Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Freddy vs. Jason

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 08-14-2003, 06:02 AM:

This one is safe to read. No spoilers or winners are announced in this review...

I had high hopes for this. This film should've been packed with entertaining corny horror and predictable suspense, with a generous dose of butt kicking violence and deaths...well, not quite.

The first hour really dragged. There is a solid 1/2 hour where no one dies and the actors are too busy showing off how they can't really act and how much the director can't direct and how "ho hum" the sub plot is. The real action doesn't really hit until the end of reel 4 (5 reel movie). Now when the violence starts, it's good. Nothing beats watching Jason stomping around whacking people in half with his machetti for no good reason, but as always Freddy's lack of realism earns a solid yawn. However seeing the two fight each other in the last 20 minutes was fun. Now comes the bad part.

New Line has gone to great extent to keep the "winner" of the battle confidential, and I am not going to tell what the ending is...but suffice it to say that it is the most lamest ending I think I have ever seen in a horror movie. The ending is so bad my rating of this film dropped 2 stars in the last minute. It's a good thing New Line did not allow reviewers to see the last minute...because it sucks and brings down the entire movie! (The film should have ended 15 seconds earlier.) Because of this foolish choice of ending, the movie will open well, maybe have a somewhat decent second weekend for the die hard fans that couldn't attend the first weekend, then BOMB once the word gets out.

Really, don't bother with this one. The ending will leave you angry at wasting your time.

1 star out of 5.

Posted by Kristin Wahlund (Member # 922) on 08-15-2003, 01:04 AM:

Agreed. Although it did have its moments where there was some decent teen slashing. Over all I won't be seeing it again. I think it met my quota of fake boobs and violence for the next year or so...

Posted by Ron Lacheur (Member # 1126) on 08-15-2003, 02:30 AM:

Oh you guys are no fun. I just got out of the Sneak Peek, and I was impressed. Maybe because it was all filmed here in Vancouver and that some of the actors featured in it are from here as well. But impressive gore effects, hilarious dialog from Freddy, and great fighting.

Yeah the fake boobs and obvious body doubles were disappointing, but the action is where this movie shines.

3.5 out of 5

Posted by Aaron Garman (Member # 1653) on 08-15-2003, 03:49 AM:

I don't go see a movie called Freddy vs. Jason and expect great acting, amazing subplots and character development. I go to see two of the greatest film icons of the 1980's duke it out! For what it is, this film really succeeds. Not only is the action great, but every fan of horror will love this film. I read awhile back that New Line's only stipulation to the writers of this film was to make it violent as hell. Well, let's say that they succeed. I haven't seen all the films in each series, but I'm sure this ranks up there with the best of each series.

SPOILERS AHEAD

One thing I really liked about this film was that they really get the audience to feel for Jason at the end. With the flashback to 1950's Camp Crystal Lake, I really got an idea to why Jason is, well, the way he is. At this point, they almost made him a hero of sorts. The shots showing the heckling children and the promiscuous teens coat them as evil and vile villians.

END SPOILERS

I really liked this film. If you love horror, either series, or some serious action check it out. Oh, and play it LOUD!!! God Bless DTS.

AJG

Posted by Michael Gonzalez (Member # 593) on 08-15-2003, 09:31 AM:

There isn't a suprise Keven Beacon cameo like I was almost expecting? I always find it amusing that he nevers recognizes "Friday the 13th" as his first film.

Posted by Don Anderson (Member # 397) on 08-15-2003, 09:18 PM:

Brad, I agree with ya on this one. The first killing was the best.The ending really was a disappointment, gee....Freddy vs Jason II, I hope not. I did notice a few annoying things. Reel 2 or 3 had very annoying marks on the center of the frame. Looked like a series of blue dashes or dots (5 or 6)both vertical and horizontal ...:..., it was on and off all the way through the reel. Dead center on the screen, what the heck was it??? Plus, the last reel had a tape splice right before the credits rolled. I was tolded to watch thru the credits for a surprise, what the MPAA rating?????? [Confused]

Posted by Paul Rich (Member # 243) on 08-16-2003, 02:08 AM:

I definitely agree with Aaron here.

