This is the kind of horror film one dreads and spends a lot of time
cursing its very existence…until one actually sits down to watch it.
Unpretentious and mostly free of self-reflexivity, this Ronny Yu flick
ends up better than it has any right to be.
The kids of Elm Street are being drugged so as to forget the nightmare tormenter Freddy Krueger, something that has worked especially well until
Freddy, languishing in Hell, comes up with an idea. Resurrect Camp Crystal
Lake killer Jason Voorhees to scare the bejesus out of locals and make
them utter Freddy’s name again once the body count rises. Monica Keena,
who played rich bitch Abby Morgan on “Dawson’s Creek” (It’s best not to
ask how I know that) is the big-breasted, virginal heroine, and Kelly
Rowland is the ‘Dawn, whack, yo, a’ight?’ African American
stereotype…er…best friend. But these guys aren’t all that interesting,
what’s interesting to ponder is, How long with Jason let Freddy use him as
his bitch? How long will Freddy let Jason have all the fun while he’s
waiting on the sideline for his powers to be rejuvenated?
I really figured this was going to be a dog. I mean, we’ve been getting far too many self-referential horror films, far too many tired sequels,
and far too many horror films that skimp on the violence and nudity to get
a more ‘welcoming’ rating from the Classification Board morons. Add to
that the gimmick of pitting two monster against one another, a gimmick
that didn’t even work in “King Kong vs. Godzilla”, one of the least of the
Toho series. But, although it cannot be the same as the 70s and 80s
slasher films I grew up with (we live in different times), it’s as close
as one can get- and it’s bloody too. Bloody good fun, with some
interesting gore moments (and you just gotta love that opening recap of
previous Freddy kills), and even my old friend Mr. Nudity (or is that
Ms.?) pays us a visit. It ain’t Valhalla, but hell, it’ll do for now.
On the humour front, there’s certainly some fun to be had, and I’m
definitely more of a Freddy fan than a Jason fan (especially the third Elm
Street film), but even I found that drug-fuelled hallucination involving
the Jason Mewes rip-off character was incredibly dumb and just plain
weird. It’s the one surreal touch Yu gives us that seems out of place, the
rest of the time, his direction is pretty inventive (even Katharine
Isabelle‘s shower scene- now there‘s an uninhibited actress- is shot
interestingly, and not just a “Psycho“ retread), and creates a nice,
unsettling, almost other-worldly atmosphere (especially in the colour
scheme).
Look, I haven’t really spoken much about what happens in the film, because it really is just more of the same, with a few twists here and there- and
that’s how I like it. An old-school horror flick, except done with more
skill (it even made me jump a few times…but then again, so did “The
Goonies”) and a larger budget than most of the old slasher films. And the
subplot involving the kids of Elm Street being drugged was quite
fascinating for this sort of thing. This is the movie that very nearly
makes up for having to sit through “Jason X”, “Halloween Resurrection”,
and “Hellraiser: Inferno”. Very nearly.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Pretty much the best horror flick of the last few years, but that’s like
saying “Halloween: Resurrection” wasn’t as bad as “Jason X”. It‘s worth
watching simply because I didn‘t think it could still be done, and done
reasonably well.
