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FREDDY VS JASON (2003) Director: Ronny Yu. Hacktors: Robert Englund, Ken Kirzinger and, uh, Destiny's Child's Kelly Rowland. Rating: Tag-line: 'Winner Kills All' (US). Death Toll: It was possibly around 17, but it's hard to say. I'll get back to you. Cutting Remarks: Good God, I've been waiting for this movie for what feels like half my life. It's actually a third, given that it's now a decade since Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday. I bought an early script for the movie on the streets of New York - the one with agents Cobain and Reznor (hey, youth culture references!) - and then waited. And waited. As I bought my ticket for this one, I couldn't believe I was actually about to see it. Thankfully, following the disturbing news that longstanding Jason actor Kane Hodder had been replaced by Kirzinger, Freddy Vs Jason is no disappointment.          I may as well put my cards on the table right now, and say that I was always going to be backing Mr Voorhees in this bout. I like Freddy and the Nightmare On The Elm Street movies - hey, I bought the Region 1 DVD box-set - but surreal dreams will never pack the visceral punch of Jason's machete. Plus, everyone's favourite goalie just looks better, full-stop. The good news for we Jason fans, then, is that he has at least as much screen time as Freddy and is used very effectively. In fact, the gore reminds me of the uncut Jason Goes To Hell in its OTT nastiness.          Given the difficulty of marrying together Jason's real world (whether he's supernatural or not) and Freddy's dream world, the storyline is quite creative. Freddy masquerades as Jason's mother, in order to talk him into killing kids on Elm Street. The idea is that Freddy thrives on fear, and needs that fear instilled back into his victims, in order for him to make a return from Hell. What follows is a highly impressive bloodbath, shot brilliantly by Yu and only falling flat on a couple of unbelievable script lines. At one point, our virginal heroine Lori offers, 'Freddy died in fire and Jason died in water. How can we use that?'. The script also suffers from the heroes working out what's going on, in order to remind the audience once again. You get the impression that the film-makers didn't overly rate their audience's IQ, but they have certainly pulled out all the stops to deliver the horror goods here. Among the film's many good moves is to re-establish that Freddy is a child-killer - while he remains a source of comical one-liners, this Freddy seems a lot more evil than he has occasionally been before. And the bad moves? Jason dreaming isn't the most believable of occurences - and the only moment that had me shaking my head in disbelief came when he started drowning in his sleep and our group of disposable teens decide that giving him mouth-to-mouth is a good idea! Bad, bad, bad.          The final battle? At times, its frenetic nature makes it resemble Tom & Jerry, but it's definitely what any horror movie fan has been waiting for. Freddy and Jason get pretty vicious with each other towards the end, with severed limbs and gouged eyes a-go-go. This we like. And while the closing shot is utterly ludicrous, it's also a brilliantly enduring image. On a final note, though, it has to be said that there still appears to be no reason why Hodder couldn't have played Jason here. Kirzinger certainly doesn't 'act' any more than Hodder - possibly less, in fact - and while his eyes have been made more mongoloid, in-keeping with Jason's origins, that's surely down to make-up more than the "emoting" which New Line execs originally said they were looking for. Most Memorable Demise: Annoyingly, a couple which I only half saw, after running back from the gents'! Jason murders two people in a sudden, shock scene, which I can't wait to see properly... Look Out For: A fantastic scene in a cornfield. Here, Jason gatecrashes a rave while on fire and sets about hacking various party-goers. Probably the most people Jason's ever killed in one go. Definitely a scene for the Voorhees fanboy. Oh, and Fangoria's 'Freddy Vs Jason' special magazine is also well worth buying for fans. Killer Quote: "How sweet. Dark meat. " - Freddy shows his racist side as he turns on Kia (Rowland). DVD Extras: Plenty of stuff - all the making of action you can eat, plus alternate scenes, deleted scenes and an audio commentary featuring Ronny Yu, Robert Englund and Ken Kirzinger. Release Date: Hit US and UK theatres on August 15, 2003. Out now on DVD everywhere. [Check it out at Amazon US] [Check it out at Amazon UK] [Reviews Menu] [Check it out at Amazon US] [Check it out at Amazon UK]