Happy Wednesday to everyone! This is another segment on "Why Jason Is the Scariest Horror Icon Today." I want to briefly explain how Jason's presence in Jason Vs. Freddy was another Friday the 13th film that made Jason the best that he is today. I did before that Jason Takes Manhattan and Jason X were other films that had Jason do his kills in different locations. Today, I want to talk briefly about Jason Vs. Freddy and how Jason's presence impacted this film by him visiting Elm St. I will do a follow up article with the Wildstorm Comics of Jason Vs. Freddy Vs. Ash.
First off, I am not going to pull any punches. This movie is awful! I had to watch it over and over again to make this determination because I actually thought it was the best horror movie ever when I watched it in theaters back in 2003. I must of been in denial back then. I remember watching this movie with some friends at Kerasota Showplace in Edwardsville Illinois (Now it's AMC). You have the toughest, most brutal, horror icons going face to face with each other. This was the match up of the century! It was a dream match that came true kind of like Holyfield Vs Mike Tyson, Hulk Hogan Vs. Randy Savage (Rest In Peace), Michael Jordan Vs. Larry Bird, Godzilla Vs. King Kong, and so on and so forth. These two monsters scared the s**t out of me in bad dreams when I was a kid. I knew it was going to be epic. After I watched the movie, I had this biggest grim of satisfaction on my face like I took two trips up to the buffet at Ponderosa. This was like the best movie crossover off all time. I knew without a doubt after big money was being pulled in from this film at the box office we were going to see more movies from them. I knew it was going to be a series. I eagerly waited patiently for the DVD to come out so I can buy it. Well the DVD came out and I went to Walmart to pick up my copy. I watched it faithfully. I watched the movie with commentary, I watched the bonus features especially the press conference of Jason and Freddy like they were preparing for a boxing match. This was very entertaining. After the fourth time I watched this, reality sunk in. This movie was awful due to the fact it was more of a comedy than an actual horror movie. Watching this movie was like watching three stooges vs. Wolf man. It would be a good concept but it wouldn't go anymore. It would be 90 mins of a whole lot of nothing.
Jason vs. Freddy starts out like this. Freddy isn't is old self anymore like he was in his previous Nightmare on Elm st. Movies. He has grown weak and weary because Springwood people don't fear him because they can't have bad dreams. They were all medicated. Since Freddy couldn't reach the people this way, he came up with a game plan. Freddy somehow summons Jason from the dead, talks him into going to Springwood to instill fear back into the them. The game plan backfires at Freddy because Jason starts to step on his toes. Jason's urge to kill is so bad that Freddy can't take it no more. He can't control Jason. Eventually they come to blows and the battle begins. It's up to a group of teenagers to end this battle of evil once and for all by using Jason to destroy Freddy. Even though I didn't care to much for the film, I will explain why this made Jason the great horror icon that he is today.
I felt this film made Jason scary in many different ways. Jason was much taller in this film which made him more intimidating. (Ken Kirzinger played the part of Jason. I am a huge fan of Kane Hodder so I was disappointed). He kind of reminded me of the Frankenstein monster in a way. Freddy kind of reminded me of Dr. Frankenstein because he made him alive. Another reason what made Jason scary was he had many different kills in this movie. He had a total of 21 kills while Freddy only had one, which was Mark. last and not least, the two fight scenes that Jason had with Freddy. The fight Jason and Freddy had in the dream world was what made Jason a badass. The finale to the movie made Jason stronger than Ever.
I would like to talk about all 21 kills Jason had in this movie. The beginning of the movie, Jason stabs Trey with a machete and folds up the bed. I felt this was the best and only creative kill in the movie. When I seen Jason do this to Trey, I felt a sharp pain in my back. Next kill, Blake's Dad got his head cut off (which the viewers never saw. It was a good thought though). Blake was slashed with a machete while trying to use his dad's head as a shield. The next two victims in the movie, who were ravers, gets a pipe through their body. My favorite scene of the movie is when Jason shows up at the rave in a cornfield and starts the bloodshed. When I watched this scene it reminded me of a one man army invading enemy land. These are the kills in order; Raver gets their head twisted or neck broken. Another Raver gets a taste of a flaming machete (Jason really hated ravers in this movie). Two more ravers gets sliced with a machete. Another Raver gets sliced in the shoulder. Raver gets stabbed in the stomach. Raver gets slashed with the machete. The last raver sliced with a machete but of course it was off screen. Of course the line the pothead, Freeberg, used after Jason killed everyone at the rave, "Dude, that goalie was pissed about something."
