Media Essays: Freddy vs. Jason vs. Hellraiser: The Movie We Almost Had

Teddy: Well this is funny, he’s doing another Halloween entry!

Freddy: Yeah. I think he’s really trying to have everybody get in on the fun!

Teddy: That he is! It’s been great not needing that Cynical Crown.

Freddy: Oh yeah, he’s been doing really well! Let’s see what he’s talking about. (Looks) Oh gosh, there’s a Freddy I would kick in the bean bag!

Teddy: Well unlike you, Freddy Krueger is no friendly fox. Gotta confess it was nice seeing Jason tear his right arm off him.

Freddy: Oh yeah, Freddy got his just desserts in the end. Though I can’t help but wonder how different things would’ve been if we got a certain Hell Priest in the end?

Hellraiser soundtrack 04 - The Lament Configuration

Freddy: Man imagine that playing in the end of Freddy vs Jason!

I imagine that as well! Hello everybody, I’m the Wandering Fox and thanks to my lovely fox and cat, today’s topic is a big case of missed opportunities. Because what I’m about to reveal to you could have maybe been the MCU before it started. Then again it kinda did with Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday but still, back on topic. That topic is the unmade ending to Freddy vs Jason.

Back to 2003

This belongs to Screen Rant.

Freddy vs Jason came out in the cinemas, giving everybody the movie they had been waiting for since 1993.

Jason Goes to Hell (surprise ending)

Freddy Krueger was defeated in The Final Nightmare by his daughter Maggie, with the Dream Demons separated from him, he lost his powers and was banished to hell itself. Springwood could finally move on and its children free, erasing all existence of Freddy. Freddy was not done though, for he tricked Jason Voorhees in returning from hell and went to Elm Street to kill the teens and parents to make them believe Freddy was back, his strength would return then he’d haunt their dreams. Freddy almost got what he wanted but Jason wouldn’t stop killing. Freddy, desperate to get rid of Jason, draws him into the Dream World to battle him and kill him. He almost wins if not for Jason waking up and returning to Crystal Lake where Freddy is drawn into the real world. The behemoth and dream demon battled it out and by the end they gave each other a brutal battering though Freddy was worse off than Jason, his right arm ripped off, a hole punched in his stomach, then impaled by his own severed arm, then finally decapitated. Jason then comes out of Crystal Lake with Freddy’s head in hand…..

But this ending would not have been made if an earlier idea was canon.

In the production phase of the film, the filmmakers thought of doing an ending in which Freddy and Jason wake up in hell and are about to fight again. But then they are held back by a few chains. Then out of the darkness steps Pinhead! He would then ask: “Now gentlemen: what seems to be the problem?”

Art by me, the Wandering Fox.

The ending didn’t even go beyond the idea phase since New Line Cinema was uninterested in buying the rights to Hellraiser just for a cameo, hence we got the ending we have. But these years since there have been many asking lots about this ending. If Freddy vs Jason was a success, which it was, then why hadn’t a sequel had been made? If not with Pinhead, then why didn’t we get a sequel with Michael Myers? Or with Ash Williams then why did that become a comic? Welcome to a tough fact if you’re in the film industry: rights issues. Clive Barker back then didn’t have the full rights on Hellraiser but he’s got it back, but Hellraiser was in the hands of Miramax. Michael Myers was going through production hell after Halloween Resurrection, a Hellraiser crossover with him was scrapped, then would get a remake….then another. Then with Evil Dead Sam Raimi couldn’t agree with the studio on the plot, so the script for that became a comic. Then there’s Jason himself, whose copyright issues are just as iconic as his mask which saw Paramount buying the rights back out of New Line Cinema, thus the crossovers were done.

Teddy: Halloween and Hellraiser? Wasn’t that film gonna have Kirsty get killed by Michael Myers and he’d crush Pinhead’s pins in his scalp?

Freddy: That’s daft. Then again there was Candyman and Leprechaun but thank goodness the late Tony Todd stopped that.

