“Versus” Movies: A
Brief History of Cinema Issue #4
This month, comic book fans finally get what could possibly
be the most-anticipated “versus” movie in the history of cinema: Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice
(yes, that little “v” is short for “versus”).
Hollywood isn’t big on the whole “versus” title (or, as
we usually see it, “vs.”). This isn’t without reason. Whenever I see “versus” in a
movie’s title, the first thought it triggers is the sci-fi/horror genre. I’m
sure I’m not the only one. But the term also triggers images of two characters,
usually two fighters of some kind, in an arena, battling one-on-one. It’s like
a wrestling event, only it’s not, it’s a movie.
Rewind back to the 1940’s. Universal Studios is killing it
with their horror films. They have Frankenstein,
The Mummy, Dracula, The Wolf Man,
and many others. Then, in 1943, a fateful meeting occurs in the form of Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. It’s
not a vs. movie by title, but it is one of the first (if not the first) films to take two characters
from similar but seemingly unrelated series’ and put them together—not only
that, pit them against each other.
It was a new idea at the time—one that proved successful, as
Universal would go on to crossover characters in House of Frankenstein and House
of Dracula, as well as include the comedy duo Abbot and Costello in several
future films, alongside other Universal monsters, such as The Invisible Man and
The Mummy.
These, though, were still not “versus” movies in the way
they are known today (and by that, I mean they weren’t called blank vs. blank).
The originator of the traditional vs. movie, from what I could find, was 1956’s
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers. It
seems this was the first movie to use the abbreviation “vs.” in its title, and
two years later, another sci-fi film would do the same, as well as re-use the
“Earth” part, for Earth vs. the Spider.
While both of these American productions were among the first, the country that’s
still most famous for “versus” movies also popularized the idea of giant
monsters destroying cities and squaring off with each other, and that would be
Japan—specifically, Toho Co. Ltd.
1954 saw the release of Gojira,
otherwise known as Godzilla, a
monster movie that also functioned as a commentary on nuclear destruction. It
was followed up with Godzilla Raids Again
(re-titled in America to Gigantis the
Fire Monster), which included another monster, Anguirus. Godzilla and
Anguirus battle it out, and while the American re-edit was a failure, in Japan,
Godzilla Raids Again achieved
considerably greater success, to the point that it became traditional to have
Godzilla fight another monster, and the contestant next in line would help make
the third entry in the long-running Godzilla
series one of the greatest versus movies of all-time.
King Kong vs. Godzilla
was released in 1962, marking the first use of “versus” in a Godzilla title. And Toho wasn’t stopping
there. The majority of Godzilla movie
titles feature “vs.” In fact, it’s been used no fewer than thirteen times
(though nearly every Godzilla movie
is, technically, a “versus” movie, some title variations exist, such as Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla or
Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant
Monsters All-Out Attack). Without a doubt, the Godzilla series is king of the “versus” films. But, there are still
loads more beyond that.
The Gamera series
(also a long-running Japanese giant monster franchise) followed Godzilla suit, using vs. in their titles
six times. To this day, Syfy original movies keep the vs. titles alive, using
them as tributes to the cheesy monster movies of the past. There’s the ongoing Mega series (Mega Python versus Gatoroid, Mega Shark Versus Crocosaurus, Mega Shark
Versus Giant Octopus, Mega Shark Versus Mecha Shark [seriously, you can’t
make this shit up], and even ones as recent as last year’s Lake Placid vs. Anaconda. But I’m getting ahead of myself here.
Going back to the 1970’s, it’s obvious by now why there
aren’t “versus” movies popping up left and right. Toho had a firm hold on the Godzilla vs. [insert monster here] titles,
Dracula vs. Frankenstein came out in
1971, and other than that, no other versus movies were popping up. Then, in
1979, there was Kramer vs. Kramer. It’s
the antithesis of what vs. movies usually are. It’s a Best Picture-winning
drama (five Academy Awards total), it features legendary actors (Dustin
Hoffman, Meryl Streep), and neither Kramer, to my knowledge, ever engage in a
physical battle at any point in the movie.
Other “versus” movies that don’t actually feature violent
skirmishes between the title characters include Joe vs. the Volcano (1990), The
People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), and Eagle
vs. Shark (2007). I was really disappointed to find out that last one
wasn’t a movie about one of the top predators of the ocean battling one of the
top predators of the sky.
These seem to be exceptions to the basic rule that a
“versus” movie is a fun cinematic clash between characters of some great
importance. King Kong vs. Godzilla is
the one that popularized the idea, but there have been other memorable movie
mash-ups since then, though most didn’t pan out the way fans had hoped.
