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The acting's wooden, the fake breasts gratuitous, the gore cartoonish, and the plot is frequently moronic. Usually this is the kiss of death for a film, but to the fan of '80s slashers, this return to outrageous excess is a beautiful thing.
Back in the '40s, Universal pitted the Frankenstein monster, against the Wolf Man, and Dracula in “The House of Frankenstein.” In 1962, Japan became the battleground when Godzilla battled King Kong. Now, after years of false starts, the latest of these immortal cage matches has come to the screen.
It's a try for a return to glory for two aging stars that were very popular in the 1980's, (kind of like a Journey, REO Speedwagon concert). Of the two sturdy franchises, the “Nightmare” series that Wes Craven initiated in 1984 had a pretty clever premise, and at least in the early installments the execution was quite effective. Sean Cunningham’s “Friday the 13th” flicks, on the other hand, were, at best “Halloween” rip-offs, mindless snuff-fests featuring the mute, machete-wielding, mask-wearing Jason. Both franchises faltered as repetition set in and the imagination of filmmakers in devising ever-gorier ways of death began to slow down.
Freddy’s power lies in his ability to inspire fear. Almost all traces of his legacy have been systematically wiped out, by a innovative new drug that prevents victims from entering into a vulnerable dream state.
Determined to get back in the killing game, Freddy resurrects the ultimate player hater, Jason Vorhees.
But Jason, being both compulsively homicidal and impossible to stop, just keeps on killing -- much faster and more efficiently than Freddy, who favors elaborately surreal, dream-based traps for one victim at a time.
Soon the town isn't big enough for both of them. The horror villains enter onto a collision course, heading toward a final confrontation between evil and well, evil. What should you predict? As Clubber Lang said in “Rocky III”, simply, “Pain”.
The presence of Freddy liberates this Jason entry from the monotony of a guy lumbering about with a ski mask and a sword, while the presence of Jason frees this Freddy film from the monotony of the usual endless dream sequences.
The painful part of the film is the ongoing bad dialogue of the human characters. Even after most of them are dead, the survivors - Lori (Monica Keena), Kia (Kelly Rowland), Will (Jason "Son of John" Ritter), and Charlie (Christopher George Marquette) - refuse to shut up. Of course, all of the inane dialogue serves a purpose of exposition- to explain the convoluted plot.
But once the movie kicks into high gear with the major bloodletting of the final 30 minutes, all complaints are silenced.
The only draw back of the fight, lies in the horrific indestructibility of Jason and Freddy. Normally this is a big part of what makes them so scary, but it’s also what makes a fight between them seem pointless.
“Freddy Vs. Jason” may be a little bit too slow in parts. But it’s certainly better than the majority of the old “Nightmare” and “13th” films. Fans of the genre will be pleased. Others should appreciate the concept but might be let down by the film’s execution. (C+, B-) |
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| "We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then question the manner in which I provide it." |
- Jack Nicholson
A Few Good Men
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Distributed Beers
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| 5 |
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot |
| 4 |
Guinness Draught |
| 3 |
Newcastle Brown Ale |
| 2 |
Bass Pale Ale |
| 1 |
Samuel Adams Boston Lager |
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