Freddy Vs. Jason

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

To the fan of ’80s slashers, this return to glorious excess is a beautiful thing.

Entertainment Weekly Staff (Not credited)

So can Freddy beat up Jason, or what? Let's just say that neither one would have stood a chance against Abbott and Costello.

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

Succeeds as a guilty pleasure, a monster mash that clobbers the recent lackluster sequels plaguing both legacies. If only that were a higher compliment.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

A surprisingly ambitious entry into a genre that felt bankrupt and over more than a decade ago.

Film Threat David Grove

Visually imaginative and energetic.

Premiere Aaron Hillis

Are these iconic, antihero relics smartly satirized in a post-slasher, or is FVJ just more dated, third-wave trash? Disappointingly, it's the latter.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Though a stickler might ask what's at stake in a fight to the death between two guys who are already dead, the hard-core fans aren't likely to be disappointed.

Variety Andy Klein

The basic formula of iconic supernatural beings slaughtering plucky teenagers continues with even more graphic violence.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

Tremendous energy, outrageous humor, dazzling technical finesse -- and a numbing amount of violence, brutality, bloodshed and all-out savagery. It is downright depressing to think about all that vigorous cinematic artistry and expertise aimed so low.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Attempts none of the witty, provocative visual and metaphysical set pieces from any of the ''Nightmare'' movies. And it offers none of the real fright of the early ''Friday the 13th'' films. In fact, the movie is deeply, proudly unimaginative.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Considering what the filmmakers had to work with, and the fact that it has all been done before, Freddy Vs. Jason isn't bad. And sometimes not bad is almost good.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

The setup is bad even by slasher-film standards: poorly acted, atrociously written and unimaginatively directed. But once Freddy and Jason have at it, the movie takes on a recklessly kinetic energy that finally delivers on its title's promise.

USA Today Mike Clark

Truth be told, the movie isn't among the worst sequels of this summer.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The best way to sum up Freddy Vs. Jason is: good concept, mediocre execution.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Doesn't have any of the creepy suspense that graced the first "Friday" movies, and very little of the Daliesque dream imagery of the early "Nightmares." It's just a slam-bang succession of gross-out mutilations, played for giggles.

LA Weekly Scott Foundas

The sentimental novelty of watching two childhood antiheroes have at it dissipates once you realize the lugubrious lengths to which the screenplay must go in order to make that happen.

Chicago Reader Brian Thomas

This long-awaited monster mash should satisfy fans of the "Friday the 13th/A Nightmare on Elm Street" franchises.

New York Post Megan Lehmann

Despite oblique references to "Psycho" and "Children of the Corn," Freddy vs. Jason lacks the knowing wit needed to keep it afloat in an age when even the horror spoofs have been spoofed.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Since there can be no suspense, the point is to enjoy the hewing of limbs and the severing of necks, to delight in chopped-off fingers and gouged-out eyes. The title characters are embodiments of utter evil, right?

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jennie Punter

Too much chatting, not enough chills.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Aside from a promising scene involving a cornfield rave and the pyrotechnic potential for grain alcohol, it drags along, taking a small eternity to set up a final showdown that plays more like a bloody pro-wrestling event than the stuff of nightmares.

Washington Post Richard Harrington

Only interesting in spurts.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

This dumb, only intermittently (though sometimes even intentionally) funny sequel presumes that since almost everything else from the 1980's has come back, why not the cynosures of the "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Friday the 13th" movies?

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

The first "Nightmare on Elm Street" was wickedly surreal, but the wacky dream sequences were offset by the sitcomlike, almost satirical flatness of ordinary suburban life; that was the really scary part. Freddy Vs. Jason is innocent of such nuances.

Slate David Edelstein

The Hong Kong vet director, Ronny Yu, did a bang-up job in 1998 with "Bride of Chucky," but he can't do much for this one except keep it moving, light it scarily, and pump that plasma.

Washington Post Paul Farhi

A kind of cinematic analogue of the Iran-Iraq war: It's overlong, it's hard to tell which one's the bad guy, and it's filled with lots of senseless carnage on both sides.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Connoisseurs of giant, gnarled chunks of charred flesh, rejoice! There's plenty of it -- or stuff resembling it -- in the slasher-fest convergence of two killer franchises.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Formulaic hodge-podge that trades on a certain demographic's affection for the bogeymen of their formative years.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

Witless, excessive and ultimately boring gore-a-thon.

Village Voice Mark Holcomb

About as threadbare as a favorite childhood plushy. What's more, trying to keep the story line of strained meta-sequel Freddy Vs. Jason straight requires too much of a cogitative investment.