Freddy Vs. Jason Starring Robert Englund, Monica Keena Directed by Ronny Yu Rated R for pervasive strong horror violence/gore, gruesome images, sexuality, drug use, nudity, and language out of Stars, Movie Grade: D

Theatrical Release: August 15, 2003
Running time: 98 minutes

by Kevin Lang

One. Two. This movie is not for you. Three. Four. I expected a whole lot more. Five. Six. They could have been a great mix. Seven. Eight. This review has me stayin' up late. Nine. Ten. I'll never watch it again. My worst nightmare going into see the much talked about, inevitable "Freddy Vs. Jason" film came true. It was a poorly executed, almost B-movie like take on the clashing of two horror movie legends.

I can remember being a kid watching "A Nightmare on Elm Street" for the first time late at night at a friend's house. I went home and had a nightmare about Freddy Krueger. I remember the dream still today. I was in some type of small convenient store, and across the street I could see into the window of another store. I watched a woman be pulled down behind a counter in the store, and guess who popped up staring back at me? No, it wasn't actor Robert Englund. It was Freddy Krueger himself. I woke up sweating. I went back to sleep and continued to dream about Freddy. I guess you could have called me the poster child for why kids shouldn't watch scary movies, but I enjoyed it regardless. In fact, I was so curiously frightened that I wore the Freddy Krueger costume for the next three Halloweens. I still have the glove with the fake plastic knives.

"Freddy Vs. Jason" altogether failed to revive those feelings of fear that the original films of both franchises were able to produce in me. The movie began with Freddy waking Jason from his resting place at Crystal Lake to go wreck havoc on Elm Street. Freddy needed Jason to re-instill the fear back into the kids of Elm Street. This included Lori Campbell (Monica Keena), who supposedly lived in the same house that Freddy had targeted in previous Nightmare on Elm Street films. Jason Voorhees used his machete to slice and dice the kids of the town. B-movie blood sprayed from their bodies like an extravagant haunted house effect. Heads rolled. Bodies were broken and folded in half. Freddy grew angry when Jason began to kill the kids he wanted for himself. This lit the fuse for the showdown, which culminated with a battle at Crystal Lake.

The kids, who included Kia played by singer/actress Kelly Rowland, were nearly invisible backdrops to the main centerpiece of the story, the battle between Freddy and Jason. The filmmakers did a fairly good job with these fight scenes however, other than trying to drown the audience with a little too much spurting blood. Another scene where Freddy rises from Crystal Lake into the air above a dock was the best looking shot of the film, but not nearly enough to make up for the film's fright-less story.

A year or two from now, when young kids of today's generation are up late watching "Freddy Vs. Jason" on DVD, they will likely wonder why there was such a big deal made over these two characters. They won't go to bed with nightmares. They'll dismiss the film as they do so many other poorly made horror movies of today. Or who knows, maybe they'll read this review and rent 1984's "A Nightmare on Elm Street," not that I recommend doing so. It did leave me with nightmares.

"Freddy Vs. Jason" Review written August 13, 2003, CTF.

Post Your Own Review or Opinion