Freddy vs. Jason is a 2003 American fictional crossover slasher film directed by Ronny Yu. The main characters include horror icons Freddy Krueger (from the A Nightmare on Elm Street series) and Jason Voorhees (from the Friday the 13th series). In the series continuity for both franchises, the events of this film take place after Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare and Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday.
Plot
Freddy Krueger is trapped in Hell, and enraged as the children of Springwood have forgotten about him, making him powerless, thus he cannot come back on his own. Determined to make them remember and fear him, Freddy locates Jason Voorhees in Hell and disguises himself as Jason's mother, Pamela Voorhees, convincing him to rise again and go to Springwood to kill children, allowing Freddy to be remembered. Jason arrives in Elm Street, sneaking into the house where Nancy Thompson used to live, now owned by Lori Campbell and her father. Lori, her friends Kia, Gibb, Blake and Trey, are in the house, Trey is brutally killed by Jason. The group is taken in for questioning, Lori overhearing several police officers include Deputy Stubbs discussing Freddy. She falls asleep and has a dream about Freddy, allowing him to gain some of his powers back. However, he is unable to kill Blake, so he leaves it to Jason to kill him and his father.
Lori has recurring dreams about Freddy, telling Kia and Gibb about the dream. She is reunited with her boyfriend, Will Rollins and his friend Mark, who were institutionalised in Westin Hills Asylum, the two escaping after hearing of the murders in Elm Street. At a rave party, Gibb falls asleep and has a dream where she is attacked by Freddy. Another raver attempts to rape her, but Jason appears and kills the two, angering Freddy when he realizes Jason will not stop killing and the public is becoming more afraid of Jason than him. Jason goes on a rampage around the rave, killing several others. Lori, Will, Kia, and two fellow students Freeburg and Linderman escape and meet up with Stubbs. The group formulate a plan to defeat Freddy and Jason, using Lori as bait to pull Freddy from the dream world into reality and kill him, as well as luring Jason to Camp Crystal Lake so he can remain in his territory. Freddy kills Mark, and possesses Freeburg's body to stop the group from taking a drug that will prevent them from dreaming. Jason electrocutes Stubbs and then is confronted by Freddy in Freeburg's body, injected with the drugs. Jason falls asleep but not before he bisects Freeburg in two.
The group travel to Camp Crystal Lake to defeat Freddy and Jason. Inside a cabin, Lori falls asleep and has a dream where she witnesses Jason's death in the 1950s. Jason has the same dream, having a fear of water, but awakens. Lori manages to awaken and drags Freddy into reality. Lori, Will, Kia and Linderman try to escape, but Linderman is mortally wounded and dies soon afterwards. Freddy and Jason fight, killing Kia in the process. Freddy and Jason battle, until they run into Will and Lori. Freddy reveals he murdered Lori's mother in the past, causing her to fight him too. Jason ultimately defeats Freddy, the two villains falling into Crystal Lake due to their injuries. Lori and Will depart, but Jason rises from the water, carrying Freddy's severed but animated head with him, which gave a meaningful wink to the audience.
Cast
Development
New Line and Paramount tried to make a Freddy vs Jason movie in 1987. But the two studios failed to agree on a story or what to do with the two franchises .When Jason Takes Manhattan failed to perform successfully at the box office, Sean Cunningham decided that he wanted to reacquire the rights to Friday the 13th and start working with New Line Cinema on Freddy vs. Jason, as New Line owned the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. The concept of a fight between Freddy and Jason was not new; Paramount had approached New Line about filming a crossover years before the latter had gained the licensing rights to Friday the 13th. At that time, both companies wanted the license to the other's character so that they could control the making of the film. Negotiations on the project were never finalized, which led Paramount to make The New Blood. After Jason Takes Manhattan was released in 1989 the rights reverted back to Scuderi, Minasian and Barsamianto, who sold them to New Line. Before Cunningham could start working on Freddy vs. Jason, Wes Craven returned to New Line to make New Nightmare. This effectively put Freddy vs. Jason on hold, but allowed Cunningham the chance to bring Jason back into the spotlight with Jason Goes to Hell.[1] The ninth installment "turned a healthy profit", though it was only intended to open the door for a crossover with Freddy Krueger, rather than start a new series for New Line.[2] Ultimately, the film series would go through another sequel before that would happen. Cunningham's "frustration" with the delayed development of the Freddy vs. Jason project forced him to create another sequel in an effort to keep the franchise in the minds of audiences. Based on Jason Takes Manhattans' concept of taking Jason away from Crystal Lake, the tenth film would put the titular character in space.[3] The film suffered from the loss of its biggest supporter, President of Production Michael De Luca, when he resigned from his position. Lack of support forced the finished film to sit for two years before finally being released on April 26, 2002; it would go on to become the lowest grossing film in the franchise at the domestic box office; it also held the distinction of having the largest budget of any of the previous films at that time.[4]
After more than fifteen years of off-and-on development, and approximately $6 million spent in eighteen unused scripts from more than a dozen screenwriters, New Line finally produced Freddy and Jason crossover for 2003. One of the biggest hurdles for the film was developing a story that managed to bring the two horror icons together. Potential stories varied widely, from Freddy having molested and drowned Jason as a child, to a cult of Freddy worshipers called the "Fred Heads".
