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ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - August 15th

"FREDDY VS. JASON" released in 2003

[first lines]
Freddy Krueger: [narrating] My children... from the very beginning, it was the children who gave me my power. The Springwood Slasher, that's what they called me. My reign of terror was legendary. Dozens of children would fall by my blades. Then the parents of Springwood came for me, taking justice into their own hands. When I was alive, I might have been a little naughty, but after they killed me, I became something much, much worse. The stuff nightmares are made of. The children still feared me, and their fear gave me the power to invade their dreams, and that's when the fun REALLY began. Until they figured out a way to forget about me. To erase me completely. Being dead wasn't a problem, but being forgotten, now that's a BITCH. I can't come back if nobody remembers me. I can't come back if nobody's afraid. I had to search the bowels of Hell, but I found someone, someone who'll make 'em remember. He may get the blood, but I'll get the glory, and that fear is my ticket home.

Two of horror's biggest icons - Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) and Jason Voorhees (Ken Kirzinger) - face off against each for the first time, and a new group of teens are not safe either awake or asleep between these two epic killers, in Ronny Yu's ultimate match-up Freddy vs. Jason!

Watch the Freddy vs. Jason trailer below!

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Having been rendered powerless by the teens of Springwood forgetting about him (with the aid of a drug called Hypnocil), dream killer Freddy Krueger (Englund) searches the bowels of Hell for an unwitting accomplice to return to Springwood to spread fear of his return; choosing undead Crystal Lake mass murderer, Jason Voorhees, to be his messenger. Returning from the grave, Jason quickly starts stalking a number of teens at Freddy's old haunt, 1428 Elm Street, home now to Lori Campbell (Monica Keena) who is having a party with her friends Kia (Kelly Rowlands) and Gibb (Katharine Isabelle). Jason quickly dispatches Gibb's boyfriend Trey (Jesse Hutch) in spectacular fashion (literally folding him in half inside the fold up bed!), with the girls fleeing the house in terror. At the police station, new deputy Scott Stubbs (Lochlyn Munro) overhears Sheriff Williams (Garry Chalk) whispering to Lori's father, psychiatrist Dr. Campbell (Tom Butler), about a "Freddy returning". The mere mention of his name allows Freddy to slowly creep back into his victims dreams, but is not as yet strong enough to kill, leaving "Jason to have some fun" until he is. Meanwhile, Lori's ex-boyfriend Will (Jason Ritter) and his friend Mark (Brendan Fletcher) have been committed to Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital by Lori's father, along with other teens who remember Freddy in a hopes of containing Freddy's fear. Hearing of the murders, Will and Mark escape the hospital and try to reach Lori before Freddy gets too strong. Finding her at a rave in cornfield, Will convinces Lori and Kia of the danger, while a drunk Gibbs wonders off on her own and is killed by Jason (just before Freddy was going to do it, infuriating him). Jason then turns the rave into a massacre with Lori, Will, Mark, and Kia escaping with fellow classmates Charlie (Chris Marquette) and Freeburg (Kyle Labine). Joining forces with Deputy Stubbs, the group realise that jason is merely acting as Freddy's pawn, and eventually decide the only way they are to survive against both killer, is by pitting them both against each other, in a battle to the death!

TRIVIA:   The final time Robert Englund would play Freddy Krueger

Top:   Lori (Minica Keena), Kia (Kelly Rowlands) and Gibbs (Katherine Isabelle)

in a deleted scene from the movie;

Above:   Freddy (Robert Englund) slowly starts to regain his power to haunt Lori!

After Jason Takes Manhattan was released in 1989 the rights reverted to producers Scuderi, Minasian and Barsamianto, who sold them to New Line. With the studio now owning the rights to both the Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees characters, a crossover movie now seemed inevitable (despite a previous attempt by Paramount to co-produce a crossover film with New Line). However, before Friday the 13th producer Sean S Cunningham could start working on Freddy vs. Jason, Wes Craven returned to New Line to make New Nightmare. This effectively put Freddy vs. Jason on hold, but allowed Cunningham the chance to bring Jason back into the spotlight with Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. One of the biggest hurdles for the film was developing a story that managed to bring the two horror icons together. Potential stories varied widely, from 2 different drafts: 1 was titled "The Millennium Massacre" where Freddy was revealed to at one time be a counselor at Camp Crystal Lake and molested Jason as a child, and another dealt with a cult called the "Fred Heads" who were going to sacrifice a little girl to Freddy, leading to the girl's older sister putting her dead boyfriend's heart in Jason's body to fight Freddy and rescue her younger sister. Delays frustrated Cunningham, forcing him to create another sequel, Jason X, in an effort to keep the franchise in the minds of audiences. Finally, after more than fifteen years of off-and-on development and approximately $6 million spent in eighteen unused scripts from more than a dozen screenwriters, New Line finally produced Freddy vs. Jason from a script written by Mark Swift and Damian Shannon.

