‘Freddy vs. Jason’ Director Clarifies the Film’s Final Moments

Before Marvel and DC had massive crossover films and before Alien faced off against Predator, Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees faced off to determine the more powerful horror icon. The film might not have had a definitive winner, but Freddy vs. Jason director Ronny Yu shed insight on how he determined that the film should end in a stalemate.

“I sort of calculate: If I get maybe 30 seconds of the hero winning, then I have to add another 25 seconds of the villain fighting back,” Yu told Entertainment Weekly. “Do you feel bored to see the heroes winning, do you feel like it’s time for the villain to win the upper hand? It’s a balancing act.”

With both characters having previously killed dozens of people in their respective franchises, it’s hard to call either of them a “hero.” Given the film’s narrative, however, Krueger revived Voorhees from the dead to act out his master plan to strike fear into the hearts of a new generation. According to that logic, Jason was the hero, as Krueger mentally manipulated him into the situation.

The film ends with Jason overpowering Freddy and decapitating him, but in the final moments of the film, Freddy’s severed head winks at the audience, hinting that he’s far from done.

“Obviously it seems like Jason is the winner, but as Freddy’s head comes close to the camera, you see Freddy very cheeky have a wink, so it’s like, hey, maybe not,” Yu pointed out. “Maybe Freddy has something up his sleeve and then he’ll fight back. That’s how I found the balance. I didn’t upset Jason’s fans, I didn’t upset Freddy’s fans. The fight continues.”

Throughout the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, Freddy’s strengths were often relegated to invading his victims’ minds to wreak havoc. In the Friday the 13th films, however, Jason Voorhees was an all-powerful killing machine. This caused some complications when making a balanced battle.

“Jason’s so much bigger that you think, ‘How are they gonna do this?’” stunt coordinator Ken Kirzinger questioned.

“Ronny has a martial-arts background, so he knows size doesn’t necessarily matter,” Kirzinger revealed. “He made Freddy smaller and quicker and Jason bigger and stronger, and made the fight look relatively even. I think it was exactly what the fans were hoping for, because the movie is all about that fight.”

[H/T Entertainment Weekly]