Almost 20 years after the original Friday the 13th franchise's face-off could work. Freddy Vs Jason was not critically acclaimed upon release in 2003. Although some reviewers found director Ronny Yu’s slasher comedy to be a reasonably fun romp, Freddy Vs Jason was accused of being an overly-familiar retread of both franchise’s gory glory days, according to critical consensus.
However, for the Nightmare On Elm Street and Friday the 13th franchises, a return to formula was no bad thing. Alice Cooper’s Freddy’s Dead cameo proves that later sequels had strayed far from what made the original Nightmare On Elm Street work. As such, the familiar elements of Freddy Vs Jason’s formula were a lot of what made the movie so successful in relation to their two franchises.
Almost twenty years later, there has been no recent word of a potential Freddy Vs Jason sequel. The sequel’s delays were initially chalked up to a range of issues, from the muted critical reception of Freddy Vs Jason to Robert Englund no longer playing Freddy Krueger - all prior to the legal quagmire that the Friday the 13th series became embroiled in. However, the question of whether Freddy Vs Jason 2 would even work in 2022 is also worth considering. Much like a Friday the 13th franchise reboot could ironically be better off without Jason Voorhees as its central villain, canceling Freddy Vs Jason 2 altogether and focusing on the two franchises separately could be the best path for both Nightmare On Elm Street and Friday the 13th’s creators to take going forward.
Why Freddy Vs Jason Succeeded
While largely derided by critics, Freddy Vs Jason was an unambiguous hit with audiences. Grossing over $110 million on a budget of just $30 million, Freddy Vs Jason was a box office smash upon release, and even its poor reviews have retroactively been revisited, with numerous horror publications citing the slasher face-off as an unfairly maligned cult classic in recent years. The reason for Freddy Vs Jason’s success is multifaceted and, as such, hard for the creators of either franchise to recreate. For one thing, Freddy Vs Jason arrived at just the right time in of tone. The post-ironic slasher horror movie trend was declining but had not yet ended, while both franchises had been dormant a few years but not long enough for people to forget about Freddy and Jason altogether.
This, combined with the fact that there hadn’t been a massive mainstream slasher success since 2000's Scream 3, meant that viewers were primed for a comeback from two of the subgenre's titans. Freddy and Jason both had built-in fanbases, meaning Freddy Vs Jason didn’t need to win over new viewers, and the flippant, semi-comedic tone of the movie was perfect for fans who grew up watching the original slashers as young teens and were now a little more mature and detached. Thus, Freddy Vs Jason succeeded because of perfect timing and a tone that nailed the then-popular balance between gore and humor.
The Friday the 13th Franchise Has Been On Hiatus
The Friday the 13th remake was surprisingly good prior to the franchise's legal disputes, the movie was also a self-contained adventure that didn’t invite further sequels or spinoffs, thus putting a discouraging distance between Freddy Vs Jason and its potential sequel.
Why A Nightmare On Elm Street Reboot Hasn’t Happened
Although the Nightmare On Elm Street is in less of a legal mess than Friday the 13th, the series still has its own complications. Original creator Wes Craven’s death in 2015, along with the 2010s failed Robert England, is busy with Stranger Things season 4, and the odds of Freddy Vs Jason 2's production appear longer and longer.
Why Freddy Vs Jason 2 Could Work In 2022
Horror-comedy hits like Fear Street prove there is an interest in darker R-rated slasher horror, too. As a result, there is good reason to believe that Freddy Vs Jason 2 could succeed in 2022 given the groundwork laid by the first film in 2003. However, this analysis doesn’t illustrate the whole picture for the two struggling slasher franchises.
Why Freddy Vs Jason 2 Wouldn’t Work In 2022
Both franchises have been out of sight and mind for a long time, meaning Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees don’t have the instant name recognition they once did. Nightmare On Elm Street also can't replicate Halloween 2018’s success by simply rebooting the series and ignoring everything after the original movie, meaning both franchises must contend with their muddled chronologies and complex lore if a new movie is added to their mythos. That in itself would be no small feat, and combining the two series with Freddy Vs Jason 2 would be even more complicated than reviving the Friday the 13th or Nightmare On Elm Street franchises alone.
Will There Ever Be Another Slasher Showdown?
Freddy Vs Jason is likely to be the only slasher showdown in horror history, mostly because there are no other franchise stars as famous and directly comparable as Freddy and Jason. Nightmare On Elm Street franchise’s bizarre humor dovetailed with the simple slasher story of Friday the 13th perfectly, making their eventual combination an opportunity too good for producers to up. However, both Friday the 13th and Nightmare On Elm Street have been dormant too long for viewers to be excited by a sequel, meaning Freddy Vs Jason will likely always be the lone case of two famous slasher villains facing off onscreen.
