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| Freddy vs Jason DVD Review |
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Order this DVD from Amazon.com
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Freddy vs Jason
(New Line Home Entertainment)
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| DVD Release Date:
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January 13, 2003
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| Length:
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98 mins.
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| Rated:
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R
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| Format:
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Widescreen (2.35:1), Full Screen (1.33:1)
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| Audio:
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English Dolby Digital EX 5.1 Surround Sound, English Stereo Surround Sound
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| Subtitles:
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English, Spanish, Closed Captioned
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| Extras:
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Disc 1: Commentary by Director Ronny Yu, Robert Englund and Ken Kirzinger, Jump to a Death Menu Option Disc 2: Deleted/Alternate Scenes with Optional Commentary, Behind-the-Scenes Coverage of the Film's Development, Visual Effects Exploration, Storyboards and Galleries, Trailers, TV Spots, "How Can I Live" Music Video by Ill Nino, DVD-ROM Content
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Freddy vs. Jason. Fans have been waiting for this one for years - it's been in development for years - and this past August, it finally came to life on the big screen. Was it worth the wait? Sure. Personally (and I know I'm gonna burn in hell for admitting this) I've never seen an Elm Street flick. I've seen bits and pieces of a few of them, but I've never sat through one from beginning to end. Friday the 13th on the other hand, I've seen several of them - several times. I did, however, manage to see this one in the theater and was relatively entertained. (Okay, I had a little trouble sleeping that night.) Anyways, the DVD is now on shelves, and definitely worth picking up for fans of either franchise.
In Freddy vs. Jason, the kids of Elm Street have forgotten all about Freddy Krueger. So, Freddy enlists the help of Jason Voorhees to strike fear into the hearts of these kids. This gets the townsfolk to start talking about Freddy, and gives him the power to come back. Problem is, that once Jason starts killing, he can't stop. So now that Jason won't get off Freddy's turf, Freddy has to get rid of him himself - not an easy task. So, after a few decent kills and about 75% of the movie, the two horror titans go head to head - once in the Dreamscape and once at Camp Crystal Lake. As for the winner - well, it isn't that clear (sequel?) but in the end, there's enough mayhem, blood and nudity to keep almost everybody happy. Was I happy? Sure. As an "outsider" the movie satisfied. I'm sure there are some diehard fans out there ready to pick this one apart, but that's bound to happen. One major complaint - the rest of the story and characters were kinda weak (although they moved the plot along) and again, the action everybody wanted didn't start soon enough, but I think in the end, the box office numbers prove that there was enough interest (ie. money) to make this one a success.
For the DVD release, New Line has put together a decent little 2-disc edition here. To start off disc one, the you have the choice of viewing the movie in in either its widescreen of full screen presentation. For audio, we get Dolby Digital EX 5.1 Surround Sound, which is just incredible. You can really get the effect of the machetes and the blades plus, as gory as it may seem, the spurting blood (of which there is a lot) sounds fantastic. The audio commentary, provided by director Ronny Yu and actors Robert Englund (Freddy) and Ken Kirzinger (Jason) was pretty good, even though Englund pretty much hogged the entire commentary. Nothing really wrong with that, since he's fascinating to listen to, but it just seemed one-sided at times. Still, Ronny Yu did have some good insights into the making of the film (mostly with the scenes that were shot at night, and how they were rushed to finish before daylight) and we hear bits and pieces about the filming in Vancouver. I wished Kirzinger had spoken more, but since this was his first appearance as Jason Voorhees (other than stunt work performed in Jason Takes Manhattan) he didn't bring as much history to the role - which is probably why Englund seemed to have so much more to say. Definitely worth a listen. The only other extra on the first disc is a "Jump to a Death" feature, which is pretty self explanatory - and fun.
On disc two, there are a bunch of other features, the highlight of which are some deleted scenes, including an alternate opening and ending. The alternate opening wasn't that much different - and was better left cut. The alternate ending, which was cut because test audiences didn't approve, was interesting to check out, but I agree that the actual ending was more appropriate. As for the rest of the deleted scenes, they mostly deal with the other characters, not Freddy and Jason, so don't bother here if you're looking for more from your favorite villains. There is also the option of watching the scenes with commentary from Ronny Yu and executive producer Douglas Curtis. Here, we learn the most scenes were cut due to length/pacing issues, or because they failed to work with test audiences. This is interesting because it shows how the filmmakers tried to please the fans. There's also an interesting hidden feature here - if you select "Main" and press the "up arrow" twice, you get to hear from some of the people involved in the film about another alternate ending that was never filmed. Be sure to check this out - it would have been nice to see on film.
