I knew while watching the first dozen Nightmare on Elm Street films and the first three Friday the 13th movies, I knew firsthand that this iconic face-off movie for the ages would be my monthly recommendation for the month of October. Freddy vs. Jason was one of the very first ever, movie grudge matches of the ages, literally long before Batman v. Superman or even Captain America clashed with Iron Man in Civil War. I've mentioned Alien vs. Predator almost a year ago now and having re-watched this incredibly amazing and entertaining, slasher film I have to say that Freddy vs. Jason is defiantly one of the greatest crossovers, grudge match films of all time better than Alien vs. Predator and a hundred times better than Batman v. Superman.
Two horror icons face off in this supernatural movie. Disfigured serial killer Freddy Kruger (Robert Englund), who if you haven't seen the Nightmare films he kills kids in their dreams, has lost much of his power since citizens of his town have become less afraid of him. Enlisting the help of fellow violent murderer Jason Voorhees (Ken Kirzinger), Freddy orchestrates a new killing spree. However, when Jason can't stop killing Freddy's intended victims, the two ghouls start to battle each other.
This film was no-doubt my first introduction into the character of Freddy Kruger and his ability to be a dream weaving killer, while this was my second film of Jason Voorhees hence Jason X, and being a high school student in the 2003, this film was on cable TV numerous times and I would watch this film constantly mainly getting ready for the fight scenes between Freddy and Jason but again growing up with numerous slasher films like Scream and I know what you did last Summer as well as Jason X, I wasn't really caring a whole lot of the human characters because let's be honest slasher films from nineties to 2000's, the human characters never made the wisest choices and that's always been the typical horror/slasher aspects of the these movies. And sure the movie was scary-ish especially with this movie, there were some elements where either the dad is being terrifying or Robert Englund doing what he does best does give some frights but with this movie, you for sure have the best of both worlds with scares, comedy and action either way I love the way this movie turned out and even re-watching the film now is like a breath of fresh air, and for me growing up in the nineties and 2000's, this was amazing to watch. This was Robert Englund's final performance as Freddy Kruger, and this man delivers the performance of a life time, like sure he was amazing in the first Nightmare and was scary, but through the course of the sequels he really wasn't in all of the films and was a bit meh if you can look at some of the sequels, but with this movie it's like he told the director Ronny Yu, that this was his final movie and I'm going to have the best time of my life. Moreover Englund delivers both a scary portrayal of his character especially in the intro of the movie but through the course of the movie you can tell he's delivering a comedic performance as well and the guy did a good portion of the stunt work so, he was in his mid-fifties and really that man was no doubt in the best shape of his life, either way this movie was a great send off or a great dropping of the mic and leaving the character he's played for a long time. If you replaced Robert Englund's portrayal of Freddy Kruger I don't think you would get an entertainingly, guilty pleasure, you just can't especially at that time I mean if you replaced Englund then all the fans would go on a riot. But with the character of Jason I mean if you just cast a tall guy to play that role then you're all set, but even after the short lived reboots these characters are like past movie ghouls and nobody cared for them which in all fairness Freddy vs. Jason was no doubt the best send off for both franchises and delivered in the best way possible. The other thing in what makes this film great is that it has a storyline that any audience member who has not seen a Elm Street or Friday the 13th film can get into it, though I'm not say to dismiss watching all the Nightmare franchise or Friday the 13th films I'm just say for people who don't know a whole lot about these characters, the story takes care of itself by explaining them in the best way possible by explaining Freddy's backstory from the previous films and Jason well he's a walking zombie who loves his mother. But more importantly the writers developed a good solid story with combining a list of good source material from the third Nightmare film to make the storyline more interesting and the police force such horrible human beings to which really if you watch this film you'll slowly see how bad and horrible the police force are to their citizens, moreover shows the scary notion of the cops not protecting their own citizens. Look all I can tell you is that it's been a long time since I watched Freddy vs. Jason and this film alone brought back amazing memories when these types of films were made to be a guilty pleasure and for me personally this film ages like fine wine especially when it was an hour and thirty-five minutes long movie. If you're looking for a movie that gets straight to the point with combination of horror, comedy and action Freddy vs. Jason I would highly recommend watching on Hulu and HBO Max for the month of October for which, was a great treat to watch especially since this was Robert Englund's final performance as Freddy Kruger and really you can't top a better sendoff performance especially when it comes to Robert Englund's film career. And really movies like this, sure it’s goofy and ridicules but you have to look at it for what it is, and it’s not supposed to be a serious movie or highly scary or disturbing furthermore if your looking for a movie like this then just watch Craven’s first Nightmare film, but if your looking for a movie that you can turn your brain off and just have a good time watching dumb humans making bad choices when it comes to serial killers coming after you. Moreover you can’t have your kids watch this movie but when they get older to like a teenager age then they would for sure be entertained by this great, guilty pleasure.