Kane Hodder Controversy
New Line believed Freddy vs. Jason needed a fresh start, and chose a new actor for Jason. Cunningham disagreed with their decision, believing Hodder was the best choice for the role.[5] Hodder did receive the script for Freddy vs. Jason, and had a meeting with director Ronny Yu and New Line executives, but Matthew Barry and Yu felt the role should be recast to fit Yu's image of Jason.[5] According to Hodder, New Line failed to provide him with a reason for the recasting, but Yu has explained he wanted a slower, more deliberate Jason, and less of the aggressive movements that Hodder had used in the previous films.[6] Yu and development executive Jeff Katz recognized the outcry among fans over the replacement of Hodder as Jason, but stood by their choice in recasting.[5] The role eventually went to Ken Kirzinger, a Canadian stuntperson who worked on Jason Takes Manhattan. There are conflicting reports over the reason Kirzinger was cast. According to Yu, Kirzinger was hired because he was taller than Robert Englund, the actor who portrays Freddy Krueger. Kirzinger stands 6' 5", compared to the 6' 3" of Kane Hodder, and Yu wanted a much larger actor to tower over the 5' 10" Englund. Kirzinger believes his experience on Part VIII helped him land the part, as Kirzinger doubled for Hodder on two scenes for the film,[5] but also believes he was simply sized up and handed the job.[6] Although he was hired by the crew, New Line did not officially cast Kirzinger until first seeing him on film. Kirzinger's first scene was Jason walking down Elm Street. New Line wanted a specific movement in Jason's walk; Kirzinger met their expectations and signed a contract with the studio.[5]
Reception
Based on 143 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, Freddy vs. Jason has an overall 41% approval rating from critics, with an average score of 4.8 out of 10.( Which is fairly consistant for a horror movie).[7] Among Rotten Tomatoes' Top Critics, which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television and radio programs,[8] the film holds an overall approval rating of 27%.[9] By comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 37, based on 30 reviews.[10]
Award nominations
Doug Chapman and Melvin Martinez were nominated for the Best Fire Stunt in the Taurus World Stunt Awards 2004 for the double full body burn and wire stunt. Doug Chapman doubled for Robert Englund as Freddy and Glenn Ennis doubled for Jason in the stunt.[11]
References
- ^ Bracke, Peter, pp.218–219
- ^ Bracke, Peter, pg. 238
- ^ Bracke, Peter, pp.242–243
- ^ Bracke, Peter, pp.263–264
- ^ a b c d e Bracke, Peter, pp. 280–286
- ^ a b Grove, David, p. 217
- ^ "Freddy vs. Jason Movie Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. IGN Entertainment. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/freddy_vs_jason/. Retrieved July 4, 2009.
- ^ "Rotten Tomatoes FAQ: What is Cream of the Crop". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/pages/faq#creamofthecrop. Retrieved July 4, 2009.
- ^ "Freddy vs. Jason: Rotten Tomatoes' Cream of the Crop". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/freddy_vs_jason/?critic=creamcrop. Retrieved July 4, 2009].
- ^ "vs. Jason Freddy vs. Jason : Reviews". Metacritic. CNET Networks. http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/freddyvsjason?q=Freddy vs. Jason. Retrieved July 4, 2009.
- ^ Taurus Award Archive
External links
