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A Nightmare at Camp Crystal Lake

Recently, at the San Diego Comic-Con, I had a chance to sit down with some of the cast, the writer, and the producer of the upcoming slasher-fest Freddy vs. Jason. Two of the most legendary icons in horror, both Freddy and Jason have cut a swath through both the box office and far too attractive teenagers in their respective careers. And now, for the first time, in what has to rightly be considered a historic meeting, the two icons will be going claws to machete in open combat. This is akin to when Dracula first met the Wolfman or when Godzilla threw down against King Kong. And being a bit of horror fanatic, it was an extra special treat to sit down with everybody involved with this project.

Those assembled included Sean Cunningham (creator of the Friday the 13th franchise), screenwriter Damian Shannon, Ken Kirzinger (Jason), and Robert Englund (Freddy). Producer Cunningham started off by talking about the long and complicated process of bringing this film to the screen.

"Obviously this is a film that fans have wanted to see for a long time," he began. "A what if story like this always springs up when you have two similarly prominent characters in a genre." Of course just because fans want it doesn't mean that it's automatically going to happen. For starters, there was the fact that the Friday the 13th franchise was owned by Paramount and the Nightmare series by New Line Cinema. And since the idea of rival studios actually sharing the costs and profits of a film is enough to make an accountant break out into a cold sweat, this pairing of Freddy and Jason would have to remain a fanboy dream.

Then a funny thing happened, Paramount surrendered the rights to the Friday series, uncomfortable with managing a major horror property. Which left New Line free to snap up the rights to the franchise, and suddenly the fanboy dream seemed like a real possibility. "Obviously we were excited at the idea of making this film," Cunningham explained. "The ending of Jason Goes to Hell clearly shows our intentions towards this." They had even had discussions with Wes Craven, the creator of the Nightmare franchise and arguably the most notable American horror director currently working, to come in helm the picture. "Of course," laughs Cunningham, "that's when Wes got the idea for his New Nightmare."

The release of the solo Freddy project The New Nightmare did put a temporary halt to the vs. movie being planned, as New Line didn't want to flood the market with these characters. With the success of the New Nightmare, the path seemed open to finally bring Freddy vs. Jason to life. Cunningham started taking script submissions, and was flooded with a deluge of scripts. Most of which were flawed in some capacity. "We either received a Friday movie featuring Freddy, or a Nightmare movie featuring Jason. And we wanted to be able to pay service to both franchises. And even when we received a script that balanced both franchises correctly, the protagonists weren't what we were looking for."

The plight of the protagonist is an often overlooked element of horror films to Cunningham. "While the monsters are definitely interesting," he concedes, "it's also impossible to form any true emotional attachment to them. They're killers."

Shannon agreed. "The main characters not only give the audience a true side to empathize with, but also serve as a necessary point of view for the audience to follow."

It's because of this that classic heroes Tommy Jarvis and Nancy Williams weren't written into the script. "If we're dealing with new heroes then their exploration of the history behind these characters can mirror those audience members who aren't necessarily familiar with the full history behind these two characters."

Which raises a good point, short of Jason in Space, it's been a long time since audiences have seen these characters grace the silver screen. So the fact that there is a generation of film goers who don't know that much about Freddy or Jason was turned into a strength, not a negative.

"This way the exposition is organic," explained Shannon. "Their personal histories are revealed without having to crudely cram them down the audience member's throat."

Which is all well and good, but let's get to the heart of the matter. How's the actual fight between Jason and Freddy?

"We wanted to be careful with this," explained Cunningham. "The whole movie couldn't be a protracted fight between Jason and Freddy, because then the fact that these two are meeting would lose some of its specialness. So it was a matter of doing service to the concept while still keeping it fresh."

Shannon was a little more forthcoming. "The final fight is pretty sweet I'd say. And while it offers a definitive end to this film, it doesn't necessarily offer a definitive end to the war between Freddy and Jason. If I've done my job right, then the audience will leave thinking the fight could easily go the other way should these two meet again."

Of course since there were three filmed endings, it's impossible to guess which way the film truly ends before its released in theatres.

"It'll make a nice DVD extra," laughed Cunningham.

When asked if they had any final comments regarding this film, Shannon had one more thing to add.

"I don't think horror fans will be disappointed. If nothing else the kill count is insanely high. It's been risen to meet the stature of both these characters. There's enough gore in here to fill three horror films."

Sounds good to me. Coming up will be the interview with Robert Englund and Ken Kirzinger as the stars of the film talk about what it's like to bring this epic battle to life, the natures of the characters, and even address the Kane Hodder controversy.

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