Lasting success of horror films spurs matchup

By Glenn Lovell
Knight Ridder News Service

Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees battle in "Freddy vs. Jason," the $35 million horror film hyped as a brains-vs.-brawn matchup. New Line Cinema

Suddenly, the lurking bogeyman changed his stalking strategy and prime target. The new breed of killer — Michael Myers in "Halloween," Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees in the original "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Friday the 13th" — attacked more frequently and seemingly without provocation. And, most curious, he (it?) preyed almost exclusively on sexually active teenagers.

Was it the new, punk-oriented youth audience, which naturally gravitated to weirdos? Was it the new, looser definition of what constituted an "R" or restricted rating? Was it the more sophisticated makeup effects, taken to a new level in 1978 by "Dawn of the Dead" and its ilk? Or was it the filmmakers, who, battling studio blockbusters such as "Jaws" and "Star Wars," were seeking cheap, straight-for-the-jugular alternatives?

With the arrival tomorrow of New Line Cinema's "Freddy vs. Jason," that inevitable fusion of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984) and "Friday the 13th" (1980), we decided to check in with a few experts in the field, including John Carpenter (director of the original "Halloween"), Sean S. Cunningham (director of the first "Friday" and producer of the latest installment), and actors Robert Englund and Ken Kirzinger, who are squaring off as the fire-scarred Freddy and the hulking Jason.

Besides New Line's $35 million sequel — hyped as a brains-vs.-brawn matchup — the other upcoming slasher attractions are "Jeepers Creepers 2," "Cabin Fever" and a remake of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre."

"It's no coincidence that these movies started after Vietnam, Watergate, Nixon's resignation the Iran hostage crisis," recalls Carpenter, who, since unleashing his masked killer in "Halloween," has turned more toward science fiction. "There was a lot of disillusionment out there; it was an unsettled time, and young people were hungering for entertainment. Horror managed to sneak its way in. Who would have thought the cycle would last this long?"

After playing dream-stalker Freddy in all eight "Nightmares," as well as on "The Simpsons," Englund has the equivalent of a doctorate in horror. And at 54, he's old enough to remember the start of the slasher craze. He traces the trend to "the nihilistic punk sensibility."

"Back then, there wasn't the kind of right-wing, born-again viewpoint we have now," Englund says. "Instead, there was a sort of garage-band, cheap-thrills sensibility."

Suburban teenagers were ripe to lose their innocence at the hands of Freddy and Jason, Englund says. He points out that Wes Craven, who directed the first and seventh "Nightmare," has called Freddy "the bastard father of us all." "I'm not sure what that means," Englund says, laughing, "but I think it has something to do with the sins of the father, the sins of another generation, being passed down."

Cunningham waves off much of this. For him, the "Friday" movies were always potboilers meant to put food on the table. The original "Friday" cost $500,000 and grossed almost $100 million worldwide. "There were no expectations back then," he says. "They were low budget, no star, almost no story. All we had was a scary title. The idea was to make the most no-frills movie we could make and still create something that was scary-fun, that played on every teenager's primal fears."

Canadian stuntman-actor Kirzinger, 43, inherited the Jason hockey mask from Kane Hodder ("Friday VII-X") after serving as stunt coordinator on "Friday VIII." For Kirzinger, the slasher craze always has been synonymous with escalating violence. "These movies pushed the limits on violence and took viewers to a new level of gore," he says. "It's like watching an accident unfold. There's always this morbid curiosity: You want to see a bigger, gorier accident."

The filmmakers' response? "OK," Kirzinger says, "how gruesome can we make this killing look?"

Our panel also points to the Motion Picture Association of America's rating system that, in the '70s, allowed a new level of R-rated carnage. "Censorship was at a low ebb," Englund says. "Before, there were rules and we had to tread lightly through certain areas," Carpenter says. "With the new freedom we pushed the violence and sex as never before."

Bottom line? These movies are cheap and lucrative. "Believe me, the movie business just goes where the money is," says Carpenter, who was approached years ago about a "Jason vs. Michael Myers" matchup. Because of contractual hassles, it didn't happen, but Carpenter still holds out hope, especially if "Freddy vs. Jason" performs.

Like all good heavyweights on the eve of combat, Englund and Kirzinger are doing their bit, trash-talking each other.

"Jason is bigger, meaner, this generation's Frankenstein," Kirzinger says. "He symbolizes the inevitability of death. Nothing can stop him."

"Jason definitely has the reach on me, but he's a big dumb dog!" Englund says. "As long as he's in my world, the dream world, I can beat the crud out of him."

FREDDY KRUEGER

AGE: Though he originally was conceived (in '84) as someone in his 60s or 70s, his age is immaterial because he's a supernatural being.

HEIGHT: 5-feet-10 (actor Robert Englund's height).

WEIGHT: 160 pounds.

HOME TURF: Freddy claimed his first victims in a suburb called Springwood (later in Ohio).

WHY THEY SEETHE: Freddy — a school janitor who, it's strongly hinted, is a pederast — killed "at least 20 kids" before being hunted down by his victims' parents and set ablaze in his hideout, an abandoned boiler room.

FIRST HANDLERS: Wes Craven, writer-director of the original "Nightmare," went on to direct "The Serpent and the Rainbow," the "Scream" trilogy and "Music of the Heart," a rare non-genre entry.

BODY COUNTS: 40 to 1,000 (factoring in off-screen deaths).

BEST COUNTERATTACKS: Black coffee. A bedside buddy. A dream-suppressant called Hypnocil. He's usually immolated in the end.

JASON VOORHEES

AGE: 36. He was "around 10 or 11" in the original "Friday the 13th" (1980), according to series creator Sean Cunningham. Since "Part VI: Jason Lives," he's been an unstoppable zombie.

HEIGHT: 6-feet-5 (stuntman Ken Kirzinger's height). He was 6-feet-3 when Kane Hodder played him in chapters 7 to 10.

WEIGHT: 250-275 lbs.

HOME TURF: Jason began his bloody reign at Camp Crystal Lake, N.J.

WHY THEY SEETHE: Jason is a hydrocephalic child who drowned at summer camp; his schizoid mother (played by Betsy Palmer) takes revenge in the first "Friday" on counselors who "were making love" when her son died. Jason returned from his watery grave for chapters 2 to 10.

FIRST HANDLERS: Cunningham, producer-director of "Friday the 13th," went on to produce "Spring Break," the "House" series, plus the past two "Friday" sequels.

BODY COUNTS: 127 to 1,000 (if you include residual kills, such as when he causes a ship to sink in "Friday VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan").

BEST COUNTERATTACKS: Ram him, douse him with gasoline, push him from high places — for temporary relief.