Since the 1980s, horror nerds have been arguing about who would win in a head-to-head match between the razor-gloved Freddy Krueger of the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise and the machete-wielding Jason Voorhees of the Friday The 13th films. Apparently, some film executives caught wind of this controversy and thought there might be some money to be made here. And so, 13 years ago yesterday, New Line Cinema released the mashup film Freddy Vs. Jason, finally bringing these two legends of cinematic carnage together on the screen. Sure, the script had to contort itself like a carnival sideshow performer to get these two wildly incompatible characters together. And, yeah, the ambiguous ending was the kind of coy cop-out that tries to please everyone and ends up pleasing no one. But the late summer film attracted enough curiosity seekers to earn $114 million at the box office.
Since then, Messrs. Krueger and Voorhees have largely gone their separate ways, each enduring the indignities of the dreaded franchise reboot. A full-fledged rematch has yet to happen, except in the fevered imaginations of fanboys everywhere. Perhaps the happiest coda to their saga is Freddy And Jason Have Fun, a 2012 booklet of whimsical illustrations by artist Rafael Koff. Here, the janitor and the goalie are the best of friends and spend plenty of quality time together in carefree revelry. Among their favorite leisure time activities is carefully recreating iconic scenes from classic movies, like this romantic moment from Titanic.
These two are fans of classic musicals as well, as demonstrated by this Singin’ In The Rain tableau.
They also enjoy exercising together. After all, they have to stay fit in order to remain competitive in their chosen line of work. Here they are, putting their own unique spin on the classic game of double Dutch.
As Koff’s images show, neither Freddy nor Jason has sold out or gone soft. There’s still plenty of bloodshed and dismemberment in what they do. They remain committed to causing terror and agony wherever they go. It’s just that they don’t mind admitting that they enjoy each other’s company. Nothing wrong with that. Now all they need is an appropriate soundtrack. Maybe something like this.