While studio headbutting wound up getting in the way, there was once a time when movie fans were going to be treated to the incredible cinematic sight of Evil Dead's Ash Campbell going toe-to-toe-to-toe with A Nightmare On Elm Street's Freddy Kruger and Friday the 13th's Jason Voorhees. Ultimately it was indecision about who would win the conflict that killed the project, but if it were up to Freddy himself, Robert Englund, it would have been the guy with the chainsaw arm who walked away the victor. In a recent interview, Englund said,
Sam Raimi wanted Ash to win. He wanted him to win the match. Which I thought was a great idea. New Line Cinema was against it because I had just had my ass kicked by Jason; they were afraid, cause I was the most successful of the three franchises, they were afraid. 'We can't have Freddy killed twice in a row.' And I was like, 'Wait a minute, guys. You revived me, you resurrected me with dog urine! It's real easy to bring Freddy back. Come on. That's not that hard to do.
Robert Englund was asked about the never made Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash in an interview with Bloody Disgusting, and while it comes as a surprise to absolutely nobody that Sam Raimi wanted Bruce Campbell's Ash to defeat the monsters, it's really funny that the Nightmare On Elm Street star would feel the same way. Then again, there are probably many genre fans out there who would consider it an honor to be killed on-screen by the great slayer of Deadites.
It's great to know that Robert Englund would have been totally on-board with Freddy dying yet again in Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash, but what makes this news bittersweet is that he is directly referencing the exact sticking point that eventually led New Line Cinema to back away from the idea of making the film. Bruce Campbell spoke about the lawyer-driven conflict last year while promoting the series Ash vs. Evil Dead... while also subtly adding in his own feelings about how big battle needed to end. He told Yahoo! Movies,
If you can't kill Freddy and Jason, there's no reason for Ash to be in it. The problem with that concept was... lawyers run Hollywood. And the lawyers are gonna say, 'Oh, you can't kill Freddy.' 'Well, if you can't kill Freddy, then you can't kill Jason.' So what are we gonna say? 'Well if you two bums can't get killed, then neither can I.' We had no control over the other characters.
When you consider that Ash is A) the only hero in the trio, and B) the only one who has never died or been resurrected on-screen, his victory over Freddy and Jason in Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash makes all the sense in the world... but sadly not everyone could understand that. Fortunately, this is something that writers James Kuhoric and Jeff Katz and artist Jason Craig got right in their two six-issue comic book miniseries that were released a few years ago.
How do you think the big screen battle between Ash, Freddy and Jason would have gone down? Do you agree with Robert Englund and Bruce Campbell, or do you have a different take on how the fight would end? Hit the comments below with your thoughts!