Here is the list of the remaining victims who see their fate in the movie. A security guard gets crushed by a heavy door, Deputy Stubbs gets electrocuted on some device of some sort. Freeburg was chopped in half after his body gets possessed by "Freddypillar" (I found this hilarious). Linderman "impaled on shelf-bracket." We can't forget Destiny Child's, Kelly Rowland (Kia), slashed with a machete and thrown back to the studio, I mean into a tree. Finally, Freddy which Jason rips his arm off and stabs it into his own torso. Freddy's kill is debatable because he does get his head chopped off by Lori but I figured I would add it as a kill count. I hope I wasn't missing anything.
The fight scenes on Jason Vs. Freddy is what made the film. I never watched Jason do a beating to someone like this before in the franchise. I also have never seen Jason take a beating from anyone like Freddy did to him in the franchise (unless you want to count Tina in Jason VII). The first fight scene of the movie takes place in the dreamworld. Jason gets in the dreamworld after he gets injected with tranquilizer (Jason fall down hard Timber!). Jason seems to be puzzled when he wakes up and sees a red boiler room. It doesn't take long for Jason to realize where he is and goes for Freddy. (I don't know if he goes after Freddy because it's his natural killing instincts or it's the fact Freddy said "time to put this bad dog to sleep"). I would love to do the play by play for you because this is what made the movie. I won't do it because it's better to watch the movie itself or you can do an internet search for the fight scenes. I will still watch the film today only for this reason. To make a long story short, Freddy does win this first fight scene because he uses water to his advantage which is Jason's weakness. Jason does give a good fight in this scene because he is the only person to step foot in the dreamworld to give Freddy a run for his money (this could be debatable).
The last fight scene between the two Icons is the best fight scene. Lori brings Freddy out of the dream world and into the real world. Kind of like how Nancy did on the Nightmare on Elm st. movie. Freddy is about to finish off Lori but realizes he isn't in the dream world because he turns around and he sees a 7ft Jason standing behind him and he is scared s**tless (I'm over exaggerating). Once again, Jason is pissed off. I do love the environment they are in when they start this fight. You have a both of them fighting around fire. It almost gives you the sense that they are fighting in hell but with annoying teenagers around. I guess this is what the screenwriters came up with after they niche the Hellraiser cameo. This is my favorite fight scene of the movie. Even though Freddy is in the real world he still gives Jason a good fight. There are a few parts in the movie where Freddy is going Bruce Lee on Jason with kicks to the head. Freddy is also dropping elbows on Jason's back and head. He started to go MMA a bit. I actually thought Freddy was stronger in this fight than the last one, but he is suppose to be weak because he is in the real world. There were really good parts to this fight. For example, Freddy shoots the helium tanks at Jason like Torpedoes. This was like the analogy I stated earlier about the cornfield scene. Jason is a one man army invading enemy territory but the enemy isn't backing down. It was like the battle of Gettysburg. I did find it a little annoying that Jason the whole time is swinging that machete around and keeps missing every time. He should of just dropped the machete and went professional wrestler on Freddy's ass. During this battle we do see Jason getting the upper hand with his strength. He throws Freddy like 20 feet in the air a few times in this battle. He picks up Freddy and uses his body to take down the house's windows, the same one on fire. He also unloads some massive strikes to Freddy's body with the machete (eventually). Jason does have balls of steel, literally. We see that in the movie when Freddy kicks him between the legs, hurting himself more than Jason. Jason rips off Freddy's arm and uses it for a weapon. This was the part that really made Jason awesome. Earlier in the film, Freddy stabs him in the eyes causing him to be blind, but yet he gets out of the lake and stabs Freddy with his own arm. Jason does win the battle due to outside interference from Lori and that Ritter Boy. In my opinion, I felt Jason already won the battle when he stuck Freddy's arm through his own body, but the chop from Freddy's head compliments of Lori sealed the deal. We see Jason at the end of the movie rising up from Camp Crystal Lake holding Freddy's head like a trophy, walking like he was never hurt from the beginning.
I feel that this film did do well with the Jason and Freddy character. Everything else was just an add on. This was the toughest foe that Jason went up against in the Friday films. The director of the film showed the Friday Fans how Jason would react to this situation, and he was right on the money. He showed all the challenges Jason had and how we overcome it. He survived the dream world, he had over 20 kills, and he took out the dream master himself. This was good old Friday the 13th Jason. However, I felt the film was trying so hard to portray Jason as a anti hero or a good guy in this. I mean there are some scenes in the Friday films when Jason looks to turn face for a split second (Jason VIII) but he is the same Jason that we know and love today. Freddy thought this was going to be easy street by using Jason to bring fear on Springwood. Well that day, Springwood didn't fear Freddy, they feared Jason Voorhees. I enjoy watching horror fan films. I think they are awesome. When you search out in the internet world for fan films, you are always going to find a Friday the 13th fan film. You have more fan films on Jason than Michael Myers, Freddy, Hellraiser, and Leatherhead. This is what makes Jason an Icon.