There is really one question you have to ask yourself before deciding if you want to see this film. Are you a fan of 80’s slasher flicks, in particular the Nightmare and Friday films? If you are not, don’t even bother, there is nothing that you will enjoy about this film. If on the other hand you chuckle like a schoolgirl at over the top kill scenes, if you love buckets of gore, if you actually cheer as the bad guy shoves a piece of piping through a skinny dippers skull then, by all means step up, you have much to look forward to.

I fall easily into the latter category. I grew up with these films, if I was off school sick I would arrange a Nightmare on Elm Street marathon, or a Friday the 13th one. Sure, I may have been a bit young for the gore, or the nudity, but I loved it. I revelled in the over the top nature of Freddy and the brutal no nonsense approach from Jason. The sequels may not have been the best of films, but the power of the main characters ensured that I was always entranced.

So, now comes Freddy Vs. Jason. Which, conveniently ignores the most recent post-modern entries into the respective franchises (Jason X & Wes Craven’s New Nightmare) and just ploughs back in like nobodies been away. This is back to basics horror, the kills are extravagant and the chicks have big breasts. People actually have sex and smoke drugs, but the rules are followed. Those that do have sex die, those that smoke drugs die and those that say “I’ll be right back” die.

When Freddy and Jason are done having their fun with the kids the movie kicks into a higher gear. Freddy cannot be hurt in the dream world; Jason cannot be hurt in the real world. What we have is a fight of two halves as both get to dish out the punishment in their respective realm. It’s brash, brutal and ridiculously over the top. Fans will love it; they have been waiting on this for years. The film lives up to each and every one of my expectations in terms of the final huge battle.

However, there are a few glaring problems with the film.The title of the film is Freddy Vs. Jason, so why is it that for a good third of the movie we are treated to a bunch of uninteresting ‘teenagers’ drip feeding the audience boring exposition? I know that Freddy can be brought into the real world thanks. I don’t need to be told. There is too much of the teenagers and not enough of the real stars, people are paying to see Freddy and Jason knock lumps out of each other, not see a bunch of youngsters (who we don’t care about anyway) piss and moan.

Speaking of the teenagers, there is not a decent actor amongst them. They are all passable as far as looking good, running and screaming goes, but they would be out of their league should they attempt any roles that require them to do anything else. I guess there is no real change there from previous instalments, but I noticed it all the same.

Robert Englund has lived this role for 20 years now. He is always a joy as Freddy and he doesn’t disappoint here. In the other corner I would liked to have seen Kane Hodder reprise the role (Obviously not the only guy to play Jason, but he is the one that is most synonymous with the role), but Ken Kirzinger does a decent job. Not much acting to do, but he moves like Jason should.

Ronny (Bride of Chucky) Yu does a good job direction wise. The various kills are shot well and the final battle is nicely handled. In terms of editing the film feels a little choppy. I sense that scenes are missing to keep the running time short and at points I was actually wondering what the hell was going on.