Two of horror's heavyweights come back from the dead, again, in a fusion of franchises which, while not exactly eagerly awaited, was enough to generate some interest. Between them, these two horror icons are responsible for 17 previous movies, so understandably there is a quick recap of their origins to kick off proceedings. Next comes the clever bit of thinking required to actually get them in the same movie. Freddy is suffering because no-one believes in him anymore, as any of the kids who could dream about him have been commited and kept on drugs. So instead he appears in a vision to the dead Jason Vorhees (mentally still a child), disguised as his mother, and urges him to leave his grave and start killing the inhabitants of Elm Street. He hopes that everyone will think it was him and their belief will allow him to regain his power. But Jason goes too far and starts out-killing Freddy, so the scene is set for a monstrous rumble.
This is, basically, a Nightmare on Elm Street movie. There is obviously much more latitude to be had with the Krueger character than Jason, who is the most one-dimensional type of horror bad-guy. So Freddy gets to be the main villain of the piece, but due to his lack of power for a good chunk of the running time, he doesn't really get to do any of the imaginative dream-slayings that are his trademark. Meanwhile Jason does his usual act, slowly clumping around, cutting people in half and surviving pretty much everything. Although he doesn't pull off anything nearly as funny as the one-punch rooftop decapitation of Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan.
The usual fun, at least for those people inclined, can be had from the harvest of impossibly chested, horny, dope-smoking, partying teenagers. However, it's very difficult to accommodate both Freddy and Jason, plus the obligatory moronic US teens required to make a full story. Because the hapless heroes have to worry about fighting two very different enemies, neither is really allowed many good set pieces. I have no complaints about that as regards Jason, but Freddy is underused. In fact, the story itself is not full enough to maintain interest, as it really is exactly the same as previous outings, but not with the knowing self-parodying of the more recent New Nightmare or Jason X.
Finally, there is the main event. Freddy Krueger and Jason Vorhees duking it out. Ignoring the problem that in the dreamworld Freddy would kick anyone's ass, while in the real world Jason is nigh on invincible, it basically has to just resort to a bout of old-fashioned fisticuffs. It's actually handled quite well, with just one long brawl, possible because they both have supernatural resistance to pain. Once you can sit back and enjoy the big fight you really came to see, instead of another retread of either series, the fun finally begins. It's a long wait though. |
