'Freddy Vs Jason' Is 15 Years Old And It's Among The Last Of Its Kind

This month marks the 15th anniversary of Freddy vs Jason, and if you're even a mild horror fan you know the movie was a big damn deal. Not only is it the highest grossing entry in both the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street franchises, but it's also the fourth highest-grossing slasher film ever (beaten only by the first three Scream films). It's about more than mere box office, though, as the film was also one of the last real face-offs between genre icons. Freddy and Jason are permanent fixtures in pop culture, and while each have their own fans, the film brought them together in gory and glorious fashion for a big, fun brawl.

It's a flawed but fun flick and we'll get to more of it shortly, but its anniversary raises a serious-ish question. Where have all the "vs" movies gone? The short answer is to Full Moon Pictures and the Syfy Channel, but narrowing the field to big, name-brand horror characters reveals they're something of a lost art these days. It hasn't always been the case, obviously, and as with many things horror-related, Universal Pictures earns credit for getting that particular ball rolling.

Like comic book movies of their time, Universal's creature features had no loyalty towards a character's death, so in 1945, all three monsters returned for House of Dracula. A scientist is on the hot seat as both Dracula (Carradine) and Talbot (Chaney Jr.) arrive separately in the hopes that he can cure their vampirism and lycanthropy, respectively, but chaos descends as expected. Talbot winds up in an underground cave where he discovers Frankenstein's Monster sleeping one off, and soon enough all three are back on their grind. Dracula is killed (by sunlight, again), the Monster is crushed to death, and Talbot finally achieves his goal of a cure. As the most sympathetic of the monsters it's a good call, and as the last of the official and serious films featuring the Wolf Man, it's canon that Talbot beat the curse. Remember when horror movies could have happy endings without the need of a final stinger suggesting the evil threat survived?

The Universal gang met just once more in 1948's Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein – a misnomer, but what are you gonna do, it's a 70-year-old movie – that sees the bumbling comedians cross paths with Dracula (Bela Lugosi, reprising the role for the first time since his 1931 debut as the Count), the Wolf Man (Chaney Jr.), and the Monster. The funnymen joke, trip, and act scared while the monsters once again go at each other's throats, but it's comedy that takes center stage tone-wise. It's a fun time even if the best beat comes at the very end when an uncredited Vincent Price "appears" as the Invisible Man, giving the boys one last scare.

The comedy marked the end of an era both for certain Universal Monsters and the conceit of seeing two (or more) well-established creatures meet on the big screen in battle. The favorites had fallen out of favor with their comedic appearances being a last gasp of sorts, and while 1954's Creature from the Black Lagoon delivered a new franchise beast, he was too late to make the ensemble cut. The '50s saw the rise of less personable monsters – i.e. less human ones – and that added to the lack of crossover event films for the genre. I for one would have enjoyed a fight scene between the Wolf Man and the Blob, but c'est la vie.

While Universal left the business of monster fights and movie crossovers behind in the middle of the 20th century, another studio was ready to pick it up just a few short years later. Japan's Toho introduced Godzilla in 1954, and after targeting humanity early on, the giant lizard soon aimed his aggression towards other mammoth beasts. King Kong vs Godzilla (1962) pit him against the infamous ape, Mothra vs Godzilla (1964) saw him spatting with a giant hippie moth, and Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster (1964) kept him busy with Mothra and Rodan.

All of them had previous standalone films before being incorporated into epic battles with Godzilla, but the fire-breathing reptile also fought plenty of giant creatures who only ever landed supporting player gigs. The stories only varied slightly and saw Godzilla wavering between threat, friend, and indifferent lizard when it came to his relationship with humanity, but these kinds of mash-ups became Toho's calling card into the '70s, ending with their 15th film Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975). The studio took a 10-year break before returning with seven more city-smashing Godzilla features, and an additional seven have been released in the years since, culminating in 2016's Shin Godzilla. The last to feature monster on monster action, though, was Godzilla: Final Wars (2004).

Which brings us roughly back to the U.S. and 2003's Freddy vs Jason.

That was 15 years ago, and the years in between haven't been kind to the idea of horror icons battling it out on the big screen for our enjoyment. 20th Century Fox took a stab at it with what should have been a sure thing, but both AVP: Aliens vs Predator (2004) and Aliens vs Predator: Requiem (2007) mostly squander their brilliantly designed creatures with poor cinematography, messy editing, and far too many dumb humans filling the screen. That's not to say there isn't fun to be found in both, though, as while they lack personality, both films deliver where it counts – iconic horror monsters fighting to the death. The second in particular ramps up the violence and gore (even as it turns down the lights), and while they're undeniably the weakest of their respective series, open-minded franchise fans looking for B-movie thrills shouldn't really complain. (They will, and they have, but they shouldn't.)

2016 gave horror fans one last big monster mashup in Sadako vs Kayako. It may not be recognizable to some, but trust me, it counts here as these two are the central evil spirits behind The Ring and Ju-on: The Grudge, respectively. Both have seen US adaptations, but in Japan they've been the murderous heart of successful franchises with a combined 20 feature films. This crossover sees Sadako's cursed videotape targeting more souls who this time decide the best course of action is to call on a second evil spirit in the hopes they'll cancel each other out. Not the brightest plan, but their options are admittedly limited. They invite Kayako to the party and soon find themselves doubly screwed, complete with the expected scenes of creepy women with long hair covering their eyes shambling and crawling after their soon-to-be victims.

It's obviously the least seen of the films covered here for reasons of subtitles and feels too familiar more often than not, but it has one of my favorite endings of a monster vs monster movie as the two fight to the point of mashing together and morphing into a new spirit named – wait for it – Sadakaya. Obviously.

And that's it.