Scary Movie Month 2015 Day 21: Freddy vs Jason

Freddy vs Jason

Here's the thing: the people who hate this movie have very valid reasons for that. The characters are paper-thin, the story is contrived and often nonsensical (since when is Jason afraid of water? And why is "bitch" seemingly the only word in Freddy's vocabulary?), and much of the first hour or so is downright laughable. I can't argue that any of that isn't true. That being said, the actual showdown between the two titans of terror that takes up the last half hour or so is so great that it's totally worth wading through the fairly terrible buildup.

I'm a longtime fan of both series, but even still I'm pretty solidly on Team Freddy so I appreciate that in structure this is much more a Nightmare movie than a Friday movie. It's a fitting swan song for Robert Englund in his eighth and final time behind the makeup, and he seems to be having fun going even broader than usual (which is saying something). The "heroes" (led by blank slates Monica Keena, Jason Ritter, and Kelly Rowland) are much less likable and certainly less memorable than the usual Elm Street leads, and much too much time is spent on them rather than the main attractions, but when it gets to the point where Freddy & Jason go toe-to-toe all is forgiven. 

Director Ronny Yu (who previously revitalized the Child's Play franchise with the terrific Bride of Chucky) brings some style to the proceedings and even manages to squeeze out a few fleeting moments of legitimately nightmarish imagery. While the script could have used another pass (or twelve) there's still some real fun to be had, particularly in that spectacular final act. Honestly, the whole movie could have been the showdown and I doubt any fans of either franchise would have complained. As it stands it's a bit of an odd duck, it's half a satisfyingly brutal battle royale, and half a thoroughly missed opportunity. The stuff that works, though...DAMN that stuff works. Plenty of fans complain about the ending by calling it a cop-out but I thoroughly disagree with that take. It gave us a definitive "winner" while still managing to serve fans of both characters with a (quite literal) wink to the audience. Glad I didn't place any bets on the outcome, though, I'd have lost my (red-and-green-striped) shirt.