• Release year: 2003
• Director: Ronny Yu.
• Producer: Sean S. Cunningham.
• Screenplay by: Damian Shannon and Mark swift.
• Cinematography by: Fred Murphy.
• Music by: Graeme Revell.

Shotgun Commentary: hilarious face-off between two horror legends, lots of blood and gruesome deaths. Pretty much what you expect from a film with this title.

Review

Freddy vs. Jason is one of the wildest team ups the horror genre has ever seen. The idea is quite good, get two of the most popular fictional serial killers at the time and combine them for the ultimate slasher experience. The result though… fun, but way tamer than it should have been.

If you reach this film through Jason’s franchise, you’ll quickly notice that Freddy’s appearance marks a before and an after in terms of gore. Granted, the blood used is way less realistic, but that kinda adds to the campy charm brought by the dream killer. And no, this doesn’t mean that the previous Jason films weren’t campy, just that this instalment leans so shamelessly into it that it becomes the perfect comedy for horror fans.

The evil plan

We won’t go into each and every one of the deaths, simply because they are way too fun to be spoiled. However, let’s get into the plot a little bit. On the one hand, you’ve got Freddy and Jason. Freddy has been defeated by the town of Springwood after a few massive killing sprees. How? It’s irrelevant, but don’t worry if you haven’t seen any of the A Nightmare on Elm Street films, you will get a recap. As for Jason, he died and went to hell. Yes, they pretend that Jason X never happened, despite being the best Friday the 13th movie by far.

So, Freddy, being the piece of sh*t that he is, sees this zombielike killer with the mind of a child and thinks “I can’t resurrect, but I can resurrect him to make them remember me”. The whole point is that, if they remember, they will dream about him, so he can attack them in their dreams.

Is it really more taxing to resurrect your average-sized self than a humongous, brainless man that probably didn’t understand what your plan was? Apparently so. Honestly, we didn’t ask Freddy, but it does seem like size, indeed, does not matter.

Obviously, Jason begins to kill left and right, not really bothering to make it look like Freddy at all. But worry not! The police forces and a bunch of teenagers who have already experienced the attacks before make sure that he is remembered and able to kill again. So the real villain is gossip here, really.

Chaotic good

On the other hand, you’ve got the good guys. This group is made by a very interesting assortment of people. There is the police force, who does everything in their hand to be incredibly obvious about the fact that they are hiding something. The teenagers who have already fought Freddy but behave like they haven’t.

Lastly, there are the other policemen and teenagers who have actually never fought Freddy, but make sure to not listen to any of the advice given by people with previous experience. In this last group, there are some 2000s horror stars like Lochlyn Munro (Scary Movie, 2000) and Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps, 2000; Insomnia, 2002), and singer Kelly Rowland being as cringe as humanly possible.

The cherry on top of the nightmare

Nevertheless, the real star of the bunch is Bill Freeburg, played by Kyle Labine, the stoner of the group. Now, despite how many drugs roll in the cinematic sphere, there is a hilariously big tradition of portraying people on drugs terribly. Is this a ridiculous attempt at putting people off drugs, or a ridiculous attempt at pretending nobody knows what they are talking about?

Whatever the reason, it is incredibly annoying that most films without Snoop Dogg in them portray drugs like no one on set has ever been at a music festival. You don’t need to be a drug addict to know how drugs affect a person. You just need to do some research. This being said, either Labine is one of the very few people in the US who has never smoked or been close to anyone smoking marijuana, or he is the worst actor to ever get a relevant role in a film. How can a person pretend to be possessed way better than being stoned? That, my friend, is another beautiful unknown courtesy of the art of cinema.

All in all, Freddy vs. Jason is probably the funniest instalment of the Friday the 13th franchise. The murders are as creative as they are fun, and the acting is so bad you’ll need a tissue to wipe the tears of laughter. This feature is probably your best bet for a hilarious marathon on a Friday 13th.

Advice to take from this movie:

• Don’t take drugs, kids. Weird things happen when you take drugs.
• Sometimes faker blood allows you to go gorier and make it funny.
• If someone has experience with a particular crisis, maybe listen to them during said crisis?

What’s your take? Have you watched Freddy vs. Jason? Don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, or leave a message in my contact page! For more reviews and cinema-related articles, check out the rest of my blog! 😀