for everyone else
After being in development hell for nearly a decade Freddy Vs. Jason finally hit theatres in August of 2003. The long and arduous process in finally making the film a reality mostly involved finding the right screenplay. With nearly twenty screenplays being written over that near decade time period it seemed like the right screenplay would never come along. Luckily however screenwriters Damian Shannon and Mark Swift wrote what turned out to be the right screenplay and Freddy Vs. Jason was now closer to becoming a reality.
The town of Springwood hasn't had a dream related death since the demise of Freddy Krueger several years ago. Trapped in hell he plans to return to his old ways but unfortunately the people of Springwood no longer fear him and since fear is what gives him strenght he needs someone's help in instilling the fear back in them. He visits Jason Voorhees, disguised as his mother, and gets him to start killing the resident of Springwood. Unfortunately for Freddy Jason won't stop killing, so now Freddy has to try to put an end to Jason.
Available from New Line in a two-disc edition Freddy Vs. Jason features both the fullscreen and widescreen versions of the film on the same disc. The widescreen version has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions which preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1. As for the audio it comes in an english Dolby Digital EX 5.1 Surround audio track and a french 2.0 Dolby Surround audio track. Subtitles have also been included in english and spanish.
The special features have been included on both discs but the majority of them can be found on the second disc. Those included on the first disc are an audio commentary track by director Ronny Yu and stars Robert Englund(Freddy) and Ken Kirzinger(Jason), the Jump To A Death feature and some DVD-ROM content.
The special features on the second disc have been divided into four sections: Deleted/Alternate Scenes, The Production, Publicity And Promotion and DVD-ROM/Online Features. All together you'll find 20 deleted or alternate scenes, five production featurettes, twelve visual effects featurettes, two Fangoria magazine articles, six storyboard galleries, five production galleries, a pre-fight press conference, the film's original theatrical trailer and tv spots, four theatrical trailers for other films from New Line, a music video and a publicity featurette entitled My Summer Vacation: A Visit To Camp Hacknslash.
The audio commentary track provided by director Ronny Yu and stars Robert Englund and Ken Kirzinger is quite enjoyable to listen to as the three discuss working on the film, share anecdotes and briefly touch upon the problems with finally bringing this film to the screen. Robert Englund spends some time talking about his work on the previous films in the A Nightmare On Elm Street series but for some reason Ken Kirzinger, the new Jason, hardly ever speaks, perhaps he was still in character. It's nice to finally have a commentary track with the actors who played Freddy and Jason since they haven't recorded one for any of the other films in their respective series.
The Jump To A Death feature allows you to access every death scene from the film. You can view each death seperately or select the PLAY ALL option to view them all one after the other.
The 18 deleted scenes that are included are all rather short, all but one is under a minute long, and were cut either for pacing reasons or because they were unnecessary. Fortunately none of them include any gore, although one does include a bit more of the Freddy and Jason fight in the cabin. Also included are the original opening and ending.
Genesis: Development Hell(10:17) features interviews with people at New Line, producer Sean S. Cunningham, star Robert Englund and screenwriters Damian Shannon and Mark Swift as they talk about why it took so long for Freddy Vs. Jason to be made. Director Ronny Yu also talks about how he wanted to make the film.
On Location: Springwood Revisited(14:42) is an on-set featurette that features footage of scene rehearsals, dailies, cast and crew interviews and a behind-the-scenes look at the pneumatic bed death scene. Good but could of been longer.
Art Direction: Jason's Decorating Tips(11:28) deals with the film's set decorations.
Stunts: When Push Comes To Shove(21:34) focuses on the stunts in the film. Most prominently featured is the flaming Jason scene in which Jason does away with several partiers while on fire. Great detail is provided in showing that every precaution was taken in insuring the safety of Glenn Ennis, Ken Kirzinger's stunt double.
Make-Up Effects: Freddy's Beauty Secrets(6:25) focuses on Freddy's make-up. This could of been longer and more detailed and it would of been nice if they had also discussed Jason's make-up and simply have called it Make-Up Effects instead of adding Freddy's Beauty Secrets to the title.
Lasting a total of 34:55 the twelve visual effects featurettes feature visual effects supervisor Ariel Velasco-Shaw and visual effects producer Kevin Elam talking about the key visual effects in Freddy Vs. Jason. As they talk we are shown the various stages it took to create these effects. These featurettes can be viewed seperately or all at once by selecting the PLAY ALL option.
The pre-fight press conference(3:46) features Michael "Are You Ready To Rumble" Buffer introducing both Freddy and Jason as they come down for the weigh in. They then stare each other down, or up in Freddy's case, and answer questions from reporters. Freddy's trash talk is hilarious and since Jason doesn't speak he just sits there looking confused until finally getting up to attack Freddy at which point both he and Freddy are held back and led away.
New Line, with help from The Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas, created an all-day 70's style summer camp to help promote the release of Freddy Vs. Jason. My Summer Vacation: A Visit To Camp Hacknslash(3:54) features highlights from that day which culminates with the world premiere screening of the film.
Also included on the second disc are four easter eggs.
Easter Egg #1:On the main menu highlight the New Line logo and press enter on your remote to access the DVD credits.
Easter Egg #2:In the Deleted/Alternate Scenes section highlight the right arrow and press the up arrow button on your remote, this will make a blood stain appear on the screen. Press enter to see screenwriters Damian Shannon and Mark Swift along with visual effects supervisor Ariel Velasco-Shaw and visual effects producer Kevin Elam talk about another alternate ending that was discussed.
Easter Egg #3:In the Production section highlight Freddy & Jason Go To Development Hell Part 1 and press the right arrow button on your remote, this will make four claw marks appear on the screen. Now press enter to see a featurette entitled On Location: Cabin Fever.
Easter Egg #4:In the Visual Effects Featurette section highlight the right arrow and press the right arrow button on your remote, this will make four claw marks appear on the screen. Now press enter to see two featurettes. The first one is entitled Freddy Vs. Jason PreVis fight scene: Put the Dog to Sleep and the second one is entitled Freddy Vs. Jason PreVis fight scene: Man the Torpedos.
Rounding out the extras are two Fangoria magazine articles, six storyboard galleries, five production galleries, the film's original theatrical trailer and tv spots, a music video, theatrical trailers for The Butterfly Effect, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre(2003), Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare and Jason Goes To Hell and some DVD-ROM content.
New Line is going to have a really hard time topping themselves next time a Freddy or Jason movie is released on DVD because this is an excellent release. Filled to the brim with extras covering every aspect of the film it definetely makes up for the nearly ten year wait for the film itself. The film both sounds and looks great and has no visble flaws, fans should be pleased.