In the 80’s something strange happened in horror films. Audiences no longer sympathized with the protagonists of the movies. They began to cheer on the killers and take true delight in their murdeeous escapades. Originally terrifying horror films were turned into fan pleasing franchises and their murderous villains were transformed into pop culture icons. The two most recognizable and popular of these characters were Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. These two were featured in TV Series, video games, comics, books, talk shows, and parodies. How can we please fans and make a ton of money? Let’s have these two fight to the death.
Freddy Krueger has grown weaker over the years. He gets his strength from the fear of his victims and he’s been almost totally forgotten on Elm Street. Freddy concocts a plan manipulating Jason Voorhees to murder teens on Elm Street. It’s only a matter of time that people begin to suspect that Freddy has returned. His plan works all up to one small detail. Jason won’t stop killing. How’s Freddy supposed to get any action? Well these two titans are gonna have to duke it out to see who’s gonna slaughter all these promiscuous teens.
This isn’t the first time Horror heavyweights have crossed over and did battle. You’ve got Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman, Frankenstein vs Dracula, Godzilla vs King Kong, and several more. But none of the iconic 80’s monsters ever did battle aside from Alien and Predator. That was awful. There were rumors after this film was made of a Michael Myers vs Pinhead (That would have been awful) and even an ending written for this movie featuring Pinhead ( might have been kinda cool).This film was originally supposed to be made in 1987. It probably would have been a bigger deal, made more money, and been a better movie if that had happened. But several business problems prevented it from happening until the 2000’s ( you know, well passed these guys primes.)
There’s no denying that there are a lot of problems with Freddy vs Jason. The acting is bad, there’s some awful cgi, and the story is kind of a mess. Absurd plot devices are introduced such as Jason being afraid of water. He lives right next to a lake!! They show him wading through water several times after its revealed that he’s afraid of it!! Sure he drowned when he was young. But he’s never shown a fear of water until this point or even after it. The worst part is it could have been avoided altogether. Freddy could have just turned into his mom and had the same effect. And don’t get me started on the inconsistencies with Freddy’s arc.
None of these issues matter. After all, this is Freddy vs Jadon and that’s exactly what we get! A lot of crossover films get caught up in their absurd plots and fail to deliver when it’s time for what everyone paid for. Freddy vs Jadon knows what the audience wants. The titular characters stab, dismember, and throw each other around like rag dolls all the way from Elm Street to Crystal Lake. The climactic brawl spans about a half hour and is totally worth the wait. I’d even say it’s probably the best movie monster crossover showdown ever.
I remember around the time this was released a lot of viewers were disappointed. I question why. Sure it probably isn’t the strongest entry in either franchise. But it’s far from the weakest. Both Freddy and Jadon had seen better days prior to the release of this film. This was a fitting fan service for audiences who endured some of the lowest lows in each series. There’s gratuitous nudity, more stupid teens getting killed than I can count, good humor, and a great final battle. It’s entertaining. These are horror films. They aren’t generally Oscar worthy of anything. You know what you got yourself into. Kick back and have some fun. Happy Friday The 13th!!
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