-burns Freddy
flashbacks) outlines the birth and modus operandi of Mr Krueger. It transpires
that Freddy's reign of nightmare-induced deaths in the all-American town of
Springwood has come to an end. The curse of diminishing sequels, huh? Well,
no, actually the town's adults have successfully repressed the memory of
Krueger so that the town's kids are no longer aware of Freddy and susceptible
to his influence. Out of mind, out of sight...
But Freddy has a plan to invoke terror on Springwood/Elm Street once again,
by resurrecting fellow psychopath Jason Voorhees to go on a killing spree...
Freddy Vs Jason isn't a scary movie. The violence is playful and
sometimes beautiful, the gore is absurdly exaggerated (decapitated dad), and
CGI neuters the horror by reminding us of its digital falsity (a nose
amputation), yet a great deal of the movie works because it stays true to the
characters, has strict internal logic, and offers a plot and level of mayhem
that marks a high for both franchises. But it's not scary. It's having far
too much fun to really care about orchestrating genuine chills.
Given a sprightly run-time, Yu packs a lot into the movie; barely a scene
goes by without violence, or the threat of violence from Freddy/Jason. It's
fast, savage, and does exactly what it says on the tin. With 17 movies
between them, there really isn't anything fresh or interesting to say about
each character individually (Freddy's the paedophile child-killer, victim of
vigilante justice, able to continue killing via dreams; Jason's the
indestructible bullied mummy's boy who drowned in a lake and returns to
slaughter with his machete), but by forcing the two killers together...
Freddy Vs Jason actually transcends its roots to provide some intriguing
subtext.
The cast (the meat?) of the story are the usual assortment of adolescent
clichés; the misogynist boyfriend, the embittered geek, the sexy virgin, the
loudmouth slut, a duo of stoners, the handsome ex-lover, etc. It seems
pointless to bemoan clichés in the slasher genre, as they're now ingrained
in the fabric of these movies, and removing them would upset the apple
cart (do you cut kissing from rom-coms, or explosions from action movies?)
For what it's worth, the cast give better performances than you'd expect,
with one even getting a noble death scene quite at-odds with the genre's
"everyone must die gruesomely" mentality.
The most memorable aspect of Freddy Vs Jason is how well-crafted it is.
Shannon and Swift's script adheres to genre conventions (dumb teens making
dumber decisions), honours the original films (Nightmare 3's dream-preventing
drug returns), ensures there are imaginative deaths (folding bed), and
culminates in a genuinely exciting monster-et-monster standoff between
Krueger and Voorhees. Director Yu is clearly having great fun, and visually
gives the movie a glossy sheen absent from the low-budget '80s/'90s
instalments of all Nightmares and Fridays.
A few scenes are particularly strong: a Freddy shadow in the street, Jason
slaughtering party-goers in a crop field with a fiery machete, Freddy leaping
out of Crystal Lake onto a pier, Jason being impaled by dozens of razor-sharp
steel rods, Freddy using Jason as a human pinball, and (in a brilliant
sequence that evokes chills and sympathy) the moment when Freddy discovers
Jason's fear of water and creates a shower that shrinks the behemoth down
to a whimpering deformed child.
Robert Englund, horror veteran and icon, could probably play Freddy in his
sleep by now. The Nightmare On Elm Street sequels reduced Freddy to a
humorous anti-hero, and this incarnation of Freddy survives for Yu's movie.
Freddy is quick with the one-liners and pithy remarks, but does get a few
chances to make the blood run cold. As a character, I find him more
interesting than Jason, although his "nightmare killings" usually mean he
plays second-fiddle to the effects (a stoned caterpillar!), and his most
gruesome killing barely features him (the blood bath/foot veins scene).
Canadian stuntman Ken Kirzinger makes his debut as Jason (four-time Jason
Ken Hodder was replaced, much to fan chagrin), but it’s hardly difficult to
stomp around with a machete, is it? Still, Kirzinger is taller than Hodder
(6'5") and undoubtedly has more presence. Jason's killings all take place in
the real world, and as such he gets the most ferocious slayings (usually by
penetrating "rape" with his machete/penis). One early killing is even shot
as if it were a male rape.
