In the Company of Slashers

A couple of weekends ago, I was sitting on a panel at a film convention with a bunch of other writers, discussing "Monster Rallies" (movies with more than one major monster in them).

We had to talk about the Universal Monster Rallies of the 1940s (you know, the ones with Frankenstein's monster, Dracula, and the Wolfman). We had to talk about the Toho series of Japanese monsters, and all those battles between Godzilla and his enemies from space. But the really cool part was making the discovery that we all were looking forward--with anticipation--to the first big Monster Rally in American cinema in over 50 years. We all wanted to see Freddy vs. Jason.

Me, I was hoping that it would be like a Toho movie... with Freddy and Jason just knocking each other down, brutalizing each other, going at each other like mad until you think one or the other is finished, only to see them both get up and come back for another round.

So when I heard that Freddy brings Jason back from the dead and sets him to work killing teens on Elm Street (so that Freddy will be remembered again and be able to come back to terrorize the children there), I couldn't help but think that it sounded almost too good to be true. I mean, with a few changes (made necessary by the differences between these monsters), that's basically the underlying plot from x-number of Godzilla movies from the late 60s and early 70s. In these movies, space aliens invariably find some way to control Godzilla and make him attack Tokyo so that they can bring in the space monsters and assume control of the earth. Inevitably, Godzilla escapes their control, and gets into a big brutal knock-down, tear-each-other-up battle with the space monsters.

I am happy to report that my wishes all came true. Freddy vs. Jason really is like a Toho Monster Rally, dressed up in a lot of Freddy and Jason garb. Wait, that's not quite right. This is definitely a slasher movie with two slashers. Freddy and Jason aren't just window dressing for an underlying Toho plot. Maybe the best way to put it is that the writers have found clever ways to weave the Freddy universe together with the Jason universe and come out with a reasonably seamless piece of cloth. What they've learned from the Japanese movies is how to culminate the picture in an entertaining monster battle.

Article Author: Cindy Collins Smith

Cindy Collins Smith is a writer/editor with contributions in several Midnight Marquee/Luminary Press books—including the recently published You're Next: Loss of Identity in the Horror Film. She is known in Ripper circles as the owner of the Hollywood …

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