Every Time Friday the 13th & A Nightmare on Elm Street Movies Hid References To Each Other

There has been no shortage of movies or television shows that have either referenced or poked fun at the iconic Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street franchises. Jason Voorhees and his machete received some form of shoutout in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, ParaNorman, The Blob, Family Guy, Cursed, and Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, amongst others. Freddy Krueger and his dream stalking saga have been referenced in It, Ready Player One, Rick and Morty, Cobra Kai, and many more. Then there are the IPs that have referenced them both, not just on separate occasions, but often in the same scene. Examples include Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers, The Simpsons, Robot Chicken, and South Park. But did the two classic horror franchises ever reference one another before their titans met face to face in Freddy vs. Jason? Yes, three times in fact, and we’re going to go through them all now.

We did, however, leave off Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. According to IMDb, the hallucinations experienced by Jensen Daggett’s Rennie were supposed to emulate the style of the Elm Street saga’s dream sequences, but that’s more a competitive spirit or piggybacking than referencing.

Mystery Dream Man in Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives

If any of the Jason or Freddy movies was going to be the first to reference the other franchise, it was the meta horror-comedy Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (which was released in 1986, between the debuts of A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors). Otherwise known as the one that actually managed to win over critics, Jason Lives is whip smart for a slasher, especially one that predated Scream by a full decade. It even predated Wes Craven’s New Nightmare by eight years.

There are a few references to other horror properties and those who brought them to life in this movie. For instance, the character name Sheriff Mike Garris is a play on Mick Garris, who by 1986 had already directed documentaries on both The Thing and The Howling. Not to mention, Sheriff Garris mentions a town neighboring Forest Green (or, really, Crystal Lake) as being named Carpenter. Similarly, there’s a brief line during the chase sequence where Jennifer Cooke’s Megan Garris tells Tommy Jarvis (Thom Mathews) they can take a detour on Cunningham Road. This is a reference to Sean S. Cunningham, the director of the original Friday the 13th.

Then there’s the electricity-fueled way Jason is brought back to life, which is an homage to Frankenstein. There is also Karloff’s General Store and an opening scene that seems like a recreation of Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man‘s beginning. But there’s one last Frankenstein homage, which just so happens to lead us into its A Nightmare on Elm Street reference.

When Jason enters the kids’ cabin his positioning over a terrified little girl is extremely reminiscent of Frankenstein and a child in The Ghost of Frankenstein. And as we learn via the child’s earlier interaction with Kerry Noonan’s Paula, her name is Nancy, just like Nancy Thompson in A Nightmare on Elm Street. And what does Jason Lives‘ Nancy say? That someone was attacking her in her dream and that “It was real, just like on TV.”

Jason the Dog in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

Several characters introduced in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors return in Renny Harlin’s blockbuster follow-up, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. On top of Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger there is Kristen Parker (now played by Tuesday Knight, replacing Patricia Arquette), Elaine Parker (Brooke Bundy), Joey Crusel (Rodney Eastman), and Roland Kincaid (Ken Sagoes).

Unfortunately for Kristen, Joey, and Kincaid, they’re first on Freddy’s list of targets. But first Freddy has to be brought back, and that’s where Kincaid and his new pup, Jason, come in. Many point to Jason peeing fire on Freddy’s grave to resurrect him as the franchise’s first real shark jump. And that’s a perfectly fair position. However, it’s still a fun little connection that it’s “Jason” who effectively lends Freddy a helping hand.

Kincaid’s pup even has a white face with black spots on it, nearly resembling a hockey mask. Though it’s not confirmed if those behind the film selected that dog (Jake) for this particular cosmetic resemblance, it’s a neat connection, nonetheless. And, without a doubt, this is the most likable Jason has ever been.

Freddy’s Glove in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday

New Line Cinema, aka “The House That Freddy Built,” was dead set on reviving dwindling A-list slasher franchises. They had found such immense success with Freddy throughout the ’80s that surely there was more gold to mine. However, it was all one big swing and a miss.

First was their attempt to inject new life into Texas Chainsaw with Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990), which opened to silence instead of any buzzing. The next year saw them kill off Freddy in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, but they would bring a meta version of him back just three years later with Wes Craven’s New Nightmare.

Between Freddy’s Dead and New Nightmare was Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. This mostly Jason-free installment was released four years after he had seemingly been put down for good in Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, the final film under the Paramount Pictures banner. Unfortunately, The Final Friday barely outgrossed Manhattan, which itself was the lowest-grossing installment domestically until New Line’s Jason X.

It seemed that, in the ’90s, people were done with Freddy, Jason, Michael, and Leatherface. There had to be a significant twist to the worn-out hack and slash formula. Say, for instance, pinning two of these titans together. That was precisely what was teased in the closing moments of Jason Goes to Hell, and the few who saw it in theaters couldn’t have been more excited. Little did they know they would have to wait a full decade for that tease to become a feature film.

Even still, to this day, Freddy’s glove bursting up from the dirt and dragging down Jason’s mask with his distinct cackle is one of the most surprising moments of either franchise. It has next to nothing to do with the plot of the film, but it works because, on the whole, Jason Goes to Hell is nothing but big swings. Why not close it out with the biggest swing of all? Not to mention, in this moment Kane Hodder became the only actor to play Jason (Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood through Jason X), Leatherface (Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III), and Freddy.

Every Friday the 13th Movie Ranked by Jason’s Appearance