Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

Director: Ronny Yu
Starring: Monica Keena, Kelly Rowland, Jason Ritter

Synopsis:
Left powerless by a world that has forgotten him, Freddy Krueger revives Jason Voorhees so that his rampage can trigger enough fear to empower him once more.

Impressions:
Well, it's all been building up to this. Teased at the end of Jason Goes to Hell, we finally get to see Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees face off. Now, I significantly enjoyed the Nightmare on Elm Street movies more than the Friday the 13th ones, so I was firmly in the Freddy camp. I like how things are set up with a depowered Freddy making use of Jason, only to find that his "dog" is taking his food. I credit the film for being well-balanced between the two franchises, which is nice for fans of either camp. We get big fight sequences on each character's home turf to make the most of their respective abilities. More than that, the regular cast are fairly well-characterized, definitely more so than any Friday the 13th film. They're fairly smart about countering the threat of our two villains, which is a nice change of pace from the usual rock-stupid types (though there are some of those among the meat). Honestly, I consider this to be one of the best films in both franchises. It's tempting to tell you to skip ahead to this one, but I feel a big part of the reward comes from having slogged through the lesser entries (particularly in the case of Friday the 13th) to get this payoff. If you're in any way a fan of one of these franchises or both, this is worth a place in your collection.

Rating:
Own It