It's not as if it hasn't been done before - mutant lizard Godzilla and oversized primate King Kong locked horns and pulling power in 1962.

But these latterday creations haven't quite got the iconic status of those mighty beasts... despite respectable performances at the box office.

The first Freddy movie - A Nightmare on Elm Street - was directed by horrormeister Wes Craven while Jason's genesis was in the half-decent Friday 13th.

Since then sequels have come with a monotonous regularity (2001's Jason X was a fair stab at re-inventing the franchise) inevitably suffering the law of diminishing returns.

According to the studio, the idea to unite the pair has been kicking around for a few years but you cannot help but detect the dead hand of corporate accountants.

Childkilling Freddy (who uses his victims' nocturnal reverie to trap them) is in limbo - "being dead isn't a problem but being forgotten is a bitch. "

Memories of the serial murderer have been buried and those who can recall the hatted slasher are administered dream-suppressing drugs.

Posing as Jason's mom, Freddy reawakens the hockey-masked slayer and despatches him to Elm Street to remind the residents who he is.

Queuing up to take a fatal blow are the usual suspects - housefuls of college kids bubbling over with testosterone or bobbing around with implants.

Martial arts maesto Ronny Yu doesn't opt for the suspenseful build-up - from frame one you get MTV sized dollops of gore.

It's not really witty enough to be camp or creepy enough to be terrifying - it's more a conveyorbelt of graphic despatches underscored by the obligatory thrash metal.

After an hour or so it's merely tiring so it could be worth taking note of one victim-in-waiting: "Word of advice. Coffee. Make friends with it."

Whatever next - Legally Blonde's Elle Woods in a four man tag bout with Nicole Kidman, Glenn Close and Julianne Moore from The Hours?

Tim Evans