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15 Years Later, the Final Fight in ‘Freddy vs. Jason’ Remains One of Horror’s Greatest Gifts to Fans

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“You got what you wanted… you pulled Freddy out and now he’s fighting Jason… what more do you want?!” – Will to Lori, Freddy vs. Jason.

On this day 15 years ago, horror’s most epic battle spewed blood all over the big screen.

The seeds for Freddy vs. Jason were planted in the minds of horror fans back in 1993, when Jason Goes to Hell united the two horror icons on the big screen for the very first time. In the epic final moments of Adam Marcus’ film, Jason is literally dragged into Hell by Freddy (both characters played by Kane Hodder!), which made perfect sense given that Freddy had just been sent back to Hell two years prior in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. At long last, the two were shown to exist in the same universe, and New Line held the keys to both castles.

And then we waited. And waited. And waited some more.

In the 10 years that followed Jason Goes to Hell, countless different scripts were penned for a potential “Freddy vs. Jason” fight flick, but it wasn’t until 2003 that the battle promised in its unforgettable final scene was finally delivered. With a script penned by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, and Ronny Yu in the director’s chair, Freddy vs. Jason finally brought horror fan dreams to reality on the weekend of August 15, 2003. And the decade of waiting paid off in a big way, with a final fight that delivered the gruesome carnage we had been waiting for.

The concept for Freddy vs. Jason was a pretty ingenious one, with Robert Englund’s Freddy losing his dream powers due to the Elm Street kids no longer fearing him. In an attempt to restore that power, Freddy literally raises Ken Kirzinger’s Jason Voorhees from the dead, using him to do his bidding. Jason’s Elm Street murder spree does indeed imbue Freddy with his murderous powers once more, but he realizes that there’ll be nobody left for him to kill if Jason continues slashing up everyone in town. And so, the fight to rule Elm Street begins.

Throughout much of Freddy vs. Jason, Freddy and Jason are kept separate, but it’s when our group of intrepid heroes bring Freddy out of the nightmare world and into the physical reality Jason inhabits that they finally collide proper and deliver on the promise of the mash-up film’s title. For the last 20 minutes, Freddy and Jason tear each other apart.

With intense heavy metal raging in the background, the fight between Freddy and Jason begins in a fiery Camp Crystal Lake cabin, with Jason absolutely dominating his significantly smaller adversary. To Jason, Freddy is nothing more than a burnt-up ragdoll, and he tosses him all the way through the roof of an entirely different cabin. The fight picks up shortly thereafter in a different area of the campground, with Freddy starting to use his size, speed and smarts to his advantage. He feverishly slashes at Jason with his razor glove and then weaponizes air tanks by cutting off the ends and turning them into torpedoes, catapulting Jason into a nearby construction area. There, things get *really* bloody, with Freddy temporarily locking Jason in place by driving metal bars through his body and straight into the ground.

But it’s when the fight moves to the dock that Freddy vs. Jason truly delivers the goods.

It’s an all-out war on the dock, and Ronny Yu gleefully spills so much collective horror icon blood that it literally starts to paint the air red. Jason repeatedly hacks away at Freddy with his trusty machete, opening the dream demon’s body up like a gory sprinkler. But just as he’s about to deliver his final death blows, Freddy uses his glove to cut Jason’s fingers off, grabbing hold of his machete and giving him a taste of his own medicine. Freddy hacks and slashes Jason with both his glove and the masked maniac’s own machete, before digging his claws into Jason’s eyeballs. Jason gets the upper hand once more, however, tearing into Freddy’s chest with his bare hand and then ripping his right arm completely off with ease.

With Jason holding Freddy’s ripped off arm in his hand, the two get in their last licks; a one-armed Freddy stabs away at Jason with the machete, blood oozing out of both monsters.

Holy shit,” I remember thinking to myself in August 2003. “This… is… everything.”

The battle culminates after an explosion sets Freddy and Jason ablaze and shoots them off into Crystal Lake. Freddy eventually emerges first, still brandishing the machete. Right before he’s able to kill Monica Keena’s Lori, Jason triumphantly surfaces, stabbing Freddy through the chest with his own severed freakin’ arm. Lori then beheads Freddy with Jason’s machete.

Of course, nobody actually emerges from the bloody battle victorious, with Freddy’s severed head winking at the camera in the final moments and reminding that though he and Jason may have just torn each other apart, they’re both immortal maniacs who will live on no matter the damage they sustain in any given film. But watching the two most popular horror icons, from two entirely different franchises, at least *try* to kill one another remains one of the coolest things I have ever seen on the big screen. A thing that, up to that point, I never expected to see.

Fifteen years ago, it actually happened. And it was once-in-a-lifetime AWESOME.

Writer in the horror community since 2008. Editor in Chief of Bloody Disgusting. Owns Eli Roth's prop corpse from Piranha 3D. Has four awesome cats. Still plays with toys.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

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Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

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Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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