This movie really got on my nerves, because it ignored the finale chapters in the evolution of both of the title characters.
It starts with Freddy resurrecting Jason, because he needs people to fear him in order to gain power, so that he could return. The thing is, he did it by just “convincing” Jason to come back, at which point Jason rose from his grave. Wait. Back up a minute. Grave? Jason Vorhees was definitively killed by a family member. Not to mention his body was blown to pieces. So how was Jason once again whole, and in a grave? And if he could come back at any time, why didn’t he? Seems like a pretty cheap cop-out way to bring him back.
Then there’s Freddy. Freddy got his power from people fearing him. That much is true. However, in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Friday, they finally revealed how it is that he keeps coming back, no matter what they do to him: he wasn’t just a restless spirit, he had made a pact with three dream demons. The pact allowed Freddy to “be forever” in people’s dreams. The thing is, Freddy’s daughter brought him into the real world, where he could be killed. He was blown up, and when that happened, the dream demons left him, and THAT is why he couldn’t come back. He no longer had his demonic “backers.” So how is he now still empowered?
Moving forward, apparently, all the adults in the town of Springwood know of and acknowledge Freddy’s existence (though, apparently, an entire town of adults remember him wasn’t enough to empower him) as a supernatural evil, but, instead of moving away from what they know to be a cursed town, they decide to cover it up by quarantining any kid who learns about Freddy, and giving them drugs that prevent them from dreaming (which, FYI, would in reality cause a person to go insane). They hid all records of any Freddy-related deaths, and none of them speak of it. Riiight.
Then there’s the comment that “Freddy died by fire, Jason by water.” Did the writers even WATCH the final movies of those two series? Really, that should be a requirement before re-launching a series. Then there’s the scene where Freddy makes Jason revert to his childhood state by pouring water on him. This happened in first in Friday The 13th Part VIII, Jason Takes Manhattan. It was also one of the many reason I put that movie on my list of the worst sequels of all time (see the list here: http://www.flixster.com/movie-list/worst-sequels-of-all-time-2). It really didn’t make any sense, and was never explained why that actually happened. And the idea of Jason being afraid of Water seems a little strange to me, considering he practically lived in Camp Crystal Lake.
As a few people have said, the one redeeming quality of this movie was watching Freddy fight someone who, for once, he just could not kill. Someone who may not have had the versatile offensive abilities of Freddy, but who could withstand them and just keep coming. And really, the look on Freddy’s face when he’s pulled into the real world realizes that he’s now face to Face with Jason, and for the first time since he was human, he’s outclassed; that was priceless.
All in all, the movie was an o.k. horror flick if you don’t care about continuity, or haven’t watched the last chapters of Friday The 13th or A Nightmare on Elm Street series. However, if you’ve watched them all, and you’re kind of a stickler for details, be ready for some irritating moments. Three stars. Not bad, could be better.