Oh yeah those were daft. It’s funny how both of those crossovers involved Clive Barker’s works and the thought of Michael of all people managing to kill a Cenobite or grab Pinhead is just dumb. Then again he was in his Jason Voorhees phase back then. Candyman and Leprechaun would have turned Clive’s works in big jokes. Then again Clive was involved with the Halloween crossover, so eh?

But let’s say out in the multiverse this ending though not made the idea of Pinhead existing in the same universe as Freddy and Jason was explored in a sequel, how would it work? Hellraiser is a psychological horror series based upon lust, pain, experience and the darkness of others. Could it function in a universe of slashers with Freddy and Jason? I think it could but it depends on what story you would tell with it?

Teddy: Oh, I know what you’re up to.

Do you?

Teddy: Yup!

Freddy: Your own idea?

Yes!

I’ll give you guys what I think could have worked as a sequel to Freddy vs Jason.

Freddy vs Jason: Hellraiser

The movie would see Doug Bradley return as Pinhead and Ashley Laurence as Kirsty Cotton. Ideally I’d get Kane Hodder back as Jason given he and many others were angry he was replaced in Freddy vs Jason for bizarre reasons. But it wouldn’t just be them. Thom Matthews would be back as Tommy Jarvis, making an earlier return before the Don’t Hike Alone fan films (Those are really good, I really recommend them). Lisa Zane would be back as Maggie Burroughs. Yes Rob is back as Freddy :) and maybe get Gary Chalk back as the sheriff.

I stuck them together.

With all these characters and actors coming back you want to try and tell a more darker story that really suits the characters, Kirsty and Tommy are defined by trauma thanks to their experiences with the Cenobites, Frank, Julia, and Jason. Maggie is defined by her guilt at being Freddy’s daughter. With Pinhead, while Hell on Earth annoyingly made him a generic slasher, the home release movies took him back to being the manipulator, the man who isn’t interested in conquering others but more out of wanting experience, curious of those who want the box, guiding and following the rules of Hell, while fulfilling his own obsession: Kirsty, Freddy, and Jason.

You can’t just go with a sequel that is simply about Freddy, Jason and Pinhead as while the Freddy vs Jason did have Pamela Voorhees, it was a simple story of Freddy and Jason terrorising the current teens at Elm Street, with action, humour. With Pinhead it requires a lot more than that. It’s why Tommy, Kirsty and Maggie are ripe for the sequel to work.

The story does take cues from Freddy vs Jason vs Ash, with its setting and what Jason is forced to do to be rid of Freddy who also wants to finally escape Jason. While Ash Williams is here they have somebody far more cleverer than them to deal with.

With that let’s get on with the plot.

The Beginning

The film opens with Kirsty Cotton having a nightmare, of Pinhead and the Cenobites coming to get her, with Pinhead coaxing her “You opened a door, Kirsty. It will not close. Not until I get what I want”. He then walks closer to her and then comments “They’re waiting for you” Then there’s a strange moment in which his face morphs into Freddy and then to Jason’s mask. Kirsty wakes up and is gasping for breath before inhaling as much air. Then the door opens up, it’s Maggie, who comforts Kirsty and gives her some anxiety relief tablets. We find that Kirsty has since moved to a small town where Maggie has set up a clinical halfway home for those battling trauma. Kirsty is incredibly friendly to the other patients while Maggie, though caring, is a bit distant. She fears if she gets too friendly with her patients that it will somehow make Freddy come back and start hurting them. We find out Maggie has been trying to reach out to another man who she thinks needs to truly be free of his demons. Tommy Jarvis.

Tommy is living on the outskirts of Crystal Lake under a court order to never return as they are desperately trying to cover up Jason’s reappearance. Tommy though has been stalking the woods, trying to find Jason, having heard of the incident in Freddy vs Jason. He is looking through the woods but then his phone rings and it’s the clinic Maggie is in charge of. Tommy sighs and leaves. That’s when we first see Jason, who knows Tommy is trying to find him. He returns to his makeshift cabin in the woods and it’s here we see Freddy, whose head has been hung on a wall. Jason goes to sleep and it’s then we see Jason in the Dream World in which he kills many people but not Tommy. Tommy laughs at him and then he turns, becoming Freddy, who taunts Jason of how just a little boy managed to kill him. Jason cuts Freddy up but he continues taunting him. “How long do you think you can handle me? I’m like a pesky little tumour in that shrunken little brain of yours! You gotta cut me out properly, you dumbass!” Jason thinks back to his watch of Tommy, recalling the name on the phone being Maggie’s. Freddy notices this and he gasps in shock, instantly getting the connection. He then tells Jason to spy on Tommy just to be sure if that is who he thinks it is.

