Michael Myers, Chucky, And Jason Voorhees All Live On Peacock Now – So When Are We Getting A Crossover?
No one can beat Shudder in terms of curation, in addition to diversity across decades and creators, but Peacock still features a pretty great selection of horror films. It doesn't hurt that they have access to a good chunk of the Universal library and beyond. With that, you may start to notice some familiar faces in the crowd, such as Michael Myers and Chucky. Now with "Hannibal" creator Bryan Fuller working on the upcoming "Crystal Lake" television series for the streaming service, you'll likely be seeing Jason Voorhees on your menu interface soon.
Wouldn't it be cool if they could all fight one another for slasher supremacy?
You might ask yourself how that would even be possible, considering the rights to all of these characters are all over the place, and you would be correct. In the event it actually managed to get greenlit, the crossover film would require so many draft rewrites, as the creatives of each respective franchise would go to bat over the specifics of their killers. But that would require thinking rationally, and we don't have time for that.
Michael, Chucky, and Jason are currently all vaguely positioned under the same streaming roof, and as long as they're there, why not have them attempt to butcher one another for our pleasure? Winner becomes the face of Peacock horror. But what would that even look like?
Slasher villains are no stranger to crossovers
One of the greatest things about horror franchises is their flexibility. Some have stuck to their original continuity, but just look at "Chucky." The USA/SyFy co-production television series has been building off of the same timeline from "Child's Play," yet the pint-sized slasher has gone through a number of successful tonal shifts. In order to keep it interesting, you have to switch things up, and what better way to do so than through a crossover where continuity be damned?
After all, the "Alien Vs. Predator" movies feel like a wholly separate entity from their respective franchises. Horror always bred the fascination with wanting to see two franchises duke it out. That's why we have such revered gems as "Lake Placid Vs. Anaconda," and "Sadako Vs. Kayako." While they're not considered slashers, "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" is one of the earliest examples of two screen monsters battling it out on the big screen.
"Freddy Vs. Jason," however, is still the most high-profile versus movie of them all. I contend that it's still loads of fun, and largely gets at the heart of why horror folks love each of these characters. I still lament the "Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash" treatment that will sadly never see the light of day.
There's a precedent there, so why not just go all out on a royal rumble featuring Michael, Chucky, and Jason? Better yet, if this were to transpire, who would come out victorious?
Michael would wipe away the competition
Before you grab your pitchforks, allow me to explain myself.
Given the amount of transformations each of these slashers have undergone in their franchises, there's a bunch of rules you have to adhere to. In which case, I'm going to make it easy. For starters, I'm only counting who would be a temporary winner. Jason "killed" Freddy in "Freddy Vs. Jason," but that last little wink to the camera says otherwise. None of these character's creators would permanently off their lead slasher. That's just not going to happen.
"I'll be back. I always come back! But dying is such a b****" is the unofficial mantra of almost every slasher baddie. It's more a matter of who can pull a fast one on the other. Chucky no doubt has agility and speed, but all it takes is for either killer to rip him apart with their bare hands. Just to keep things on an even playing field, I'm keeping Jason in his human form prior to his graveyard resurrection in "Friday the 13th – Part VI: Jason Lives."
If you've seen the David Gordon Green "Halloween" movies, then you know that an older Michael is a brute force of pure evil who could take out an entire fire department single-handedly. The pair of silent killers share similar stalking DNA. You think that it would cancel each other out, but I feel that Michael's absolute lack of empathy is what puts him over the top to plant the knife through Jason's hockey mask.
You may think it impossible, but Universal has brought two of these slashers together already.
Chucky and Michael have already been acquainted
The first season of "Chucky" had been airing on television right around the time that "Halloween Kills" was coming out. In a genius little moment of cross promotion, we see Chucky furiously carving a pumpkin, underscored by Brad Dourif's memorable laugh. It has Michael's face on it. How nice!
Michael steps in front out of the darkness and immediately stabs it. The funniest thing about this television promo is Chucky following it up with "what, you don't like it," as if he's actually hurt by Michael rejecting his pumpkin carving skills. I would be too. Michael rudely disregards all the hard work he put into it. Given that they're both villains who feel compelled to kill for the pettiest reasons, I could absolutely see them getting into a knife fight scuffle over it offscreen.
I'd say that a three-way crossover between Michael, Chucky, and Jason in the form of a feature film is near impossible. Prior to the other day, I never thought "Friday the 13th" would emerge from its lengthy courtroom proceedings in the form of a television prequel series from A24 and the mind behind "Hannibal" but that's how the cards have been dealt.
With that said, I do think there is a way Peacock could bring them all together.
Go all in on a series of Versus commercials
Forget the Dark Universe method of teasing cooler things in favor of a film cobbled together of half-hearted references to drum up excitement for the next project. Much like the "Halloween Kills" and "Chucky" cross promotion, conjure up a series of commercials where they each have interactions among one another for the most minute stuff.
I'm not saying I enjoy watching the advertisements on Peacock, but if they were to find a way to have Michael and Jason silently fighting over the remote, I wouldn't not watch it. You could have a promo for each new holiday. Imagine Chucky ridiculing Jason on Christmas day because his mother wasn't able to buy him a present on account of her death. What about a Thanksgiving promo where all three slashers fight over who gets to carve the turkey, while surrounded by the family whose dinner table they hijacked?
On top of everything, these promos would send horror folks through the roof, as this would likely be the only way they will ever get to see these characters interact beyond cosplayers posing for photos at a convention center.