(Philip Morgan.Staff Writer)
Happy Post Halloween everybody. On this day after, I would like to take the time to talk about my 2 favorite horror movie killers. That would be Freddy Krueger and Jason Vorhees.
Now any fan of the genre knows about these slasher Legends, I am a real big fan of both. I used to be able to enjoy the Nightmare Franchise and The Friday the 13th Franchise separately, but I haven’t really been able to do that since 2003. At that time all horror fans questions about what a movie starring these 2 horror icons got answered. That answer was Freddy vs Jason and the result was just pure horrific fun. Both icons were well presented in the film and it had something that satisfied fans of both franchises. In my opinion this movie was very well executed and came out at just the right time. I don’t think they could have done these two icons any justice if they tried to pair them up in the 90s. The movie had few scares, but it was real big on laughs.
The story moves along really well, all the way to the point where Freddy and Jason fight. There are 2 pretty good fights between the killers, one in the dream world and Jason actually does a good job of holding his own, until Freddy figures out what Jason’s fears and The tables are turned towards Freddy’s favor. Freddy’s momentum is short lived, until he gets pulled into reality and the trick used to kill him in previous movies, for example Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, is used. Now with Jason being awake and Freddy in the real world it is more of a fair fight, since Freddy’s powers are limited. I say limited because if he was completely powerless he would be either dead or at least just a normal 56 year old man.
If he was just some regular 56 year old, I don’t think he would have been able to perform some of the karate moves he pulled off during the fight with Jason in the real world. So either Freddy retained some of his supernatural powers or Freddy was a Judo expert before he met his original demise. Needless to say after these guys tear each other apart ultimately the fight ends in a draw. Fans argue about details, but I would say the overall fight was a tie. Any normal person could probably enjoy the franchises normally, either watch Jason when they feel like it or Freddy. For me on the other hand I can’t do that. Now that these franchises share continuity I have to watch these movies in a specific way. It would be real simple if Freddy and Jason had the same amount of movies between them, but as of today excluding Freddy Vs Jason, There are 8 Freddy films and 11 Jason films including their respective remakes. Now in all fairness, Freddy is in each one of his movies. Jason is only in 9 of his, so he still beats Freddy by 1. This isn’t overly complicated and there are many ways to get around this, if you happen to be anal like me. Let’s take a look at the movies individually along with their release dates.
JASON’S FILMS-
Friday the 13th May 9 1980
Friday the 13th Part 2 May 1 1981
Friday the 13th Part 3 August 13 1982 (See what they did there)
Friday the 13th The Final Chapter April 13 1984 (They did it again, Final Right.)
Friday the 13th Part 5 A New Beginning March 22 1985
Friday the 13th Part 6 Jason Lives August 1 1986
Friday the 13th Part 7 The New Blood May 13 1988 (They did it Again.)
Friday the 13th Part 8 Jason Takes Manhatten July 28 1989
Jason Goes to Hell the Final Friday August 13 1993 (They did it Again, Final Right.)
Jason X April 26 2002
Friday The 13th Remake February 13th 2009 (They couldn’t resist.)
FREDDY’S FILMS-
Nightmare On Elm Street November 16 1984
Nightmare On Elm Street 2 Freddy’s Revenge November 1 1985
Nightmare On Elm Street 3 Dream Warriors February 27 1987
Nightmare On Elm Street 4 Dream Master August 19 1988
Nightmare On Elm Street 5 Dream Child August 11 1989
Freddy’s Dead The Final Nightmare September 13th 1991 (Hey this isn’t Friday the 13th! Final Right.)
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare October 14th 1994
Nightmare on Elm Street Remake April 30th 2010
Now if you want to just go chronologically you can watch the movies like this. This is perfectly reasonable. After all this is the way they came out.
Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th Part 2
Friday The 13th Part 3
Friday the 13th The Final Chapter
Nightmare on Elm Street
Friday the 13th Part 5 A New Beginning
Nightmare on Elm Street 2
Friday the 13th Part 6 Jason Lives
Nightmare on Elm Street 3 The Dream Warriors
Friday the 13th Part 7
Nightmare on Elm Street 4
Friday the 13th Part 8 Jason Takes Manhatten
Nightmare on Elm Street 5 Dream Child
Freddy’s Dead The Final Nightmare
Jason Goes to Hell The Final Friday
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
Jason X
Friday The 13th Remake
Nightmare On Elm Street Remake
Your probably thinking where is Freddy Vs Jason. Okay here is the list with that included.
Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th Part 2
Friday The 13th Part 3
Friday the 13th The Final Chapter
Nightmare on Elm Street
Friday the 13th Part 5 A New Beginning
Nightmare on Elm Street 2
Friday the 13th Part 6 Jason Lives
Nightmare on Elm Street 3 The Dream Warriors
Friday the 13th Part 7
Nightmare on Elm Street 4
Friday the 13th Part 8 Jason Takes Manhattan
Nightmare on Elm Street 5 Dream Child
Freddy’s Dead The Final Nightmare
Jason Goes to Hell The Final Friday
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
Jason X
**Freddy Vs Jason**
Friday The 13th Remake
Nightmare On Elm Street Remake
There is another way to do it. If you ignore Friday the 13th Part 1 and Part 5, you eliminate the movies that didn’t include Jason. Unless you count his well-executed jump scare at the end of the first movie. Anyway you exclude those 2 you have 9 Jason Films to 8 Freddy Films and Jason is still beating him by one. We can jump the shark and include the Nightmare on Elm Street Series Freddy’s Nightmares that came out in 1988 and squeeze that in there to take the place of a movie. Even though it is an anthology series with Freddy as the Crypt keeper of the show, there are a few episodes where he is the focus and you would be perfectly even.
Friday The 13th 2
Nightmare on Elm Street
Friday the 13th 3
Nightmare on Elm Street 2
Friday the 13th The Final Chapter
Nightmare on Elm Street 3
Friday the 13th 6 Jason Lives
Nightmare on Elm Street 4
Friday The 13th Part 7 Jason Lives
Nightmare on Elm Street 5
Friday the 13th Part 8
**Freddy’s Nightmares**
Jason Goes to Hell The Final Friday
Freddy’s Dead The Final Nightmare
Jason X
New Nightmare
Freddy vs Jason
Friday the 13th Remake
Nightmare on Elm Street Remake
There you go 9 Jason’s, 9 Freddy’s, and 1 movie where they both star. That could work, but who really wants to skip movies. Friday the 13th may not have Jason as the killer, but his entire origin is mentioned in that film and you really want to know what’s going on there. Friday the 13th Part 5, even though Jason is not the killer, the movie is fun to watch. There are things that they mention in this movie that makes me feel that this movie doesn’t take place in the same world as the others. For instance someone mentions that there is no possible way that the killer can be Jason because his body was cremated. That completely contradicts what happens in Friday the 13th Part 6, because he is buried and they are digging him up in order to cremate him, then the lightning brings him back to life just like the Frankenstein’s Monster. I wouldn’t really recommend this method, but I think it is still a fun option.
Now the list below is the way I enjoy the Freddy and Jason Franchises. I do it this way in order to keep things more even. As you can see Jason gets 4 movies, 3 of which where he is the killer before Freddy even gets his first film and I let Freddy go through his first 3 films to even out the playing field so to speak. Then there are 2 Friday the 13th between Nightmare 3 and 4, because Jason is not the killer in number Friday 5 that is a copycat killer. Jason doesn’t officially return until Friday 6, so that makes it a bit even. Then from there it goes Freddy, Jason, Freddy, Jason, Freddy, Jason until each respective franchise ends. Even with the Freddy glove that popped up at the end of Jason Goes to hell, I never really considered it cannon, but just a joke. Freddy makes his return to the silver screen in Wes Craven’s A New Nightmare. This is a different depiction of Freddy, but it is still Freddy. Then Jason returns to his Franchise after a 9 year rest in Jason X or as Josh and I like to call it “Friday the 13th Part 10:Jason Takes The Cosmos”. This Jason gets an upgrade at the end of this film that kind of Mirror Freddy’s alteration in his Film. So both slashers were reinvented in a way. Then I watch the Nightmare Remake. I know that this came out after Friday’s Remake, but Jason just had a turn in Jason X so Freddy’s is up. Then I watch the Friday Remake, then I watch Freddy vs Jason. I feel both franchises should end with these Super Stars of Horror fighting. It’s the cherry on top of both properties. Also, I feel that Freddy needs to end with Robert England. Jackie is okay, but I don’t think he was quite up to the challenge of trying to fill Freddy’s Glove.
Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th Part 2
Friday the 13th Part 3
Friday the 13th Part 4
Nightmare on Elm Street
Nightmare on Elm Street 2
Nightmare on Elm Street 3
Friday the 13th Part 5
Friday the 13th Part 6
Nightmare on Elm Street 4
Friday the 13th Part 7
Nightmare on Elm Street 5
Friday the 13th Part 8
Freddy’s Dead The Final Nightmare
Jason Goes to Hell The Final Friday
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
Jason X
Nightmare On Elm Street Remake
Friday the 13th Remake
Freddy vs Jason
So there you have it folks. That is how I enjoy the Freddy and Jason movies. In the end it doesn’t really matter how these films are viewed what matters is that they are enjoyed. Now go and enjoy the rest of your post Halloween Night.
(Edits By Joshua Gilmore-Staff Writer)
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