WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
I wanted to take the opportunity to get a little bit silly, and go through some of the films where it has been decided to pit two villains from separate film franchises (or characters made up just the sake of it). It’s almost like they have decided to create different variations of the age old question Who would win in a fight between Batman and Superman? (If you’ve seen the film, I’m sure you know the answer.)So, without further ado – let’s get ready to rumble….
Sadako vs. Kayako
First things first, you don’t really need to watch Ringu or Ju-On before seeing this film as the stories are basically retold at the start. In all honesty, if you watch Ringu before this it may annoy you a little that the mythology of the tape has changed. This film is the epitome of fighting fire with fire, using one curse to take down another. However, like the best laid plans of mice and men, it ultimately fails. I’ll say this much, I was expecting it to be much cheesier than it was but with the creaking sound that is created by Kayako, it’s no surprise that the film is still slightly chilling. Good news, in my opinion anyway, it isn’t a happy ending.
Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark
I know I said this article was to take a look at films that are more than likely down right bad because there’s no logical reason for these characters to have been brought together in the first place. However, there is cheesy bad – where the film turns out to be pretty decent to watch – and then there’s down-right terrible. Mega-Shark vs Mecha-Shark is definitely the latter. The acting is terrible, there’s a referenced backstory that has no relevance to the main storyline and the CGI is absolutely atrocious. There isn’t even any tension when all hell breaks loose.
Alien vs. Predator
Here we have two great franchises of the 1980s brought together to make an absolutely lacklustre 2000s film. I can’t believe that with how much the technology has moved forward in the time between the original films and this being made – the use of CGI actually makes the Xenomorph and Predator look worse! There are moments when it feels like you’re watching an action sequence from a video-game (before video-game technology itself was improved I mean). I also think they tried to be too cool. Someone tell me whose bright idea it was to have the Facehuggers (yes, I googled it and supposedly that is the name of this point in the Xenomorph life cycle) jettison themselves from the eggs in slow-motion. Even the backstory leaves me with questions. Why are they hunting the Xenomorphs? How did they get the eggs in the first place? Did they kidnap the Queen that we see imprisoned under the pyramid so that they are able to make endless supply?
Lake Placid vs. Anaconda
In my opinion, this doesn’t come across as a versus film for about an hour. Well, in terms of Croc versus Snake anyway. The majority of the film is actually the town of Lake Placid versus their own crocodiles. In a way, you also have to figure out for yourself why the anaconda suddenly starts attacking the townspeople and the crocodiles in the first place. Obviously make your own opinion when you watch it (be prepared for dodgy special effects as well as bad acting) but I think the attacks are caused by the male anaconda once the area where the female is laying her eggs is encroached upon.
Side note: The ending sets you up for a sequel but I’m genuinely thankful that it never happened.
Invisible Man vs. Human Fly
I’ll be honest, I don’t know what I expected from this film but a murder mystery wasn’t quite it. This isn’t the ‘Fly’ that you would have thought because I’m sure Jeff Goldblum crossed many of your minds when you saw the title – because it definitely crossed mine. Instead, this is a guy that becomes so small, he’s basically the size of a housefly and buzzes around killing people. How he flies without wings I don’t know, but it seems to be a theme of some Japanese films that there are certain things that can’t quite be explained. In the beginning, I genuinely expected the Invisible Man to be the murderer so for him to be the hero was quite a nice surprise. However, and it’s very rare for me to say this, I was actually quite bored. It never feels like a lot is going on and that the film isn’t really going anywhere. The one thing I will say for this however, is that unlike other ‘versus’ films, it’s not a contrived plot.
Freddy vs. Jason
So, I’ve ended up saving the best for last. Alright, that isn’t exactly saying much when you look at some of the others but still. I genuinely expected this to end up being one of the cheesiest things I had ever seen but it turned out to be pretty good. Even the plot is pretty clever and follows on from Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. OK, the first fight scene looks a little silly but it takes place in the dream world so you can let that slide. Don’t fret readers, you don’t have to have seen any of the original Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday the 13th films to be able to watch this because it’s nicely and concisely explained at the beginning but why wouldn’t you watch them anyway, right?
