Freddy vs. Jason

Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

October 24th, 2022

Back in around 2014 I was at a sleepover at the Eilers’ house and we came across Freddy vs. Jason while flipping through channels. With Freddy Krueger and Jason Vorhees being among the most pervasive pop culture icons of all time I obviously knew who they were, but I had never seen either of their respective franchises and I’m sure I couldn’t have told you the name of their franchises either. Regardless, the image of these two icons sharing a space stuck with me for years. After finally getting around to seeing Friday the 13th for the first time two years ago, I wasn’t a fan and I was saddened by the idea I would never get around to this movie.

Two years later, a 35mm screening of Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives prompted me to finally watch the whole series and I quickly became a fan. Also having recently seen A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 in 35mm, I decided to finish both franchises and finally see Freddy vs. Jason.

Freddy vs. Jason isn’t simply what the title implies – a (rather short) confrontation between the two of the most recognizable pop culture icons of all time – it’s a film that takes it a step further, becoming something greater than what most similar franchise crossover films tend to be (see AVP: Requiem). Writers Damian Shannon & Mark Swift (who would later collaborate again on Marcus Nispel’s fantastic 2009 Friday the 13th remake) have a genuine understanding of Krueger’s mythos that few have shown prior or since and approach his character from an interesting perspective. Krueger’s presence within the Elm Street franchise hinges on fear. His name is taboo and, like we see most prevalently in Elm Street 3, even the mention of his name can get you institutionalized. Rather than a tangible being, he lives in shared dreams, the thoughts of the children of Springwood. He’s more of an idea that affects people rather than a man or a creature, and while his rules have definitely changed over the years the opening of this film makes it clear:

FREDDY KRUEGER (VO)
They tried to forget their fear. Lock me away like a dirty secret.

CLOSE ON – Freddy Krueger’s eye. Fire is reflected in it. We don’t know where he is, but we can feel his anger.

FREDDY KRUEGER (VO) (CONT’D)
But I found someone. Someone that’ll make ’em remember.

Freddy’s power has been drained by Springwood’s collective effort to forget. By covering up the past and the atrocities Krueger committed throughout his years terrorizing children, they have effectively killed Krueger. The only way he’s able to come back is by using the last of his power to resurrect Vorhees and manipulate him into killing the children of Springwood, prompting a fear of Freddy’s return and returning him to the forefront of everyone’s minds.

While Freddy may have been gone in the time since his death, his impact certainly lingered. In a way Freddy vs. Jason is a thematic sequel to Elm Street 3, finally reacknowledging and expanding upon the idea of abuse survivors and their experiences being oppressed to the point of false imprisonment under the guise of rehabilitation. At least two (and presumably many, many more) children, Will and Mark (Named Carlos in the screenplay), are forcibly institutionalized due to their prior contact with Freddy. Upon hearing of Freddy’s return they escape and return to help fight him off. Along the way they visit a library:

A gothic, cavernous library, nearly empty. Green legal lamps decorate long tables. Carlos and Will are at a computer. . .

CARLOS
This doesn’t make any sense. There’s nothing on Krueger. Not his arrest, death. . .not even a birth certificate.

WILL
There you go. Common nightmares are a group delusion brought on by mass hys-

CARLOS
Maybe they didn’t up the stuff on computer yet.

…

Large sections of what they are looking at are BLACKED OUT.
All that’s left are partial headlines. . . pictures. . .

CARLOS (CONT’D)
There’s whole sections of records gone. Look at all these blacked out obituaries.

WILL
So what? Springwood’s library sucks.

Carlos gets up like a man possessed, heads to PERIODICALS. He’s flipping through the original NEWSPAPERS. Pages are missing. . .sections are cut out. This is creepy.

CARLOS
January 18. The day my brother committed suicide. Why isn’t that in here?

WILL
I don’t know. But I’m sure there’s a good reason. Remember in morning session? They used to tell us not to jump to conclusions before-

CARLOS
(grabs Will be his shirt) Jesus, listen to yourself! You hold onto that psychobabble like a security blanket! Let it go man! (beat, releases him) They covered him up, Will. They never told us about him, because that’s how they decided to beat him. And it worked.

WILL
But what. . .I guess now you think something brought him back?

This is the most important scene in the entire movie from a thematic sense, and it’s genuinely a miracle it ended up in the final cut. Most of the time scenes like these, that seem redundant and unimportant on the surface but actually integral to the structure and purpose of the film end up on the cutting room floor by the time the studio execs come around. Carlos and Will find out their stories and those of their families, friends and many others have been removed from history, their lives reduced to a neglected, blacked out footnote in Springwood’s bloody history.

While Carlos is reasonably angered by this realization, the removal of Freddy and his victims from the public record was for the greater good, right? In the end it succeeded in killing off Freddy. Are the experiences of victims and a bloody history a fair trade for the safety of a town and its children? When does history become tangibly as dangerous as its neglect?

Probably best case scenario for a crossover too. Rarely things like this work out/meet expectations but given all of the factors in here I truly think this is the best case for a NoES/Ft13 crossover. Great practical effects, looks nice, Kelly Rowland is there, Englund & Kirzinger show up, a satisfying conclusion, what more is there to say?