31 Days of Guilty Pleasures – ‘Freddy vs Jason’
A few years ago I did a daily countdown to Halloween that featured some of my favorite scares from 31 different horror movies. This year I’m bringing back the feature, but this time we’re taking a look at some of my favorite guilty pleasures.
There’s no rhyme or reason to how these movies are being listed, so the placement on the countdown doesn’t denote any sort of ranking. Also, my definition of guilty pleasure is a movie that ranges from either being not very good to outright bad, but there’s something about it that still makes it endearing to watch.
A powerless Freddy Krueger resurrects Jason Voorhees to try and strike fear back into the hearts of teenagers to try and become more powerful again. However, when Jason goes an uncontrollable killing spree Freddy has to put him back in his place in order to ensure there will be plenty of teenagers for him to kill.
“Freddy vs Jason” is one of those movies where it’s a miracle it ever got made. It’s such a simple concept and it seems like the easiest idea in the world. Just smash two great things together and you’re almost guaranteed to get something halfway decent. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, it took a few years for the idea to finally will itself to life. And when it did it was the campy schlock-fest I had hoped it would be.
The average “Nightmare on Elm Street” or “Friday the 13th” movie can have a few jokes, but “Freddy vs Jason” seemingly amped up the humor. For example, the rave scene where Jason shows up starts at with some laughs and then culminates with the best line of the movie “Dude, that goalie was pissed about something.”
And then there’s things like the scene where Freddy appears as a creepy caterpillar to get blazed with a stoner. A stoner that looks suspiciously like Jay from Jay and Silent Bob. This scene is also a good example of how this movie bounces between extreme absurdity and then some genuinely creepy stuff.
And then there are just some scenes that really just don’t hold up. I remember the Kia (Kelly Rowlands) death scene being a highlight of the movie. Watching it now, it’s still kind of funny, but the jokes have aged poorly. Also the crazy ragdoll that hits the tree is way more hilarious than I remember.
I’m sure some people will wonder why I consider “Freddy vs Jason” a guilty pleasure. Well, to be honest, when you break this movie a part I think it’s a bad “Nightmare on Elm Street” movie and a kind of hokey “Friday the 13th” movie. As the end result of the two properties being mashed together, though, it’s a fun movie. It perfectly emulates the feel of old Universal monster mash-up movies that were definitely not good representations of their individual monsters, but were incredibly fun affairs. Like, seeing the construction wrestling match in either movie alone would be kind of dumb, but in this movie it’s absolutely perfect.