In the nineties, the seeds for future film crossovers were
already being planted. 20th Century Fox released a sequel to their
1987 smash hit Predator in 1990. Predator 2 featured a glimpse of a very
familiar-looking skull in the Predator’s trophy case, namely the xenomorph from
Fox’s other successful extraterrestrial franchise, Alien. There had already been the Aliens vs. Predator comic book series, so it seemed inevitable that
the two creatures would one day meet on-screen. But it would be over a decade
before this occurred.
Meanwhile, another studio was teasing its own crossover. In
1993’s Jason Goes to Hell: The Final
Friday, the Friday the 13th
villain Jason Voorhees is taken to hell by demons, and at the very end, the
gloved hand of another famous slasher villain reaches out of the ground and
pulls his mask down, and that hand belonged to Freddy Kruger of the Nightmare on Elm Street series. Both
series’ were produced by New Line Cinema, and it was obvious they planned to
feature them in the same movie, but just like the Alien and Predator, it
wouldn’t be until the early 2000’s that the crossover would happen.
After Predator 2
disappointed most movie-goers, there was no further movement with a third Predator movie. Alien 3 and Alien
Resurrection both disappointed in the same way Predator 2 did. Then finally, in 2004, the crossover happened. Alien vs. Predator (abbreviated as AVP, a method that would be imitated by future vs. movies such as KVC: Komodo vs. Cobra) managed to function as a
sequel to the Predator films and a
prequel to the Alien films, and while
it delivered on the promise of showing these two iconic creatures battling it
out, the movie overall was disappointing, but it still made enough at the box office to get a
sequel made three years later, Aliens vs.
Predator: Requiem. This second one, despite featuring the Alien-Predator
hybrid and an R-rating (which the first one sorely lacked) that allowed for
more blood and gore, it was even more disappointing, and as a result, it seems
unlikely there will be an Aliens vs.
Predator 3 anytime soon.
But what about Freddy
vs. Jason? Well, like AVP, it
took a while to get made, but unlike AVP,
there was still another movie released between that tease at the end of Jason Goes to Hell and the crossover
movie, and that was 2001’s Jason X,
which I guess took place after he fought Freddy Kruger because it’s in the
future in space. Two years later, though, Freddy
vs. Jason finally came out, and while some fans found it a fun battle, most
were disappointed it didn’t have a clear winner. AVP had a similar problem (the tag line read: “whoever wins, we
lose.”), and while you could rig up a points system and deem one creature the
winner based on that, you wouldn’t because that would be a lot of work and a
waste of time because no one cares. Freddy
vs. Jason ends ambiguously, and we’ve yet to witness a re-match.
By now I think it’s clear why the “versus” movie is usually
associated with the sci-fi and horror genres. And it continues to live on, with
2009’s Monsters vs. Aliens sounding
like the quintessential vs. movie for vs. movie fans (for the record, it was
just an okay kids movie). But the year that followed will be forever known as
“the year of the different kind of versus movies”.
2010 is the year two notable vs. movies were released, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Both are
very different from one another, but both deserve more recognition than they’ve
received. Scott Pilgrim, based on the
series of graphic novels, directed by Edgar Wright, is a totally unique
action-comedy-romance-urban fantasy with references to video game and geek
culture, Wright’s signature ultra-tight editing, irreverent humour, and
everything else awesome. The title character doesn’t actually fight the planet
earth itself, but rather the seven evil ex-boyfriends of the girl he’s pining
for. It’s a fantastic movie, and unlike any other versus movie.
Tucker and Dale vs.
Evil, like Scott Pilgrim, has no
equal in terms of “versus” movies. It does a similar thing to what Cabin in the Woods did, in flipping
horror clichés and tropes on their heads and making fun of it, while still
celebrating the genre and being original. Tucker and Dale are the good guys to
the audience, but to the confused teens in the movie, they’re evil hillbillies
out to kill them. Which isn’t true, of course. There’s a lot more than just
that going on, but it’s better to just see it than have me explain it all. Both
of these movies are among the smartest, funniest, and straight-up most
entertaining movies to come out this decade.
That about wraps it up for “versus” movies. TV has had less
to do with the whole “versus” thing, but recently we’ve had the Evil Dead franchise live on with Starz
Network’s Ash vs. Evil Dead, and the
series Chuck, which ran for several
years, had “vs.” in every episode title. For the most part though, the next
time I hear a discussion about a character versing another character, I won’t
be thinking about TV shows, nor will I be thinking about Batman and Superman
battling. I’m just going to be thinking about the ultimate upcoming re-match, Godzilla vs. Kong, set for release in
2020. Now that, will be the battle of
the century!
For more on Friday the
13th series:
For more on Godzilla
series:
For some hypothetical "versus" movies check out C.C.C. Issue #19:
http://cccmovies.blogspot.ca/2014/04/ccc-issue-19-top-five-hypothetical.html
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