Review of "Freddy Vs. Jason" DVD (2003)

Review by Staci Layne Wilson for Horror.com

Freddy vs. Jason has an interesting and, er, believable basic concept: razor-fingered child murderer Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) is dead and stuck in hell, the kibosh put on his visits topside. Freddy is fueled by fear, and everyone on Elm Street has forgotten him. Freddy's plan is to send hockey-masked hacker Jason Voorhees (Ken Kirzinger) to the idyllic town of Springwood to spread a little terror, hence opening the gate for Freddy to step through. But Jason gets greedy, wanting all the victims for himself, and Freddy has to put him in his place. Not too bad an idea, right?

Freddy vs. Jason is high camp at first, skewering everything we love about old school horror from the 80s -- over the top acting, fake scares, fake boobs, buckets of blood, plenty of screaming, ridiculous and dangerous plans, etc. -- but then it stumbles a bit and eventually loses its footing.

The studio hype for the theatrical release said you don't have to be familiar with any of the previous Jason or Freddy movies prior to seeing this one, but I disagree. (It also helps to be familiar with Jason Mewes's "Jay" character from Kevin Smith's movies... the pseudo stoner dude gets one of the best laughs in the movie.) The back stories of Freddy and Jason are pretty well fleshed out, but if you haven't seen at least the first installments of their franchises (1980 for Jason, '84 for Freddy) then you will be missing out on a lot. This project has been beleaguered for years, with several different scripts going around, and two writers on this one. Everyone has had their fingers in the pie, and while Yu made a valiant effort, it still shows. A New Line studio executive, not a screenwriter, penned the ending so that should tell you something.

When I first saw Freddy Vs. Jason on the big screen, I liked elements of it but in the end (and mainly because of the end) I had to give it the old thumbs-down. Now, seeing it again on DVD in the comfort of my own home, I am more magnanimous. It's not going to be nominated for any Academy Awards and in my mind isn't up to Yu's previous films, but it is a fun flick and when you look at it as a "monster movie" it does deliver on that level.

If you saw it in theatres and are a fan of the movie, or just a fan of Freddy and Jason, then the DVD is indeed worthy of spot in your "keeper" library. New Line held nothing back in the additional release material, and there are hours upon hours worth of skewering and bloodletting to wade through on this double-disc set.

Perhaps the most entertaining of all is the over-the-movie DVD commentary with Yu, Englund and Kirzinger. True to form, "Jason" doesn't have an awful lot say, while "Freddy" has plenty of quips. Yu is somewhere in the middle, telling amusing and anecdotal stories about the actors and the production along the way.

There are several deleted and alternate scenes and for a change, these are truly interesting and entertaining. There's also an alternate ending, which I definitely preferred to the theatrical ending; a script-to-screen feature with screenwriter and New Line exec insight; plus a very informative exploration of the visual effects; behind the scenes coverage; and much more.