Freddy vs Jason

We've been waiting 10 years for this. Ever since Freddy showed up at the end of Jason Goes To Hell there have been constant rumors of this movie. And now, a decade later, it's finally here. Is it worth the wait? Is it worthy of the hype? Will it satisfy bloodthirsty fans and non-fans alike? The answer is definitely YES!!! This is, without a doubt, the best film you'll see this summer.

Trapped in hell and powerless, Freddy is mighty pissed that no-one in Springwood remembers him. Without the fear of the children, he cannot enter their dreams. The adults have erased him from memory and force dream-preventing drugs on their kids. Freddy needs a sucker, someone who'll do the killing for him, to spread fear and provoke kids into mentioning his name; summoning fear once more.

He enters the dreams of Jason Voorhees, also trapped in hell. And through visions of his equally psychotic mother, he resurrects the J-Man and orders him to Elm Street to start hackin' and slashin'. Soon enough, some dunderhead utters Freddy's name and the kids start asking questions. Freddy has power once more, but is mad at Jason for leaving no teens left for him to slay.

They clash, in the dream world and in reality. A major showdown erupts and the two of them go at it like you wouldn't believe. Forget Neo battling a hundred Agent Smiths, or The Hulk chucking tanks over the desert. Freddy vs Jason is the battle you've been waiting to see and, boy, does it raise the bar on excitement!

Personally, I think Ronny Yu is a great director. He made Chucky cool again and his Liverpudlian romp, The 51st State, was one of the funniest films I've ever seen. He has a real edge and a truly unique vision. The atmosphere and imagery he concocts is entirely his own and the movie looks slicker than crude oil.

There are a few slight problems, it must be said. The teenagers offer nothing new outside of the usual Freddy/Jason movie stuff: running around, screaming, dying. It would be alright if Yu used this in a self-depreciating way, or intertwined it with sarcastic humour, but it is played straight and causes lulls in the action. Plus his Super-35 framing is too tight and close. But these are the only faults I can complain about.

Robert Englund throws himself into the role of Freddy Krueger once more and brings him to life in a bigger and badder way then ever before. He's more full of life and fury here than he ever has been and it's surely a career high for the actor. Ken Kirzinger - replacing the now dreadful Kane Hodder - gives Jason a more sympathetic feel, but doesn't skimp on the anger when he's pursuing Freddy.

Also, gone is composer Harry Manfredini. His music for Friday The 13th, parts 1-7, was appropriate enough. But he changed his tune (literally) in Jason Goes To Hell, with some mind-numbingly awful synthesizer stuff. And in Jason X, it got even worse, with no horror motifs used at all. But now Graeme Revell has taken his place. He mixes Elm Street and Friday themes together and comes up with a touch more sophistication with his ominous cues.

Of course, there are going to be pretentious critics out there, who will despise the movie before even setting foot in the cinema, purely because it's a slasher flick. I don't exactly know what these people want in slasher movies, but they never seem to find it, or even hint at what they are looking for. Freddy vs Jason isn't a slasher flick, anyway; it's an action picture. It may have some bad dialogue and boring characters, but so did The Matrix Reloaded, which pretended to be something it wasn't. Freddy vs Jason doesn't have those illusions. It gives us what we want - boobs, piles of corpses, torrents of blood and severed limbs.

It very nearly gets The Gator MacReady Claw of Approval, but it's still the only movie you HAVE to see this summer. I won't dare reveal who the champion is. All I can say is the best man wins. Ha!