Freddy vs. Jason

For the first time since Scream, the slasher genre shows signs of life (pardon the pun) in this franchise merger that pits hockey-masked psycho Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th movies against A Nightmare on Elm Street's dream-invading bimbo-killer Freddy Krueger and his knife-blade glove. The scenes in which these two unstoppable supernatural slayers are literally at each other's throats prove to be everything horror fans could hope for as they beat, hack, and toss each other around, first in Freddy's dream realm (where the burn-scarred nutcase has tapped into Jason's subconscious), and later at Jason's home turf of Camp Crystal Lake after Freddy has been drawn into the real world. Their super-violent showdowns are like John Woo fight scenes with all the elegance sucked out and replaced with brutal fury. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is largely the same tired old crap--25-year-old half-talents playing unconvincing high-schoolers stalked in the dark by one or the other of our killers. Why couldn't the creativity have been stretched beyond just the pitch concept? Optional. [Note: DVD extras on this double-disc set include audio commentary by director Ronny Yu, and costars Robert Englund (“Freddy”) and Ken Kirzinger (“Jason”); a 13-segment “Jump to a Death” option (with “kill all” and “random death” features); 20 deleted/alternate scenes (with optional commentary by Yu and executive producer Douglas Curtis); a two-part article from Fangoria magazine (Pt. 1, “Freddy & Jason Go to Development Hell” in the September 2003 issue; Pt. 2, “Slicing Towards Completion” in the October 2003 issue); featurettes including “Genesis: Development Hell” (10 min.), “On Location: Springwood Revisited” (15 min.), “Art Direction: Jason's Decorating Tips” (11 min.), “Stunts: When Push Comes to Shove” (22 min.), and “Makeup Effects: Freddy's Beauty Secrets” (4 min.); a visual effects tour of key sequences with visual effects supervisor Ariel Velasco-Shaw and visual effects producer Kevin Elam (12 segments, 32 min.); storyboard and production galleries (with concept art, behind-the-scenes, and location photos); a four-minute “Pre-Fight Press Conference” segment at Bally's Casino in Las Vegas (July 15, 2003); a four-minute “My Summer Vacation: A Trip to Camp Hacknslash” world premiere outdoor screening segment; the music video “How Can I Live”  by Ill Nino; trailers; TV spots; Easter egg segments; and DVD-ROM features. Bottom line: a whopping extras package for a somewhat disappointing hack-n-slash flick.] (R. Blackwelder)