Before leaving to meet Tommy, Maggie asks Kirsty to come with her as she thinks she might be helpful. While leaving though, a strange man checks in at the clinic who Kirsty gets weary of. Going to Tommy’s home, Kirsty and Maggie don’t know Jason is watching them but Maggie feels uncomfortable being near Crystal Lake, feeling something is wrong. Tommy at first isn’t interested but Kirsty convinces him to come, looking at photos of Jason and confesses she knows what it’s like, to see things at such an age and seeing your loved ones being butchered. Tommy looks at Kirsty and sees there is something familiar about her, that she truly knows. He chooses to go with her. Freddy however, watching through Jason, is curious as to what his daughter is doing and takes in Kirsty. She has a different kind of fear to her, fear is making her run away, she’s haunted by something that is really powerful. Freddy forces Jason to go after them.

The Middle

Back at the halfway house, Kirsty gets fearful upon seeing the strange man again and runs to her room, swearing she saw the Lament Configuration. She curls up and whimpers, wanting her dad. Going to sleep, Kirsty doesn’t see Jason watching her. Kirsty has another nightmare of Pinhead who urges her to come to him, wanting to make a deal with her. Kirsty begs him to leave but then both are stunned by the sudden appearance of Freddy and Jason. Kirsty is confused to why she’s seeing Jason but thinks Freddy is a Cenobite. Freddy ends up appealing to Pinhead for help but that’s when Kirsty is woken up by Tommy. Kirsty says she saw Jason in her dream. Worried for her, Tommy takes her to Maggie while Jason continues to look at the Halfway house with him and Freddy seeing the Lament Configuration. The guy who has it looks at them and then turns away quite smoothly. Freddy wants the Lament Configuration, he knows that Pinhead is tied to it and thinks if he can get it then it will free him from Jason. He tells Jason to wait until night to go get it.

Tommy and Kirsty tell Maggie what occurred and she is utterly shocked that Kirsty saw Freddy and asks her what Freddy was doing. Kirsty explains that he was trying to ask Pinhead for help. Tommy sees Maggie is not telling them something and bluntly tells her if she is not gonna help them then he’s gonna leave with Kirsty. Guessing he has a point, Maggie explains to them that she’s the daughter of Freddy Krueger. Though she thought she killed him, she found out about the killings at Elm Street and first thought it was him but then thanks to survivors to it was Jason Voorhees. Tommy knows of Jason killing at Elm Street but then there was Elm Street kids killed at Crystal Lake. Kirsty realises that it has to be connected and swears the Lament Configuration is here. Explaining to them of what it is and who Pinhead is, they have a curfew of the halfway house and have the guards search the room of the man who checked in. He’s not there but the Lament Configuration id. They take it but that’s when Jason comes. He kills a few guards and fights Tommy, crushing his hand and easily bats Kirsty and Maggie aside. Jason takes the Lament Configuration and leaves for the woods, where he comes to a stop, with Freddy telling him to open the box. Jason opens the Lament Configuration then.

They all come face to face.

The woods around Jason split apart, his makeshift cabin sliding into existence with Freddy’s head, and the ground opens up with a big staircase. Pinhead emerges with the Chatterer and Deep Throat with him. Jason tries to fight them but is held back by a few chains while Chatterer grabs Freddy’s head which then talks to Pinhead.

Pinhead: He may have opened the box, but it was through your desire, Krueger.

Freddy: It’s always good to have a pawn!

Pinhead: That it is. Your name is legendary in hell though it was odd we never encountered the other.

Freddy: I was busy with my work. I’m not bound to hell, Pinhead.

Pinhead: Refrain from calling me that. But yes, your work is often spoken of in the halls of hell. Though it would seem you ran into a bit of trouble, meddling with another soul of hell certainly didn’t give you what you wanted.