Next up on disc two, is the part dealing with the production of the film. First up is an article from horror magazine Fangoria, which goes into great detail about how long it took to get this movie made. As far back as 1993 there were several versions of the script, and the article goes in-depth as to how the story changed over time, and who was responsible for what changes, and how the final draft came to be. Divided into two parts, the article is a bit long (part one is 37 pages and part two is 41 pages) but it is time well spent. There is some great material here.
Next are a group of featurettes dealing with the production of the film. The first, titled "Genesis: Development Hell" basically goes over a lot of the stuff from the Fangoria article - just in video format. Running just over 10 minutes, the gem here is hearing from director Ronny Yu towards the end. He seems a lot more dynamic here than he did in the commentary on disc one. Second is "On Location: Springwood Revisited" which is a series of behind the scenes shots from the making of the film. This one is a bit strange, because it doesn't really follow a specific format or structure - it's just a series of scenes with an occasional interview. Nothing too interesting here. Next is "Art Direction: Jason's Decorating Tips" where they talk about differentiating between the real world and the dream world and go into detail about some of the sets used for the film. I'm a bit confused as to why they called it "Jason's Decorating Tips" since Jason had little-to-nothing to do with this feature? The next featurette focuses on the stunts and is titled "Stunts: When Push Comes To Shove". This is the longest of the featurettes running just over 20 minutes. The majority deals with the scene where Jason walks through the corn field engulfed in flames, and although there's a lot of good material here for those interested, it definitely could have been shorter. Of note, there is a brief appearance here by Ken Kirzinger who, besides his work in the commentary, is noticeably absent from the remaining features. Finally, there is a featurette titled "Make-Up Effects: Freddy's Beauty Secrets". The make-up and effects are obviously a big part of a production like this, and the people behind the scenes deserve their props. This featurette does a good job of showing off their work.
Next, there is a series of visual effects featurettes, consisting of looks at some key sequences from the film and how they were accomplished. You are given the option of watching them all at once, or choosing from the specific effects. Running just over a half hour, there is a lot of good material here, and the effects supervisor and producer, who bring us on the journey, seem really involved in their work, and their passion makes the feature quite enjoyable.
Finally, for the production features, there are some galleries. The first set deals with storyboards from the film and the second set shows a combination of behind-the-scenes and concept art shots. There's a lot here, so beware - it takes some time to go through.
I should also note a couple of other hidden feature here. On the main "Production" title highlight the first part of the Fangoria article. Press the "right arrow" and you get a short behind the scenes clip titled "Cabin Fever" which really only serves to show what a bad actress Kelly Rowland is. Second, enter "Visual Effects Featurettes". Once there, press the "right arrow" and you'll get a couple of pre-visualization features.
Head to the "Publicity and Promotion" section of the disc and there are a number of great features. The first is the pre-fight press conference held at Bally's Casino in Las Vegas that helped hype the film. Next, you'll find the theatrical trailer, a series of TV Spots, a music video, some previews for some other New Line titles and finally, a featurette titled "My Summer Vacation: A Visit to Camp Hacknslash". This shows clips from the world premiere presentation of Freddy vs. Jason - watch closely for an appearance by Ain't It Cool's Harry Knowles.
Insert disc one in you DVD-ROM drive and there's some more content, including a script-to-screen feature where you can read the script along with the film and an enhanced viewing feature, where you can watch the movie along with a trivia track. It promises a prize at the end, but I guess my knowledge of Freddy/Jason trivia is pretty weak, so I couldn't find the prize. On the second disc, there's some cool sound bites from the film that you can use next time you feel like prank calling someone and an editing activity, where you can rearrange different scenes from Freddy and Jason's fight in the dream world.
All in all, a nicely loaded DVD. Knowing a bit about both franchises, but also as somebody who isn't that much into the history of it all, the movie was enough to keep me entertained. Sure, the acting wasn't great at times, but you don't go into this type of movie for the acting. And even though the final showdown didn't happen until late in the film, it was well worth the wait. And for features here, the filmmakers did a great job of documenting the process of bringing these two super-villains together and showcasing what kind of work went into the final product. The DVD is a great addition to the film and should be enough to keep even the biggest fans satisfied.
| The Movie: |
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7/10 |
| The Extras: |
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8/10 |
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