After approaching Peter Jackson and Rob Zombie to direct, Ronny Yu was chosen, after having originally turned down the directing job because the script didn't indicate who won at the end. He agreed to take the job when Robert Shaye told him he could make that decision himself and then came up with the idea for Jason to hold Freddy's head at the end (Robert Shaye agreed, but wanted Freddy to wink at the audience). Robert Englund would return (for the last time) as Freddy Krueger, joined a young cast of co-stars, including Monica Keena playing Lori. Keena would remember that as a child the image of Freddy Krueger scared her so much, that joining the film was a cathartic experience for the actress. Brad Renfro was originally cast as Will, but his drug problems led to him being recast with Jason Ritter for the role. Also cast in a supporting roles was singer Kelly Rowland (as Kia), Ginger Snap's actress Katherine Isabelle (as Gibbs), Chris Marquette, Lochlyn Munro, Brendan Fletcher and Zach Ward (in a memorable cameo as Mark's brother and last Freddy victim, Bobby).

[after Blake gets away]
Freddy Krueger: [to himself] Not strong enough, yet. Well, I will be soon enough. Until then... I'll let Jason have some fun.

Top:   Will (Jason Ritter) and Mark (Brendan Fletcher) after they escape from Westin Hills;

Above:   Jason (Ken Kirzinger) dispatches Freddy-possessed Freeburg (Kyle Labine)

The biggest controversy caused by Freddy vs. Jason was the replacement of Kane Hodder in the role Jason Voorhees with Canadian stunt person Ken Kirzinger (over the strong objections of Sean S Cunningham). There are conflicting reports over the reason Kirzinger was cast. According to Yu, Kirzinger was hired because he was taller than Robert Englund, with the director wanting a more "David-Goliath" dynamic to the eventual confrontation between Freddy and Jason. Regarding Hodder, Yu says he had no problems about him and says he likes his work as Jason in the previous films. However, he says it was ultimately New Line's decision to exclude Hodder, not his. Many of the New Line executives working on the film persist on stating that excluding Hodder was Yu's idea (these conflicting statements may imply New Line regrets not hiring Hodder). Even though Hodder expressed some resentment at not being chosen, he and Kirzinger still remained good friends, with some fans believing Kirzinger's performance was on par with Hodder's Jason.

According to Ken Kirzinger the hardest thing he went through for performing as Jason was sinking into the lake. Director Ronny Yu shot the scene in a tank which was highly chlorinated and had debris to make it look like lake water. Ronny Yu needed the close-up of Ken's left eye and needed him to sink into the water keeping his eye open. Then also he couldn't breathe because it would be visible on film. So Kirzinger was lying on top of the water and had to let himself sink down to the bottom of the tank without breathing, keeping his left eye open. Kirzinger really held his breath, and the chlorine in the water burned both of his eyes. Later in filming, Kirzinger had to undergo some dental work during filming, but it would have taken too much time to remove his makeup and costume and reapply them. When he arrived at the dentist's office still dressed as Jason (without the hockey mask), people were afraid he was an escaped psychopath and almost called the police! The biggest problem that occurred on set was a fight between Ronny Yu and actress Katharine Isabelle, who had signed onto the film on the promise that she would not have to do nude scenes; during the shoot, Yu went back on this promise and repeatedly tried to pressure her to get naked. They two eventually settled for a nude double double for the scene (played Tammy Morris) although there was friction between Isabelle and Yu for the rest of the shoot.

[Deleted scene]
Freddy Krueger: [to Jason] You think that I'm afraid of you? Huh? Now that we're in the real world? Come on!
[Jason swings his machete twice at Freddy and misses]
Freddy Krueger: You're slow, you're stupid, and you got no style.
[Jason swings machete down at Freddy and misses again, the machete gets stuck in the floorboard, Freddy kicks him in the groin]
Freddy Krueger: No balls, huh, Voorhees?

Top:   Lori prepares to finish off Freddy and Jason!;

Above:   Just who did win this epic horror battle?

According to writers Mark Swift and Damian Shannon several endings were considered for the film before director Ronny Yu and producer Robert Shaye finally came up with the ending used in the film. One of the alternate endings included Freddy and Jason continuing their battle in hell, when suddenly Pinhead from the Hellraiser (1987) films steps out of the shadows and separates them. He then calmly asks, "What seems to be the problem, gentlemen?" (this was scrapped due to licensing issues). For reshooting the ending where Jason emerges from the lake with Freddy's head (almost a year after principal photography) Kirzinger was unavailable for reshoots, so producers cast actor Douglas Tait to play Jason during the scene.

TRIVIA:   According to director Ronny Yu the special effects team used 300 gallons of fake blood for the movie.

Above:   Director Ronny Yu (middle) on set with Ken Kirzinger and Robert Englund

Released in 2003, horror fans flocked to the cinema to see Freddy and Jason finally clash! Freddy vs. Jason would ultimately gross the most at the box office than other entry in either franchises with almost $120 million. While fans still despaired the loss of Hodder as Jason, most were thrilled seeing their two favorite killers on screen together. Critics however were not as enthusiastic, with Jack Mathews of New York Daily News reviewing "Though a stickler might ask what's at stake in a fight to the death between two guys who are already dead, the hard-core fans aren't likely to be disappointed." Urban Cinefile wrote, "Screenwriters Damian Shannon and Mark Swift make only the feeblest attempts to meld the respective series, moving quickly between characters until the hilarious hack-fest climax." There were some who enjoyed the film with Felix Vasquez Jr. from Cinema Crazed writing, "Who will forget the awesome fight scenes between Freddy and Jason? and there’s plenty of them folks. Yu doesn’t gyp horror fans playing more for them as he gives us four three great Freddy/Jason fight scenes including the final showdown at Camp Crystal Lake which manages to last for fifteen minutes and never loses its fun."

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE:   41%