Monica Keena is the obligatory virginal heroine (Lori Campbell), a
beautifully cute screen presence familiar to Dawson's Creek viewers, who
actually does well in crafting a heroine with morals. The rest of the cast
are drawn thinner, falling into archetypes, but nobody really underperforms
and everyone seems to be treating the material with the right degree of
tongue-in-cheek humour. For Destiny's Child fans, it was surprising to me
that singer Kelly Rowland was actually pretty good.
The special effects are a good mix of old-school (blood-spurting dummies),
and new-school (CGI shadow), but the emphasis is on good old-fashioned
blood-bags and make-up. The climactic battle between the titular titans is
essentially an elongated punch-up, with each semi-omnipotent do-badder
refusing to die. This is cartoon violence for adults, made clear in a
moment Freddy accidentally strings himself up by the foot whilst on the
verge of defeating Jason. Wile E. Coyote would be proud.
Overall, fans of either villain will surely love this movie; it's one of
the best "sequels" to either franchise, and is even quite accessible to
new horror fans, while ensuring you get the urge to revisit those "video
nasties" of yesteryear. If you don't have any affinity for Freddy, Jason,
or the slasher sub-genre in general, then I have no idea why you'd watch
this anyway (unless you thought it was a pop-video face-off between
Freddy Mercury and Jason Donovan).
For the rest of us, this is a slick B-movie that provides everything you'd
expect from the title and even offers a few nuances and cinematic riffs that
neither franchise has experienced for years...
Interestingly, the movie comes in both widescreen 2.35:1 anamorphic and
4:3 full-screen on the same disc. I'm sure most people will opt for the
widescreen version, but choice is always nice I suppose. The quality of
both transfers is generally very good, with clean blacks and lots of detail.
There are some smeary scenes, with the "black light" interior of a fan
being particularly blurred, but the majority of the work is very good.
There is a fantastic Dolby Digital EX 5.1 track that has plenty of bass
and ambience, with some particularly good surround sound effects in a
number of scenes (Jason pinball, etc). A stereo track is there and does
a reasonable job, but is obviously underwhelming by comparisonn.
This 2-disc Platinum Edition edition has extra's on both discs. The bonus
features on Disc 1 include...
Commentary track with Ronny Yu, Robert Englund and Ken Kirzinger:
A pretty good yakker track, with Englund on fine form with anecdotes and
opinions. Director Yu and Kirzinger are somewhat sidelined by veteran
Englund, but are both good.
"Jump to a Death" Menu Option:
A neat idea for all the gore-hounds watching... who need never listen to
all that dialogue stiff again, and get straight to the blood.
:
A huge array of deleted scenes with optional commentary from Yu and executive
producer Douglas Curtis. Most interesting is the longer original opening and
the wisely-axed original ending.
Behind the scenes coverage of the film's development:
including screenwriting, set design, make-up,
stunts and principle photography.
Articles:
two pieces from Fangoria magazine entitled "Freddy & Jason Go To Development
Hell" and "Slicing Toward Completion". Interesting for real fans.
Production Featurettes:
Some excellent featurettes on the movie, such as "Genesis: Development Hell"
(10 min), "On Location: Springwood Revisited" (15 min), "Art Direction:
Jason's Decorating Tips" (12 min), "Stunts: When Push Comes To Shove" (22
min) and "Make-Up Effects: Freddy's Beauty Secrets" (6 min).
Visual Effects Exploration:
There 12 visual effects featurettes for SFX intensive scenes, all very
interesting.
Storyboards and galleries:
Want to watch photos of the cast and crew, with some drawings? No? Well,
avoid this.
Publicity & Promotion:
The original theatrical trailer and 8 TV spots are here for your enjoyment,
as is the music video from Ill Nino ("How Can I Live", 3 min), plus a
delightfully silly 5-minute pre-fight conference at Bally's Casino in Las
Vegas between Freddy and Jason! A rubbish featurettes entitled "My Summer
Vacation: A Visit To Camp Hacknslash" (4 min) is also there – basically
a one-day summer camp for film geeks awaiting the movie's release.
DVD-ROM:
A script-to-screen option, enhanced playback mode, etc.
Overall, this is a fantastic DVD release that will certainly please its
intended audience and give you a decent insight into how the movie (and
others like it) are created. Highly recommended.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
