This is the Wrestlemania of slasher movies: all we need is Michael Myers for a triple-threat, falls count anywhere, no disqualifications bout. Wrestling metaphors are particularly appropriate here, since you'd be dumb to expect a conclusive outcome - it's giving nothing away to say that this one could run and run. And will, going by an opening weekend gross that surpassed the last three Nightmares combined, or the last five Fridays put together. Freddy resurrects the hockey-masked one to strike terror into the hearts of the Elm Street kids, who have forgotten all about Mr. Krueger. And what boogey-man is any good without fear? Unfortunately, turning Jason off is a damn sight harder...
Since that "vs." is likely what you came for, you may be disappointed that only in the final 20 minutes do the (bladed) gloves come off. Until then, it's the usual dubiously-behaving teen slaughter, though you're never quite sure whether tongue is in cheek - Yu seems aware of the cliches, and may simply be playing them up. When the two Titans of Terror face off, however, everything clicks up several gears, with a previously unstoppable force encountering an immovable (and immortal) object. Blood, limbs, weapons, flames, building equipment and gas cylinders all fly satisfactorily, with one truly startling and striking image, harking back to Yu's days helming Hong Kong films like Bride With White Hair. It hints at what might have been, in a film that otherwise delivers what you'd expect, nothing more, nothing less.
C+
