By Tahnayee Clendinen, A&E Writer
In an attempt to discover whether Jason Vorhees or Freddy Kreuger is the supreme horror movie villain, we have placed them in a head-to-head battle. Horror movie fans know them both to be superior beings, but in comparison, the winner has long been debated.
Today, we are going to settle the dispute once and for all.
It is essential to know a few things about each character and story. Jason Vorhees of “Friday the 13th” died at summer camp when he was younger because of inattentive camp counselors. He initially only killed those around the camp — his place of death — but now kills anyone he can get his hands on.
Freddy Kreuger of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” is from a town called Springwood. He originally killed and tortured the children of the town, and the town’s parents retaliated by killing him. Now, he kills because he is unable to achieve vengeance.
First thing’s first — style.
Jason is really serving up hockey player horror. His hockey jersey gives the impression he either just came from the game, or just massacred everyone inside and took the jersey as a souvenir. While I think it’s probably the latter, his hockey mask proves unneeded. Someone who is wielding a machete and can’t die is just as scary with or without a mask on.
Freddy is giving us Christmas all year round in his red and green striped sweater. His outfit consists of the sweater, trousers and fedora, which really isn’t all that scary. It’s his face and hands that make viewers cringe. The parents of Springwood burned him, so Freddy’s face and hands resemble burnt raisins.
Next up is weapon of choice.
Jason uses a machete. This is a classic. It is reminiscent of timeless slasher movies but leaves us wanting more. We have seen countless people get cut up by movie villains, so it’s usually left up to the writers to make his kills look good.
Freddy has, for lack of a better description, a claw-glove that resembles Wolverine’s. His kills are more mind bending. They seems to defy logic, gravity and anything else that keeps us sane.
That brings us to method of attack.
Jason stalks his victims without rhyme or reason. He seems to have a thing for unsuspecting, over-sexualized teenagers. A smooth kill is committed once Jason has them in his grasp. The special effects team for Jason movies are really good about providing just enough gore without it feeling overdone.
Freddy goes for the psychological kill. He also loves a good teenage victim. His trademark move is to slip into characters’ unconscious minds uninvited, and if he kills someone in a dream, that person dies in real life.
In this man-to-man battle, Freddy emerges victorious. He makes the movie-viewer shudder at the thought of their own dreams to come, enough though his style may be less alluring and imagination-driven than Jason’s. His style of killing, in addition to his victims being in a state where they are virtually at his mercy, surpasses that of Jason’s. His methodical kills also give horror movie fans a nice break from the traditional slice-and-dice massacres.
However, if Freddy loses his number one spot, Jason is a perfect contender for the title.