This was the perfect marriage of Freddy and Jason. The way the story is set up is perfect. How Freddy and Jason get together is perfectly written. The characterization of Freddy and Jason was...perfect.

******SPOILERS******

The way Springwood is written is great. The way the adults have erased all mention of anything related to Freddy makes sense. The entire set up makes sense. The use of Hypnocil made me so giddy for being a fan. I felt very rewarded.

Freddy owns this film for me. I am a Freddy fan. And the ending definitely works and is tonally perfect. If I had a criticism, it would be I wanted more Freddy and Jason. But what I got was great.

This is a fun movie. It's fun to watch these idiot teens get slashed to death. It's uber fun to watch Freddy and Jason interact.

If you're a fan of these franchises, you'll be rewarded.

Go into this film looking for a fun gore fest with great acting by Robert Englund. That's what I got at least.

-Paul

Posted by Kristin Wahlund (Member # 922) on 08-16-2003, 05:17 PM:

Spoiler:

I was kinda hoping Micheal Meyers would show up and kill them both.

Posted by Ron Lacheur (Member # 1126) on 08-16-2003, 07:14 PM:

Maybe that's one of the 10 or so alternate endings they shot.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 08-16-2003, 09:03 PM:

My favorite Robert Englund movie is "Buster and Billie".

Umm, actually, that's the only other Robert Englund movie I've ever seen.

Posted by Robb Johnston (Member # 239) on 08-17-2003, 12:25 PM:

personally, I thought Englund's best work was in the 2 "V" TV Mini series. Though even in elemntary school, I thought the TV series was very weak.

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 08-18-2003, 03:21 PM:

I have to agree with Brad on the point that the last 15 seconds was a complete waste of time, and shouldn't have been done.

I will also state that the opening five minute monologue by Freddy was horribly overacted by Englund, it should have been much more low key and less yelling.

Over all, I did enjoy the picture. The beginning and ending aside, that with stupid teenagers that seem to be like deer caught in the headligts when it comes to danger, I did like the picture, and put it up as one of the better horror/slasher flicks.

I would have gone with someone else rather than Ronny Yu to direct. However, the picture took in 36 million in its first weekend, so look for Freddy/Jason part 2.

Dave

Posted by Michael Brown (Member # 890) on 08-19-2003, 12:19 PM:

Got a nice early showing of this today. (Cineworld Bradford, Screen 10, Dolby Digital)

Watching the first parts of the movie I noticed that it was very scream-like...and that should be taken as a compliment. We then get an hour and a half of (to be british: bloody mingin’) violence and gore which seemed to entertain me pretty well. There isn’t much to the characters blah blah blah.

SPOILER

S

P

O

I

L

E

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So why is this movie called “Freddy Vs Jason”? They don’t actually fight each other till the last reel. (…and I still don’t quiet get the actual plot of the film.)

SPOILER ABOVE

Posted by Dino Panagiotopoulos (Member # 1579) on 08-19-2003, 12:53 PM:

It might be just me but I hate dream sequences in a horror movie with a passion. This movie just overdid it too much. Every other scene was a dream sequence and you had no clue until they actually woke up from it.

It seems to be that nobody knows how to write a legit horror movie these days. They all seem to end up like a cheesy Scream teen slasher movie. Everyone that attempts to write one just kills it in the end. Im predicting this for Texas Chainsaw Massacre as well.

Posted by Aaron Garman (Member # 1653) on 08-19-2003, 02:03 PM:

Dream sequences are part of the fun of a Nightmare on Elm Street movie. It can fun trying to figure out if the character is dreaming or is actually awake.

AJG

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 08-19-2003, 03:50 PM:

Yeah, that's the ENTIRE point behind Freddy movies, that he kills in DREAMS, so it is really hard to not have any dream sequences. This movie just isn't for you, nor any freddy movie.

