Every A Nightmare On Elm Street Movie Ranked Worst To Best

4. Freddy Vs. Jason

A Nightmare on Elm Street 1984
New Line Cinema

For horror hounds, many had dreamt of seeing Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees butt heads from the moment Krueger and his knife-fingered glove first appeared in 1984. And it didn't take long for the minds behind those two franchises to likewise think of the possibilities of bringing these two titans together on the silver screen.

It took until the aftermath of 1989's Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan for things to really get going, as that's when Paramount lost the rights to the F13 IP. Still, it was another 14 years before Freddy vs. Jason finally arrived in cinemas.

Helmed by Ronny Yu, that 2003 battle of the behemoths nicely intertwined the two franchises, with Freddy taking on the form of Jason's mother Pamela in order to have Voorhees slaughter the teens of Springwood in a way to make the town remember Krueger; which in turn would allow him to once again embark on his own bloody rampage.

Of course, this working arrangement eventually goes south, and these two horror icons have one final showdown for the ages to bring to a close what is a fun popcorn slasher. While the film itself is fun, though, one element that irked many a long-time fan was the absence of Kane Hodder. Having played Jason Voorhees for the prior four movies, Hodder was frustratingly replaced in the Jason role by Ken Kirzinger.

So, while we did indeed get Freddy vs. Jason, there was a tinge of sadness at not getting Robert Englund vs. Kane Hodder.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.