They look to Jason.

Freddy: Well I had to do something! I wasn’t gonna rot, even with my bitch of a daughter sending me in! But dumbfuck there had to go and start killing more kids! Now I’m stuck in that hillbilly’s mind! It’s been torture! I only want one thing.

Pinhead: Freedom.

Freddy: Yes! Free to roam the dreams of the new generation of Elm Street’s teenagers! Free from hockey boy’s mind!

Pinhead: I may not condone violence against children. They are far too innocent for my god. But you requested me simply for freedom, not on the souls of others. I can give that to you but on several conditions.

Freddy: Go on then.

Pinhead: You are to never meddle with another hell soul again. Jason Voorhees leaving Crystal Lake was a gamble that somebody like you shouldn’t take. The other condition: you are confined to Elm Street. You are to leave the souls of those beyond alone. The final condition: I know you have been in Kirsty Cotton’s mind. You are to not harm her, Krueger. If you are to breach these contracts in any way; you will know true suffering!

Freddy is annoyed at the conditions but he’s desperate to escape Jason hence he agrees. He doesn’t though know realise he’s fallen into a trap with these conditions. Though Freddy and Pinhead are the ones talking, Jason takes in what they’re saying with interest and tries to tear out of the chains. Freddy’s body is returned and he laughs before fading back to the Dream World. He looks to Jason.

Freddy: Well, it’s been fun kid but I’ve got work to do! Enjoy the life of a hermit!

With that, Jason angrily tears a chain off and goes up to Pinhead but he’s again stopped by chains slashing his gut.

Pinhead: Don’t. Your anger is best saved for Krueger. I know what you want, Voorhees. Trying to hurt me will not get you that.

He then moves aside and Pamela Voorhees is there. She tearfully looks at Jason and urges him to obey Pinhead and if he does they will be a family again. She tells him he has to follow where Freddy is going.

The End

Jason is so stunned he doesn’t notice a car coming at him and he’s ran over. Tommy, Kirsty and Maggie grab the Lament Configuration and leave. Jason gets up and walks on to Elm Street. Deep Throat asks Pinhead if Freddy will really obey those conditions. Pinhead explains that Freddy is gonna obey them at first but he knows temptations are hard to conquer. In the car Tommy drives them back to the halfway house where the police are at now. With them there he thinks Jason won’t try killing that many people. Maggie goes to her room to try and take in what’s been going on. That’s then Freddy appears, his claws sprouting out of her fingers, taunting Maggie that she failed and the innocents of Elm Street are his to take. Maggie screams and wakes to find Tommy and Kirsty there. With Freddy back at Elm Street Maggie wants to go back and stop him but Tommy wants to stop Jason. Kirsty though realises it has to do with the Lament Configuration. Kirsty takes the Lament Configuration and opens it, Tommy and Maggie come face to face with Pinhead. Kirsty angrily asks how he can make bargains with Freddy, but Pinhead comments Kirsty should know him better: he has his own goal in mind. Looking to Maggie Pinhead notes Freddy has already breached a condition of his, just as he knew. He gives Kirsty a bargain: if she can draw Freddy back to the real world then he will leave her alone. Tommy though asks what he wants with Jason, to which Pinhead says he’s curious about Jason’s endurance. With this, Kirsty agrees.

Going to Elm Street, Kirsty guesses Pinhead’s plan: he wants Freddy and Jason before Leviathan, if they are brought to him then they will not have to worry about him anymore. Maggie then comes up with a plan to draw Freddy out in the real world but Tommy notes of Jason is going after Freddy then the cops need to be ready for him. Coming to Elm Street they find that Freddy has already killed a teen in his bed. Maggie and Tommy explain to the sheriff that Freddy and Jason are returning so they set up a police barricade to Elm Street’s road while officers go through the nearby woods. Maggie goes into the old Krueger house with Kirsty to set a trap for Freddy. Tommy, drowsy after doing so much driving, Tommy has flashbacks to Jason almost killing his sister Trish to which Freddy appears to him standing over Trish’s dead body, laughing at how Tommy almost became a monster like him and Jason. Tommy ends up annoyed and reminds Freddy he isn’t like him or Jason, and he calls Freddy a coward for going after children and women. Freddy guesses Tommy is no coward but then asks if he’s strong enough to stop Jason. Tommy wakes up and Jason has killed the sheriff and a few officers. Maggie knocks herself unconscious while Kirsty grabs the taser and Maggie confronts her dad in the Dream World. Jason tears his way through the cops and Kirsty, seeing he’s getting closer, wakes Maggie up and Freddy is brought back into the real world. Freddy stabs Maggie in the gut with his claws and then corners Kirsty just as she opens the Lament Configuration, cackling at how he’s gonna enjoy making her squeal.