As for Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I find it very difficult to believe that anyone can topple the Tobe Hooper classic, especially with Marcus Nispel as the helmer, whose credits only include a few music videos for the likes of Faith No More and Janet Jackson, writer Scott Kosar who has only assisted with editing on a few movies, and Producer Micheal Bay, who we all know and love!!!

So who knows, Tobe Hooper once was a nobody, but he had talent.

Dave

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 08-20-2003, 10:08 AM:

quote:
So why is this movie called ?Freddy Vs Jason?? They don?t actually fight each other till the last reel. (?and I still don?t quiet get the actual plot of the film.)

The plot is simple. Freddy can't kill no one unless they dream. He uses Jason to make the kids have nightmares again. Jason has to much fun doing what he likes to do, kill people. Freddy gets pissed cause Jason is taking his glory. A fight breaks out between the two. While all this is happening the special effects team is getting rid of all that fake blood they have been storing up for ten years to do thi piece of crap movie. I give it 1/2 star out of four.

Posted by Paul Rich (Member # 243) on 08-20-2003, 04:48 PM:

Actually, you got the plot wrong.

As is stated clearly at the beginning of the film by the gloved one himself (Freddy, not Michael):

*******************SPOILERS****************************

The adults of Springwood have spent the past few years erasing all mentions of Freddy and the crimes related to him. They have taken any kids who do know about him or have had some sort of experiences with him and placed them in a mental hospital and have them on Hypnocil which is a dream-suppressing drug (as seen in A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3). [One thing the adults didn't change was the TV station call letters - KRGR (or something like that) [Smile]

]

Because none of the teenagers, and even some of the adults, know anything about Freddy, he is essentially powerless. (The reason he could have power in the first film without the kids knowing about him was he had just recently (I'd guess 5 years) been killed by the parents)

So, Freddy needs someone to cause the kids to know about him. He knows that when Jason starts killing, the adults will automatically blame Freddy and the word will spread to the teenagers.

Unfortunately for Freddy, he can't control him as well as he thought he could (by taking on the persona of Jason's mother).

****************END SPOILERS***********************************

One question I do have is why doesn't Freddy kill preteen kids in their dreams? I suppose it's because these films are made in the U.S. This film came the closest to having that happen.

-Paul

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 08-20-2003, 08:18 PM:

Actually, Freddie needs fear, not necessarily knowledge, of him, to be able to enter dreams and kill. Jason was the bringer of fear, and the parents were the blamer of death. Fear plus name recognition gave him power to kill. Once he had power, he could invade dreams and kill anyone in or from the area, regardless if they knew of him or not. Just plain fear is all he needed to get his power.

Or something like that.

Dave

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 08-20-2003, 09:16 PM:

I don't see where my explanation of the plot is wrong. If the kids don't have nightmares he can't kill them so he gets Jason to start killing causing the kids to start having nightmares. Even if it was to get them to think about freddy again. Funny thing is the cops memories were not surpressed. I guess freddy didn't like to kill older people.

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 08-27-2003, 03:56 PM:

Well daryl, that's where you and the the box office numbers differ. Two weeks at number one and more than double the budget in revenue mean that story and plot have no bearing on success these days.

Story and plot only seem to make films do poorly, so be glad that we have lots and lots of brainless yet fun movies to eat greasy crappy popcorn and watered down coke to.

Dave

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 08-30-2003, 10:32 PM:

Well, I have skipped all FRIDAY 13th films since Jason Takes Manhattan (yeah, only for the last 5 minutes or so! Ripoff!) and dont think I have seen a NIGHTMARE film after that 3-D travesty (I STILL remember the Roseanne Barr cameo, though). But, what the hell, I went anyway. Well, things haven't improved from my point of view. I DID like NIGHTMARE films I, III, and V. I don't think I liked any of the 13th movies. They played like pornography to me. Instead of sex, they substituted violence.

As to this movie, it was fairly well shot for this type of movie, but it definitely needed a sense of humor.