Freddy vs. Jason — Scripts

A powerless Freddy Krueger manipulates behemoth Jason Voorhees (from the Friday the 13th series) to carry on gruesome killings in Freddy’s hometown of Springwood. However, Freddy quickly loses control of the unstoppable Jason, which results in the two horror icons battling to the death in Freddy vs. Jason. Several scripts are available here: the final draft by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, and rejected drafts submitted by various screenwriters. All of these scripts are available in PDF format.

Freddy vs. Jason languished in development for almost ten years. New Line Cinema tried on multiple occasions to develop the film but could not find a concept that worked. Many of Hollywood’s elite screenwriters took a stab at writing a script, but none of them were able to capture what New Line was looking for.

Newcomers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift proposed a premise that New Line could finally get behind. “We worked on another project for New Line and they brought us in to pitch our take [of Freddy vs. Jason],” recalled Mark Swift. “I knew it had been in development for ten years, so I think we just came at it a little bit differently than the rest of the other [screenwriters]. We didn’t really change the histories of the characters. We wanted to take both histories of both characters, as they were in the movies, and start from there.” (“Genesis: Development Hell”)

“Keep it all intact. Make it all count. Don’t discount the other movies. And the fans will love you for it,” remembered Damian Shannon of their pitch to New Line Cinema. “New Line never gave us any marching orders. They just said, ‘Come in with what you guys think the movie should be,’ and we did. We started imagining where the story should go from the point where Freddy grabs Jason’s mask [in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday]. We asked ourselves what that meant—why was Freddy grabbing the mask? A lot of the stories [from the other screenwriters] had kind of crisscrossed their backstories. We wanted to maintain what had been created originally for these characters. We wanted to take Freddy and Jason back to their roots. We wanted to see these characters restored to their former glory.” (“Genesis: Development Hell” and Fangoria)

“There were things we wanted in the story,” explained Swift. “We wanted the fights to take place in the real world and in the dream world. But the trick was making that happen without violating established mythologies and backstories of the characters. The script definitely wound up less gory as we went along. We started off writing what was probably the bloodiest film ever made, and that was because Bob Shaye at New Line told us to make it as violent as possible. It became less bloody, but it stayed essentially the same story all the way through.” (Fangoria)

The writing duo wrote “nine or ten” drafts but the script ran too long for New Line’s taste. They passed Shannon and Swift’s latest drafts to screenwriter David Goyer to revise. “The goal was to obliviously make the film as short as possible,” Swift said of Goyer’s involvement. “The task he had was to cut it down without losing any of the scenes. So, a lot of the dialogue was changed. I think he combined two characters at one point. He did a good job at keeping it short without losing the story.” (“Genesis: Development Hell”)

With Freddy vs. Jason’s basic premise out of the way, another problem presented itself: How should the film end? The creative team proposed numerous epilogues including Freddy and Jason’s fight continuing in Hell, with Pinhead (from Hellraiser) breaking up the fight; a giant CGI demonic hand reaching out of Crystal Lake to drag the two monsters down into oblivion; and Will’s possession by Freddy during an intimate moment with Lori. The last scenario was filmed but didn’t seem quite right. “Another writer wrote an epilogue where, six months later, Will and Lori are having sex for the first time,” Swift wrote. “Will’s hand turns into Freddy’s claw, and he slashes at Lori, and we cut to black. To be perfectly honest, I never liked this ending. It didn’t make sense to me, and it raised too many questions (Does this mean Freddy won? Where’s Jason? Is this a dream? Is Will turning evil and is now some sort of Son-of-Freddy?) I must admit that I was relieved when audiences disliked this epilogue at the first test screening. Thankfully, it was cut from the film. But the movie still needed an ending! Bob Shaye came to the rescue. They told us what he had in mind, and I thought it was perfect. They shot it locally, and that’s what’s in the final film.” (Friday the 13th: The Website Forum Chat)

The headline reads: “Child Killer Set Free.” There is a PICTURE of Fred Krueger walking down the court steps, smiling. We HEAR: the screams of a mother, the outrage of a father. And then, the familiar laugh of Fred Krueger. But then, the edges of the newspaper start to cinder… and burn.

EXT. SPRINGWOOD — ABANDONED BOILER ROOM — SUNSET

Flames crawl up the side of an old Industrial building. A window explodes. We hear Fred Krueger SHRIEKING inside.

PULL BACK TO REVEAL: PARENTS gathered around the building. One sets a GASOLINE CANNISTER on the ground. Others hold hands as the tortured screams crescendo inside…

Nancy Thompson asleep in a bed. Over the bed, Freddy literally stretches through the wall. Coming for Nancy in her dream…

I/E — VARIOUS (CLIPS: “A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET”)

Distorted images fly by… Not too clear… but terrifying and familiar. Freddy stalking in the Boiler Room… his arms stretching across an alley… those eyes… that skin. Horrible screams mix with Krueger’s evil cackling…

But then, the tide turns. Freddy getting beaten. He’s put down with a flash of light. Sent back to where he came from.

FEMALE WHISPER (VO)
…Freddy’s dead…

Blackness. But we hear a faint, labored breathing…

FREDDY KRUEGER (VO)
They tried to forget their fear. Lock Me away like a dirty secret.

CLOSE ON — Freddy’s Krueger’s eye. Fire is reflected in it. We don’t know where he is, but we can feel his anger.

FREDDY KRUEGER (VO) (CONT’D)
But I found someone. Someone that’ll make ’em remember.

BLACKNESS: And then… Through the eye holes of a HOCKEY MASK. We see now the mask is lying on the ground…