That’s then a chain bursts through the ground and impales Freddy and he’s torn back to ground floor where he’s confronted by Pinhead who scolds him for breaching the conditions. Jason tears his way in the house and comes after Freddy, slashing him on the back. The house then splits, connecting to the Labyrinth and to Crystal Lake. Tommy, Kirsty and Maggie are caught up in this with Maggie needing her wounds tended to. Freddy is yanked to the Labyrinth with Jason coming after him though Freddy grabs a hook and chain and stabs Jason with it and tries to tie him against the wall but Jason stabs Freddy with the machete and tears the chain out, trying to strangle Freddy but is then impaled by Pinhead. Freddy growls and tries to slash Pinhead but the Hell Priest catches his clawed glove. That’s then Tommy shoots Pinhead in the back, though he barely flinches but it gives Freddy the chance to tear free of him and retreats in the halls of the Labyrinth. Kirsty stops Tommy from hurting Pinhead or Jason, the latter gets free and tries to stab Pinhead who dodges it but is grabbed by the throat, with Jason trying to decapitate him but Pinhead reminds him of what his mum wants. Letting him go, Jason goes to find Freddy. Tommy goes after Jason while Kirsty talks with Pinhead, who thanks Kirsty for giving him so many souls, he notes that she would make a fine apprentice to Leviathan.

Freddy, Jason, Maggie and Tommy end up in the Crystal Lake side of the Labyrinth where they have a final fight. Jason is shot in the heart with Tommy’s gun, while Maggie stabs Freddy in the face with his glove. Both baddies stagger and then chains burst out of the lake and yank them under. Tommy and Maggie escape back to Kirsty and they return to the real world in which Pinhead thanks them before he leaves, the strange man then coming to get the Lament Configuration. Leaving the Krueger house, Tommy, Kirsty and Maggie hug each other, just thankful they have finally won.

Freddy and Jason then wake up, strapped to tables and gazing up, with Leviathan above them. Then Pinhead appears and asks Jason if he’s willing to pay the price to see his mum again. Jason nods at him. Freddy wants to be free but Pinhead scolds him, telling him that he is not to be trusted, even in hell. It’s then Jason’s rotting flesh is removed and replaced with new skin but his mask is fused to his face with pins and he has his heart wired up with blood flowing in him, the blood of those he murdered. Jason chooses to endure the pain if it means seeing his mum again. Freddy has everything stripped of him. His horrid face is turned back to normal, and claws protrude out of his heart and face with him forced to suffer constantly. Pinhead gazes at them with a prideful look in his eyes as they are now his.

The End

Teddy: Whoa, that’s um, something.

Freddy: That ending. Oh my.

Yeah. If a crossover with Pinhead was made he’d have to come out on top thanks to how powerful he is. Jason could grab Pinhead but he can’t beat him, not when he’s got the manipulative side to him and has Jason’s mum there to force him to obey. Freddy obviously would try to breach the conditions thinking he can do better than Pinhead and there you go.

Teddy: Do you think they’d have made this thought? Let’s say you were older in 2003 and this was what you offered?

I don’t think they would have. With Hellraiser less actionized compared to Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street I think they’d be uninterested in going deeper than them slashing each other hence why Ash Williams was their other character to go with. It’s a shame because with Tommy, Kirsty and Maggie defined by trauma I think they’d easily could have made the sequel more intense.

What do you guys think? Tell me below. Thank you.