Freddy vs. Jason might not have received such warm reception if they kept their evil cult storyline, which was a failing point for the Halloween franchise's Cult of Thorn, from earlier drafts of the movie's script.
The slasher sub-genre of horror is responsible for many iconic characters, but few have created such a legacy as A Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger and Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees. The two characters combined have dozens of movies, and have accumulated hundreds of kills in their respective franchises. A new level of excitement was reached over the prospect of these two titans coming to blows with each other in the shared horror universe of Freddy vs. Jason.
It wasn’t easy to bring together Camp Crystal Lake’s machete-wielding murderer with Elm Street’s deranged Springwood Slasher. A lot of writers took a crack at Freddy vs. Jason, and as a result, dozens of diverse drafts were considered before the final version was decided on. The end product tells a story where a weakened Freddy Krueger utilizes Jason Voorhees to make the public frightened of him again, but one of the film’s earlier storylines involves a plot that would ultimately end up in a Halloween sequel.
Many unique ideas were considered for Freddy vs. Jason, but the approach taken by Lewis Abernathy in his draft, Nightmare 13: Freddy Meets Jason, incorporates an evil cult. This cult plot would stick around through many versions of Freddy vs. Jason, and progressed to the point that there were a series of disaffected teenagers - known as “Fred-Heads” - who worship Freddy. The Fred-Heads dress like Freddy, burn themselves, and abuse sleeping pills all so they can personally meet their idol. This cult strives to increase Freddy awareness and bring him back into the world, which is where Jason comes in. In this version, Jason was intended to be the opposing force who’s meant to stop Krueger’s return. The premise of a world that needs to be reminded of Freddy Krueger’s frightening nature remains in the finished Freddy vs. Jason, but it explores it in a much more grounded way than by using deranged cultists.
This Fred-Head storyline became increasingly problematic due to the evil cult's leader, Dominick Cochran. The presence of another antagonist drew attention away from Freddy and Jason and made them secondary villains. This exact problem is encountered in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, which turns the malevolent Myers into a puppet for the Cult of Thorn’s bidding. It’s a direction that fans hated for Halloween, and was ret-conned out of the franchise completely. It’s easy to imagine audiences getting even more frustrated with it in Freddy vs. Jason. Villains like Freddy and Jason aren’t invincible, but Freddy vs. Jason is proof that they work best when they’re allowed to be themselves and let loose rather than be someone else’s tool of destruction.
